Leonid Kritz

Leonid Kritz is a Russian-German chess grandmaster.

Leonid Kritz
Kritz in 2007
Country	Russia (until 1999) Germany (since 1999)
Born	(1984-02-26) February 26, 1984 (age 41) Moscow, Soviet Union
Title	Grandmaster (2003)
FIDE rating	2568 (August 2025)
Peak rating	2624 (September 2010)

Chess career

Kritz began learning chess from his father at the age of 4.^[1]

In 1999, Kritz won the U16 section of the World Youth Chess Championship. Afterwards, he began training under Josif Dorfman.^[2][3]

Kritz participated in the FIDE World Chess Championship 2004, where he defeated Krishnan Sasikiran in the first round, but was defeated by Rafael Leitão in the second round.^[2]

In October 2004, Kritz represented Germany at the 36th Chess Olympiad.^[4]

In August 2007, Kritz won the New England Masters.^[5]

In September 2008, Kritz tied for first in the 2nd SPICE (Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence) Cup with Pentala Harikrishna, Alexander Onischuk, and Varuzhan Akobian.^[6] He ultimately lost to Harikrishna on tiebreaks.

Kritz has not played professional chess since July 2015, and works as a portfolio manager in the quantitative asset management field in Boston.^[1]

Personal life

Kritz studied mathematics and finance at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, where he was the captain of the chess team.^[1][7] In December 2009, the team dominated the field in a clear first place at the Pan-American Championships in South Padre Island, Texas.^[8] He later got a master's degree in finance from the University of Texas at Dallas, where he also played on their chess team.^[9]

Kritz is married to Grandmaster Nadezhda Kosintseva.