Background
Beliavsky was born in Lviv, Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics, now Ukraine.
Beliavsky was born in Lviv, Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics, now Ukraine.
Since 1994, he lives in Slovenia and he plays for the Olympic team there. He is noted for his uncompromising style of play and for his classical opening repertoire, including openings such as the Queen"s Gambit, Ruy Lopez, French Defence and the Two Knights Defence. At the second Russia (Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics) vs Rest of the World match in 1984, he was the top scorer for the victorious Soviet team, defeating Yasser Seirawan 2–0 and Bent Larsen 1½–½.
In 2013 he tied for 1st–8th with Alexander Moiseenko, Evgeny Romanov, Hrant Melkumyan, Constantin Lupulescu, Francisco Vallejo Pons, Sergei Movsesian, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Alexey Dreev and Evgeny Alekseev in the European Individual Chess Championship, thus qualifying for the Chess World Cup 2013.
Beliavsky is also a first-class endgame study composer, having published about fifty studies, many together with Leopold Mitrofanov. He is also a chess coach and in 2004 was awarded the title of FIDE Senior Trainer.
In November 2009, he was the oldest person among the world"s top 100 active players, but as of October 2011 he is no longer in the top 100.