born 1973 in Krasnodar (Soviet Union), was a member of the Smyslov school and gained the titles of World Youth Champion at U16 and U18 levels. In the PCA-World Championships, he reached the candidates' matches in 1994; in the same year he represented Russia in the Chess Olympiads. Although he has considered himself a professional chess player since 1989, Tiviakov also finished his degree in agricultural economics. Since 1997 Tiviakov has been living in Groningen and he has become a naturalised citizen of the Netherlands. With his new home country he won the title in the European Teams Championships in both 2001 and 2005 and was victorious in the championship of the Netherlands in 2006 and 2007. Tiviakov celebrated his biggest success in 2008, when he won the Individual European Championship.
