Andrei Kharlov was a Russian Grandmaster in chess, born on November 20, 1968 in Tselinograd, Kazakh SSR, Soviet Union. He became an International Master in 1991 and then a Grandmaster in 1992. He competed in several major chess tournaments throughout his life and achieved considerable success.
Early in his career, Kharlov tied for first place in the Klaipėda International Tournament in 1991. He won the Russian Championship in 1999. In 2001, he came in first at the Aeroflot Open, which was held in Moscow. In the following years, he participated in several other significant competitions, including the FIDE World Chess Championships.
Kharlov tied for first with other players at the Cappelle-la-Grande Open in 2003 and at the Russian Chess Championship in 2004. In 2004, his career reached its peak when he entered the Semi-Finals of the FIDE World Chess Championship, held in Tripoli, Libya.
Despite his success as a chess player, Kharlov eventually moved on to umpiring chess. He served as a FIDE Arbiter and was an International Arbiter for FIDE World Chess Championships as well as for the 2012 Women's World Chess Championship in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia.