Vasily Papin is a Russian chess grandmaster born on March 11, 1978 in Perm, Russia. He was conferred his grandmaster title in 2007. Before he began to play chess, he played in guitar rock bands and worked as an engineer.
Papin's most notable achievements in chess include winning the Chigorin Memorial in St. Petersburg in 2008 and coming in second two years later. He won the St. Petersburg Rapid Chess Championship in 2010 and the Volga Cup Blitz in 2011, among others.
In addition to his playing career, Vasily Papin also works as a chess trainer, including for the Russian national team. He is considered an excellent theoretician and analyzer and posts on his blog about the game. His chess style is known for being aggressive and sacrificial.
Papin is also recognized as a chess author. His book "The Complete Ragozin" was published in 2017 by Thinkers Publishing, and is about the Ragozin Defence in chess. He has been working on new chess books and plans to write about the Bogo-Indian Defence, among other topics.