Darmen Sadvakasov is a chess Grandmaster from Kazakhstan who won the 1998 Under 20 World Junior Chess Championship in Calicut, India. Born on April 28, 1979 in Almaty, Sadvakasov soon became one of the strongest junior players in the world.
Sadvakasov has many impressive accolades to his name. In 1994, he became a FIDE Master and a year later in 1995, he achieved the rank of an International Master. The title of FIDE Senior Trainer was given to him in 2017. The pinnacle of his achievement came in 1998 when he clinched the World Junior Chess Championship.
Sadvakasov did not stop there and in 2004, he became the Asian Individual Champion. He has also participated in several FIDE World Championships, such as in 1999, 2000, 2004, and 2006.
He also played an important part in the Chess Olympiads with his team, representing Kazakhstan from 1998 to 2012. He was a part of the team that came fifth in the 2002 event held in Bled. During these years, Sadvakasov was himself a key performer across all the events.
Off the board, Sadvakasov contributes to the world of chess as a notable chess coach and head of a private chess school based out of Almaty, where he has been nurturing future chess Grandmasters. To add to his achievements, Darmen Sadvakasov is also the author of a chess book published in Russian.