Zurab Sturua is a Georgian Grandmaster of chess. He was born on May 8, 1959 in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia. He gained recognition in the chess fraternity by becoming Georgia's Junior Champion in 1975 and 1976. He further catapulted his reputation by becoming the World Junior Chess Champion in 1977.
Sturua continued to advance his career in chess, acquiring his International Master title in 1979 and his Grandmaster title in 1985. He has represented Georgia in nine Chess Olympiads, from 1982 to 1998, scooping up an impressive array of medals. Even more astonishing is his honorable contribution to Georgia’s international chess success; his most important role was when he coach the Georgian women's team to victory in the Women's Chess Olympiad two times, in 1992 and 2004.
His most notable achievement as an individual player was winning the World Senior Chess Championship in 2014 and 2015.
Sturua is well-known as a trainer in the chess world. Some of his most talented students include Maia Chiburdanidze, who became the Women's World Chess Champion, and Baadur Jobava, who is a leading Georgian Grandmaster.
On average, Sturua competes in two or three tournaments per year. In 2012, he received the highest chess title from his home country, the title of Honoured Master of Sports of Georgia.