Born in
Kharkiv,
Ukrainian SSR, as a youth he frequently succeeded in tournaments and climbed rapidly through the junior rankings to participate at the very highest level. At
Skien in 1979, he entered the
World Junior Championship and finished runner-up to
Yasser Seirawan. A short while later (January 1980), he played in the
European Junior Championship at
Groningen and won the event (ahead of
Zurab Azmaiparashvili). These prestigious successes soon led him to an
International Master title and more importantly, laid the foundation stones for his continued development over the next few years. There were many tournament victories, either outright or shared, including
Irkutsk 1980,
Copenhagen 1984 (and 1986 with
Vasily Smyslov),
Stary Smokovec 1984,
Polanica-Zdrój (
Rubinstein Memorial) 1988 (with
Alexander Goldin),
Prague 1989 and
Marseille 1990 (with
Evgeny Bareev). Also of note were the shared second places achieved at
Cienfuegos (
Capablanca Memorial) 1981 and
Reggio Emilia 1986/7. The pinnacle of his playing career undoubtedly occurred in 1985, when he became a
Grandmaster, won the
Soviet Championship (jointly with
Viktor Gavrikov and
Mikhail Gurevich) and scored well in the Gammarth (
Tunisia)
Interzonal for a place in the
Montpellier Candidates Tournament. Unfortunately, his World Championship Candidacy went no further, as he could only manage a mid-table finish. He was however a double gold medal winner in the same year, taking team and individual honours at the inaugural World Team Championship, held in
Luzern, where he represented the USSR. At another first time event, the World Blitz Championship held in
Saint John 1988, he finished joint third (with
Kiril Georgiev, after
Mikhail Tal and
Rafael Vaganian). Into the 1990s, Chernin was still performing well in international competition; clear first at
Dortmund 1990 (ahead of
Boris Gelfand), and shared first/second at Dortmund 1991 (
Igor Stohl won on tie-break) with further successes to follow at
Buenos Aires (Najdorf Memorial) 1992,
Gothenburg 1996 and
Aubervilliers 1996 (the latter, a rapid event). Chernin relocated to
Budapest in 1992 and became a Hungarian national a year later. He has represented his adopted country many times; for instance at the
Olympiads of 1994 and 1996, but also at three
European Team Chess Championships, the latest being in 1999, when he won a team silver medal. ==Present activities==