Shcherbakov was born on 14 September 1969 in the small town of
Staraya Russa,
USSR. He first learned to play chess when he was four years old, but did not begin to study the game seriously until 1980, at the age of eleven. From 1981 to 1992, he attended
Alexander Panchenko's chess school, and in 1990, he worked with Panchenko coaching the Russian team in the Soviet youth team championship. Members of this team included
Vladimir Kramnik and
Sergei Rublevsky. Shcherbakov became a Soviet chess master in 1987, an
international master in 1989, and a grandmaster in 1992. In 1990, he shared first place in the
Russian Chess Championship with
Andrei Kharlov, Vladimir Kramnik and
Maxim Sorokin. Also a trainer, among the players he has coached are
Parimarjan Negi,
Kateryna Lagno, Shcherbakov was awarded the title of FIDE Senior Trainer in 2014. He and his wife, Tanya, have two children. ==References==