Zviagintsev started playing chess competitively at a young age at the Moscow Chess School of Olympic Reserve. Shortly after, he came into limelight by becoming one of the youngest Candidate Masters of Sport in USSR and then - one of the Youngerst Masters of Sport (National Masters)Zvjanginsev won the
European under-16 championship in 1992. Two years later, he tied for first place in the
Reykjavik Open with
Hannes Stefánsson and
Evgeny Pigusov. In 1997, at the
FIDE World Championship, which took place in
Groningen, he single-handedly knocked out most of the U.S. contingent. In consecutive rounds, he defeated
Joel Benjamin,
Gregory Kaidanov and
Yasser Seirawan, before losing to fellow Russian GM
Alexey Dreev in round 4. In the same year, Zvjanginsev won the
Vidmar Memorial in
Portorož. In 2000, he was first at
Essen (ahead of Dreev and
Klaus Bischoff) and triumphed there again in 2002 (this time ahead of
Leko). At the
Mainz Chess Classic in 2003, he finished joint second behind
Levon Aronian, repeating his placing the following year. At the
Russian Championships of 2005, he took 3rd place at the
Kazan qualifier and finished joint 4th at the Superfinal. In 2006, he tied for 2nd at the Poikovsky
Karpov Tournament, behind
Alexei Shirov. In 2002, Zvjanginsev took part in the
Russia vs Rest of the World match, held in Moscow. He won the Russian Cup knockout tournament in 2011 by beating
Denis Khismatullin in the final. In the 2013
Chigorin Memorial in
Saint Petersburg, Zvjanginsev tied for 1st–11th with
Pavel Eljanov,
Dmitry Kokarev,
Maxim Matlakov,
Alexander Areshchenko,
Denis Khismatullin,
Oleg Korneev,
Dragan Šolak,
Sanan Sjugirov,
Ivan Bukavshin and
Ildar Khairullin. In the 2016 Aeroflot Open, he tied 3rd-10th with
Vladimir Fedoseev,
Gata Kamsky,
Daniil Dubov,
Mateusz Bartel,
Sanan Sjugirov,
Maxim Matlakov, and
Mikhail Kobalia. In team competitions, he took team and individual silver medals at the 1997
European Team Chess Championship. At the
1994 Chess Olympiad, while still only an
International Master, he helped the Russian second team obtain a team bronze medal. In the 1997
World Team Chess Championship Zvjanginsev won two gold medals, team and individual playing second reserve board. With the main Russian team, in 1998 and 2004, he contributed respectively to team gold and team silver medals at the Chess Olympiad. ==Playing style==