Suat Atalık
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Suat Atalik is a Grandmaster of chess. He is currently ranked number 82 in the world by FIDE, the Fédération Internationale des Échecs (World Chess Federation).
He was born in Turkey in 1964, and represented Turkey in the World Junior Championship in 1983 and was their top board for several Chess Olympiads. He is the best player ever to come out of this country.
Despite this, and his current residence in Istanbul, he had disputes with chess organizers in his country, so he declared himself to be a resident of Bosnia and Herzegovina, his ancestral home.
During the 2000 World Chess Olympiad in Istanbul, Atalik insisted on playing for Bosnia rather than Turkey. As a result, the organizers of the Olympiad banned him from the competition.
After the selection of the new national chess federation, he has returned to play under the Turkish national team again.
On November 11, 2005 he married 22-year-old woman grandmaster Ekaterina Polovnikova from Russia. Former world championship challenger Nigel Short, who also played in the World Junior Championship in 1983, was his best man.
Since 1994, Suat Atalik is the only GM from Turkey.
