Hristos Banikas
Encyclopedia
Hristodoulos Banikas (born May 20, 1978) is a distinguished Greek chess
player. He is a resident of Salonica.
He won eight Greek Championships
from 2000 through 2005 and from 2008 to 2009.
Ranked number 196 in the world, his July 2009 FIDE Elo rating
is 2598, the highest he has yet achieved. Banikas has received the Grandmaster title from FIDE. He is the reigning Greek champion, although he is only the fourth-highest rated Greek player.
In 2001 he lost a Man vs. Machine match against Deep Junior
.
against 1.e4. With the white pieces he prefers 1.d4, but occasionally plays 1. Nf3 or 1.c4.
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
player. He is a resident of Salonica.
Achievements in chess
Banikas won the 1990 Greek U-12 championship, the 1993 Greek U-16 championship, and the 1996 Greek U-20 championship.He won eight Greek Championships
Greek Chess Championship
The Greek Chess Championship is normally played the year after the title year. For example, the 24th championship was played in 1975....
from 2000 through 2005 and from 2008 to 2009.
Ranked number 196 in the world, his July 2009 FIDE Elo rating
Elo rating system
The Elo rating system is a method for calculating the relative skill levels of players in two-player games such as chess. It is named after its creator Arpad Elo, a Hungarian-born American physics professor....
is 2598, the highest he has yet achieved. Banikas has received the Grandmaster title from FIDE. He is the reigning Greek champion, although he is only the fourth-highest rated Greek player.
In 2001 he lost a Man vs. Machine match against Deep Junior
Deep Junior
Junior is a computer chess program authored by the Israeli programmers Amir Ban and Shay Bushinsky. Grandmaster Boris Alterman assisted, in particular with the opening book...
.
Chess style
Banikas is well known for entering into tactical complications. With the black pieces he usually plays the Sicilian DefenceSicilian Defence
The Sicilian Defence is a chess opening that begins with the moves:The Sicilian is the most popular and best-scoring response to White's first move 1.e4...
against 1.e4. With the white pieces he prefers 1.d4, but occasionally plays 1. Nf3 or 1.c4.