Vladimir Okhotnik was born on February 28, 1950 in Kiev. He learned to play chess at the age of 6 and began his serious study of the game at the age of 11.He first attended the classes of the Kiev master Naum Levin held at the Kiev House of Pioneers. In 1962 he studied under the Dnepropetrovsk master Eduard Bakmatov. In 1965 & 66 his father's work was in East Germany where he trained under International Master Viktor Zhelyandinov. Returning to the USSR in 1967 he entered the university. During his studies, he played a number of team tournaments as well as becoming the Ukrainian student champion. After graduating from Dnepropetrovsk University with a degree as a mechanical engineer with a specialty in rocket engines, Vladimir chose the career of a professional chess player! From that time till 1983 he worked at the Dnepropetrovsk University as a professor of sports where a chess specialization was experimentally opened. In 1976 he became a national master. In 1979 he won the Ukrainian Championship but in 1980 only finishing in third place. In 1981, as a member of the Ukrainian National Team, he played in Moscow at the USSR Team Championship. Having moved to Transcarpathia in 1983, Vladimir, having taken part in an international tournament for the first time, won the Hungarian Open Championship in Eger in 1984 (in 2000 in Zalakaros he repeated this success ), and in 1987 he became an International Master. In 1988, for the first time playing in the West, in France, Vladimir won the famous open tournament Cappelle la Grand (during his career, Vladimir either won or placed as a prize winner in more than 100 international events held in Europe) and two years later he received an invitation to play in the French team championship. In 2006, Vladimir moved to the French Chess Federation. At the FIDE congress (Torino, Italy), the French Chess Federation submits documents for conferring the title of Grandmaster to Vladimir, but due to a referee's error, the title was not awarded . Already playing under the French flag Vladimir was 2nd at the European Senior Championship held in Courmayer, Italy in 2011. In addition to this victory he won the World Senior Championship in 2011 held in Opatija, Croatia, thereby earning the title of International Grandmaster. In 2015 he repeated as World Senior Champion (Acque- Terme, Italy), but this time in the 65+ age category. Parallel with participation in tournaments Vladimir Okhotnik has devoted a lot of time to coaching. In 1981 he was the coach of World Champion Maya Chiburdanidze in her match against Nana Alexandria. In this match Chiburdanidze defended her title. In the 80s he was the coach of the Ukraine's youth and student national teams. In the mid-90s he coached the Slovak national team at the World Championship for juniors under 20 (1995, Halle, Germany) where Eva Repkova won a silver medal. Also in the 90s he consulted with a young Peter Leko, helped Etienne Bacrot in 1996 (Balatonberen , Hungary) when he first played in a closes grandmaster tournament. Dozens of his students from Ukraine, Slovakia, Hungary and France and other nations have earned the FM, IM and GM titles. For these efforts and his many years of work to popularize chess, Vladimir was awarded the FIDE Veteran Prize in 2019. He has co-authored two prior books on opening theory: Carpathian Warrior Vol.1, 2004 and Carpathian Warrior Vol.2, 2008.
