in Szeged, debuting for Russia at the Chess Olympiad in Moscow, scoring 5.5/8 on second reserve board, and gaining his three Grandmaster norms. Svidler also won the Linares Anibal Open, running alongside the invitational event and tied for first with four other players at the St Petersberg Chigorin Memorial. The short-lived Professional Chess Association in October 1994 ranked him world number 165, rated 2542. In January 1995 Svidler broke into the top 100 players rated by Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE) at number 86 with a rating of 2585. He started with 0/3 at the Vidra Memorial in Haifa but recovered to 6/11 for tied fourth, shared second with 7/9 in April's New York Open, then won the St Petersburg Championship in April. At the Novgorod Open in May–June he scored 6/9 for eighth place on tiebreak. He tied for first place with three players at Novosibirsk. A last round victory against Alexander Morozevich secured his second consecutive Russian Championship on tiebreak from five players with 7.5/11. Svidler rounded off his year placing fourth with 6.5/11 at the strong Groningen Invitational. His success pushed him to 33rd in the world rankings and third strongest junior and 2635 rating. In 1996, Svidler scored 2.5/5 for fourth place at the Kloosters event in Ter Apel, failed to qualify for the quarter finals of the PCA Rapidplay in April, came fourth with 6.5/11 at Yerevan in May and fifth on tiebreaks with 3.5/7 at Vidra Memorial. At the Tal Blitz Memorial just before the Olympiad, he was mid-table with 9.5/18. His 8.5/11 contribution, including wins in his first four games for Russia, helped win team gold as well as individual bronze on board four at the 32nd Chess Olympiad, but at Fontys Tilburg a couple of losses saw him drop to tenth place on tiebreak with 4.5/11. At Groningen in November, he scored 5.5/11 for seventh place. Svidler won the Torshavn Open in February 1997, half a point ahead of Ivan Sokolov with 7.5/9 and in March was sixth on tiebreak with Vladimir Epishin and Valery Loginov scoring 5.5/9 in the St Petersburg Championship, before slipping to eighth place with 5/11 at a closed event in the same city. He came back with team silver and board three bronze medals at the European Team Championships, England victorious on tiebreaks. His form continued into the Russian Championship (held as a knockout format) where he