chess professional but as a businessman working in Russia. He quit his professional chess career in 2006 to pursue a career in investment banking in Russia. After his professional playing career, he turned to business in 2006 and made use of his connections to Russia which he found useful. At first, he worked as chairman of the mergers and acquisitions division of the European Business Associate. He quickly climbed up the ladder and is currently the CEO of RGG Capital, a company that specializes in Mergers and Acquisitions. In fact, he founded his mergers and acquisitions consultancy RGG (Russia goes global) which specialized in buying and selling assets in Russia. He also studied at Skolkovo management school in Moscow. He advised several large Russian companies in the oil, electricity, and pharmaceuticals sectors and acted as a non-executive director for Evropeyskaya Elektrotekhnica, a Russian electronics company. In 2020, he became a non-executive director and member of the supervisory board of the Russian bank Sovcombank. For that reason, the USA added him in March 2022 to the list of sanctioned people over the war in Ukraine. The same day Anatoly Karpov was also added to the US sanctions list with Lautier. French business newspaper Les Echos called the US sanctioning Lautier 'bizarre' and noted him having already resigned from his position in the bank on 25 February, the day after the bank itself was placed on the sanctions list. Notable games Garry Kasparov vs Joel Lautier, Mar-13, Linares 1994, round 13, Italian Game: Classical Variation, Giuoco Pianissimo, 0-1. Joel Lautier vs Peter Leko, Feb-10 , Ubeda 1997, round 5, Sicilian Defense: Scheveningen. Fianchetto Variation (B80), 1-0. Veselin Topalov vs Joel Lautier, Oct-30, Tilburg Fontys 1998, round 7, Sicilian Defense: Lasker-Pelikan. Sveshnikov Variation Novosibirsk Variation, 0-1. Joel Lautier vs Anatoly Karpov, Apr-14, Dortmund 1993, round 4, English Opening: King's English. Four Knights Variation Fianchetto Lines, 1-0. Joel Lautier vs Viswanathan Anand, Mar-01, Linares 1994, round 5, Gruenfeld Defense: Exchange. Modern Exchange Variation, 1-0. Joel Lautier vs Ivan Sokolov, Mar-01, Linares 1995, round 1, Catalan Opening: General, 1-0. Joel Lautier vs Victor Bologan, Mar-11, Enghien-les-Bains 3rd 1999, round 8, Caro-Kann Defense: Accelerated Panov Attack. Modern Variation, 1-0. References External links 1973 births Living people Chess grandmasters French chess players Canadian chess players French people of Japanese descent World Youth Chess Champions World Junior Chess Champions Chess Olympiad competitors French people of Canadian descent Sportspeople