 A winner of the Kazakhstani Youth Championship in 1985, he went on to represent Kazakhstan at the 1992 Chess Olympiad in Manila and was twice the national champion.International Master and Grandmaster titles were awarded to him in 1993 and 1996 respectively.Now living in Cannes, Tkachiev has taken French citizenship and won the 2006 French Chess Championship, held at Besançon, August 14–26.