Luca Shytaj
Albanian-Italian chess grandmaster and virologist (born 1986)
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Iart Luca Shytaj (born 3 February 1986) is an Albanian and Italian chess grandmaster and virologist.
3 February 1986 (age 40)
Luca Shytaj, Mitropa Cup 2019 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | Iart Luca Shytaj 3 February 1986 (age 40) Tirana, Albania |
| Chess career | |
| Country | |
| Title | Grandmaster (2018) |
| FIDE rating | 2425 (March 2026) |
| Peak rating | 2507 (September 2011) |
Chess career
Born on 3 February 1986, Shytaj won the Albanian Chess Championship in 2003. He earned his international master (IM) title in 2006, and won the Italian Rapid Chess Championship in 2009.[1] He achieved his first grandmaster (GM) norm at the Arctic Chess Challenge in August 2009, his second during the 2016/17 Chess Bundesliga season, and his third at the Mulhouse Festival in July 2018. He was awarded the title in October 2018.[2] He is the 14th Italian player to achieve the title of GM.[3][4]
Shytaj represented Albania at the 36th and 37th Chess Olympiads, and Italy at the 38th Chess Olympiad.[5]
Scientific career
Shytaj received a bachelor's degree in biology from the Sapienza University of Rome, and a master's degree in genetics and molecular biology from the same university.[1] His Ph.D. thesis, which resulted in a functional cure of AIDS in macaques,[6] was named as one of the three best presentations at HIV Dart 2012, an international conference on drug development processes in antiretroviral research.[7] As of 2017, Shytaj works at Heidelberg University.[8]
Personal life
Shytaj was born in Tirana. He moved to Italy with his parents at age six, and he became an Italian citizen in 2007.[1] He married German GM Elisabeth Pähtz in September 2015.[9] They separated in 2018.