At age 12, he attended one of the many chess schools that existed in and around Moscow and he occasionally frequented the legendary Pioneer Palace.

Alexey Suetin attended the same sports club (Trud) and as senior Moscow coach, observed the youngster's progress closely.

A strong entry had included Joel Benjamin, Iván Morovic, Nigel Short and Niaz Murshed.

Impressive was his penultimate round effort against ex-champion Beliavsky who, playing white, quickly mounted a ferocious attack against Black's king position.

Representing the Soviet Union at the Thessaloniki 1984 and Dubai 1986 Chess Olympiads, his performances were assured, scoring close to 67% on each occasion and contributing to two team gold medals.

As a participant of the 1988–89 World Cup series, he competed at Brussels, Belfort, Reykjavík and Rotterdam, finishing an overall 11th from a field of 25 and winning a combined prize fund of $36,584.

In the following game, played during the Brussels leg in 1989, Sokolov sacrifices a piece and then the exchange in order to create a powerful double threat of two passed pawns on one wing and a kingside attack on the other.