Born in Valka (a small Latvian bordertown with Estonia), Neiksans started to play chess relatively late for an eventual grandmaster, being 9 years old upon learning the game.

After graduating from high school, Neiksans essentially left competitive chess, and after receiving an MBA Master's degree in Public Relations, he mostly worked in the field of communications, most notably the Latvian Ministry of Education and Science.

He needed slightly more than one year to get all of the required three grandmaster norms, thus getting the coveted title at the age of 28,[4] which for professional chess players is considered to be quite late.

From 2010 to 2021, Arturs Neikšāns was the head coach at Riga Chess School,[15] on a daily basis working with the most talented Latvian youngsters, among them Nikita Meshkovs, Toms Kantāns, Laura Rogule, Katrina Amerika (Skinke), Elizabete Limanovska, Dmitrijs Tokranovs and others.

[citation needed] He left the job in late October 2021 just before the start of FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss.