In 1987, he won the Romanian Youth Chess Championship in U14 age group.

Christian Gabriel was soon promoted to the group of the best German juniors and seven times (in 1989-1995) representing his country at the World Youth Chess Championship in various age categories.

In 1989, in Aguadilla Christian Gabriel won bronze medal in World Youth Chess Championship in U14 age group, behind only to the later World Chess Champions Veselin Topalov and Vladimir Kramnik.

He was also a two-time medalist in European Youth Chess Championship: silver in 1988 (in Saltsjöbaden) and bronze in 1991 (in Mamaia).

[1] Christian Gabriel successes in international chess tournaments include: Christian Gabriel played for Germany in the Chess Olympiad:[2] Christian Gabriel played for Germany in the European Team Chess Championships:[3] In 1992, Christian Gabriel was awarded the FIDE International Master (IM) title and received the FIDE Grandmaster (GM) title four years later.