Sturua won the Master Open of the Biel Chess Festival in 1991 and 1996. He tied for 1st–5th places with Jaan Ehlvest, Christopher Lutz, Gyula Sax and Aleksander Delchev at Pula 1997. In 1998, he tied for 7th–11th with Giorgi Bagaturov, Ioannis Nikolaidis, and Ashot Nadanian in the zonal tournament in Panormo, Crete, which was the qualifying tournament for the FIDE World Chess Championship 1999.