Nov-16-03
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| Benzol: Another tragic figure in Soviet Chess. He was a friend of Tal and Alvis Vitolins ( why is there no infomation on this player ) and was a master at blitz play. He took his own life in Yerevan on the 30th of October 1989 by jumping off the city's highest bridge. It seems very strange that Georg Illivitsky, Alvis Vitolins, Karen Grigorian and Lembit Oll all brilliant players, ended their lives in a similar manner by falling from a great height like Nabokov's Luzhin. |
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Nov-16-03
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| Benzol: I must amend my previous post. It was Alvis Vitolins who was Tal's friend and the name should be Grigory Ilivitsky not Georg Illivitsky. Apologies for these oversights. |
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Nov-16-03
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| Chessical: Vitolins is the subject of an informative and moving essay by Sosonko in his book "Russian Silhouttes".
Grigory Ilivitsky came 5th in the extremely strong 22nd Soviet Championship and 10th in the Gothenburg Interzonal. It seems it was his bad luck that as with other strong players such as Aronin, Bannik, Borisenko, Nezhmetdinov never became a GM. They were all frustrated by a lack of opportunity to play in foreign tournaments. The Soviet authorities instead concentrated on the crop of post-war super-talents e.g. Averbakh, Petrosian, Korchnoi, Spassky etc. I believe that Illivitsky finished his days in poverty. |
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| Mar-13-07 |
| argishti: poor guy... |
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Mar-13-07
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| chancho: Here's another talented player who jumped to his death. Lembit Oll |
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| Mar-13-07 |
| TrueFiendish: Vitolins was a truly brilliant player whose abilities received the highest praise from Tal. |
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| Aug-19-08 |
| sleepkid: Chessgames needs to fix their database. There is another Grigorian who plays and apparently his games are being linked here. Either that, or this Grigorian has had a remarkable career ever since his tragic death. |
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| Aug-19-08 |
| Davolni: <sleepkid> thanks for bringing that up to chessgames, but no need to be sarcastic about someone's tragic death!!! Karen Grigorian was a great player who has had nice victories in such a short time of his life. |
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Aug-19-08
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| BishopBerkeley: Several years ago, a fine acquaintance of mine ended his own life. He was a physician who had done some very beneficial work over the course of a long career. (My own life had been enriched by knowing him.) His family, friends, and acquaintances are still bewildered as to why he made this choice. In thinking about him, I've tried to remind myself that suicide need not be the defining event of a person's life. Suicide may occur in a moment of uncharacteristic sadness, depression, or anxiety, perhaps the lowest emotional state a person has experienced in decades. It may be a very unrepresentative act in an otherwise very complex and often positive life. I know almost nothing about GM Grigorian, Lembit Oll , or some other great Chessplayers who have ended their own lives, but I'm glad we have their games and other stories about them that can remind us that their lives were much, much bigger than the way they chose to leave them. If you have had any friend or loved one who has ended their own life, perhaps you too have considered the vastness of their life compared with the brief, sad event of their death. I hope we will always remember the former when we consider the latter. Best wishes to all....
 Bishop Berkeley
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Sep-01-08
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| JohnBoy: If Grigorian died in 1989, the games under his name from then to 2007 must be from someone else. This needs to be corrected. |
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Sep-07-08
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| artyom2008: happy bday |
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| Sep-11-08 |
| maxi: Nobody wins a chess game by committing suicide. |
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Sep-11-08
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| Phony Benoni: Most of the games after 1989 can be credited to <Karen Grigoryan>, an IM from Turkmenistan born in 1954. See http://ratings.fide.com/card.phtml?.... He does not appear to have an entry in the chessgames.com database as yet. The one exception would be the very last game from the World U-12 in 2007; that must be somebody else. I've sent in a correction. |
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| Sep-11-08 |
| Avarus: <BishopBerkeley> Fine words there, fine words. |
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Oct-30-08
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| gambitfan: I am astounded at the not so negligeable number of chess players whosse life ends tragically (suicide, crime, madness,...) |
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| Apr-17-09 |
| stanleys: A photo of him :
http://www.e3e5.com/upload/articles... |
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