The annoying thing is that searches that should bring folks here might instead turn up a link to his useless site, forcing them to waste time.

Picture when he was younger http://www.ajedrezdeataque.com/15%2...

In 1967, the year he received the IM-title, he was placed 2nd behind Spassky but ahead of e.g. Larsen at Hoogovenstoernooi (Wijk aan Zee) ... Final standings: http://www.coruschess.com/tournamen...

The best players of course live a good life, but professionals like e.g. <Anatoly Lutikov <(Luka)>> has a very tough life and their difficulties increases with age. Take a look at this excerpt from the portrait of <Luka>:

"Colleagues, friends, drinking companions. Lengthy drinking sessions. Merriment, exchanges of views, and conversations, the content of which was impossible to remember on the following murky morning. He possessed a rare constitution, and in his younger days he could calmly down a litre of vodka in an evening, or perhaps even more. In such a state he would become heavy, and the evening could end anywhere and at any unearthly hour. An extract from the militia records of those years. 'Citizen A.S. Lutikov in a state of extreme alcoholic intoxication was found dragging on his bag another citizen, who later was found to be M.N. Tal.'.....

..... The last period of his life was a difficult one. Deficiencies, camouflaged in youth by optimism and energy, become more evident in old age. In his case this occurred on the background of a severe, debilitating illness: the sugar content in his blood exceeded all permissible levels. He could no longer drink: his head would begin to swim after the first glass. He could no longer concentrate at the board, and his hands, which previously used to choose the required squares for his pieces, would now dispatch them into premature, cavalier attacks, easily parried by his opponents. Lutikov's attacks on the chess board began more to resemble ventures, the victim of which he became himself."