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Leonid Yurtaev

Number of games in database: 724
Years covered: 1973 to 2010
Last FIDE rating: 2472
Highest rating achieved in database: 2543
Overall record: +268 -200 =255 (54.7%)*
   * Overall winning percentage = (wins+draws/2) / total games in the database. 1 exhibition game, blitz/rapid, odds game, etc. is excluded from this statistic.

MOST PLAYED OPENINGS
With the White pieces:
 Sicilian (117) 
    B33 B93 B30 B95 B43
 French Defense (41) 
    C18 C07 C11 C10 C05
 Ruy Lopez (40) 
    C92 C77 C78 C82 C96
 King's Indian Attack (31) 
    A07
 Sicilian Najdorf (23) 
    B93 B95 B90 B92 B97
 Caro-Kann (16) 
    B17 B13 B14 B18
With the Black pieces:
 King's Indian (130) 
    E92 E94 E67 E81 E90
 Sicilian (51) 
    B33 B70 B31 B76 B72
 Ruy Lopez (27) 
    C84 C69 C89 C78 C91
 Sicilian Dragon (21) 
    B76 B70 B39 B72 B78
 Robatsch (18) 
    B06
 Ruy Lopez, Closed (18) 
    C84 C89 C91 C96 C92
Repertoire Explorer

NOTABLE GAMES: [what is this?]
   Azmaiparashvili vs Yurtaev, 1983 0-1
   K Grigorian vs Yurtaev, 1979 1/2-1/2
   Kasparov vs Yurtaev, 1975 0-1
   Yurtaev vs Gulko, 1994 1-0
   T Kosintseva vs Yurtaev, 2002 0-1
   Psakhis vs Yurtaev, 1980 0-1
   Yurtaev vs G Timoscenko, 1980 1/2-1/2
   Yurtaev vs S Matveeva, 1987 1-0
   Yurtaev vs Dolmatov, 1983 1-0
   R Wieser vs Yurtaev, 1991 0-1

NOTABLE TOURNAMENTS: [what is this?]
   USSR Army Championship (1988)
   Frunze (1985)
   Oberwart Open (1991)
   Frunze (1987)
   Bishkek Zonal (1993)
   Goodricke Open (2000)
   Soviet Army Championship (1987)
   Sochi (1997)
   Seversk (1997)
   Frunze (1983)
   URS-ch sf Volgodonsk (1983)
   Pula Open (1990)
   Manila Olympiad (1992)
   GMA World Cup Open (1989)
   Asian Championship (2001)

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LEONID YURTAEV
(born Apr-03-1959, died Jun-02-2011, 52 years old) Kyrgyzstan

[what is this?]

GM (1986) Leonid Nikolayevich Yurtaev defeated many strong players like Tal, Ivanchuk, Morozevich, (the young) Kasparov, and Aronian. He played in 6 Olympiads and was a Reserve player in another Olympiad, but did not play. He was the first GM from Kyrgyzstan.

Wikipedia article: Leonid Yurtaev

Last updated: 2019-11-17 20:32:43

Try our new games table.

 page 1 of 29; games 1-25 of 724  PGN Download
Game  ResultMoves YearEvent/LocaleOpening
1. Yurtaev vs E Kengis  1-0271973URS-chT JuniorsB90 Sicilian, Najdorf
2. Yurtaev vs Y Chernov  1-0291975Kyrgyzstani ChampionshipC35 King's Gambit Accepted, Cunningham
3. Yurtaev vs S Pekker  1-0321975USSR Junior ChampionshipC34 King's Gambit Accepted
4. Yermolinsky vs Yurtaev  0-1371975USSR Junior ChampionshipB31 Sicilian, Rossolimo Variation
5. Yurtaev vs Dvoirys  ½-½361975USSR Junior ChampionshipB86 Sicilian, Fischer-Sozin Attack
6. Kasparov vs Yurtaev 0-1441975USSR Junior ChampionshipB39 Sicilian, Accelerated Fianchetto, Breyer Variation
7. Sveshnikov vs Yurtaev 1-043197513th Soviet Team Championship qual-2B22 Sicilian, Alapin
8. Yurtaev vs I Balliev  1-049197513th Soviet Team Championship qual-2A07 King's Indian Attack
9. A Tsamriuk vs Yurtaev  ½-½44197513th Soviet Team Championship qual-2A31 English, Symmetrical, Benoni Formation
10. Y M Nikitin vs Yurtaev  1-036197513th Soviet Team Championship Final-CA67 Benoni, Taimanov Variation
11. V Vorotnikov vs Yurtaev 0-136197513th Soviet Team Championship qual-2B06 Robatsch
12. Yurtaev vs S Begun  1-053197513th Soviet Team Championship qual-2A07 King's Indian Attack
13. V Mordvintsev vs Yurtaev  0-160197513th Soviet Team Championship Final-CA10 English
14. Yurtaev vs Lputian  ½-½24197513th Soviet Team Championship Final-CC00 French Defense
15. A Yusupov vs Yurtaev 1-0301976Moscow Junior ChampionshipB33 Sicilian
16. Yurtaev vs Kasparov 0-1461976USSR Junior ChampionshipB22 Sicilian, Alapin
17. Yurtaev vs A Kochyev  0-16919769th Soviet Team CupB89 Sicilian
18. Yurtaev vs A Shurs  1-05319769th Soviet Team CupB77 Sicilian, Dragon, Yugoslav Attack
19. Lutikov vs Yurtaev  0-1341977USSR Championship qualificationA68 Benoni, Four Pawns Attack
20. S Yuferov vs Yurtaev  1-0311977USSR Championship qualificationA45 Queen's Pawn Game
21. Kasparov vs Yurtaev 1-0301977URSA65 Benoni, 6.e4
22. Yurtaev vs V Chekhov  1-0431977USSR Championship qualificationA07 King's Indian Attack
23. Yurtaev vs S Zhukhovitsky  1-0291977USSR Championship qualificationA06 Reti Opening
24. Lutikov vs Yurtaev 0-1341977USSR Championship qualificationA68 Benoni, Four Pawns Attack
25. V Osnos vs Yurtaev  ½-½351977USSR Championship qualificationA04 Reti Opening
 page 1 of 29; games 1-25 of 724  PGN Download
  REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2) | Yurtaev wins | Yurtaev loses  

Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 1 OF 2 ·  Later Kibitzing>
Sep-19-03  Tecumseh: "One of the hardest of King's Indian Hard men."

-Graham Burgess

Feb-18-04  WMD: Graham Burgess writing in Kingpin magazine, No. 25, Winter 1995:

Our final theme is a striking one: the sacrifice of a queen for two minor pieces, a bit of centralisation and...well, not much else, it seems. Yurtaev is a major protagonist here; it seems he is only happy once he is a queen down. Those have memorised Informator 43 will recall the following game:Huzman vs Yurtaev, 1987

Well, he's been at it again; look at this one: A Graf vs Yurtaev, 1993

The world has been understandably slow to recognise the merits of these queen sacrifice ideas. [...]

I once heard a rumour that Kasparov offered Yurtaev a lot of money for his opening files. The following game suggests that Gazza has more than a passing interest in his work:

Kramnik vs Kasparov, 1994

Of course anything can happen in a five-minute game, but later GM encounters showed that Black's idea had a lot going for it.

[Mention is made of the games Gulko vs Van Wely, 1994 and L B Hansen vs Van der Wiel, 1995 ]

Jun-06-05  chesswonders: <WMD>
<I once heard a rumour that Kasparov offered Yurtaev a lot of money for his opening files. The following game suggests that Gazza has more than a passing interest in his work:

Kramnik vs Kasparov, 1994 >
Wow, what a game...seeing the queen sac in this game, it certainly occurs Gazza is atleast influenced by Yurtaev's queen sac ideas in King's Indian!

Jun-06-05
Premium Chessgames Member
  WTHarvey: Here are some puzzles from Leonid's games: http://www.wtharvey.com/yurt.html
Jul-26-05  Manus: There's been a question asked whether chess should be called art, science or sports. Lasker said once that it was before anything else a struggle, but with some players like Leonid Yurtaev it becomes an adventure, both to players and kibitzers.
May-01-06  BIDMONFA: Leonid Yurtaev

YURTAEV, Leonid
http://www.bidmonfa.com/yurtaev_leo...
_

May-11-07  ganstaman: So, it's been a while since this topic seems to have been visited. Is there a new word on the soundness of this man's Q for 2 minors exchange/sac? Has anyone tried it for themselves?
May-01-09  wordfunph: <WMD: I once heard a rumour that Kasparov offered Yurtaev a lot of money for his opening files.> How true?

Happy Birthday GM Yurtaev!

May-01-09  whiteshark: Picture: http://www.newinchess.com/Common/Im...
May-01-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  Open Defence: he looks a bit like James T Kirk

I was born in his time and in Russia... well..I would pay him a visit :)

May-01-09  whiteshark: <Open Defence..I was born in his time..> He's celebrating his 50th birthday today, and I'm a bit confused now regarding you age <Old Defence> ... :D
May-01-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  Open Defence: well he is a generation older :) still he's got the looks ;-p
Sep-20-09  Albertan: Wow Leonid Yurtaev has quite a record against some of top players in chess.According to my chessbase database he has 3.5/4 points against Gulko in their games. Playing white he has wins against Romaninshin, Tal, Beliavsky, Ehlvest,Ivanchuk,Shabalov, and Khalifman.

Playing black he has wins against Kasparov (U18 USSR Champ),Gulko,Tukmakov,Curt Hansen,Hjartarson, and Malaniuk. GM Yurtaev, take a bow on your "day" at CG!!

Sep-20-09  WhiteRook48: this guy actually beat Beliavsky (!!)
May-01-10  wordfunph: GM Leonid Yurtaev's deserves a better bio than "(born May-01-1959) Kyrgyzstan"..

happy birthday GM Yurtaev!

Jun-05-11  polarmis: Yurtaev passed away in the last few days.

It's noted at Chess-News that in his youth his talent was compared to that of a young David Bronstein: http://chess-news.ru/node/2693

Kazakhstan GM Murtas Kazhgaleev says he was a guru for generations of players, and would freely share his opening ideas. Kazhgaleev tells a story of how in 1994 Vlad Tkachiev (one of Yurtaev's students) phoned to say that Yurtaev "had refuted the Ruy Lopez"! He'd come up with what's now known as the Arkhangelsk Defence or sometimes the Tkachiev-Malaniuk-Onischuk Variation - though Tkachiev campaigned to have it named after Yurtaev. http://chess-news.ru/node/2696

RIP

Jun-05-11  wordfunph: sad news, rest in peace GM Yurtaev..
Jun-08-11  stanleys: A very creative player with a lot of fresh ideas in the openings - especially the King's Indian defence

RIP GM Yurtaev

Jun-09-11  Eastfrisian: R.I.P.
Jun-26-11  wordfunph: Leonid Yurtaev (1959-2011) by Bobby Ang..

<Yurtaev is not very well known since he does not regularly compete in international chess tournaments. In fact, he does not even have an entry in Wikipedia. This column serves as my tribute to the memory of someone who loved chess, and was bubbling over with attacking ideas.

Leonid Yurtaev loves to do research on opening lines. Kazakh GM Murtas Kazhgaleyev says he was a guru for generations of players, and would freely share his opening ideas. Kazhgaleyev tells a story of how in 1994 Vladislav Tkachiev (one of Yurtaev’s students and the 2007 European Champion) phoned to say that Yurtaev "had refuted the Ruy Lopez"! He’d come up with some deep research that showed that after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O b5 6.Bb3 Bc5 Black gets good play. Tkachiev and Onischuk became its most ardent supporters and even Alexei Shirov took it up with great success. Later, when Shirov did a DVD on this line he called it the "Spanish Tkachiev." Tkachiev himself campaigned that it would be more appropriate if we called it the "Spanish Yurtaev.">

http://www.bworld.com.ph/content.ph...-(1959-2011)&id=33705

Sep-12-11  stanleys: Tribute to Yurtaev by his pupils and friends (in Russian,with many interesting examples from Yurtaev's games)

GM Andrei Kovalev: http://chess-news.ru/node/2712

GM Murtas Kazhgaleev:http://chess-news.ru/node/2696

GM Vladislav Tkachiev:http://chess-news.ru/node/2729

FM Sergei Kim:http://chess-news.ru/node/2882

GM Darmen Sadvakasov: http://gmschool.kz/component/k2/ite...

Sep-27-11  DrMAL: Thanx <SimonWebbsTiger> for referring me to this page and the Feb-18-04 post, you are very helpful! :-)
Sep-27-11  SimonWebbsTiger: you're welcome.

Another famous KID Q for 2 bits sac is from

Spassky vs Bronstein, 1956

The variation is pretty much busted today but trust the imaginative David Bronstein to try it out!

Sep-27-11  whiteshark: --> Game Collection: 53_Middlegames_2 minor pieces for a Queen
Sep-27-11  DrMAL: Thanx gents it's just the kind of topic I've been looking for to further improve my attacking abilities, cheers.
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