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Stefan Levitsky
  
Number of games in database: 87
Years covered: 1895 to 1914

Overall record: +29 -45 =12 (40.7%)*
   * 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:
 Giuoco Piano (6) 
    C50
 Sicilian (5) 
    B23 B22 B58 B44
 Queen's Pawn Game (5) 
    D00 A45
 French Defense (5) 
    C01 C10 C02 C11
 Ruy Lopez (4) 
    C65 C66 C70
With the Black pieces:
 Queen's Pawn Game (5) 
    D02 D04 D00
 Vienna Opening (4) 
    C27 C26 C25
 Four Knights (4) 
    C49 C48
Repertoire Explorer

NOTABLE GAMES: [what is this?]
   S Levitsky vs A Rabinovich, 1912 1-0
   S Levitsky vs Alekhine, 1913 1-0
   Alekhine vs S Levitsky, 1912 0-1
   S Levitsky vs G Helbach, 1906 1-0
   S Levitsky vs Rubinstein, 1912 1/2-1/2
   S Levitsky vs S Izbinsky, 1906 1-0
   S Levitsky vs M Lowcki, 1912 1-0
   Alekhine vs S Levitsky, 1913 0-1
   S Levitsky vs Alekhine, 1913 1-0

NOTABLE TOURNAMENTS: [what is this?]
   Alekhine - Levitsky (1913)
   Vilnius All-Russian Masters (1912)
   4th All Russian Tournament (1906)
   18th DSB Kongress (1912)

GAME COLLECTIONS: [what is this?]
   Vilnius 1912 (All-Russian Masters) by Phony Benoni


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STEFAN LEVITSKY
(born Apr-25-1876, died Mar-21-1924, 47 years old) Russia

[what is this?]
Stepan Mikhailovich Levitsky was born in Serpukhov, Russia. A contemporary of Mikhail Chigorin, he was Russian champion in 1911.

He played matches against Semion Alapin (Saint Petersburg, 1907) 1 which he lost 5-0 and against Alexander Alekhine (Alekhine - Levitsky (1913) - Saint Petersburg, 1913) which he lost 3-7 2.

He passed away in Glubokaya in 1924.

...

1. Di Felice, "Chess Results, 1901-1920", page 100.

2. Di Felice, "Chess Results, 1901-1920", page 205.

Wikipedia article: Stepan Levitsky


Try our new games table.

 page 1 of 4; games 1-25 of 90  PGN Download
Game  ResultMoves YearEvent/LocaleOpening
1. S Levitsky vs Schiffers  0-1281895MatchC22 Center Game
2. Steinitz vs S Levitsky 0-1281896Moscow sim2D00 Queen's Pawn Game
3. S Levitsky vs Steinitz 0-1211896Moscow exhC46 Three Knights
4. Lasker vs S Levitsky 1-0481896SimulC67 Ruy Lopez
5. S Levitsky vs B Yankovich  0-1411899Ch RussiaC29 Vienna Gambit
6. V N Kulomzin vs S Levitsky  1-0471899Ch RussiaC41 Philidor Defense
7. V Bojarkov vs S Levitsky  0-1411899Ch RussiaD10 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav
8. G Helbach vs S Levitsky  0-1181899All Russian-ch01 MastersC49 Four Knights
9. S Levitsky vs V N Kulomzin  0-1411899MatchC43 Petrov, Modern Attack
10. S Levitsky vs Chigorin 0-14218991st All-Russian-ch MajorC66 Ruy Lopez
11. S Levitsky vs B Yankovich 0-14318991st All-Russian-ch MajorC29 Vienna Gambit
12. S Levitsky vs Schiffers  ½-½2618991st All-Russian-ch MajorC65 Ruy Lopez, Berlin Defense
13. S Levitsky vs F Duz-Khotimirsky 1-03219033rd Russian National TournamentB23 Sicilian, Closed
14. S Levitsky vs Salwe  1-04519033rd Russian National TournamentC30 King's Gambit Declined
15. S Izbinsky vs S Levitsky  1-06319033rd Russian National TournamentC41 Philidor Defense
16. S Levitsky vs Schiffers  1-05319033rd Russian National TournamentC70 Ruy Lopez
17. S Levitsky vs B Nikolaev  1-03119033rd Russian National TournamentC28 Vienna Game
18. M Lowcki vs S Levitsky  ½-½5019033rd Russian National TournamentD10 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav
19. Rubinstein vs S Levitsky ½-½3819033rd Russian National TournamentC01 French, Exchange
20. Znosko-Borovsky vs S Levitsky 1-02419033rd Russian National TournamentB01 Scandinavian
21. S Levitsky vs P P Benko  0-13919033rd Russian National TournamentB44 Sicilian
22. S Levitsky vs Chigorin  0-15419064th All Russian TournamentA25 English
23. Salwe vs S Levitsky ½-½7019064th All Russian TournamentA84 Dutch
24. S Levitsky vs S Izbinsky  1-03419064th All Russian TournamentB12 Caro-Kann Defense
25. B Maliutin vs S Levitsky 1-02219064th All Russian TournamentC33 King's Gambit Accepted
 page 1 of 4; games 1-25 of 90  PGN Download
  REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2) | Levitsky wins | Levitsky loses  

Kibitzer's Corner
Jul-04-05  Hidden Skillz: i guess not too bad result in the match against young alekhine..
Nov-04-05  rexeterna: Is this the same guy who created the Levitsky Attack (Opening of The Day Today)?
Aug-17-07  vonKrolock: He scored +3=0-7 in his St. Petersburg 1913 match against A A Alekhine. One of the games deeply analised and a Levitsky photo in this article by Voronkov here on-line (in Russian) on Alekhine's youth http://www.chesspro.ru/_events/2007...
Dec-22-08  sfm: What a star parade of opponents! Scoring 35% is world-class.
Jan-29-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  Phony Benoni: I fear Levitsky is doomed to negative immortality, forever watching gold pieces shower down on the final position of S Levitsky vs Marshall, 1912.

Besides the Russian Championship victory in 1911 (16.5/21 against a relatively weak field), his best results were probably 3rd places in the championships of 1899 (behind Chigorin and Schiffers) and 1912 ( behind Rubinstein and Bernstein, but ahead of Nimzowitsch and Alekhine, defeating the latter twice).

Apr-25-09  WhiteRook48: it seems he's only known as a victim of the ...Qg3!!! against Marshall
Mar-29-11
Premium Chessgames Member
  technical draw: <Nov-04-05<rexeterna: Is this the same guy who created the Levitsky Attack (Opening of The Day Today)?>>

Let me answer you 5 1/2 years later:

Yes.

Apr-25-12  Llawdogg: Hey, the guy took part in one of the greatest games of chess ever played.
Apr-25-12  LoveThatJoker: Master Levitsky played against some serious heavyweights - as evinced by the games in this database. The games that comprise the match between Alekhine and himself are very instructive.

You are remembered today, Master Levitsky!

LTJ

Apr-25-12  mike1: There are certainly a lot of his games missing/lost. Guess that his percentage would be much higher than 40 with these included.
Apr-25-12  LoveThatJoker: <mike1> Yeah, man. I wonder if a database like say Mega Database 2012 has more games of his...probably. It would be good to get them on here for sure!

LTJ

Aug-14-12  Karpova: In 1900, Levitsky beat Kulomsin by the score of 5.5-3.5 in a match in Moscow.

Source: Page 44 of the 1900 'Wiener Schachzeitung'

Aug-25-12  Karpova: A picture of Levitsky during St. Petersburg 1911: http://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/a...

Left to Right: Levitsky, Sossnitzky, P. P. Saburov, Flamberg

Feb-10-14  Karpova: Stefan Levitsky was born in 1876 in the gouvernement Voronezh and started to play chess at the age of 11.

His debut in 1899 (the 1st Russian National tournament) ended with a 3rd place behind Chigorin and Schiffers. He was less fortunate during the 3rd and 4th Russian tournament. At St.Petersburg (1907), he won 2nd place behind Znosko-Borovsky, but ahead of Alapin and von Freymann.

Source: Pages 339-340 of the November-December 1911 'Wiener Schachzeitung'

Feb-11-14  Karpova: More info provided by P. P. Saburov:

After his 1st place at the All-Russian Hauptturnier in St. Petersburg 1911,* the committee of the German Chess Federation decided to acknowledge him as a Master (Gebhardt told that to P. P. Saburov). Furthermore, the Breslau committee in principle agreed to admit him to 18th DSB Kongress (1912).

Stefan Levitsky was born on April 13/25, 1876 in Sadonsk (Gouvernement Voronezh). He learned to play chess around the age of 11. His first chance to play against a strong player arose at the end of 1891, when his family moved to Serpukhov (Gouvernement Moscow), where he met K. Wöhrmann - one of the strongest players in Moscow back then. The 15-year old Levitsky had an equal score against him.

Later he studied at the Moscow University, where he got the chance to play against the strongest players of Moscow and even foreign masters. When Schiffers travelled to Rostov on Don for his match against Steinitz (1896), Levitsky scored excellently in free games against him. Many considered him to be the most promising, young Russian player.

At the end of 1896, he went to Greece as a volunteer in the war against Turkey. On his travel back, he visited Kiev and played with great success against the strong players there.

In 1899, he came in 3rd in the 1st All-Russian tournament in Moscow (1st Chigorin, 2nd Schiffers). But then Levitsky moved to the far away <Nischni-Turinski-Fabrik> in the Gourvernement Perm. This was very detrimental to his chess development, although at first he could play there with the strong Moscow player Dmitry Nikolaevich Pavlov.

Rarely did he visit more civilized regions, i. e. in case of tournaments, but he didn't meet the expectations. In the 3rd All-Russian tournament (Kiev 1903) he reached a succès d'estime with his 8th place among 19 players (ahead of Schiffers, Duz Chotimirsky and Rabinovich). In the 4th All-Russian tournament (St. Petersburg 1905-1906), he played a fantastic game against Blumenfeld (will be submitted) and many other good games, but only came in 11th.

He was successful in the local St. Petersburg tournaments at the end of 1906 / beginning of 1907 (1st Znosko-Borovsky, 2nd Levitsky, then Alapin, Evtifeev, von Freymann, etc.). At the beginning of 1907, Levitsky played a match against Alapin which went very bad for him,** but only now it has become known, that he was in dire material needs back then. Since then, i. e. 4.5 years, Levitsky didn't have a chance to play against an equal opponent.

Source: Pages 349-351 of the November-December 1911 'Wiener Schachzeitung'

* See http://www.edochess.ca/tournaments/...

** See http://www.edochess.ca/matches/m148...

Apr-21-15  BIDMONFA: Stefan Levitsky

LEVITSKY, Stefan
http://www.bidmonfa.com/levitsky_st...
_

Apr-22-15
Premium Chessgames Member
  Chessical: Who now remembers the Ural master Stepan Mikhailovich Levitsky? But he was one of the most colourful figures of Russian chess. It is a pity that good portrait of him has not survived, but a life sketch by Gregory Levenfish partly fills this gap: "Tall, with a bushy beard, in appearance a real Mikula Selyaninovich [1], Levitsky infected others with his zest for life." In 1911, he won a brilliant victory at the All-Russian Hauptturnier (16.5 out of 21!), and in the autumn of the following year won the bronze medal of the Tournament of Russian Masters in Vilna, where Alekhine was not only in the lower half of the table, but lost both of his games to Levitsky!

Alas, the images of Alekhine's match with Levitsky have not survived.[2]

So his match with an experienced master was a serious test for Alekhine, and his victory was not as obvious as it may seem today. And that Alekhine wrote game commentaries - during the match! - for the newspaper "New Era", speaks of the importance he attached to single combat with Levitsky. Alekhine generally had a high opinion of his rival; a preserved phrase uttered in 1919: "Levitsky could have achieved much in his time, but he is too early departed from chess."

...

[1] "Mikula the Villager's Son" is a sturdy hero of Russian folklore.

[2] Alekhine - Levitsky (1913)

Test from original Russian in: http://www.chesspro.ru/_events/2007...

Apr-25-16  TheFocus: Happy birthday, Stefan Levitsky.
Apr-26-16  Hodor: Hodor!

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