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Kevin Spraggett
K Spraggett 
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons  

Number of games in database: 1,723
Years covered: 1971 to 2022
Last FIDE rating: 2495 (2482 rapid, 2516 blitz)
Highest rating achieved in database: 2633
Overall record: +833 -257 =619 (66.9%)*
   * Overall winning percentage = (wins+draws/2) / total games in the database. 14 exhibition games, blitz/rapid, odds games, etc. are excluded from this statistic.

MOST PLAYED OPENINGS
With the White pieces:
 Sicilian (166) 
    B62 B33 B63 B50 B32
 English (79) 
    A10 A15 A13 A16 A17
 English, 1 c4 e5 (65) 
    A20 A28 A29 A25 A26
 Ruy Lopez (64) 
    C92 C65 C72 C78 C96
 English, 1 c4 c5 (54) 
    A30 A34 A36 A33 A37
 French Defense (53) 
    C02 C01 C10 C19 C18
With the Black pieces:
 Sicilian (240) 
    B40 B42 B43 B22 B80
 King's Indian (88) 
    E97 E94 E60 E98 E73
 Queen's Pawn Game (52) 
    A46 A45 A41 E00 D02
 Dutch Defense (51) 
    A89 A92 A88 A81 A90
 Sicilian Kan (51) 
    B42 B43 B41
 Nimzo Indian (40) 
    E46 E32 E21 E38 E34
Repertoire Explorer

NOTABLE GAMES: [what is this?]
   K Spraggett vs F South, 1976 1-0
   K Spraggett vs G Vescovi, 2004 1-0
   K Spraggett vs G Glen, 1975 1-0
   K Spraggett vs P Llaneza-Vega, 2007 1-0
   L Morin vs K Spraggett, 1983 0-1
   Timman vs K Spraggett, 1985 0-1
   K Spraggett vs Suba, 1994 1-0
   K Spraggett vs R Bedard, 1972 1-0
   K Spraggett vs G Basanta, 1986 1-0
   K Spraggett vs L Day, 1984 1-0

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: [what is this?]
   FIDE World Championship Knockout Tournament (1999)

NOTABLE TOURNAMENTS: [what is this?]
   Quebec Championship (1982)
   Toronto Winter Fest (1987)
   Canadian Championship (1984)
   Canadian Championship (1989)
   Canadian Championship (1994)
   Canadian Championship (1975)
   Canadian Championship (1986)
   CEG vs Legends (2012)
   Canadian Championship (1978)
   Canadian Championship (1981)
   14th Sants Open-A (2012)
   New York Kavkasian (1983)
   Sevilla Open (2006)
   Istanbul Olympiad (2000)
   Gibraltar Masters (2014)

GAME COLLECTIONS: [what is this?]
   The t_t Players: The 1900s by fredthebear
   spraggets gems/unique themes II (51-100) by kevin86
   Kevin Spraggett's games-pt 2 by kevin86
   1986 Canadian championship by gauer
   2001 Canadian championship by gauer
   1994 Canadian championship by gauer
   1981 Canadian championship by gauer
   1975 Canadian championship by gauer
   1996 Canadian championship by gauer
   1978 Canadian championship by gauer
   Taxco Interzonal 1985 by Tabanus
   Taxco Interzonal 1985 by suenteus po 147
   1984 Canadian championship by gauer
   Szirak 1986 by Tabanus

RECENT GAMES:
   🏆 3rd Tras-os-Montes Open
   J Kosakowski vs K Spraggett (Aug-23-22) 1-0
   K Spraggett vs P Nguyen (Aug-22-22) 1-0
   H Asis Gargatagli vs K Spraggett (Jul-21-19) 1/2-1/2
   D Gukesh vs K Spraggett (Jul-18-19) 1/2-1/2
   J Ferreira vs K Spraggett (Jul-19-18) 1-0

Search Sacrifice Explorer for Kevin Spraggett
Search Google for Kevin Spraggett
FIDE player card for Kevin Spraggett


KEVIN SPRAGGETT
(born Nov-10-1954, 68 years old) Canada

[what is this?]

Kevin Berry Spraggett was born in Montreal. Awarded the IM title in 1975 and the GM title in 1985, he was joint Commonwealth Champion in 1984 and 1985.Spraggett won his first of seven Canadian titles in 1984, which qualified him into the Taxco Interzonal the next year. His fourth-place result at Taxco 1985, where he topped many more famous players, automatically earned the International Grandmaster title, and seeded him to the Candidates event, the first Canadian to achieve this. In other tournaments, he was 1st at Montreal 1986 and 2nd= at Hastings 1989-90. He won the Canadian Open and Canadian Closed in 1996, but also seems to be enjoying his later years of life in European countries such as Portugal.

In July 1989, he was tied for players placed 25th or higher on the International Chess Federation rankings list. Spraggett is widely considered to be the strongest chess player in Canadian history. He has represented Canada 8 times during many of the 1986-2002 Olympiads on 2nd board or higher, with mostly superb performances, accumulating 51.5 points in 91 team games. He has qualified for the Candidates twice, in 1985 and 1988. In 1985 he did not make the play-offs but in 1988 he beat Andrei Sokolov (+2, =9, -1), later losing to Artur Yusupov (+1, =6, -2) in 1989. His FIDE rating peaked at 2633, in January 2007, at age 52. Spraggett is still active as of, 2021. He is a regular participant at the yearly, International Chess Festival Open in the city of Figueira da Fo, Portugal. His popular blog is listed below.

http://www.spraggettonchess.com

References: Wikipedia article: Kevin Spraggett, http://kevinspraggettonchess.wordpr..., http://kevinspraggett.blogspot.com/, http://www.kevinspraggett.com/, Bled Olympiad (2002) (most recent representation of a Canadian team event), http://www.olimpbase.org/ (Olympiad & team chess chronological archives).

Last updated: 2021-11-10 14:17:33

 page 1 of 69; games 1-25 of 1,723  PGN Download
Game  ResultMoves YearEvent/LocaleOpening
1. C Coudari vs K Spraggett  1-04019713rd Alekhine open, Alekhine Chess ClubE72 King's Indian
2. K Spraggett vs J Hebert  ½-½261972Canadian Junior ChampionshipB50 Sicilian
3. B Harper vs K Spraggett  0-1411972Canadian Junior ChampionshipE93 King's Indian, Petrosian System
4. K Spraggett vs J Hebert 1-0311972Ch. Ouvert MontrealB13 Caro-Kann, Exchange
5. H Brodie vs K Spraggett 0-1391972T. de l'Est, QuebecB25 Sicilian, Closed
6. K Spraggett vs J Hebert  0-1351972Ch. jun., ChicoutimiC78 Ruy Lopez
7. K Spraggett vs R Bedard 1-0211972Ch. MontrealC13 French
8. J Berry vs K Spraggett 0-1411972Canadian Junior ChampionshipA07 King's Indian Attack
9. J MacPhail vs K Spraggett  1-0411972Canadian Junior ChampionshipB92 Sicilian, Najdorf, Opocensky Variation
10. K Spraggett vs P Nurmi  ½-½241973Match Mtl-TorontoB68 Sicilian, Richter-Rauzer Attack, 7...a6 Defense, 9...Be7
11. K Spraggett vs D Boileau 1-061973QC-chC41 Philidor Defense
12. L Day vs K Spraggett ½-½461973Can op OttawaB44 Sicilian
13. P Biyiasas vs K Spraggett 0-1451973Quebec opB46 Sicilian, Taimanov Variation
14. J Hebert vs K Spraggett  0-1481973Ch. Ouvert MontrealA07 King's Indian Attack
15. L Williams vs K Spraggett 1-0351973Ch. InvitationB40 Sicilian
16. K Spraggett vs B Amos  1-0341973Can. Open, OttawaC05 French, Tarrasch
17. K Spraggett vs S Matera  0-1311973Can. Open, OttawaB89 Sicilian
18. I Zalys vs K Spraggett  0-1341973CacuriB22 Sicilian, Alapin
19. Suttles vs K Spraggett 1-0471973Can. Open, OttawaA07 King's Indian Attack
20. J Hebert vs K Spraggett 0-1421973Int. La Presse, MtlB21 Sicilian, 2.f4 and 2.d4
21. K Spraggett vs E Schlosser  ½-½821973Quebechecs IC99 Ruy Lopez, Closed, Chigorin, 12...cd
22. K Spraggett vs M Campbell 1-0321974Ch. junior du CanadaA16 English
23. B Nickoloff vs K Spraggett 1-0501974Ch. junior du CanadaE73 King's Indian
24. J Hebert vs K Spraggett  1-0471974Ch. junior du CanadaB67 Sicilian, Richter-Rauzer Attack, 7...a6 Defense, 8...Bd7
25. J Hebert vs K Spraggett  ½-½561974SherbrookeB40 Sicilian
 page 1 of 69; games 1-25 of 1,723  PGN Download
  REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2) | Spraggett wins | Spraggett loses  
 

Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 9 OF 9 ·  Later Kibitzing>
Nov-12-15  PhilFeeley: <AgentRgent> As an addendum, I recently found this in John Watson's "Secrets of Modern Chess Strategy: Advances Since Nimzowitsch".

On page 14, he writes: " It is important to realize that the beginning of his book <My System> is to some extent an introduction to chess. It therefore includes a number of elementary 'rules' for the student, some of which Nimzowitsch himself did not adhere to."

Sounds much like Spraggett.

Nov-12-15
Premium Chessgames Member
  keypusher: < bravado1: These remarks about "My System" are to say the least unfair. I'm not an expert on chess hisrory, but I think that the work by Nimzowitsch was breakthrough and revolutionary not because of the analyses of specific positions - here obviously Nimzo made mistakes - but in the general "systematic" approach to chess. Before him people either analyzed particular games or limited themselves to laconic observations that 'in this kind of positions white is always better". >

Steinitz? Tarrasch?

<not because of the analyses of specific positions - here obviously Nimzo made mistakes>

Accuracy in annotations counts for a lot, I think. Or it should. I enjoy reading Tarrasch's annotations more than Lasker's, but if Lasker is seeing things that Tarrasch is missing, or avoiding errors that Tarrasch is making, I suspect I'm better off studying with Lasker.

This is separate and apart from the notion that in some of his annotations, Nimzowitsch basically misrepresented what was going on in the game.

<Nerwal: <If you don't approve Nimzowitsch's demonstrations of the "My System" concepts in games versus "C-class" players (as Marshall, Teichmann, Tarrasch, Bogoljubov, Rubinstein and some-such> It was probably a reference to games like this one : Von Gottschall vs Nimzowitsch, 1926. Dvoretsky proved that White could equalize at various points and that black's "deep moves" were actually not that strong objectively. A good grandmaster should be able to hold this as White without breaking a sweat, while Gottschall did everything wrong basically.>

Aron Nimzowitsch

May-21-16  thegoodanarchist: <Therefore any expectations of even short term gains are pure nonsense> - Kevin Spraggett.

I prefer my nonsense to be adulterated.

Jun-26-16  Ron: From Spraggett's blog:
<I am no fan of Cameron. Never was. I always felt he was just another irresponsible yuppie-politician clone like Blair before him. Soon after being elected in 2010 he was in cohorts with the CIA to do away with Kadaffi, which lead to hundreds of thousands of needless deaths. Lybia is still burning today…Cameron then wanted to bomb Syria and do away with Assad, but his own parliament stopped him at the last moment.

Cameron then felt that he could use the referendum tool to impose his will on the British people, betting that he would have the mass-media and infinite government resources at his disposal to create a 1984-inspired climate of fear and anxiety. It worked well in the Fauklands, and in Scotland. But by the time Brexit came around, most people in Britain were tired of his offensive use of fear mongering and directly lying to the people. Even Merkel objected to Cameron’s underhanded tactics.

So now Britain must face the consequences of reality finally catching up to the yuppie-politician. FORTUNATELY, this time it will not be hundreds of thousands of innocents in countries far away who will suffer. This time the British people themselves will pay the consequences of choosing incompetent and scheming leaders.

This time the destruction will really hit home. Every man , woman and child in Britain will suffer. The independence issues of Scotland and Ireland will have be reviewed. As it should be. Cameron was not just elected, but re-elected. Britain will have to be re-built from the bottom up. Perhaps, if there is a lesson to be learned here, it is this: Britain deserves decent leaders, individuals of character and integrity, leaders who will not one day in the near future risk being tried for War Crimes.

But before then, the British people will have to pay the consequences of living in a democracy. I have little compassion for the Scots who feel that their voice was not heard. Did they not just hold their own referendum and voted to remain by Britain’s side? Now they don’t like it…I say that they should have known that their own choice has consequences. You reap what you sow…

But BEST of all, what I like most about the Brexit referendum is the MESSAGE that Britain sends to the unelected leadership in Brussels: @#$% YOU! Many millions of europeans also feel it is time to dismantle an outdated model that is already anti-democratic and even threatening to become fascist in nature.>

Hear, hear!

Jul-07-16  posoo: DIS man is VERY attractive. EASALY da prettiest man from CANNADA on dis WEBSITE.
Jul-10-16  thegoodanarchist: His name is pronounced "Sprah JAY"
Nov-10-16  Ironmanth: Many happy returns of the day, Grandmaster Spraggett!
Nov-10-16  TheFocus: Happy birthday, GM Kevin Spraggett.
Nov-10-16
Premium Chessgames Member
  ketchuplover: I second that emotion
Oct-31-17  PhilFeeley: Playing in 11th Figueira da Foz International Chess Festival the Sweet Atlantic Hotel, Figueira da Foz, Portugal this week.

Won his first round game, drew the second.

https://www.chessbomb.com/arena/201...

Nov-10-18
Premium Chessgames Member
  Telemus: A tweet by Mr Urcan: https://twitter.com/olimpiuurcan/st...
Mar-04-19
Premium Chessgames Member
  Penguincw: (this was in July 2018)

Spraggett competed in the Portuguese League, which is a 10 team, single round robin between teams of 4. He was the only Canadian there, and had a rough tournament, scoring 3/9. His team scored 2-4-3.

https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-t...

Nov-10-19  PhilFeeley: He's now 65. Happy birthday! Now he can collect CPP just like me.
Nov-10-19
Premium Chessgames Member
  perfidious: How time has flown: my first recollection of Spraggett was as first board for the Canadian side in the local match of the celebration of the Bicentennial in October 1976, held at the high school I was then attending, in Burlington, Vermont. He took down Norman Weinstein, already a respected player, that day.
Nov-10-19  Everett: Still the best chess website out there!
Nov-10-19  Carrots and Pizza: <Everett: Still the best chess website out there!>

You mean chess24.com?

Nov-10-19  pazzed paun: Any body have a link to Spraggett suggested repotoire one tactical the other more strategic when he said you are old and ugly? He suggested the tartakover variation of the qgd
Nov-10-19  Everett: <-10-19 Carrots and Pizza: <Everett: Still the best chess website out there!> You mean chess24.com?>

Nope, I mean his blog 🙂

Nov-29-19  Everett: <PP>

http://www.spraggettonchess.com/ref...

This was more about the no-repertoire approach. A shame to everyone one in hopes of being different, Carlsen has perfected it like no other before him, much to the bane of all who face him. Until, that is, he locks in on an opening (Sicilian Sveshnikov) and his opponents feel equally as stymied.

It’s not a surprise that Lasker made these observations, and that it took until Carlsen to pick them up. Yet even Fischer saw the importance of varying openings by the final vs Spassky in ‘72.

Jan-20-20  pazzed paun: <Everett> this not what I was talking about At one time Spraggett had posted two separate repertoire with about eight different openings That post seems to have disappeared yet other posts from the same time frame remain
Oct-05-20  Dionysius1: The biog doesn't mention that he moved to Portugal on getting married in the late 1980s and has been resident there ever since, according to the biog on his own website http://www.spraggettonchess.com/rou...

Might be worth mentioning as more detail than "seems to be enjoying his latter years of life in European countries such as Portugal" unless it's too much personal info?

Nov-10-21  Ironmanth: Happy birthday, Grandmaster! All the blessings, Kevin Spraggett.
Nov-11-21
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: Here was a good game, about four days ago from the 15th Figueira da Foz (round 9).

The game feature the well-known Monopoly moves.

Luis Galego 2485 v Kevin Spraggett 2495. 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. Nc3 a6 4. g3 d6 5. Bg2 Qc7 6. O-O Nf6 7. d3 Nc6 8. h3 Be7 9. Nh2 b5 10. f4 b4 11. Ne2 a5 12. g4 h6 13. Be3 Nd7 14. Nf3 Nb6 15. c4 bxc3 16. bxc3 d5 17. e5 Ba6 18. Bf2 h5 19. Bg3 hxg4 20. hxg4 g6 21. Rb1 Rb8 22. Qd2 a4 23. Qc2 a3 24. Rfc1 Rb7 25. Qd1 Kd7 26. Ne1 Rhb8 27. Nc2 c4 28. d4 Na4 29. Rxb7 Rxb7 30. Ne3 Nb2 31. Qf1 Nd3 32. Rc2 Qb8 33. Qf3 Rb1+ 34. Kh2 Qh8+ 35. Bh3 Bb7 36. g5 Nd8 37. Kg2 Ke8 38. Rd2 Rb2 39. Nf1 Bc6 40. Bf2 Kd7 41. Ng1 Kc7 42. Kg3 Ba4 43. Qe2 Nc6 44. Bg4 Qa8 45. Nf3 Qa5 46. f5 gxf5 47. Bh5 Nd8 48. Be3 Qxc3 49. Bxf7 f4+ 50. Bxf4 Nxf4 51. Kxf4 Nxf7 52. g6 Nh6 53. g7 Rxd2 54. N1xd2 Qc2 55. Qg2 Qf5+ 56. Ke3 Ng8 0-1

Mar-05-22  Albertan: CFC condemns Russian invasion of Ukraine:

https://www.chess.ca/en/news/2022/0...

Jul-13-22  PhilFeeley: Does anybody know what's happening with Kevin these days? His blog stops in Feb. of this year.
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