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Efim Geller
Geller 
 

Number of games in database: 2,493
Years covered: 1946 to 1995
Highest rating achieved in database: 2620
Overall record: +936 -356 =1194 (61.7%)*
   * Overall winning percentage = (wins+draws/2) / total games in the database. 7 exhibition games, blitz/rapid, odds games, etc. are excluded from this statistic.

MOST PLAYED OPENINGS
With the White pieces:
 Sicilian (316) 
    B83 B92 B84 B42 B33
 Ruy Lopez (194) 
    C92 C95 C96 C78 C93
 Ruy Lopez, Closed (108) 
    C92 C95 C96 C93 C97
 French Defense (93) 
    C07 C05 C09 C03 C04
 French Tarrasch (81) 
    C07 C05 C09 C03 C04
 Nimzo Indian (75) 
    E59 E26 E54 E55 E29
With the Black pieces:
 Ruy Lopez (237) 
    C84 C93 C89 C92 C85
 King's Indian (212) 
    E92 E60 E67 E70 E73
 Ruy Lopez, Closed (188) 
    C84 C93 C89 C92 C85
 Sicilian (180) 
    B52 B64 B88 B62 B89
 Orthodox Defense (92) 
    D58 D55 D59 D53 D50
 Queen's Gambit Declined (90) 
    D31 D37 D35 D30
Repertoire Explorer

NOTABLE GAMES: [what is this?]
   Geller vs Smyslov, 1965 1-0
   Geller vs Karpov, 1976 1-0
   Fischer vs Geller, 1967 0-1
   Fischer vs Geller, 1967 0-1
   Geller vs Fischer, 1962 1-0
   Geller vs Portisch, 1967 1-0
   Kotov vs Geller, 1949 0-1
   Geller vs Najdorf, 1953 1-0
   Geller vs Velimirovic, 1971 1-0
   Geller vs Keres, 1973 1-0

NOTABLE TOURNAMENTS: [what is this?]
   Przepiorka Memorial (1957)
   Ukrainian Championship (1959)
   Ukrainian Championship (1958)
   Ukrainian Championship (1957)
   USSR Championship (1955)
   Capablanca Memorial (1963)
   USSR Championship (1960)
   Nimzowitsch Memorial, Copenhagen (1960)
   Stockholm Interzonal (1962)
   Solidarity Tournament (1967)
   USSR Championship (1951)
   USSR Championship (1949)
   Allied Armies Championship (1966)
   Havana (1965)
   Przepiorka Memorial (1950)

GAME COLLECTIONS: [what is this?]
   GellerStones & Bisguiers Atr Collection by fredthebear
   The Application of Chess Theory by elsaka
   The Application of Chess Theory by Okavango
   The Application of Chess Theory by nakul1964
   Application of Chess Theory (Geller) by Okavango
   Application of Chess Theory (Geller) by skisuitof12
   The Application of Chess Theory by Benzol
   Application of Chess Theory (Geller) by Qindarka
   The Application of Chess Theory by xajik
   Geller beats the world champions and pretenders by ughaibu
   Legend Geller by Gottschalk
   Efim Geller's Best Games by KingG
   Grandmaster Geller: The First Quarter Century by Resignation Trap
   Power Chess - Geller by Anatoly21


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EFIM GELLER
(born Mar-08-1925, died Nov-17-1998, 73 years old) Ukraine
PRONUNCIATION:
[what is this?]
Efim Petrovich Geller was born in Odessa, Ukraine. He learned how to play chess as a young man, and arrived on the international scene quickly by qualifying as a World Championship Candidate in 1952, thereby earning the grandmaster title. During Geller's career, he appeared in the Candidates five more times and competed in a record 23 Soviet Championships (winning two, in 1955 [rusbase-1] and 1979 [rusbase-2]). His aggressive playing style and expertise in double-edged positions culminated in a positive score against four World Champions over the course of his career (Mikhail Botvinnik, Vasily Smyslov, Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian, and Robert James Fischer). He also scored victories against Max Euwe, Boris Spassky, Mikhail Tal and Anatoly Karpov, bringing his total of World Champions beaten to eight--a record he shares only with Botvinnik, Petrosian and Viktor Korchnoi. He won the 1992 World Senior Chess Championship.

Wikipedia article: Efim Geller


Try our new games table.

 page 1 of 100; games 1-25 of 2,493  PGN Download
Game  ResultMoves YearEvent/LocaleOpening
1. Geller vs E Kogan 1-0341946OdessaB53 Sicilian
2. Geller vs D Rovner  ½-½321947URS-ch sf SverdlovskC90 Ruy Lopez, Closed
3. A Sokolsky vs Geller 1-0281947Ukrainian ChampionshipC55 Two Knights Defense
4. Geller vs M Lubensky ½-½161947Ukrainian ChampionshipC80 Ruy Lopez, Open
5. Geller vs Koblents ½-½311947URS-ch sf SverdlovskD44 Queen's Gambit Declined Semi-Slav
6. Geller vs V Saigin  0-1371947URS-ch sf SverdlovskB60 Sicilian, Richter-Rauzer
7. Geller vs P Dubinin 1-0321947URS-ch sf SverdlovskC79 Ruy Lopez, Steinitz Defense Deferred
8. Furman vs Geller 1-0411947URS-ch sf SverdlovskD11 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav
9. Geller vs G Ilivitsky 1-0261947URS-ch sf SverdlovskB60 Sicilian, Richter-Rauzer
10. O Moiseev vs Geller  ½-½411948URS-qf Baku (Masters-Candidate Masters)C80 Ruy Lopez, Open
11. Geller vs A Sokolsky  0-1471948Ukrainian ChampionshipD38 Queen's Gambit Declined, Ragozin Variation
12. A Konstantinopolsky vs Geller  0-14819481st Soviet Team-ch finalE67 King's Indian, Fianchetto
13. Geller vs V Zagorovsky 1-02619481st Soviet Team-ch finalD15 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav
14. S Kotlerman vs Geller 0-1311949Odessa ChampionshipE70 King's Indian
15. Geller vs M Grozdov 1-016194918th Ch Ukraine (sf-group 1)D15 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav
16. M Lubensky vs Geller 0-1341949URS-ch sf TbilisiE70 King's Indian
17. Geller vs I Aramanovich  1-0641949URS-ch sf TbilisiB84 Sicilian, Scheveningen
18. Geller vs N Novotelnov 0-1201949URS-ch sf TbilisiC77 Ruy Lopez
19. A Pirtskhalava vs Geller  1-0291949URS-ch sf Tbilisi+A47 Queen's Indian
20. Petrosian vs Geller ½-½301949URS-ch sf TbilisiC01 French, Exchange
21. Kholmov vs Geller ½-½181949URS-ch sf TbilisiC48 Four Knights
22. D Grechkin vs Geller  ½-½311949URS-ch sf TbilisiC85 Ruy Lopez, Exchange Variation Doubly Deferred (DERLD)
23. Geller vs I Pogrebissky  1-0311949URS-ch sf TbilisiC78 Ruy Lopez
24. A Ebralidze vs Geller  ½-½411949URS-ch sf TbilisiD76 Neo-Grunfeld, 6.cd Nxd5, 7.O-O Nb6
25. Geller vs K Klaman 1-0711949URS-ch sf TbilisiC61 Ruy Lopez, Bird's Defense
 page 1 of 100; games 1-25 of 2,493  PGN Download
  REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2) | Geller wins | Geller loses  

Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 18 OF 28 ·  Later Kibitzing>
May-14-09  Fanacas: Wat about schlechter drwaing lasker The world Champion (27 years) there are many canidates for it also people who never tried to become world champion.
May-14-09  parisattack: Geller's Application of Chess Theory is a wonderful book. The original Pergamon edition is tough to find, expensive. The Everyman paperback is, however, readily available although it has been cited for poor production values.

There is also Grandmaster Geller at the Chess Board translated by the prolific Bernard Cafferty and a Russian 'Black Series' book of his games.

There used to be a nice website devoted to Geller but either I've lost it in the cyber sun or it has been taken down.

May-14-09  returnoftheking: In addition there is a(relatively new)little book in German about GM Geller: Efim P. Geller, Der Russische Morphy, Helmut Wieteck
May-14-09  parisattack: <returnoftheking: In addition there is a(relatively new)little book in German about GM Geller: Efim P. Geller, Der Russische Morphy, Helmut Wieteck>

Thanks! I will try to purchase a copy.

May-21-09  M.D. Wilson: The more of Geller I see, the more I like. Although he liked to play with a lot of pieces on the board, he was also a great positional player and knew when to play "quiet" moves, a nice combination. He was a real openings maven, yet when he deviated or played into complicated positions, he rarely got into serious trouble, due to his clear thinking and deep understanding of the position. I think Ivanchuk may be compared to this other great Ukrainian super GM.

On the topic of Ivanchuk: take a break from the game, recharge, and come back even stronger; the World Title is certainly not beyond his reach.

Jun-15-09  xrt999: <returnoftheking: < xrt999: In his lifetime, Geller played 890 games as black and only lost 90 of these games. He won 264 and drew 536. >
He had a 60 percent score with black??>

These numbers may not be 100% accurate; I extracted these statistics from the CM database, which only contains about 1,700 Geller games, and physically counted each section by hand. It was quite tedious, but I was really on a mission to get the info, and couldnt figure out how to get the database to give me the statistics.

I was able to get to the actual point of all of Geller's games as black, and could then arrange them by win-loss-draw. After a while of laboring over how to then get the numbers, I remember saying to myself "just freakin count the things".

Sometimes we rely on technology too much, and forget that we can always "old school" it.

cheers

Jun-15-09  WhiteRook48: my that's impressive
Jul-24-09  M.D. Wilson: Botvinnik thought Geller was the best player in the world in the mid to late 1960s. I think Spassky was better, but only just. Spassky matched up well against Geller, but Geller matched up well against virtually everyone else.
Aug-07-09  percyblakeney: <Botvinnik thought Geller was the best player in the world in the mid to late 1960s>

If Botvinnik really ranked Geller ahead of Spassky during that period his judgment could have been better... I mean, they played two Candidates matches then and Spassky won both with a big margin (+3), apart from also winning the World Championship.

Aug-08-09  M.D. Wilson: Botvinnik was, with all respect, wrong on a number of occassions. He was completely off the mark with the 10 year old Karpov. Spassky matched up very well against Geller, but Geller could beat anyone in any individual game or games; perhaps Botvinnik should have said "Geller is the most dangerous player in the world".

In my opinion, Anand is better than Ivanchuk, but when in form, Ivanchuk is very dangerous indeed, and can beat anyone. Lasker was also renowned, even in his latter years, for being "dangerous". An interesting quality.

Sep-29-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  kamalakanta: <percyblakeney: <Botvinnik thought Geller was the best player in the world in the mid to late 1960s>

<If Botvinnik really ranked Geller ahead of Spassky during that period his judgment could have been better... I mean, they played two Candidates matches then and Spassky won both with a big margin (+3), apart from also winning the World Championship.>

It is funny how sometimes it is a matter of players matching up correctly. Also, Spassky had a brilliant trainer, Bondarevsky, who helped him find Geller's weakness: Geller felt uncomfortable when his king was under attack.

Spassky, on the other hand, did not match well with Karpov.

Sep-29-09  WhiteRook48: ... a record he shares only with Botvinnik, Petrosian, and Korchnoi what about Paul Keres?
Sep-29-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  Benzol: <WhiteRook48> You're right that Keres should get a mention. See the earlier post of <LittleWing: Dear chessgames.com! According to the database, Paul Keres is the recorder, who scored against 9 world champions: 1. Capablanca
2. Alekhine
3. Euwe
4. Botvinnik
5. Smyslov
6. Tal
7. Petrosian
8. Spassky
9. Fischer>

Checking in "Warriors Of The Mind" I find that Keres has a slight plus against Smyslov (+9, =23, -8); dead even with Petrosian (+3, =25, -3); a plus score with Euwe (+11, =9, -7); a negative score with Spassky (+3, =18, -5); a plus against Tal (+8, 15, -5); negative with Botvinnik (+3, =9, -8); negative with Alyekhin (+1, =8, -5); dead even with Fischer and a slight plus with Capablanca (+1, =5, -0). BTW he played Karpov twice as well with both games bein drawn.

Sep-29-09  JaneEyre: <dead even with Fischer>

A miscount, I think. Fischer was 4-3 with Keres.

Sep-30-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  Benzol: <JaneEyre> It looks like you're right.

According to Keene & Divinsky the score was (+3, =4, -3) in ten games.

However, Wade & O'Connell have the following :

1.Zurich 1959 Fischer
2.Bled 1961 draw
3.Bled/Zagreb/Belgrade Candidates 1959 two wins each
4.Curacao Candidates 1962 One win each and two draws

This gives Fischer (+4, =3, -3) against Keres.

It appears that Keene & Divinsky have reversed the number of Fischer wins with the draws in their data.

Sep-30-09  ewan14: During the time period in question did Geller match up well against Korchnoi and Larsen ?
Sep-30-09  ewan14: I think Larsen is up on Geller ! ! !
when Larsen was at his peak , 1967 - 1970
Sep-30-09  returnoftheking: <xrt99> only now seen your post, I will try to check it one of these days with megabase and the computer count. Bravo for the work btw.
Sep-30-09  parisattack: A new volume in the Chess Secrets series is out now: Power Players - and includes Geller. Previous Secret volumes were Giants of Strategy and Great Attackers.
Oct-01-09  TheFocus: Does anyone know if Geller ever published a book he discussed in which he would analyze all the games he played against Fischer?
Oct-01-09  JaneEyre: <1.Zurich 1959 Fischer
2.Bled 1961 draw
3.Bled/Zagreb/Belgrade Candidates 1959 two wins each
4.Curacao Candidates 1962 One win each and two draws >

It's just a pity, of course, that Fischer played neither Keres, Tal nor Botvinnik again after 1962.

Oct-01-09  parisattack: <TheFocus: Does anyone know if Geller ever published a book he discussed in which he would analyze all the games he played against Fischer?>

Are you thinking of Application of Chess Theory?

Not much on Geller for the outstanding player he was - Grandmaster Geller at the Chessboard, the Russian 'Black' book of his games...

Oct-01-09  TheFocus: <parisattack> The review of that book says Geller analyzes 100 games, all wins. No, I think the book Geller spoke of doing would only be his games against Fischer. I will check and see if he spoke of it in Russians vs. Fischer.
Oct-01-09  returnoftheking: I don't remember anything about that, it would be a very short book..
Oct-01-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  stoy: According to Bronstein's widow her husband, as he lay on his deathbed, named Geller, not himself, as the greatest player of the King's Indian defence.
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