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Yuri Averbakh

Averbakh, playing at Hoogovens, 1963. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

YURI AVERBAKH (born Feb-08-1922, died May-07-2022, 100 years old) Russia PRONUNCIATION: [what is this?] Yuri Lvovich Averbakh was born in Kaluga, Russia. He was awarded the IM title in 1950, the GM title in 1952 and played in the Zuerich Candidates (1953). Notable tournament results: Averbakh won the USSR Championship in 1954 (1) ahead of Mark Taimanov, Viktor Korchnoi, Tigran V Petrosian, Efim Geller and Salomon Flohr he was also equal first in the Soviet Championship of 1956, but lost in the playoff for first place. He won the Championship of Moscow in 1949 (2), 1950 (3) (jointly), and 1962 (jointly). Averbakh also won international tournaments in Vienna in 1961, Moscow in 1962 and Rio de Janeiro in 1965 (4). Theoretician, author and historian: Averbakh is renowned as an opening and endgame theorist. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, he co-edited a five-volume anthology on the endgame, Shakhmatnye okonchaniya, which was revised in 1980-84 and translated as Comprehensive Chess Endings. A list of Averbak's books can be found in the Wikipedia article about him (see footnotes below). He also edited the magazines Shakhmaty v SSSR and Shakhmatny Bulletin, and has published more than 100 endgame studies and written several books, mainly about endgame theory. Averbakh has a deep interest in chess history, shown in his most recent book about life in the chess world called Centre-Stage and Behind the Scenes. He also gave an in depth interview about the history of chess and other board games on his 90th birthday. (5) Eponymous opening variations: Opening variations named for Averbakh include: King's Indian Defence, Averbakh Variation (E73): 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Be2 0-0 6.Bg5: click for larger view Kings Indian Defence, Semi-Averbakh system (E73): 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Be2 0-0 6.Be3 click for larger view Modern Defense: Averbakh variation (A42): 1.d4 g6 2.c4 Bg7 3.Nc3 d6 4.e4 click for larger view Other: Averbakh became an International Judge of Chess Composition in 1956 and an International Arbiter in 1969. He was President of the Soviet Chess Federation from 1972 until 1977 and took an active role on a number of important FIDE committees. Averbakh was the world's oldest grandmaster. Sources and references: Wikipedia article: Yuri Averbakh; 1[rusbase-1]; (2) [rusbase-2]; (3) [rusbase-3]; (4) [brasilbase-1]; (5) http://www.chessintranslation.com/2... Last updated: 2022-08-09 19:02:12

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page 1 of 46; games 1-25 of 1,134  Game   Result Moves Year Event/Locale Opening 1. Averbakh vs Y Neishtadt 1-0 33 1938 Moscow C70 Ruy Lopez 2. Averbakh vs Brekhes   1-0 27 1938 Ch URS (juniors) C12 French, McCutcheon 3. E Stoliar vs Averbakh   0-1 34 1938 Ch URS (juniors) B73 Sicilian, Dragon, Classical 4. Smyslov vs Averbakh 1-0 24 1938 junior tt E17 Queen's Indian 5. Averbakh vs Smyslov 0-1 24 1939 19th Ch Moscow A06 Reti Opening 6. V Lyublinsky vs Averbakh   0-1 48 1940 Candidates-Masters C28 Vienna Game 7. Sakin vs Averbakh   0-1 40 1940 20th Ch Moscow (qf-9) E19 Queen's Indian, Old Main line, 9.Qxc3 8. Averbakh vs A Kuznetsov 1-0 28 1940 20th Ch Moscow (qf-9) C02 French, Advance 9. Averbakh vs P Morton   1-0 33 1940 20th Ch Moscow (sf-1) B84 Sicilian, Scheveningen 10. Averbakh vs A Ebralidze   0-1 36 1940 Candidates-Masters B14 Caro-Kann, Panov-Botvinnik Attack 11. V Mikenas vs Averbakh   0-1 31 1943 Moscow Championship 1943/44 E02 Catalan, Open, 5.Qa4 12. Averbakh vs Botvinnik   ½-½ 40 1943 Moscow Championship 1943/44 C07 French, Tarrasch 13. Averbakh vs Simagin   1-0 41 1943 Moscow Championship-sf A56 Benoni Defense 14. Yaroshevsky vs Averbakh   0-1 61 1943 23rd Ch Moscow (sf-3) A45 Queen's Pawn Game 15. Averbakh vs F Duz-Khotimirsky   1-0 37 1944 Ivanovo C78 Ruy Lopez 16. P Dubinin vs Averbakh   1-0 44 1944 URS-ch sf Moscow D38 Queen's Gambit Declined, Ragozin Variation 17. Averbakh vs N Ovechkin   0-1 34 1944 Ivanovo C03 French, Tarrasch 18. Averbakh vs Ragozin   ½-½ 43 1944 URS-ch sf Moscow A10 English 19. P Romanovsky vs Averbakh   1-0 42 1944 training tournament B15 Caro-Kann 20. Averbakh vs Botvinnik ½-½ 40 1944 23rd Ch Moscow C07 French, Tarrasch 21. Alatortsev vs Averbakh   0-1 66 1944 URS-ch sf Moscow E22 Nimzo-Indian, Spielmann Variation 22. Averbakh vs Flohr   ½-½ 18 1944 URS-ch sf Moscow C82 Ruy Lopez, Open 23. Averbakh vs Kotov 0-1 30 1944 URS-ch sf Moscow B51 Sicilian, Canal-Sokolsky (Rossolimo) Attack 24. Averbakh vs M Yudovich Sr   ½-½ 30 1944 URS-ch sf Moscow C67 Ruy Lopez 25. Ragozin vs Averbakh 1-0 36 1944 Ivanovo B73 Sicilian, Dragon, Classical  page 1 of 46; games 1-25 of 1,134

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< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 6 OF 11 ·  Later Kibitzing> Feb-08-16    alexmagnus: Happy 94th! Feb-08-16    TheFocus: Happy birthday, GM Yuri Averbakh. I can't believe they left you off the birthday list. Feb-08-16    diagonal: Happy birthday and best wishes to the world's oldest living grandmaster, Yuri Averbakh! GM since 1952, awarded the same year as Mark Taimanov who has been celebrating his 90th jubilee birthday yesterday. Feb-08-16    sonia91: Happy 94th birthday! Dec-20-16    ColeTrane: Would Line up to Hear him talk chess and "other board games" histories. A living legend still.... Feb-08-17    Bubo bubo: Happy birthday, GM Yuri Averbakh! Dear cg.com: The world's oldest living grandmaster turns 95, but is not chosen <POTD> on his anniversary?! Mar-01-17    diagonal: Congratulations to GM Yuri Averbakh on his 95th Anniversary by FIDE (president): https://www.fide.com/component/cont... Pictures & Bio: https://alchetron.com/Yuri-Averbakh... Aug-24-17    Caissanist: Larry Evans' 1990 interview with Averbakh, which was later incorporated into his book <This Crazy World of Chess>, is still the best Averbakh interview I have seen. You can read it in Google Books' excerpt from that book here: https://books.google.com/books?id=-... . Aug-29-17    cro777: The Clash of Generations An interesting chess event took place on 29th August at the telecenter "Ostankino" in Moscow – an exhibition game between the oldest living chess grandmaster, a 95-year old Yuri Averbach, and the youngest chess player in the world, a 4-year-old Misha Osipov: http://chess-news.ru/sites/default/... Averbakh blundered the rook and lost the game. Last year, the little wunderkind from Moscow made headlines when he had a chess duel with the former world champion Anatoly Karpov on the Russian talent show "The best!": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hhr... Aug-29-17    Petrosianic: He may be the youngest player of any note, but I doubt he's the youngest player in the world. That claim needs to be more specific, like "The Youngest Player to Play a Rated Game", or something like that. Aug-29-17    Petrosianic: Also, the FIDE rating card says Osipov was born in 2004, which would make him 13 now. If this was played when he was 4, then Averbakh was only 86. Aug-30-17    cro777: Mikhail Osipov, born 2004, is another Russian chess player. The game between 4-year-old Misha Osipov and Averbakh was played yesterday (August 29th). Aug-30-17    alexmagnus: Youngest to play a rated game was some Indian girl who played in an under-7 championship of her state at the age of 3. Aug-30-17    alexmagnus: On that exhibition game photo the names are switched :) Sep-02-17    cro777: Last Tuesday, on the occasion of the 50th birthday of Moscow's famous radio and television tower Ostankino, a special chess program was broadcast. As mentioned above, the highlight of the evening was the match between the world's oldest grandmaster, Yuri Averbakh (95), and four-year-old Misha Osipov. Also, a match was played in paired chess, where Karjakin and Osipov beat Averbakh and his team member, Alexander Zhukov. Averbakh discussed his chess memories: "I was blessed to live in the golden age of chess. It was the 1945 USA-USSR radio-match that opened great traveling opportunities for Soviet players. I remember that American grandmaster Denker told me that Americans were expecting the match to end with a small margin, while they were reigning four-time world champions. By the way, I was working as a controller at this match. Our crushing victory turned everything around: Soviet chess players were participating abroad, and even the second place was considered a failure. As an outcome, Botvinnik became the world champion." https://www.chess.com/news/view/ave... Sep-02-17    cro777: "Yuri Averbakh, at 95, still shows phenomenal memory and a bright mind. In the game against a 4-year-old Misha Osipov, almost unable to see the board due to his significantly decreased vision, he still managed to win a piece and completely dominate the position. Sadly, he dropped a rook as he didn't clearly see the move of the young opponent." Mikhail Osipov – Yuri Averbakh. Position after 23…axb6 click for larger view Here Yuri Averbakh thought that he saw the white rook going to d1 so he took on c2 and lost the game. 24.Rac1 Rxc2?? http://chess-news.ru/sites/default/... As <alexmagnus> remarked, on the game photo the names are switched. Sep-03-17    alexmagnus: <due to his significantly decreased vision> <This> seems to be a universal of extremely old age. Not mental failure (indeed, <no one> of the longevity world record holders got dementia). Not physical weakness. But gradually going blind, typically completely losing sight between 100 and 110. Our eyes are just not suited to be around for more than some 75-80 years. If we ever significantly improve maximum lifespan, the first things the scientists will have to address is what to do with all the blind people that arise of this improvement :D Dec-09-17    alexmagnus: ... And Misha Osipov is clearly overhyped. All we know about him is that he plays chess. We don't even know at which level. I've seen dozens of four-year-olds who play chess. So far he played three games against FIDE rated opponents. All three losses. Against players rated 1000-1300. So, what makes him different from other four-year-olds? Feb-08-18    Fusilli: Sad that we don't have a photo of the oldest GM alive. (Preferably, one of him at his prime, not in his 90s...) I wonder how many tournaments he is the last survivor of. Feb-08-18    tpstar: <BIDMONFA> to the rescue! Yuri Averbakh (kibitz #15) Feb-08-18    Fusilli: <tpstar> OK, I googled-image him, and found this one from his younger years: http://lifezugzwang.com/february-20... That's a nice one, no? Feb-08-18    Marmot PFL: <If we ever significantly improve maximum lifespan, the first things the scientists will have to address is what to do with all the blind people that arise of this improvement :D> http://www.mlive.com/news/us-world/... Feb-09-18    alexmagnus: Last survivor of... For a start, 1948 Soviet championship and 1953 Candidates (but not 1952 Interzonal - Matanovic is alive too). I know it because I always track the earliest Soviet Championship, Interzonal, Candidates and WC match that has survivors. Feb-10-18    Fusilli: Last survivor of the 1950 USSR championship as well. As for the 1951 USSR championship, the last place, Evgeny Terpugov, is either alive at 100 or his date of death is unknown. Feb-14-18    Fusilli: I believe he is also the last survivor of the 1954 USSR championship. Also, a number of USSR championships in the 1950s featured both Averbakh and Spassky. For example, both are the last survivors of USSR Championship (1958). As for USSR Championship (1956), in addition to Averbakh and Spassky, there is Abram Khasin, who is 94. From USSR Championship (1955), in addition to Averbakh and Spassky, there is Vitaly Sergeevich Sherbakov (86). From USSR Championship (1959), there are five survivors: Averbakh, Spassky, Krogius (87), Vasiukov (84), and Nikitin (83). Jump to page #   (enter # from 1 to 11) search thread:    < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 6 OF 11 ·  Later Kibitzing>

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