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Yuri Averbakh
February 8, 2017
Yuri Lvovich Averbakh was born on February 8, 1922 in Kaluga, Russia and today is his 95th birthday. He is the oldest living chess grandmaster.
Wikipedia says: His father was German Jewish, and his ancestors came from Germany and were named Auerbach, meaning "meadow brook". His mother was Russian. Both sets of grandparents disapproved of their marriage because his father was likely an atheist and his mother was Eastern Orthodox, as well as the fact that his maternal grandmother died very young so his mother was expected to look after the family. Yuri himself calls himself a fatalist.
He became a GM in 1952. He won the USSR Championship in 1954 ahead of Taimanov, Korchnoi, Petrosian, Geller and Flohr. In the 1956 Championship he came equal first with Taimanov and Boris Spassky in the main event, finishing second after the playoff.
He is a major endgame study theorist. His five volumes, Comprehensive Chess Endings, came out in 1980-1984. Batsford published an earlier edition in the ‘70s.
C.C.E. Vol. 1: Bishop endings, Pergamon 1983
C.C.E. Vol. 2: Bishop against knight endings: Rook against minor piece endings, Pergamon 1985
C.C.E. Vol. 3: Queen and pawn endings, Pergamon 1986
C.C.E. Vol. 4: Pawn endings, Pergamon 1987
C.C.E. Vol. 5: Rook endings, Pergamon 1987
There are three books of his to bring us up to present:
Averbakh’s Selected games, Cadogan 1998
Centre-stage and behind the scenes, NIC 2011
A history of chess: from Chaturanga to the present day, Russell 2012
_________
(Chess-news.ru) The State Scientific and Technical Library today held a gala evening in honour of Averbakh with congratulations from colleagues and fans.
On the world stage, he declared himself in the middle of the last century, having played in two interzonal tournaments (1952 and 1958) and in the famous tournament of contenders in Zurich, 1953.
He never had a match against Botvinnik because of such luminaries as Keres, Bronstein, Smyslov, Petrosian, Geller, Tal, Spassky and Korchnoi.
Gradually, Averbakh began to depart from the practice of chess and engaged more in the theory and history as well as coaching, refereeing and journalistic activities. In 1962 he was appointed chief editor of the magazine “Chess in the USSR”, one of the leading publications in the world of chess. In this position Yuri L. worked until the end of the 20th century. The magazine’s named was changed to “Chess in Russia” in the 90s.
Ever since his youth he was a close friend of Vasily Smyslov. In 1938 they both became champions of the USSR among youths: Averbakh - in the age group up to 16 years, meaning - to 18. They remained friends for life. Smyslov has always belonged to the editorial board of the magazine "Chess in the USSR", and in qualifying in 1983, had Averbakh as his second, when he reached the final candidates match with Kasparov - a phenomenal achievement 62-year-old former world champion.
Before this ever happened, Averbakh seconded Petrosian and Tal, and even earlier was a sparring partner of Botvinnik.
Today Yuri Auerbach is the oldest grandmaster of the world (after the departure of Lilienthal in 2010.
Dmitry Plisetsky: Really, who does not know the Averbakh system in the King’s Indian or his multivolume works on endgame theory? By the way, my first chess book in the 60s was a thin green booklet by Averbakh entitled “What you should know about the endgame”, which was very popular in chess circles at that time.
He was also an outstanding chess historian and a respected arbiter. He judged the World Championship match Kasparov-Short (1993) and Kasparov-Kramnik (2000), the FIDE World Cup (2001/2002) and the World Olympiad in Moscow in 1994.
No wonder Garry Kasparov in the introduction to Averbakh’s History of Chess called him “Outstanding Educator”.
http://www.chess-news.ru/node/22732
February 8, 2017
Yuri Lvovich Averbakh was born on February 8, 1922 in Kaluga, Russia and today is his 95th birthday. He is the oldest living chess grandmaster.
Wikipedia says: His father was German Jewish, and his ancestors came from Germany and were named Auerbach, meaning "meadow brook". His mother was Russian. Both sets of grandparents disapproved of their marriage because his father was likely an atheist and his mother was Eastern Orthodox, as well as the fact that his maternal grandmother died very young so his mother was expected to look after the family. Yuri himself calls himself a fatalist.
He became a GM in 1952. He won the USSR Championship in 1954 ahead of Taimanov, Korchnoi, Petrosian, Geller and Flohr. In the 1956 Championship he came equal first with Taimanov and Boris Spassky in the main event, finishing second after the playoff.
He is a major endgame study theorist. His five volumes, Comprehensive Chess Endings, came out in 1980-1984. Batsford published an earlier edition in the ‘70s.
C.C.E. Vol. 1: Bishop endings, Pergamon 1983
C.C.E. Vol. 2: Bishop against knight endings: Rook against minor piece endings, Pergamon 1985
C.C.E. Vol. 3: Queen and pawn endings, Pergamon 1986
C.C.E. Vol. 4: Pawn endings, Pergamon 1987
C.C.E. Vol. 5: Rook endings, Pergamon 1987
There are three books of his to bring us up to present:
Averbakh’s Selected games, Cadogan 1998
Centre-stage and behind the scenes, NIC 2011
A history of chess: from Chaturanga to the present day, Russell 2012
_________
(Chess-news.ru) The State Scientific and Technical Library today held a gala evening in honour of Averbakh with congratulations from colleagues and fans.
On the world stage, he declared himself in the middle of the last century, having played in two interzonal tournaments (1952 and 1958) and in the famous tournament of contenders in Zurich, 1953.
He never had a match against Botvinnik because of such luminaries as Keres, Bronstein, Smyslov, Petrosian, Geller, Tal, Spassky and Korchnoi.
Gradually, Averbakh began to depart from the practice of chess and engaged more in the theory and history as well as coaching, refereeing and journalistic activities. In 1962 he was appointed chief editor of the magazine “Chess in the USSR”, one of the leading publications in the world of chess. In this position Yuri L. worked until the end of the 20th century. The magazine’s named was changed to “Chess in Russia” in the 90s.
Ever since his youth he was a close friend of Vasily Smyslov. In 1938 they both became champions of the USSR among youths: Averbakh - in the age group up to 16 years, meaning - to 18. They remained friends for life. Smyslov has always belonged to the editorial board of the magazine "Chess in the USSR", and in qualifying in 1983, had Averbakh as his second, when he reached the final candidates match with Kasparov - a phenomenal achievement 62-year-old former world champion.
Before this ever happened, Averbakh seconded Petrosian and Tal, and even earlier was a sparring partner of Botvinnik.
Today Yuri Auerbach is the oldest grandmaster of the world (after the departure of Lilienthal in 2010.
Dmitry Plisetsky: Really, who does not know the Averbakh system in the King’s Indian or his multivolume works on endgame theory? By the way, my first chess book in the 60s was a thin green booklet by Averbakh entitled “What you should know about the endgame”, which was very popular in chess circles at that time.
He was also an outstanding chess historian and a respected arbiter. He judged the World Championship match Kasparov-Short (1993) and Kasparov-Kramnik (2000), the FIDE World Cup (2001/2002) and the World Olympiad in Moscow in 1994.
No wonder Garry Kasparov in the introduction to Averbakh’s History of Chess called him “Outstanding Educator”.
http://www.chess-news.ru/node/22732