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Nikolay Minev (1931-2017)
March 26, 2017
US Chess reports that IM NIkolay Minev died on March 10, 2017 in Seattle, Washington:
https://new.uschess.org/news/nikolay-minev-1931-2017/
John Donaldson:
Minev, who was born on November 8, 1931, in Ruse, Bulgaria, didn’t take chess seriously until he was 15, but made quick progress tying for first in the 1951 Bulgarian Championship. He lost the playoff but would go on to win the title in 1953, 1965 and 1966. Minev further cemented his position as one of the top Bulgarian players of the 1950s and 60s by representing his country in six Olympiads where he often played first board and met the likes of Mikhail Botvinnik, Tigran Petrosian and Bobby Fischer.
Minev received the International Master title in 1960, but was never a professional player. He received his medical degree in 1956 and practiced medicine until 1972 when he was named editor of the Bulgarian national chess magazine Shakmatna Misl, a position he held until 1979 when he took a position as a trainer in Greece.
Minev and his wife Elena were supposed to return to Bulgaria in 1983, but tired of living under communism they instead defected, ended up settling in the United States after a short stay in Vienna.
The chess community in Seattle was the beneficiary of their move and not long after settling in his new homeland Minev was editing the local publication Northwest Chess and writing for Players Chess News and Theory and Analysis. When Yasser Seirawan started Inside Chess in 1988 he turned to his good friend Nikolay Minev to be one of the key contributors for the new magazine. Minev’s column on tactics proved to be particularly popular as he had a knack for writing instructive material that was also entertaining.
Garry Kasparov gave his highest praise to Minev’s 1980 work on rook and pawn endings Ednotopovni Endtspili, a portion of which was later published as A Practical Guide to Rook End Games.
_________
During one of his tournament commentaries, Yasser Seirawan said that the bible of books on rook endings is A Practical Guide to Rook Endgames (2004) by Minev.
For collectors there are the two interesting volumes on the games of Akiba Rubinstein by Minev and Donaldson: Akiba Rubinsten: uncrowned king (1994) and Akiba Rubinstein: the later years (1995).
A complete Minev bibliography can be found at:
http://www.thechesslibrary.com/minevbibliography.html
_________
The Minev Project is at:
http://www.thechesslibrary.com/minev.html
Of this Philip McCready says:
A special interest of mine has been to assemble information on the tournaments and games of International Master Nikolay Minev. Admittedly, this is a personal interest due to my nearly 20- year association with him (mostly as a student), but hopefully there are others who will find the material interesting or useful.
__________
From an interview:
https://derricksblog.wordpress.com/2011/04/
My favorite from my own games was my game with Lothar Zinn from the 1967 zonal tournament in Halle, Germany. The outcome of this game hung on just one move for probably twenty moves. The other game was my first victory over a grandmaster, which happened against Szabo in the 1954 Olympiad. This was the first time a Bulgarian had ever defeated a grandmaster.
Halle Interzonal 1967
Zinn, Lothar – Minev, Nikolay
B21 Sicilian, Grand Prix Attack
1.e4 c5 2.f4 d5 3.exd5 Qxd5 4.Nc3 Qd8 5.Nf3 Nf6 6.Ne5 e6 7.Qf3 Be7 8.b3 a6 9.Bb2 Nbd7 10.O-O-O Qc7 11.Re1 Rb8 12.g4 b5 13.Bg2 Bb7 14.Qe2 Bxg2 15.Qxg2 Nxe5 16.fxe5 Nd7 17.Ne4 O-O 18.g5 c4 19.Nf6+ Kh8 20.Qh3 gxf6 21.exf6 c3 22.Bxc3 Ba3+ 23.Kb1 Rg8 24.Rxe6 Rxg5 25.Re4 Qc6 26.Qe3 Rbg8 27.Rf1 Bc5 28.d4 Nb6 29.Rh4 Qg2 30.Rf2 Qg1+ 31.Kb2 Nd5 32.Qh3 Ba3+ 33.Kxa3 b4+ 34.Ka4 Nb6+ 35.Kxb4 Rb5+ 36.Ka3 Qc1+ 37.Bb2 Nc4+ 0-1
Poor white king, harried and harassed and then threatened with mate in three! One doesn't know whether to laugh or cry at his plight:
(37...Nc4+ 38.Ka4 Nxb2+ 39.Ka3 Nc4+ 40.Ka4 Qa3#)
March 26, 2017
US Chess reports that IM NIkolay Minev died on March 10, 2017 in Seattle, Washington:
https://new.uschess.org/news/nikolay-minev-1931-2017/
John Donaldson:
Minev, who was born on November 8, 1931, in Ruse, Bulgaria, didn’t take chess seriously until he was 15, but made quick progress tying for first in the 1951 Bulgarian Championship. He lost the playoff but would go on to win the title in 1953, 1965 and 1966. Minev further cemented his position as one of the top Bulgarian players of the 1950s and 60s by representing his country in six Olympiads where he often played first board and met the likes of Mikhail Botvinnik, Tigran Petrosian and Bobby Fischer.
Minev received the International Master title in 1960, but was never a professional player. He received his medical degree in 1956 and practiced medicine until 1972 when he was named editor of the Bulgarian national chess magazine Shakmatna Misl, a position he held until 1979 when he took a position as a trainer in Greece.
Minev and his wife Elena were supposed to return to Bulgaria in 1983, but tired of living under communism they instead defected, ended up settling in the United States after a short stay in Vienna.
The chess community in Seattle was the beneficiary of their move and not long after settling in his new homeland Minev was editing the local publication Northwest Chess and writing for Players Chess News and Theory and Analysis. When Yasser Seirawan started Inside Chess in 1988 he turned to his good friend Nikolay Minev to be one of the key contributors for the new magazine. Minev’s column on tactics proved to be particularly popular as he had a knack for writing instructive material that was also entertaining.
Garry Kasparov gave his highest praise to Minev’s 1980 work on rook and pawn endings Ednotopovni Endtspili, a portion of which was later published as A Practical Guide to Rook End Games.
_________
During one of his tournament commentaries, Yasser Seirawan said that the bible of books on rook endings is A Practical Guide to Rook Endgames (2004) by Minev.
For collectors there are the two interesting volumes on the games of Akiba Rubinstein by Minev and Donaldson: Akiba Rubinsten: uncrowned king (1994) and Akiba Rubinstein: the later years (1995).
A complete Minev bibliography can be found at:
http://www.thechesslibrary.com/minevbibliography.html
_________
The Minev Project is at:
http://www.thechesslibrary.com/minev.html
Of this Philip McCready says:
A special interest of mine has been to assemble information on the tournaments and games of International Master Nikolay Minev. Admittedly, this is a personal interest due to my nearly 20- year association with him (mostly as a student), but hopefully there are others who will find the material interesting or useful.
__________
From an interview:
https://derricksblog.wordpress.com/2011/04/
My favorite from my own games was my game with Lothar Zinn from the 1967 zonal tournament in Halle, Germany. The outcome of this game hung on just one move for probably twenty moves. The other game was my first victory over a grandmaster, which happened against Szabo in the 1954 Olympiad. This was the first time a Bulgarian had ever defeated a grandmaster.
Halle Interzonal 1967
Zinn, Lothar – Minev, Nikolay
B21 Sicilian, Grand Prix Attack
1.e4 c5 2.f4 d5 3.exd5 Qxd5 4.Nc3 Qd8 5.Nf3 Nf6 6.Ne5 e6 7.Qf3 Be7 8.b3 a6 9.Bb2 Nbd7 10.O-O-O Qc7 11.Re1 Rb8 12.g4 b5 13.Bg2 Bb7 14.Qe2 Bxg2 15.Qxg2 Nxe5 16.fxe5 Nd7 17.Ne4 O-O 18.g5 c4 19.Nf6+ Kh8 20.Qh3 gxf6 21.exf6 c3 22.Bxc3 Ba3+ 23.Kb1 Rg8 24.Rxe6 Rxg5 25.Re4 Qc6 26.Qe3 Rbg8 27.Rf1 Bc5 28.d4 Nb6 29.Rh4 Qg2 30.Rf2 Qg1+ 31.Kb2 Nd5 32.Qh3 Ba3+ 33.Kxa3 b4+ 34.Ka4 Nb6+ 35.Kxb4 Rb5+ 36.Ka3 Qc1+ 37.Bb2 Nc4+ 0-1
Poor white king, harried and harassed and then threatened with mate in three! One doesn't know whether to laugh or cry at his plight:
(37...Nc4+ 38.Ka4 Nxb2+ 39.Ka3 Nc4+ 40.Ka4 Qa3#)