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My first sighting of Igor was in Hamilton in 1980 at a tournament in McMaster. He was huge, six and a half feet tall and wearing a great big fur coat that reached down to mid calf and a fur cap. He must have weighed 300 pounds all muscle. His physical presence was intimidating but his chess was even more intimidating!
No doubt about it, Igor raised the bar on what was possible for Canadian chess, and his performances challenged and inspired others to step up themselves!
In 1980, an internationally untitled Igor made a dramatic defection into Newfoundland, while stepping off his return flight to the USSR, which had stopped to refuel, following competition in Cuba. A few months later he won his first strong Canadian event, the 1980 Quebec Open, ahead of stars such as IM Jean Hebert (1978 Canadian champion), IM Kevin Spraggett, IM Lawrence Day, FM Roman Pelts, and several strong American Masters.
Igor dominated the 1981 Montreal Zonal field, one of the strongest ever seen in Canadian chess. When he went to the 1982 Interzonal in Mexico, he narrowly missed qualification to the Candidates' level, and far surpassed all previous Canadian performances. Until then, Canadian Interzonal entrants had not reached the 50 per cent level, at a tournament which began in 1948 and was held every three years.
At the 1982 Lucerne Olympiad, playing board one, he scored a GM norm, after nine and ten rounds, but continued to play, and competed in all 14 rounds; the rules at that time did not allow for the norm to still count; this rule was later changed. His most impressive wins at Lucerne came in back-to-back fashion, over GMs Tony Miles (England) and Jan Timman (Netherlands); both were among the world's top players from the mid-1970s.
Igor was seen less in Canada after the early 1980s; he was dominating the U.S. Grand Prix circuit for most of that decade, playing an extraordinarily busy schedule. It's my opinion that his schedule was responsible for shortening his life; it was too much chess for anyone. Regrettably, many of his excellent games from those events are probably lost from the record forever. And he somehow wasn't credited with the GM norms he had scored, due to bureaucratic inattention; only later in his life was he formally designated as the GM everyone knew he was.
His piano skills were apparently at virtually a professional level. Igor's is a career and a life which is well worth a thorough film documentation, it seems!
FM Robert Hamilton, who as Editor of 'Chess Canada' magazine brought superb journalism, variety, and analysis during his term, wrote a positively superb tribute to his friend, shortly after Igor's death.
shows for me just fine. But maybe because I'm the OP, I'm special :-)
When I set it up I didn't put in the http:// but it shouldn't make a difference? I'll try editing it. (nope: it's already there, presumably automatically put in).
Not sure that Spraggett would be my choice for a retrospective on Ivanov.
Anyway, a photo from way back. (Scarborough, Feb. 1981) Not sure who took the photo.
Ivanov on the far right playing me. Standing behind me is Fima Rakinstein (sp?).
On the left is Hartman. Then David Lavin - not sure about his opponent, might be Hergott. Don't know the guy standing.
Ah now I see it. Looks like old Scarborough Chess Club at W.A. Porter Collegiate. I do recognize myself as Lavin's opponent. There are 2 people standing. The person on the far right could be the late Mike Williams.
I just played over the game Igor Ivanov vs Karpov 1979 while listening to Paganini. Qd5 and a later Be3 are moves that make you sit up and take notice. Karpov went fishing later and ran into checkmate. All in all a very enjoyable game. https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessplayer?pid=72129
Certainly, GMs Kevin Spraggett and Igor Ivanov have a complex history together. I am not sure of certain elements of it, so won't write specifically on that until I know more. But Igor was bitter over Kevin's selection as an automatic Candidate for the 1988 Saint John matches, with Canada getting that slot due to investing so much in the Festival. I think Kevin's performance as a Candidate in that cycle justified the decision. One question on that, though: given that the two had tied at the 1986 Zonal, and then tied their playoff match, could Igor have gained entry to the 1987 Interzonal series, even with the decision made? I have been unclear on that. Or, was he given that possibility, and then turn it down?
A couple of further noteworthy aspects involving Igor:
At the Grand Manaan, New Brunswick International tournament in 1984, Igor safely climbed the tall, steep cliffs of the island, which had apparently been done only once before!
At Edmonton 1985, both Igor and future IM Brian Hartman played simultaneous tournaments -- the Canadian Closed and the Canadian Open!! The two events were at the same time and same venue, with round times varying.
Igor's win over GM Karpov came from the 1979 Spartakiad in Moscow, with Igor representing Uzbekistan and Karpov representing Moscow, both on board one. That event was one feature of the Soviet system: every four years a Soviet 'Olympics' was held, with each republic entering its best sports people in a wide variety of events. The top chess players were virtually mandated to play in it; hence Karpov's appearance in a tournament he probably would have preferred to pass up. Igor's win opened the door to his Cuba trip the next year, on which he was able to defect to Canada. It is an exceptional game, one I have played over many times. My other real favorite of Igor's games is his win over Vitaly Zaltsman from New York 1983 -- I was unaware of this game until FM Robert Hamilton featured it in 'Chess Canada', in his tribute to Igor. One of the craziest games in chess history!!
I wouldn't ask Spraggett for the time. We flew that asshole out here several times to play in a bunch of events, he was just a dick. He was having lunch with a few Victoria people, including the recently passed Dan Scoones, and, as I'm sure has happened at every single dinner that he's eaten where somebody else was picking up the cheque, Dan asked, "So Kevin, do you have any tips on how a player like myself might move up to the next category" or something like that. Spraggett's answer? "Honestly Dan, it's been so long since I've been as weak as you that I just don't remember." I'm not going to deny the humour in it, but Dan was one of the classiest guys I ever had play at one of my tournaments, just a complete gentleman, he was suffering badly from Crohn's at the time, and he deserved better.
I think 2023 becomes the 35th anniversary of his last win as a Candidate. Maybe that will humble him a little bit.
Then there were all his rape accusations, then there was his felon of a best friend.... Forget about Iggy, just fuck Kevin.
Last edited by J. Crowhurst; Tuesday, 23rd November, 2021, 11:01 PM.
Reason: It's been a while, I just keep remembering more and more about what a piece of shit he was.
I wouldn't ask Spraggett for the time. We flew that asshole out here several times to play in a bunch of events, he was just a dick.
I think I've made his enemies list for reasons unclear to me but I will say that on every one of the multiple occasions we had met personally prior to that, I found him funny, engaging, and personable.
It was a good tribute to Ivanov, and well balanced considering their complicated relationship and history.
I'm disappointed in Mr. Crowhurst's post, and that this site would allow profanity, defaming Canada's best-ever player.
My several encounters with Kevin were uniformly classy. I remember him picking up the dinner-and-drinks cheque at a fancy restaurant for a group of over 20 people (of whom I was one, a simple non-Master spectator supporter who was somehow invited to the gathering!), following his win in game two of the 1989 Candidates match in Quebec City against GM Artur Yusupov. The bill was over $1,000; Kevin had said to everyone: 'Order what you want, it's on me!' Kevin eventually lost that QF match in overtime; a win would have put him against GM Anatoly Karpov in the semi-finals.
His conduct at the 1992 Zonal in Kingston was first-rate; as defending champion, he offered several constructive suggestions while thanking me -- deputy arbiter and head organizer (unpaid) -- for staging the event. 'You did a great job on your first try at this level, Frank', he said.
As a member of the organizing team for the 2004 Canadian Open in Kapuskasing, I was astonished at the very busy degree of his involvement in the event. As Master's Rep, he attended two days of CFC Annual General Meetings )s did I), took a full part in the debate and raised several central points, and was there right to the end of both 7-hour sessions; he gave an excellent chess lecture to an appreciative crowd; he contended for the title right to the last round, eventually finishing in a high place after a tough round nine loss to the eventual co-champion; and served on the Appeals' Committee, which had a couple of dicey rulings.
Kevin hasn't played in Canada since the 2004 Toronto Zonal. That event saw the most controversial pairing mess-up in the history of Canadian chess, in round 8 for the top score group. Kevin, in that group, along with GM Dmitri Tyomkin, IM (later GM Pascal Charbonneau) and FM Goran Milicevic, was in the right there; Head Arbiter IA Mark Dutton has never acknowledged his mistake, nor apologized for it. The issue: when possible, equalize colors for a score group, in even-numbered rounds, in a Swiss format!! Fundamental, correct, but NOT DONE in that instance. It had a major effect on the final outcome.
I suspect much of the animus out there about Kevin is simple jealousy over his great run of success; he left a lot of defeated and disappointed rivals. He is a strong personality, no doubt of that, and is not a shrinking violet in debate. On the positive side, he probably knows more about chess organization, and has more experience at top events, than any strong player in the history of Canadian chess.
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