Ivan Suk and Ivan Theodorovich

[Hugh Brodie]

Where these two players the same? What is his/their history? Is he/they still alive? I have Suk games going back to 1951, and Theodorvich games up to 1978 (a tournament in which I played him).

[Vlad Dobrich]

Re: Ivan Suk and Ivan Theodorovich

Yes, same person. Don't know why he changed his name.

[Lawrence Day]

Re: Ivan Suk and Ivan Theodorovich

He played the Ottawa 1955 Canadian Closed as Suk. Those are the only early games I saw until the 1962 Canadian Open where I lost to him, now named Theodorovich. He shared 2nd there. Ron Rodgers remembered him and insisted on calling him Mr. Suck despite knowing it wasn't even 'Sook' anymore. As I recall hearing he changed it originally from Theodorovich to Suk as shorter and easier but crossed the U.S. border a lot for tournaments and the change confused them so he changed it back. He was up 5-0 in our lifetime score before I got a draw in 1968. His peak was late '50s where he once crept into the USCF top ten list after fighting with Robert Byrne in lots of weekend swisses. He had Walter Browne's number and beat him even after he was U.S. champ.
Last time we played was about 1976 in 3 Gamesway Opens on Yonge St. From 1962 to 1976 he consistently played Kalishnikov Sicilians or Old Indians. Where did he play in 1978? I have no idea what happened to him.


Theodorovich,I - Day,L [B40]
Rose City Open Welland, 1968

1.Nf3 e6 2.e4 c5 3.d3 Nf6 4.c3 Be7 5.Nbd2 0-0 6.g3 b6 7.Bg2 Bb7 8.0-0 Qc7 9.Re1 Nc6 10.Nf1 Rac8 11.Bf4 d6 12.Rc1 Rfd8 13.N3d2 Ne5 14.Qe2 Ba6 15.c4 Ng6 16.Be3 d5 17.f4 dxe4 18.dxe4 Bb7 19.h4 Bf8 20.h5 Ne7 21.g4 Nc6 22.g5 Nd7 23.g6 hxg6 24.hxg6 fxg6 25.Bh3 Re8 26.e5 Nd4 27.Qg4 Qc6 28.Ng3 Nf5 29.Qxg6 Be7 30.Nge4 Nf8 31.Qg4 Rcd8 32.Bg2 Qd7 33.Bf2 Kf7 34.Rc3 Ng6 35.Nf1 Rh8 36.Ne3 Ngh4 37.Rd1 Qc7 38.Rxd8 Qxd8 39.Ng5+ Bxg5 40.Bxb7 Qd7 41.Be4 Be7 42.Rd3 Qc8 43.Qd1 Nd4 44.Nf1 Nhf5 45.Ng3 g6 46.Bg2 Nxg3 47.Bxg3 Qa6 48.b3 Qxa2 49.Rd2 Qa5 50.Be4 Nxb3 51.Rg2 Qc3 52.Bxg6+ Kf8 53.Bd3 Rg8 54.Be1 Rxg2+ 55.Kxg2 Qc1 56.Qh5 Qxe1 57.Qh8+ Kf7 58.Qh5+ Kf8 ½-½ ½-½

[Hugh Brodie]

Re: Ivan Suk and Ivan Theodorovich

I drew with him in the "Toronto Winter Open" on Feb. 4, 1978 (held at Harbourfront). The last CFC rating I could find for him was on the 1979 Annual list (1975) which was the same as it was on the 1978 Annual list (I didn't check after 1981). This may have been his last tournament.

[Frank Dixon]

Re: Ivan Suk and Ivan Theodorovich

Thanks very much for the posts on this player who should be better recognized. Ivan Theodorovich / Suk was apparently one of the first players to investigate in depth the Sicilian systems beginning with 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e5 5.Ndb5 d6; this is termed the Kalashnikov variation today. I recall he had a fairly high finish in a U.S. Open in the mid-1950s; the details are in my Fischer book (currently on loan). If he was near the top ten in the United States rating lists in the late 1950s, then he was essentially IM strength. :) :)

[Frank Dixon]

More on Ivan Suk and Ivan Theodorovich

I did a google.com search for both names, and also checked out David Cohen's great site.

I learned that Theodorovich was four times Ontario Open champion: 1955 (on tiebreak over Paul Vaitonis), 1960, 1964, and 1968. This information is from David Cohen's site.

The site ukrainasports.com/history.html gave me information that Ivan Suk, representing the Ukraina Club of Toronto (which in 2009 will apparently celebrate its 60th anniversary) won a two-day 1960 International Invitational event which had 22 players (assumed to be held in Toronto) with a score of 6.5, ahead of Geza Fuster (6 points), Paul Vaitonis (6 points), the German Drake (6), and the English entry Kebell (5), apparently among others. This may have been a quicker time control event, since if it was over two days, and Suk had to have played at least seven games, then that would mean that normal time controls for that era wouldn't have made possible that many games in that short a time. This tournament win was certainly a very nice achievement for Mr. Suk / Theodorovich, given the strength of IMs Fuster and Vaitonis at that time! Perhaps someone out there knows more about this event.

This tournament information makes it clear that Suk / Theodorovich was indeed a very strong Master.

The USCF site has no historical rating information for him.

[Ian Findlay]

Re: Ivan Suk and Ivan Theodorovich

I fondly remember Ivan Theodorovich from the Central Y, most Saturday afternoon's at the speed tournament. He would then spend most of the evening playing Fuster for quarters. Geza would say to me "He plays weak openings". He would play the Smith Mora gambit mainly as white, which Fuster would be happy to take the pawn and defend. Ivan used to always hum the same tune. Dee dee da da dee dee. To me his most memorable quote was "There is always a move", and that helped me salvage a lot of lost games over the years.

[Frank Dixon]

Re: Ivan Suk and Ivan Theodorovich

Thanks for the memories, Ian Findlay!

I think it would be very worthwhile for some enterprising Canadian chess historian, with some time on his / her hands, to contact the United States Chess Federation, and obtain Ivan Theodorovich's rating statistics and playing record from their archived files, along with any further games from databases and tournament bulletins there. Here is a four-time Ontario Open champion, who hit the top ten on the USCF rating list at one point in the late 1950s (according to IM Lawrence Day), about which there are still many unanswered questions as to his further chess achievements. It would be good to know much more, since Mr. Theodorovich, who seems to have vanished without trace since he stopped playing tournament chess in the late 1970s or early 1980s, is potentially worthy of induction into the Canadian Chess Hall of Fame.
:) :)

[Louis Morin]

Re : Re: Ivan Suk and Ivan Theodorovich

It would be good to know much more

For the record, 10 games can be found on chessgames.com, and 4 more games on chesslive.de