Alexander Genrikhovich Beliavsky (, ua, Олександр Генріхович Бєлявський, sl, Aleksander Henrikovič Beljavski; also romanized ''Belyavsky''; born December 17, 1953) is a

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

, Ukrainian and

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...

player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 1975. He is also a chess coach and in 2004 was awarded the title of FIDE Senior Trainer. Beliavsky was born in

Lviv Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukrain ...

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

, now

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

. He now lives in Slovenia and has been playing for its national team since 1996.

Career

Beliavsky won the

World Junior Chess Championship The World Junior Chess Championship is an under-20 chess tournament (players must have been under 20 years old on 1 January in the year of competition) organized by the World Chess Federation (FIDE). The idea was the brainchild of William Rits ...

in 1973 and the

USSR Chess Championship The USSR Chess Championship was played from 1921 to 1991. Organized by the USSR Chess Federation, it was the strongest national chess championship ever held, with eight world chess champions and four world championship finalists among its winner ...

four times (in 1974, 1980, 1987 and 1990). In the 1982–84

World Chess Championship The World Chess Championship is played to determine the world champion in chess. The current world champion is Magnus Carlsen of Norway, who has held the title since 2013. The first event recognized as a world championship was the 1886 match ...

cycle, he qualified for the Candidates Tournament, losing to eventual winner

Garry Kasparov Garry Kimovich Kasparov (born 13 April 1963) is a Russian chess grandmaster, former World Chess Champion, writer, political activist and commentator. His peak rating of 2851, achieved in 1999, was the highest recorded until being surpassed by ...

in the quarterfinals of the 1983 Candidates matches. Beliavsky played on the top board for the USSR team that won the gold medal in the

1984 Chess Olympiad The 26th Chess Olympiad ( el, Η 26η Σκακιστική Ολυμπιάδα, ''I 26i Skakistikí Olympiáda''), organized by FIDE and comprising an openAlthough commonly referred to as the ''men's division'', this section is open to both male and ...

. Beliavsky was a mainstay at international tournaments throughout the eighties and early nineties, however, he did not perform to the highest levels. In the 1985-87 Candidates he finished 7/16, and neither did he qualify for the 1988-90 Candidates tournament nor the 1994-95 PCA Candidates tournament. In tournaments, he was first equal at Baden bei Wien 1980, first at

Tilburg Tilburg () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, in the southern province of North Brabant. With a population of 222,601 (1 July 2021), it is the second-largest city or municipality in North Brabant after Eindhoven and the seventh-larg ...

1981, second equal at Tilburg 1984, joint winner at

Wijk aan Zee Wijk aan Zee ( literally ''Neighborhood at Sea'') is a village on the coast of the North Sea in the municipality of Beverwijk, the province of North Holland of the Netherlands. The prestigious Tata Steel Chess Tournament (formerly called the Corus ...

1984 and joint second at the same event a year later. At the second Russia (USSR) vs Rest of the World match in 1984, he was the top scorer for the victorious Soviet team, defeating

Yasser Seirawan Yasser Seirawan ( ar, ياسر سيروان; born March 24, 1960) is a Syrian-born American chess grandmaster and four-time United States champion. He won the World Junior Chess Championship in 1979. Seirawan is also a published chess author a ...

2–0 and

Bent Larsen Jørgen Bent Larsen (4 March 1935 – 9 September 2010) was a Danish chess grandmaster and author. Known for his imaginative and unorthodox style of play, he was the second strongest non-Soviet player, behind Bobby Fischer, for much of the 19 ...

1½–½. Beliavsky won the

Vidmar Memorial The Milan Vidmar Memorial is a strong closed chess tournament commemorating Milan Vidmar (1885–1962), a leading Slovenian grandmaster. The tournament has been held mostly in a biannual rhythm in several Slovenian cities, i.e.: Ljubljana, Porto ...

tournament four times: in 1999, 2001, 2003 (with

Emil Sutovsky Emil Sutovsky (born 19 September 1977) is an Israeli chess player. He was awarded the title Grandmaster by FIDE in 1996. Sutovsky is the FIDE CEO since 2022. Previously he served as FIDE Director-General (2018-22). He was the president of the As ...

) and 2005. He finished third in the Linares tournament of 1991, behind

Vasyl Ivanchuk Vasyl Mykhaylovych Ivanchuk ( uk, Василь Михайлович Іванчук; born March 18, 1969), also transliterated as Vassily Ivanchuk, is a Ukrainian chess player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 1988. A leading ...

and

. In November 2009, he was the oldest person among the world's top 100 active players, but as of October 2011 he is no longer in the top 100. He competed at the

2009 Maccabiah Games The 18th Maccabiah Games ( he, המכביה ה-18 ישראל תשס"ט), were held in July 2009. According to the organizing committee these were the largest games held yet. These Games were the world's fifth-largest sporting event, behind the Ol ...

. In 2013 he tied for 1st–8th places with

Alexander Moiseenko Alexander Moiseenko ( uk, Олександр Моісеєнко, ; born 17 May 1980) is a Ukrainian chess grandmaster and the 2013 European champion. He was a member of the gold medal-winning Ukrainian team at the Chess Olympiads of 2004 and 201 ...

, Evgeny Romanov,

Hrant Melkumyan Hrant Melkumyan ( hy, Հրանտ Մելքումյան; born April 30, 1989, in Yerevan) is an Armenian chess Grandmaster and European Blitz Champion in 2011. Chess career He won the international Internet championship organized by the ICC ches ...

, Constantin Lupulescu,

Francisco Vallejo Pons Francisco Vallejo, son of Ángel R. Vallejo Jiménez, military academy graduate in Law, and Felicidad Pons Gomila. He was born in Mahón, where the main hospital on the island of Menorca was located, but he has never lived there, but rather in E ...

Sergei Movsesian Sergei Movsesian ( hy, Սերգեյ Մովսիսյան; born 3 November 1978) is an Armenian chess player. He was awarded the title Grandmaster by FIDE in 1997. He was a member of the gold medal-winning Armenian team at the 2011 World Team Ches ...

Ian Nepomniachtchi Ian Alexandrovich Nepomniachtchi ( rus, Ян Алекса́ндрович Непо́мнящий, r=Yan Aleksandrovich Nepomnyashchiy, p=ˈjan ɐlʲɪkˈsandrəvʲɪtɕ nʲɪˈpomnʲɪɕːɪj, a=Ru-Ian Alexandrovich Nepomnyashchij.ogg; born 14 J ...

Alexey Dreev Alexey Sergeyevich Dreev (, also transliterated as Aleksey or Alexei; born 30 January 1969) is a Russian chess player. He was awarded the title Grandmaster by FIDE in 1989. Career While being a promising young chess talent, he was for a period ...

and Evgeny Alekseev in the

European Individual Chess Championship The European Individual Chess Championship is a chess tournament organised by the European Chess Union. It was established in 2000 and has since then taken place on a yearly basis. Apart from determining the European champions (open and women's), ...

, thus qualifying for the

FIDE World Cup The FIDE World Cup refers to three different events over the years. Since 2000, it has been a major chess event organized by FIDE, the International Chess Federation. Since 2005, it has been a 128-player single-elimination chess tournament, form ...

. Beliavsky shares the record for having defeated the most undisputed world champions. He has defeated nine - every undisputed world champion since

Vassily Smyslov Vasily Vasilyevich Smyslov ( rus, Васи́лий Васи́льевич Смысло́в, Vasíliy Vasíl'yevich Smyslóv; 24 March 1921 – 27 March 2010) was a Soviet and Russian chess grandmaster, who was World Chess Champion from 1957 t ...

except

Bobby Fischer Robert James Fischer (March 9, 1943January 17, 2008) was an American chess grandmaster and the eleventh World Chess Champion. A chess prodigy, he won his first of a record eight US Championships at the age of 14. In 1964, he won with an 1 ...

- a record he shares with

Paul Keres Paul Keres (; 7 January 1916 – 5 June 1975) was an Estonian chess grandmaster and chess writer. He was among the world's top players from the mid-1930s to the mid-1960s, and narrowly missed a chance at a World Chess Championship match on five ...

and

Victor Korchnoi Viktor Lvovich Korchnoi ( rus, Ви́ктор Льво́вич Корчно́й, p=vʲiktər lʲvovʲɪtɕ kɐrtɕˈnoj; 23 March 1931 – 6 June 2016) was a Soviet (before 1976) and Swiss (after 1980) chess grandmaster (GM) and chess writer. H ...

Books

* * * * * *

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Beliavsky, Alexander 1953 births Living people Chess grandmasters Chess Olympiad competitors Chess coaches Ukrainian chess players Slovenian chess players Jewish chess players Soviet chess players Soviet Jews Ukrainian Jews Slovenian Jews Slovenian people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent Jews from Galicia (Eastern Europe) Sportspeople from Lviv Naturalized citizens of Slovenia World Junior Chess Champions Ukrainian emigrants to Slovenia Competitors at the 2009 Maccabiah Games Maccabiah Games chess players Maccabiah Games competitors for Slovenia

Career

Books

See also

References

External links