Ilya Abramovich Kan (russian: Илья Абрамович Кан; 4 May 1909 – 12 December 1978) was a Soviet

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 International Master (IM) by FIDE in 1950. Kan was born in Samara. He played ten times in the Soviet Championship. In 1929, he finished third in Odessa in the 6th edition of the championship, won by

Boris Verlinsky Boris Markovich Verlinsky (8 January 1888 – 30 October 1950) was a Soviet chess player, who was awarded the title International Master by FIDE, the world chess federation, in 1950. He was one of the top Soviet players in the 1920s, and was Sovi ...

. In 1931, he took 7th place in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

(7th URS-ch; Mikhail Botvinnik won). In 1933, he took 9th in

Leningrad Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

(8th URS-ch; Botvinnik won). In 1934/35, he tied for 9-12th in Leningrad (9th URS-ch;

Grigory Levenfish Grigory Yakovlevich Levenfish (russian: Григо́рий Я́ковлевич Левенфи́ш; – 9 February 1961) was a Soviet chess player who scored his peak competitive results in the 1920s and 1930s. He was twice Soviet champion ...

and

Ilya Rabinovich Ilya Leontievich Rabinovich (russian: Илья Леонтьевич Рабинович; 11 May 1891 – 23 April 1942) was a Russian and later Soviet chess player, among the best ones in his country for three decades, from 1910 to 1940. His best ...

won). In 1937, he took 13th in

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million p ...

(10th URS-ch; Levenfish won). In 1939, he tied for 13-14th in Leningrad (11th URS-ch; Botvinnik won). In 1945, he took 17th in Moscow (14th URS-ch; Botvinnik won). In 1947, he tied for 13-15th in Leningrad (15th URS-ch;

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 ...

won). In 1952, he took 18th in Moscow (20th URS-ch; Botvinnik and

Mark Taimanov Mark Evgenievich Taimanov (russian: Марк Евгеньевич Тайманов; 7 February 1926 – 28 November 2016) was one of the leading Soviet and Russian chess players, among the world's top 20 players from 1946 to 1971. A prolific ch ...

won). In 1955, he took 17th in Moscow (22nd URS-ch;

Vasily 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 ...

and

Efim Geller Efim Petrovich Geller (russian: Ефим Петрович Геллер, uk, Юхим Петрович Геллер; 8 March 1925 – 17 November 1998) was a Soviet chess player and world-class grandmaster at his peak. He won the Soviet Champi ...

won). In the 1931 Moscow Championship, he finished in second place, behind Nikolai Riumin. In the 1933/34 edition, also won by Riumin, Kan placed 5th. In 1934, he took 5th in Leningrad (Botvinnik won). He tied for 6-7th at Moscow 1935 (2nd it; Botvinnik and

Salo Flohr Salomon Mikhailovich Flohr (November 21, 1908 – July 18, 1983) was a Czechoslovak and Soviet chess player and writer. He was among the first recipients of the title International Grandmaster from FIDE in 1950. Flohr dominated many tournam ...

won). In 1936, he tied for 7-10th in Moscow (3rd it;

José Raúl Capablanca José Raúl Capablanca y Graupera (19 November 1888 – 8 March 1942) was a Cuban chess player who was world chess champion from 1921 to 1927. A chess prodigy, he is widely renowned for his exceptional endgame skill and speed of play. Capabl ...

won). In 1936, he tied for 1st-2nd with

Vladimir Alatortsev Vladimir Alexeyevich Alatortsev (russian: Влади́мир Алексе́евич Ала́торцев, pronounced "a LAH tart sev"; 14 May 1909 – 13 January 1987) was a Soviet chess player, author, and administrator. During his career ...

in Moscow–ch. In 1937, he took 4th in Moscow–ch (Alatortsev and

Sergey Belavenets Sergey Vsevolodovich Belavenets (russian: Серге́й Всеволодович Белавенец; 18 July 19106 March 1942) was a Soviet chess master, theoretician, and chess journalist. Early life Belavenets was born in Smolensk to a n ...

won). In 1937, he took 2nd, behind

Reuben Fine Reuben C. Fine (October 11, 1914 – March 26, 1993) was an American chess player, psychologist, university professor, and author of many books on both chess and psychology. He was one of the strongest chess players in the world from the mi ...

, in Moscow. The website

Chessmetrics Chessmetrics is a system for rating chess players devised by Jeff Sonas. It is intended as an improvement over the Elo rating system. Implementation Chessmetrics is a weighted average of past performance. The score considers a player's win percen ...

.com, which retroactively rates older players, ranks Kan as 13th in the world in 1944. His opening theory contributions were mainly in the Sicilian Defence variation which bears his name: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6. This flexible line has been adopted frequently by top players since 1950, including

Anatoly Karpov Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov ( rus, links=no, Анато́лий Евге́ньевич Ка́рпов, p=ɐnɐˈtolʲɪj jɪvˈɡʲenʲjɪvʲɪtɕ ˈkarpəf; born May 23, 1951) is a Russian and former Soviet chess grandmaster, former World Che ...

and

Tony Miles Anthony John Miles (23 April 1955 – 12 November 2001) was an English chess player and the first Englishman to earn the Grandmaster title. Early and personal life Miles was an only child, born 23 April 1955 in Edgbaston, a suburb of Birming ...

. The line is also known as the Paulsen Variation, named after

Louis Paulsen Louis Paulsen (15 January 1833 in Gut Nassengrund near Blomberg, Principality of Lippe – 18 August 1891) was a German chess player. In the 1860s and 1870s, he was among the top players in the world. He was a younger brother of Wilfried Pa ...

, who played it earlier in the 19th century. Kan scored several victories over Botvinnik early in his career; Botvinnik was World Champion in 1948–1957, 1958–1960, and 1961–1963. He was named as the editor of the '' Shakhmatny Bulletin'' issue 6.Tim Harding (2001-12-11)
"''Shakhmatny Bulletin'': An Old Friend Revisited"
(PDF). ''

ChessCafe.com ChessCafe.com is a website that publishes endgame studies, book reviews and other articles related to chess on a weekly basis. It was founded in 1996 by Hanon Russell, and is well known as a repository of articles about chess and its history. It ...

''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kan, Ilya 1909 births 1978 deaths Sportspeople from Samara, Russia People from Samarsky Uyezd Russian Jews Soviet chess players Jewish chess players Chess International Masters Chess theoreticians