Yuri Lvovich Averbakh (russian: Ю́рий Льво́вич Аверба́х; 8 February 1922 – 7 May 2022) was a Russian

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 ...

grandmaster and author. He was chairman of the USSR Chess Federation from 1973 to 1978. He was the first

centenarian A centenarian is a person who has reached the age of 100 years. Because life expectancies worldwide are below 100 years, the term is invariably associated with longevity. In 2012, the United Nations estimated that there were 316,600 living centen ...

FIDE Grandmaster. Despite his eyesight and hearing having worsened, by his 100th birthday he continued to devote time to chess-related activities.

Early life

Averbakh was born in Kaluga, Russia. His father was German Jewish, and his ancestors were named Auerbach, meaning "meadow brook". His mother was Russian. Both sets of grandparents disapproved of their marriage because his father was likely an atheist and his mother was

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism. Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or " canonical ...

, as well as the fact that his maternal grandmother died very young, so his mother was expected to look after the family. Averbakh called himself a

fatalist Fatalism is a family of related philosophical doctrines that stress the subjugation of all events or actions to fate or destiny, and is commonly associated with the consequent attitude of resignation in the face of future events which are t ...

Career

Tournament successes

His first major success was the first place in the Moscow Championship of 1949, ahead of players including

Andor Lilienthal Andor (André, Andre, Andrei) Arnoldovich Lilienthal Reuben Fine, ''The World's Great Chess Games'', Dover Publications, 1983, p. 216. . (5 May 1911 – 8 May 2010) was a Hungarian and Soviet chess player. In his long career, he played against te ...

, Yakov Estrin and Vladimir Simagin. He became an international grandmaster in 1952. In 1954 he won the USSR Championship ahead of players including Mark Taimanov, Viktor Korchnoi,

Tigran Petrosian Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian (, ; 17 June 1929 – 13 August 1984) was a Soviet-Armenian chess grandmaster, and World Chess Champion from 1963 to 1969. He was nicknamed "Iron Tigran" due to his almost-impenetrable defensive playing style ...

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 ...

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 ...

. In the 1956 Championship, he came equal first with Taimanov and Boris Spassky in the main event, finishing second after the playoff. Later Averbakh's daughter, Jane, would marry Taimanov. Averbakh's other major tournament victories included Vienna 1961 and Moscow 1962. He qualified for the 1953 Candidates' Tournament (the last stage to determine the challenger to the World Chess Champion), finishing joint tenth of the fifteen participants. He also qualified for the 1958 Interzonal tournament at

Portorož Portorož (; it, Portorose) is a Slovenian Adriatic seaside resort and spa town located in the Municipality of Piran in southwestern Slovenia. Its modern development began in the late 19th century with the vogue for the first health resorts. In ...

, by finishing in fourth place at the 1958 USSR Championship at Riga. At Portorož, he wound up in a tie for seventh through eleventh places, half a point short of advancing to the Candidates' Tournament. He played in the 1993 Maccabiah Games in Israel, coming in fourth.

Playing style

His solid style was difficult for many pure attackers to overcome, as he wrote: "... Nezhmetdinov, who if he had the attack, could kill anybody, including Tal. But my score against him was something like 8½–½ because I did not give him any possibility for an active game. In such cases he would immediately start to spoil his position because he was looking for complications." He had plus records against the world champions

Max Euwe Machgielis "Max" Euwe (; May 20, 1901 – November 26, 1981) was a Dutch chess player, mathematician, author, and chess administrator. He was the fifth player to become World Chess Champion, a title he held from 1935 until 1937. He served as ...

and

Writings

Averbakh was also a major

endgame study In the game of chess, an endgame study, or just study, is a composed position—that is, one that has been made up rather than played in an actual game—presented as a sort of puzzle, in which the aim of the solver is to find the essentially uniq ...

theorist. More than 100 studies were published during his lifetime, many of which have made notable contributions to endgame theory. In 1956, he was given by FIDE the title of

International Judge of Chess Compositions International Judge of Chess Compositions is a title award by FIDE via the World Federation for Chess Composition (WFCC; until 2010 ''Permanent Commission of the FIDE for Chess Compositions'', PCCC) to individuals who have judged several chess prob ...

and in 1969 that of International Arbiter. Averbakh was also an important chess journalist and author. He edited the Soviet chess periodicals '' Shakhmaty v SSSR'' and '' Shakhmatny Bulletin''. From 1956 to 1962 he edited (with Vitaly Chekhover and others) a four-volume anthology on the

endgame Endgame, Endgames, End Game, End Games, or similar variations may refer to: Film * ''The End of the Game'' (1919 film) * ''The End of the Game'' (1975 film), short documentary U.S. film * ''Endgame'' (1983 film), 1983 Italian post-apocalyptic f ...

, ''Shakhmatnye okonchaniya'' (revised in 1980–84 and translated as ''Comprehensive Chess Endings'', in five volumes).

Openings contributions

Averbakh is the eponym of several opening variations. *

King's Indian Defence The King's Indian Defence is a common chess opening. It is defined by the following moves: :1. d4 Nf6 :2. c4 g6 Black intends to follow up with 3...Bg7 and 4...d6 (the Grünfeld Defence arises when Black plays 3...d5 instead, and is consid ...

: Averbakh variation (E73): 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Be2 0-0 6.Bg5 *

: semi-Averbakh system (E73): 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Be2 0-0 6.Be3 * Modern Defense: Averbakh variation (A42): 1.d4 g6 2.c4 Bg7 3.Nc3 d6 4.e4

Death and tributes

Averbakh was born on 8 February 1922, in Kaluga, and died on 7 May 2022, 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 ...

.Chess.com: Yuri Averbakh, 1922-2022
/ref> Averbakh is survived by a daughter, who was married to Mark Taimanov for ten years.

Honours and awards

Honoured Master of Sports of the USSR Unified Sports Classification System of the USSR (russian: Единая Всесоюзная спортивная классификация) is a document which provided general Soviet physical education system requirements for both athletes an ...

* Order of Friendship of Peoples (1981) *

Medal "For Labour Valour" The Medal "For Labour Valour" (russian: Медаль «За трудовую доблесть») was a civilian labour award of the Soviet Union bestowed to especially deserving workers to recognise and honour dedicated and valorous labour or ...

(1957) *

Medal "For Distinguished Labour" The Medal "For Distinguished Labour" (russian: Медаль «За трудовое отличие») was a civilian labour award of the Soviet Union bestowed to especially deserving workers to recognise and honour high performances in labour o ...

(1970) * Jubilee Medal "In Commemoration of the 100th Anniversary since the Birth of Vladimir Il'ich Lenin" (1970) *

Russian Imperial Family The House of Romanov (also transcribed Romanoff; rus, Романовы, Románovy, rɐˈmanəvɨ) was the reigning imperial house of Russia from 1613 to 1917. They achieved prominence after the Tsarina, Anastasia Romanova, was married to t ...

: Knight Commander of the Imperial Order of Saint Stanislaus * Order of Honor100-year-old grandmaster awarded the Order of Honor
/ref>

Books

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Notes

References

* *Interview in ''The Day Kasparov Quit'' by Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam

External links

* * *
Interview Part 1
''ChessCafe.com''
Interview Part 2
''ChessCafe.com''

Edward Winter {{DEFAULTSORT:Averbakh, Yuri 1922 births 2022 deaths People from Kaluga Chess grandmasters Chess theoreticians Chess historians Russian chess players Soviet chess players Soviet chess writers Soviet male writers 20th-century Russian male writers International Judges of Chess Compositions Chess composers Russian chess writers Chess arbiters Russian people of German-Jewish descent Recipients of the Order of Honour (Russia) Recipients of the Order of Friendship of Peoples Honoured Masters of Sport of the USSR Jewish chess players Competitors at the 1993 Maccabiah Games Maccabiah Games chess players Maccabiah Games competitors for Russia Bauman Moscow State Technical University alumni Men centenarians Russian centenarians