Alexey Stepanovich Suetin (; November 16, 1926 – September 10, 2001) was a
Soviet
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
and
Russia
Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
n
chess grandmaster
Grandmaster (GM) is a title awarded to chess players by the world chess organization FIDE. Apart from World Champion, Grandmaster is the highest title a chess player can attain. Once achieved, the title is held for life, though exceptionally the t ...
and author. He was the World Senior Chess Champion from 1996 to 1997.
Biography
A resident of
Minsk
Minsk (, ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the administra ...
(in 1953-1968), a
mechanical engineer
Mechanical may refer to:
Machine
* Machine (mechanical), a system of mechanisms that shape the actuator input to achieve a specific application of output forces and movement
* Mechanical calculator, a device used to perform the basic operations o ...
by profession, he became an
International Master
FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...
in 1961 and a Grandmaster in 1965. His philosophy was always that "mastery is not enough; you must dare, take risks". It was an axiom that fashioned him into a tough and fiercely competitive player and appeared to bring him his fair share of success.
His first major success came in 1955, when as a member of the Soviet team at the World Student Team Championships, he scored 80% and took individual and team gold medals.
As an active tournament player in the 1960s and 1970s, he achieved many fine results, including sharing or winning outright first place at
Sarajevo
Sarajevo ( ), ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'' is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 2 ...
1965,
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...
1965, Titovo
Užice
Užice ( sr-cyr, Ужице, ) is a List of cities in Serbia, city and the administrative centre of the Zlatibor District in western Serbia. It is located on the banks of the river Đetinja. According to the 2022 census, the city proper has a popu ...
1966,
Hastings
Hastings ( ) is a seaside town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England,
east of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to th ...
1967/68,
Havana
Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.Albena
Albena () is a major Black Sea resort in northeastern Bulgaria, Balchik Municipality, situated from Balchik and from Varna. Albena is served by Varna Airport. Since 2005 is considered as a settlement by the National Statistical Institute.
Al ...
1970,
Kecskemét
Kecskemét ( ) is a city with county rights in central Hungary. It is the List of cities and towns of Hungary, eighth-largest city in the country, and the county seat of Bács-Kiskun County, Bács-Kiskun.
Kecskemét lies halfway between the ca ...
1972,
Brno
Brno ( , ; ) is a Statutory city (Czech Republic), city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava (river), Svitava and Svratka (river), Svratka rivers, Brno has about 403,000 inhabitants, making ...
1975 (the inaugural Czech Open Championship – the title of Champion going to
Vlastimil Hort
Vlastimil Hort (12 January 1944 – 12 May 2025) was a Czech and German chess grandmaster. During the 1960s and 1970s he was one of the world's strongest players and reached the World Chess Championship 1978, 1977–78 Candidates Tournament for ...
on tie-break),
Lublin
Lublin is List of cities and towns in Poland, the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the centre of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin i ...
1976, and
Dubna
Dubna ( rus, Дубна́, p=dʊbˈna) is a town in Moscow Oblast, Russia. It has a status of '' naukograd'' (i.e. town of science), being home to the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, an international nuclear physics research center and o ...
1979. Third place finishes at
Debrecen
Debrecen ( ; ; ; ) is Hungary's cities of Hungary, second-largest city, after Budapest, the regional centre of the Northern Great Plain Regions of Hungary, region and the seat of Hajdú-Bihar County. A city with county rights, it was the large ...
1961 and
Berlin
Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
(Lasker Memorial) 1968 were also noteworthy.
Suetin participated in seven USSR Championships from 1958 to 1966, his best finishes being 4th–6th in 1963 (behind
Stein
Stein may refer to:
Places Austria
* Stein, a neighbourhood of Krems an der Donau, Lower Austria
* Stein, Styria, a municipality in the district of Fürstenfeld, Styria
* Stein (Lassing), a village in the district of Liezen, Styria
* Stein a ...
, Spassky and Kholmov) and 4th-6th in 1965 (behind Stein, Polugaevsky and Taimanov).
Until 1971, he served as a second and trainer to
Tigran Petrosian
Tigran Vardani Petrosian (; ; 17 June 1929 – 13 August 1984) was a Soviet-Armenian chess grandmaster and the ninth World Chess Champion from 1963 to 1969. He was nicknamed "Iron Tigran" due to his almost-impenetrable defensive playing s ...
for many of his most important matches, including his world championship victory in 1963. He was for many years Moscow's senior coach, overseeing the development of promising new talents, including
Vassily Ivanchuk
Vasyl Mykhailovych Ivanchuk (; born March 18, 1969) is a Ukrainian chess grandmaster. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 1988. A leading chess player since 1988, Ivanchuk has been ranked at No. 2 on the FIDE world rankings thr ...
and
Andrei Sokolov
Andrei Yurievich Sokolov (; born 20 March 1963, in Vorkuta, Komi ASSR, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union) is a chess Grandmaster of Russian origin, now living in France. He was one of the leading players in the world in the late 1980s.
Formative yea ...
. Though less distinguished than before, his playing career stretched into the 1990s and beyond. He won the Hastings Challengers event of 1990/91, but was like
Efim Geller
Efim Petrovich Geller (; ; 8 March 1925 – 17 November 1998) was a Soviet chess player and world-class grandmaster at his peak. He won the Soviet Championship twice (in 1955 and 1979) and was a Candidate for the World Championship on six occa ...
, a chain-smoker, and found it difficult to adjust to the 1990
FIDE
The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( , ), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national chess federations and acts as the Spor ...
directive that banned smoking in tournament halls.
A renowned commentator on the game, he was from 1965 the correspondent for
Pravda
''Pravda'' ( rus, Правда, p=ˈpravdə, a=Ru-правда.ogg, 'Truth') is a Russian broadsheet newspaper, and was the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, when it was one of the most in ...
and his voice was often heard on Moscow radio and TV during the 1970s and 1980s.
As a veteran player, he won the World Senior Championship in 1996.
He wrote many chess books; principally those concerned with the middlegame or
opening
Opening may refer to:
Types of openings
* Hole
* A title sequence or opening credits
* Grand opening of a business or other institution
* Inauguration
* Keynote
* Opening sentence
* Opening sequence
* Opening statement, a beginning statemen ...
. These include: ''Modern Chess Opening Theory'', ''Three Steps To Chess Mastery'' (a treatise which combines his earlier works, ''The Chess Player's Laboratory'' and ''The Path To Mastery''), ''Plan Like A Grandmaster'', ''A Contemporary Approach To The Middle-game'', ''French Defence'', ''The Complete Grunfeld'' and ''The Complete Spanish''. His last book, ''Chess through the prism of time'', was published in Moscow in 1998.
Alexey Suetin was married to
Woman Grandmaster
FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...
Kira Zvorykina and together they had a son Aleksandr, who was born in 1951. They lived in Belarus for some years and Suetin frequently competed in the
national championship
A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or competition, contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the be ...
. Suetin was a six-time winner of the event (in 1953 – together with Vladimir Saigin; then in 1955, 1957, 1959, 1960, 1961). At the beginning of the 1960s Suetin divorced with Zvorykina and married for the second time.
He died aged 74 of a heart attack shortly after returning home from the Russian Senior Chess Championship.
English Opening
The English Opening is a chess opening that begins with the move:
: 1. c4
A flank opening, it is the fourth most popular and, according to various databases, one of the four most successful of White's twenty possible first moves. White begins ...
A27,
Kislovodsk
Kislovodsk (; ; ) is a spa city in Stavropol Krai, in the North Caucasus region of Russia which is located between the Black and Caspian Seas. It is part of the Caucasian Mineral Waters region. Demographics
Population:
Etymology
The Rus ...
1972, 1-0
:White builds pressure on Black's over-extended kingside, culminating in a deadly attack (33...Rxg7 34.Nf8+ and 35.Rxh6+).
Suetin vs Korchnoi
Pirc Defense
The Pirc Defence ( ) is a chess opening characterised by the response of Black to 1.e4 with 1...d6 and 2...Nf6, followed by ...g6 and ...Bg7, while allowing White to establish a with pawns on d4 and e4. It is named after the Slovenian grandmaste ...
: Byrne Variation,
Leningrad
Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...
1962
: White catches Black's K in the centre with two exchange sacrifices, and Black is forced to go into a lost endgame.
Suetin vs Donner French Defense: Winawer, Capablanca Memorial,
Havana
Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.Suetin vs Gufeld
Tbilisi
Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი, ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), ( ka, ტფილისი, tr ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia ( ...
, 1969.
: From a blocked position, White fights ingeniously for the win. Suetin won a prize for best endgame of the tournament for the domination of Q and Ps vs Q and B.
References
*
*
*
British Chess Magazine
''British Chess Magazine'' is the world's oldest chess journal in continuous publication. First published in January 1881, it has appeared at monthly intervals ever since. It is frequently known in the chess world as ''BCM''.
The founder and ...