Alexey Borisovich Vyzmanavin (sometimes written Vyzhmanavin; ; 4 December 1960 – 6 January 2000) was a Russian chess
Grandmaster.
During the early part of his career, he regularly played in the
Moscow Championships and in 1981, with an
Elo rating
The Elo rating system is a method for calculating the relative skill levels of players in zero-sum games such as chess. It is named after its creator Arpad Elo, a Hungarian-American physics professor.
The Elo system was invented as an improved c ...
of 2200, finished sixth, ahead of several strong grandmasters including
David Bronstein
David Ionovich Bronstein (russian: Дави́д Ио́нович Бронште́йн; February 19, 1924 – December 5, 2006) was a Soviet and Ukrainian chess player. Awarded the title of International Grandmaster by FIDE in 1950, he narr ...
,
Yuri Razuvaev
Yuri Sergeyevich Razuvaev russian: Ю́рий Серге́евич Разува́ев (also Razuvayev; 10 October 1945 – 21 March 2012) was a Russian chess player and trainer.
Chess career
Razuvaev became an International Master in 1973, a ...
,
Artur Yusupov,
Alexey Suetin
Alexey Stepanovich Suetin (russian: Алексе́й Степа́нович Суэ́тин; November 16, 1926 – September 10, 2001) was a Soviet and Russian chess grandmaster and author. He was the World Senior Chess Champion from 1996 to ...
,
Rafael Vaganian
Rafael Artemovich Vaganian ( hy, Ռաֆայել Արտյոմի Վահանյան, Rrafayel Artyomi Vahanyan, russian: link=no, Рафаэль Артёмович Ваганян, ''Rafael Artemovich Vaganyan''; born 15 October 1951) is an Armenian ...
and
Evgeny Vasiukov
Evgeni Andreyevich Vasiukov (russian: Евгений Андреевич Васюко́в, March 5, 1933 – May 10, 2018) was a Russian chess player, one of the strongest in the world during his peak. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by F ...
. He went on to win the event in 1984 and 1986.
Qualifying as a grandmaster in 1989, he went on to tie for first place at the 1990
USSR Championship 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 ...
(the title going to
Alexander Beliavsky
Alexander Genrikhovich Beliavsky (, ua, Олександр Генріхович Бєлявський, sl, Aleksander Henrikovič Beljavski; also romanized ''Belyavsky''; born December 17, 1953) is a Soviet, Ukrainian and Slovenian chess play ...
on tie-break). He placed 5th-9th the following year at the final (58th) Soviet Championship, held in Moscow. These championship successes contributed to his selection for the national team and this included participating at the 1992
Manila
Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital city, capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is Cities of the Philippines#Independent cities, highly urbanize ...
Olympiad
An olympiad ( el, Ὀλυμπιάς, ''Olympiás'') is a period of four years, particularly those associated with the ancient and modern Olympic Games.
Although the ancient Olympics were established during Greece's Archaic Era, it was not unt ...
. Playing reserve board 2, he scored +3 =6 −0, helping the Russian team to the gold medal.
Among his international tournament successes were wins at
Nałęczów
Nałęczów is a spa town (population 4,800) situated on the Nałęczów Plateau in Puławy County, Lublin Voivodeship, eastern Poland. Nałęczów belongs to Lesser Poland.
History
In the 18th century, the discovery there of healing waters i ...
1986 and
Tashkent
Tashkent (, uz, Toshkent, Тошкент/, ) (from russian: Ташкент), or Toshkent (; ), also historically known as Chach is the capital and largest city of Uzbekistan. It is the most populous city in Central Asia, with a population of ...
1987. He shared first place at Moscow 1988 (with Razuvaev,
Gregory Kaidanov
Gregory Kaidanov (russian: Григорий Зиновьевич Кайда́нов, ; born 11 October 1959) is a Soviet-born American chess grandmaster. He was inducted into the United States Chess Hall of Fame in 2013. His peak rating is 2646 ...
and
Lev Psakhis
Lev Borisovich Psakhis ( he, לב בוריסוביץ' פסחיס; ; born 29 November 1958 in Tver (then Kalinin), Russia) is a naturalised Israeli chess grandmaster, trainer and author. Born in Siberia, he is also a two-time former champion of th ...
) and won at
Sochi 1989 (ahead of
Joël Lautier
Joël Lautier () is a French chess grandmaster and one of the world's leading chess players in the 1990s and early 2000s. In 1986, He won U-14 World Youth Chess Championship in Puerto Rico, Argentina. In 1988, he won the World Junior Chess Cham ...
and
Alexander Khalifman
Alexander Valeryevich Khalifman (russian: Алекса́ндр Вале́рьевич Халифма́н; born 18 January 1966) is a Russian chess player and writer. Awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 1990, he was FIDE World Chess Cha ...
). There followed his victory at the 1990/91 edition of the
Rilton Cup in
Stockholm and further success at the
Gelsenkirchen
Gelsenkirchen (, , ; wep, Gelsenkiärken) is the 25th most populous city of Germany and the 11th most populous in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia with 262,528 (2016) inhabitants. On the Emscher River (a tributary of the Rhine), it li ...
1991 tournament, where he won ahead of
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 to ...
. He surprised the chess world at
Leon
Leon, Léon (French) or León (Spanish) may refer to:
Places
Europe
* León, Spain, capital city of the Province of León
* Province of León, Spain
* Kingdom of León, an independent state in the Iberian Peninsula from 910 to 1230 and again ...
in 1993, by placing second behind tournament victor
Leonid Yudasin
Leonid Yudasin ( he, ליאוניד גריגורייביץ' יודסין; russian: Леонид Григорьевич Юдасин, translit=Leonid Grigoryevich Yudasin; born August 8, 1959) is a Soviet-born Israeli chess player and trainer. He ...
and thereby restricting
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 ...
to a share of third prize (with
Veselin Topalov
Veselin Aleksandrov Topalov (pronounced ; bg, Весели́н Александров Топа́лов; born 15 March 1975) is a Bulgarian chess grandmaster and former FIDE World Chess Champion.
Topalov became FIDE World Chess Champion by wi ...
and
Peter Leko
Peter Leko ( hu, Lékó Péter; born September 8, 1979) is a Hungarian chess player and commentator. He became the world's youngest grandmaster in 1994. He narrowly missed winning the Classical World Chess Championship 2004: the match was dra ...
).
As a player of
rapid and blitz chess
Fast chess, also known as Speed chess, is a type of chess in which each player is given less time to consider their moves than normal tournament time controls allow. Fast chess is subdivided, by decreasing time controls, into rapid chess, bli ...
, his reputation was that of a 'speed demon', competing at the
PCA rapidplay events of the 1990s and frequently outplaying his more illustrious opponents. At the Moscow event in 1994, he reached the semi-final, narrowly losing out to
Vladimir Kramnik
Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik (russian: Влади́мир Бори́сович Кра́мник; born 25 June 1975) is a Russian chess grandmaster. He was the Classical World Chess Champion from 2000 to 2006, and the undisputed World Chess Ch ...
, having already beaten
Alexei Shirov
Alexei Shirov (, lv, Aleksejs Širovs; born 4 July 1972) is a Latvian and Spanish chess player. Shirov was ranked number two in the world in 1994.
He won a match against Vladimir Kramnik in 1998 to qualify to play as challenger for the classi ...
and
Viktor 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 ...
. Commentating at one such PCA event,
Maurice Ashley
Maurice Ashley (born March 6, 1966) is a Jamaican-American chess player, author, and commentator. In 1999, he earned the FIDE title of Grandmaster (GM), making him the first black person to do so.
Ashley is well known as a commentator for h ...
described Vyzmanavin in predatory terms—"He's a dangerous one, the V-man, looking like a cat, ready to pounce."
Vyzmanavin's highest Elo rating was 2620 and he ceased playing ''circa'' 1997.
Vyzmanavin's early death, aged 40, was officially described as being caused by a heart attack. He lived alone, but had been out with friends in Moscow on 6 January 2000 (the Russian
Christmas
Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...
) and his body was discovered some six days later. There were also reports of poverty and depression. Grandmaster
Alexander Baburin
Alexander Evgenyevich Baburin (, ''Aleksandr Yevgen'yevich Baburin''; born 19 February 1967) is a Russian-Irish grandmaster of chess. He was born in Gorky, and has been living in Dublin, Ireland since 1993. He is editor-in-chief of the e-mail ...
believes that there had been serious problems with drinking, which had worsened following the breakdown of his marriage.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vyzmanavin, Alexey
1960 births
2000 deaths
Chess grandmasters
Russian chess players
Soviet chess players
20th-century chess players