Alexey Borisovich Vyzmanavin (sometimes written Vyzhmanavin; ; 1 January 1960 – 6 January 2000) was a Russian chess Grandmaster.

Biography

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 or esports. It is named after its creator Arpad Elo, a Hungarian-American chess master and physics professor. The Elo system wa ...

of 2200, finished sixth, ahead of several strong grandmasters including

David Bronstein David Ionovich Bronstein (; February 19, 1924 – December 5, 2006) was a Soviet chess player. Awarded the title of International Grandmaster by FIDE in 1950, he narrowly missed becoming World Chess Champion in World Chess Championship 195 ...

, Yuri Razuvaev, Artur Yusupov,

Alexey Suetin Alexey Stepanovich Suetin (; 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 1997. Biography A resident of Minsk (in 1953-1968), a mechan ...

Rafael Vaganian Rafael Artemovich Vaganian (, , ''Rafael Artemovich Vaganyan''; born 15 October 1951) is an Armenian chess player holding the title of grandmaster (GM). He was Soviet champion in 1989. Chess career Vaganian achieved his Grandmaster title in 1 ...

and

Evgeny Vasiukov Evgeni Andreyevich Vasiukov (, 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 FIDE in 1961. During his career, he won the Moscow Champio ...

. 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, 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 ...

(the title going to

Alexander Beliavsky Alexander Genrikhovich Beliavsky (, , ; also romanized ''Belyavsky''; born December 17, 1953) is a Soviet, Ukrainian and Slovenian chess player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 1975. He is also a chess coach and in 2004 wa ...

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, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...

Olympiad An olympiad (, ''Olympiás'') is a period of four years, particularly those associated with the Ancient Olympic Games, ancient and Olympic Games, modern Olympic Games. Although the ancient Olympics were established during Archaic Greece, Greece ...

. 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 ini ...

1986 and

Tashkent Tashkent (), also known as Toshkent, is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uzbekistan, largest city of Uzbekistan. It is the most populous city in Central Asia, with a population of more than 3 million people as of April 1, 2024. I ...

1987. He shared first place at Moscow 1988 (with Razuvaev,

Gregory Kaidanov Gregory Kaidanov (, ; born 11 October 1959) is a Soviet-born American chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, ch ...

and

Lev Psakhis Lev Borisovich Psakhis (; ; born 29 November 1958) is an Israeli chess grandmaster, trainer and author. He is also a two-time former champion of the Soviet Union. Biography He gained the International Master and International Grandmaster title ...

) and won at

Sochi Sochi ( rus, Сочи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg, from – ''seaside'') is the largest Resort town, resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi (river), Sochi River, along the Black Sea in the North Caucasus of Souther ...

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 the U-14 World Youth Chess Championship in Puerto Rico, Argentina. In 1988, he won the World Junior Chess ...

and

Alexander Khalifman Alexander Valeryevich Khalifman (; 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 Champion in 1999. Early life Alexander Khalifman was born in St Petersb ...

). There followed his victory at the 1990/91 edition of the Rilton Cup in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

and further success at the

Gelsenkirchen Gelsenkirchen (, , ; ) is the List of cities in Germany by population, 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, Emscher River (a tribu ...

1991 tournament, where he won ahead of

Vasily Smyslov Vasily Vasilyevich Smyslov (; 24 March 1921 – 27 March 2010) was a Soviet and Russian chess grandmaster who was the seventh World Chess Champion from 1957 to 1958. He was a Candidates Tournament, Candidate for the World Chess Championship on ...

. He surprised the chess world at

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in 1993, by placing second behind tournament victor

Leonid Yudasin Leonid Yudasin (; ; born August 8, 1959) is a Soviet-born Israeli chess player and trainer. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 1990. Yudasin was part of the USSR team that won the gold medal in the 1990 Chess Olympiad. He compe ...

and thereby restricting

Anatoly Karpov Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov (, ; born May 23, 1951) is a Russian and former Soviet Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster, former World Chess Championship, World Chess Champion, ⁣and politician. He was the 12th World Chess Champion from 1975 ...

to a share of third prize (with

Veselin Topalov Veselin Aleksandrov Topalov (pronounced ; ; born 15 March 1975) is a Bulgarian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster and former FIDE World Chess Championship, World Chess Champion. Topalov became FIDE World Chess Champion by winning the FIDE ...

and

Peter Leko Peter Leko (; born September 8, 1979) is a Hungarian chess grandmaster and commentator. He became the world's youngest grandmaster in 1994. He narrowly missed winning the Classical World Chess Championship 2004: the match was drawn 7–7 and s ...

). As a player of rapid and blitz chess, 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 (; born 25 June 1975) is a Russian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster. He was the World Chess Champion#Split title (1993–2006), Classical World Chess Champion from 2000 to 2006, and the 14th undisputed World Ch ...

, having already beaten

Alexei Shirov Alexei Shirov (, ; 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 classical world championshi ...

and

Viktor Korchnoi Viktor Lvovich Korchnoi (, ; 23 March 1931 – 6 June 2016) was a Soviet (before 1976) and Swiss (after 1980) chess grandmaster (GM) and chess writer. He is considered one of the strongest players never to have become World Chess Champion. Bor ...

. Commentating at one such PCA event,

Maurice Ashley Maurice Ashley (born March 6, 1966) is a Jamaican and American chess player, author, and commentator. In 1999, he earned the FIDE title of Grandmaster (chess), Grandmaster (GM). Ashley is well known as a commentator for high-profile chess even ...

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 Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...

) 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 d ...

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 Chess Olympiad competitors Chess players from Moscow