Igor Platonov (January 18, 1934 – November 13, 1994) was a Soviet Ukrainian

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, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

player. He was active between 1958 and 1984, with his best years from 1967 to 1972, when he earned the title of Grandmaster of the Soviet Union (''Гроссмейстер СССР''). He was the only player to obtain the Title of Soviet Grandmaster not to obtain the International Grandmaster title. Top tournament results included a tie for first in the Kiev Championship of 1963, a tied 3rd-4th place in the very strong 1964 Trade Union Championship, a tied 7th-9th place in the 1969 Soviet Zonal at Moscow, and 2nd place in the José Raúl Capablanca Memorial tournament,

Cienfuegos Cienfuegos (), capital of Cienfuegos Province, is a city on the southern coast of Cuba. It is located about from Havana and has a population of 178,368 in 2022. Since the late 1960s, Cienfuegos has become one of Cuba's main industrial centers, ...

1972. He played in five straight Soviet finals from 1967 to 1971. After his active career, he became a chess trainer.

Biography

Platonov was born in 1934 in

Odessa ODESSA is an American codename (from the German language, German: ''Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen'', meaning: Organization of Former SS Members) coined in 1946 to cover Ratlines (World War II aftermath), Nazi underground escape-pl ...

, in the

Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, abbreviated as the Ukrainian SSR, UkrSSR, and also known as Soviet Ukraine or just Ukraine, was one of the Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republics of the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1991. ...

of the USSR. Before he started to be interested in chess, he was an engineer. In 1958, at age 24, Platonov began tournament play. He was active from 1958 to 1984, when he became a chess trainer. Platonov is also said to be a philatelist; however, this is unclear. On November 13, 1994, he was murdered in his

Kiev Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

apartment by two thieves. The identities of the killers remain unknown.

Chess results

Platonov first made a significant mark in competitive chess in 1958, when at age 24 he posted an even score of 6½/13 in the

Championship to tie 8th-9th places; the winner was Yuri Nikolaevsky. Later that same year, he scored 6.5/16 in the Ukrainian Championship at Kiev for 11th place; the winner was

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 ...

. In the Spartak Club Championship,

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 ...

1962, Platonov scored 8/17 for a tied 11th-13th place; the winner was

Anatoly Bannik Anatoly Alexandrovich Bannik (December 1921, in Kyiv – 19 January 2013) was a Ukrainian chess Master. He was a five-time Ukrainian champion, and qualified for the Soviet Chess Championship final seven times. He was among the top half-dozen Ukra ...

. He finished equal first at the 1963 Kiev Championship with Efrim Lazarev, on 9.5/14. In the Ukrainian Championship, Kiev 1963, he scored 8/17 for a tied 13th-14th place, as Nikolaevsky won again. At the 1964 Trade Union Championship in Moscow, there were nine players who eventually became grandmasters in the field, and Platonov scored 9/15 for a share of 3rd-4th place, as the winner was World Champion

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 ...

. Platonov qualified for his first Soviet final at

Kharkov Kharkiv, also known as Kharkov, is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city in Ukraine.

1967 (35th Soviet championship), where the event was run on a Swiss format with more than 100 players. He finished well above the middle of the field; the winners were

Mikhail Tal Mikhail Tal (9 November 1936 – 28 June 1992) was a Soviet and Latvian chess player and the eighth World Chess Champion. He is considered a creative genius and is widely regarded as Comparison of top chess players throughout history, one ...

and

Lev Polugaevsky Lev Abramovich Polugaevsky ( rus, Лев Абрамович Полугаевский, p=pəlʊɡɐˈjefskʲɪj; 20 November 1934 – 30 August 1995) was a Soviet chess player. He was awarded the title of International Grandmaster by FIDE in ...

. His performance was good enough to make the team for the USSR's match against

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

, at

Sofia Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...

1967. Platonov also played for the USSR against

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

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 ...

1968, scoring 1.5/4. In the 36th Soviet final at

Alma Ata Almaty, formerly Alma-Ata, is the largest city in Kazakhstan, with a population exceeding two million residents within its metropolitan area. Located in the foothills of the Trans-Ili Alatau mountains in southern Kazakhstan, near the border wi ...

1968, he scored 6.5/19 for 18th place, as Polugaevsky and Alexander Zaitsev won. Platonov made his career best score in a Soviet final in the 1969 Zonal at Moscow (URS-ch37), where he finished with 12.5/22, to tie for 7th-9th places; the winners were Petrosian and Polugaevsky. He missed qualifying for the

Interzonal Interzonal chess tournaments were tournaments organized by the World Chess Federation FIDE from the 1950s to the 1990s. They were a stage in the triennial World Chess Championship cycle and were held after the Zonal tournaments, and before the Ca ...

by one point. He got his first international tournament opportunity at

Wijk aan Zee Wijk aan Zee (; ) is a village on the coast of the North Sea in the municipality of Beverwijk, the province of North Holland of the Netherlands. The prestigious Tata Steel Chess Tournament (formerly called the Corus chess tournament or the Hoogove ...

1970, but finished 5.5/15 for a tied 12th-13th place, as

Mark Taimanov Mark Evgenievich Taimanov (; 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 chess author, Taimanov was awarded the title of Grandmas ...

won. He had to qualify for the next Soviet final, and was successful at Kiev 1970. In the final at

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

1970 (URS-ch38), he finished 20th with 7.5/21, as

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 ...

won. Another successful qualification from

Novosibirsk Novosibirsk is the largest city and administrative centre of Novosibirsk Oblast and the Siberian Federal District in Russia. As of the 2021 Russian census, 2021 census, it had a population of 1,633,595, making it the most populous city in Siber ...

1971 earned his place for the final at

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 ...

1971 (URS-ch39), where he finished with 10/21 for equal 12th-13th place, as

Vladimir Savon Vladimir Andreyevich Savon (; 26 September 1940 – 1 June 2005) was a Ukrainian chess player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 1973. Savon shared the Ukrainian Chess Championship in 1969 and won the USSR Championship in ...

won. Platonov's next international chance was the

José Raúl Capablanca José Raúl Capablanca y Graupera (19 November 1888 – 8 March 1942) was a Cuban chess player who was the third World Chess Championship, world chess champion from 1921 to 1927. A chess prodigy, he was widely renowned for his exceptional Chess ...

Memorial at

1972, where he had one of his best career results, placing second with 13/19, behind only

Anatoly Lein Anatoly Yakovlevich Lein (; March 28, 1931 – March 1, 2018) was a Soviet-born American chess player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 1968. Chess career FIDE awarded Lein the International Master title in 1964 and the Gra ...

. This finish, together with his 1969 Soviet Championship result, earned him the Soviet Union Grandmaster title. After that, he appeared less frequently in top events, his results declined, and he did not manage to make another Soviet final, despite several attempts. His last high-class competitive games on file are from 1984. Platonov broadened his opening repertoire in the late 1960s, and this led to greater success. He favoured the

Sicilian Defence The Sicilian Defence is a chess opening that begins with the following moves: :1. e4 c5 The Sicilian is the most popular and best-scoring response to White's first move 1.e4. The opening 1.d4 is a statistically more successful opening for Whi ...

as Black against 1.e4. He opened mainly with 1.e4 early in his career, but added closed games such as the Reti Opening as he matured, with success. Platonov scored wins over top Soviet players such as

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 ...

Leonid Stein Leonid Zakharovych Stein (; November 12, 1934 – July 4, 1973) was a Soviet Union, Soviet chess Grandmaster (chess), Grandmaster from Ukrainian SSR, Ukraine. He won three USSR Chess Championships in the 1960s (1963, 1965, and 1966), and was amo ...

Ratmir Kholmov Ratmir Dmitrievich Kholmov ( Russian: Ратмир Дмитриевич Холмов) (13 May 1925 in Shenkursk – 18 February 2006 in Moscow) was a Russian chess Grandmaster. He won many international tournaments in Eastern Europe during his ...

, and

Evgeni 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 ...

. There is a selection of 230 of his games at chessgames.com; chessbase.com has 325 of his games, while mychess.com has 373 Platonov games.

Notable chess games

Igor Platonov vs Lev Alburt, USSR Championship, Kharkov 1967, Reti Opening (A04), 1-0
Platonov shows off his new positional style in his first Soviet final.
Igor Platonov vs Ratmir Kholmov, USSR Championship, Kharkov 1967, Queen's Indian Defence (E14), 1-0
Platonov takes off one of the top Soviet defensive players.
Mikhail Tal vs Igor Platonov, USSR Championship, Alma Ata 1968, Sicilian Defence, Najdorf Variation (B95), 0-1
Former World Champion Tal has to tip over his King.
Igor Platonov vs Vladimir Savon, USSR 1968, Pirc Defence (B07), 1-0
A very attractive 24-move miniature.
Igor Platonov vs Vasily Smyslov, USSR Championship, Moscow 1969, English Opening (A17), 1-0
A player knows he has arrived near the top when he can win in the strategic English against former World Champion Smyslov.
Igor Platonov vs Efim Geller, USSR Championship, Moscow 1969, Two Knights' Defence (C59), 1-0
Fellow Ukrainian Geller, a strong tactician and many-time Candidate, gets outgunned in a sharp variation.
Igor Platonov vs Leonid Stein, USSR Championship, Riga 1970, King's Indian Defence, Saemisch Variation (E80), 1-0
Stein was as dangerous an attacker as there was in the world during this era.
Igor Platonov vs Jan Hein Donner, Cienfuegos 1972, Catalan Opening, Open Variation (E05), 1-0
One of his best games from his strongest international performance.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Platonov, Igor 1934 births 1994 deaths People murdered in Ukraine Russian chess players Soviet chess players Chess players from Odesa Ukrainian chess players Ukrainian murder victims Unsolved murders in Ukraine 1994 murders in Ukraine

Biography

Chess results

See also

Notable chess games

References

External links