Mikhail Gurevich (; born 22 February 1959) is a Soviet-born Belgian

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 a top ten ranked player from 1989 to 1991. Gurevich became an

International Grandmaster Grandmaster (GM) is a Chess title, title awarded to chess players by the world chess organization FIDE. Apart from World Chess Championship, World Champion, Grandmaster is the highest title a chess player can attain. Once achieved, the title is hel ...

in 1986, and is currently an

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 ...

arbiter and senior trainer.

Chess career

Early years

Gurevich won the Ukrainian Chess Championship in 1984 and became USSR Champion in 1985, controversially taking the title from co-winners Alexander Chernin and

Viktor Gavrikov Viktor Nikolaevich Gavrikov (; 29 July 1957 – 27 April 2016) was a Lithuanian-Swiss chess player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 1984. Gavrikov shared first place with Gintautas Piešina in the 1978 Lithuanian Champions ...

on tiebreak points' This was after a three-way playoff had been organized and all the game results were draws. He was not allowed to leave the country, however, to participate in 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 ...

, and Gavrikov and Chernin went in his place. According to Gurevich, a Jew, the KGB prevented his journey to the West while they expected he would defect to Israel. Gurevich was awarded the

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 ...

title in 1985, and became an

in 1986. In 1987 he was first at Moscow ahead of Oleg Romanishin and Sergey Dolmatov. He finished second 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 ...

after

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 ...

, but ahead of Andrei Sokolov and Artur Yusupov.''no title given''
; Chessmetrics.com

Peak

At his peak, between 1989 and 1991, Gurevich was consistently ranked in the top ten players in the world. He took first at

Reggio Emilia Reggio nell'Emilia (; ), usually referred to as Reggio Emilia, or simply Reggio by its inhabitants, and known until Unification of Italy, 1861 as Reggio di Lombardia, is a city in northern Italy, in the Emilia-Romagna region. It has about 172,51 ...

1989, ahead of Vassily Ivanchuk, Jaan Ehlvest and

Viswanathan Anand Viswanathan "Vishy" Anand (born 11 December 1969) is an Indian chess grandmaster. Anand is a five-time World Chess Champion, a two-time World Rapid Chess Champion, a two-time Chess World Cup Champion and a World Blitz Chess Cup Champion. ...

and tied for first at Moscow 1990 with Alexander Khalifman and

Evgeny Bareev Evgeny Ilgizovich Bareev (; born 21 November 1966) is a Russian-Canadian chess player, trainer, and writer. Awarded the FIDE Grandmaster title in 1989, he was ranked fourth in the world in the international rankings in 1992 and again in 2003, w ...

. His highest world ranking was a tie for fifth place on the January 1990 and January 1991 FIDE rating lists (with ratings of 2645 and 2650 respectively).

Struggle and comeback

Mikhail Gurevich's results in the late 1990s were not as impressive as in previous years, but he has since made a comeback. He had achieved his highest rating of 2694 on the January 2001 rating list, which ranked him 14th in the world. In 2001 he won the

Belgian Chess Championship The Belgian Chess Championship is a Tournament, championship organised yearly by the Koninklijke Belgische Schaakbond/Fédération Royale Belge des Echecs (Royal Belgium Chess Federation). The winner of the championship is awarded the title: Chess C ...

with a perfect 9/9 score. He placed 8th at the 2005 FIDE World Cup, beating Robert Markus, Pavel Eljanov, Alexei Shirov and Vladimir Malakhov along the way, before losing to the eventual winner, Levon Aronian. This qualified him for the

Candidates Tournament The Candidates Tournament (or in some periods Candidates Matches) is a chess tournament organized by FIDE, chess's international governing body, since 1950, as the final contest to determine the challenger for the World Chess Championship. The win ...

for the FIDE World Chess Championship 2007, in May–June 2007. He was eliminated in the first round, however, losing his match against Peter Leko 3.5-0.5. In 2006, Gurevich won the Turkish Chess Championship. In 2009 he tied for first with

Michał Krasenkow Michał Krasenkow (born 14 November 1963) is a Polish chess grandmaster, chess trainer and writer. He is one of the strongest Polish chess players since World War II. His playing style is aggressive and he has won many "best game" awards. Lif ...

at the World Chess Open in Leon.

Team player

In team chess events, he represented the USSR at the 1989

Haifa Haifa ( ; , ; ) is the List of cities in Israel, third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropolitan area i ...

European Team Chess Championship The European Team Championship (often abbreviated in texts and games databases as ''ETC'') is an international team chess event, eligible for the participation of European nations whose chess federations are located in zones 1.1 to 1.9. This more ...

, winning team gold and individual bronze medals. In 1992, playing for Belgium, he had a fine result at the

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 ...

Chess Olympiad The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams representing nations of the world compete. FIDE organises the tournament and selects the host nation. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, FIDE held an Online Chess Olympiad in FIDE Onli ...

, scoring 75% on board 1. In 2006, playing top board for his second adopted nation, Turkey, at the

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

Olympiad, he registered a respectable 58%.

Expertise

Mikhail Gurevich was also a long-time second to eventual world champion Vishwanathan Anand in the 1990s. He is known as an expert on the

French Defence The French Defence is a chess opening characterised by the moves: :1. e4 e6 This is most commonly followed by 2.d4 d5. Black usually plays ...c5 soon after, attacking White's and gaining on the . The French has a reputation for solidity ...

, the Reshevsky variation of the

Nimzo-Indian Defence The Nimzo-Indian Defence is a chess opening characterised by the moves: :1. d4 Nf6 :2. c4 e6 :3. Nc3 Bb4 Other move orders, such as 1.c4 e6 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.d4 Bb4, are also feasible. In the ''Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings'', the Nimzo-Indian ...

, and the Petrosian variation of the

Queen's Indian Defence The Queen's Indian Defense (QID) is a chess opening defined by the moves: : 1. b:Chess Opening Theory/1. d4, d4 b:Chess Opening Theory/1. d4/1...Nf6, Nf6 : 2. b:Chess Opening Theory/1. d4/1...Nf6/2. c4, c4 b:Chess Opening Theory/1. d4/1...Nf6/2. c ...

. In 1991, he wrote a book on the latter, entitled ''Queen's Indian Defence: Kasparov System'', published by Batsford. In 2006, Gurevich was awarded the title of FIDE senior trainer. He holds the title of FIDE arbiter. In the Fourth ACP World Rapid Cup knockout tournament, held 27–29 May 2010 in

Odesa Odesa, also spelled Odessa, is the third most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern ...

, Ukraine, Gurevich created a sensation after beating two grandmasters, each rated at over 2700.

Personal life

Gurevich was born 22 February 1959 in

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

USSR 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 ...

. He lived in Belgium from 1991 to 2005 (after the breakup of the Soviet Union), and since 2006, resides in Turkey.Chessgames.com
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Notable games

Joel Lautier vs Mikhail Gurevich, 21 1993, English Opening: Anglo-Dutch Defense (A10), 0-1Mikhail Gurevich vs Normunds Miezis, Bonn GSK 1996, Budapest Gambit: Rubinstein Variation (A52), 1-0Sergei Movsesian vs Mikhail Gurevich, Sarajevo Bosnia 2000, French Defense: Advance, Euwe Variation (C02), 0-1Alexey Shirov vs Mikhail Gurevich, FIDE World Cup 2005, French Defense: Advance, Lputian Variation (C02), 0-1

References

External links

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Mikhail Gurevich
chess games at 365Chess.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Gurevich, Mikhail 1959 births Living people Chess Grandmasters Chess coaches Chess arbiters Soviet chess players 20th-century Belgian chess players Turkish chess players Jewish chess players Soviet chess writers Belgian male writers Turkish writers Ukrainian Jews 20th-century Belgian Jews Turkish Jews Chess players from Kharkiv Naturalized citizens of Turkey Chess Olympiad competitors