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 career, and tied for the Soviet Championship title in 1963, but lost the playoff. Kholmov was not well known in the West, since he never competed there during his career peak, being confined to events in socialist countries. His chess results were impressive, so this may have been for security reasons, as Kholmov had been a wartime sailor. But he was one of the strongest Soviet players from the mid-1950s well into the 1970s, and was ranked as high as No. 8 in the world by Chessmetrics.com from August 1960 to March 1961. Kholmov stayed active in competitive chess right to the end of his life, and maintained a high standard of play past the age of 80.

Early years

Kholmov learned chess at age 12, and was near Master strength within three years. He served as a sailor in the Soviet merchant marine during World War II, sailing mainly the Northern Arctic route. In 1945, he took 5th in Tula. In 1946, he won in Zhdanovichi (Belarus). In 1947, he took 4th in the 13th Belarusian championship. Later that year, he made his first high-level appearance at the Mikhail Chigorin Memorial, Moscow 1947, scoring 5½/15 against a powerful international field. In 1948, Kholmov won the next BLR-ch in 1948, unbeaten, with 11½/13.

Kholmov qualified for his first Soviet final in 1948, Moscow URS-ch16, scoring 8½/18 for 12th place, where the winners were David Bronstein and Alexander Kotov. He had to return to the Soviet semifinal level at Tbilisi 1949, where he placed 3rd with 10½/17 to advance. At Moscow URS-ch17, 1949, he showed solid improvement, finishing tied 9th–10th with 10/19, as Bronstein and Vasily Smyslov won.

In 1950, he took 3rd in Pärnu, 7th in Tbilisi, and tied 4th–5th in the Spartak Club Championship. He missed Finals qualifying at Tartu 1950 (URS-ch18sf) with 9½/15 for fifth place. In 1954, he took 2nd, behind Vladas Mikėnas in Vilnius (Quadrangular). Kholmov won, or tied for 1st, in the Lithuanian championships in 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1955, 1957, 1958, 1959, and 1960, making a total of ten outright or shared Lithuanian titles. This consistent success meant that he could be a full-time chess professional.

International debut

Kholmov made his international debut at Bucharest 1954 with a tied 3rd–4th place, on 11/17, as Viktor Korchnoi won. He placed 6th at Kiev 1954 in the URS-ch21 with 10½/19, with Yuri Averbakh winning; this heralded his arrival in the Soviet elite. FIDE awarded Kholmov the International Master (IM) title in 1954. He tied for 3rd–6th places at Leningrad 1955–56 with 10½/18, as Vladimir Antoshin won. Kholmov tied for 1st–2nd places at Dresden 1956 with Averbakh on 12/15. He earned the International Master title for this. A very solid tied 5th–7th place at URS-ch23 in Leningrad 1956, with 10½/17, reinforced his high-echelon status. He maintained this standard at the next Soviet final, URS-ch24 at Moscow 1957, with 6th place on 12½/21. He placed 2nd at Szczawno-Zdrój 1957 with 11/15 behind winner Efim Geller. Kholmov won the Soviet semifinal at Tashkent 1958 with 11½/15, ahead of Korchnoi and Geller. His first clear international title was at Balatonfüred 1959, where he scored 10/13 to edge Wolfgang Uhlmann. In the URS-ch26 at Tbilisi 1959, Kholmov continued his improvement at the top Soviet level with a tied 4th–5th place, with 12/19, as Tigran Petrosian won.

Grandmaster

Kholmov scored one of the best results of his career with a tied 1st–2nd, along with Smyslov, at the Moscow International 1960 with 8½/11. The same year FIDE awarded him the Grandmaster (GM) title. He won the Soviet semifinal at Novgorod 1961 with 13/16. In Baku, at URS-ch29 (December 1961), he scored 11/20 to tie for 8th–11th places. He was clear first at Bucharest 1962 with 11½/15, ahead of Vladislav Shianovsky. He tied for 2nd–4th places in the Spartak Championship at Minsk 1962 with 11/17, behind Anatoly Bannik. Kholmov won at Kecskemét 1962 with 11/15, ahead of Lajos Portisch and László Szabó, who tied for 2nd–3rd places. He placed 4th in the URS-ch30 at Yerevan 1962 with 13/19, a point behind champion Korchnoi.

In 1963 he shared 1st–3rd, with Boris Spassky and Leonid Stein, at Leningrad at the 31st Soviet Chess Championships. Stein prevailed in the three man playoff. Consequently, Kholmov is arguably the strongest player of the era ranging from the 1940s through the 1960s to never hold the title of Soviet Champion. ( Isaac Boleslavsky is the only other player of Kholmov's strength in that period to never hold the title.) At Sochi 1964, Kholmov tied 2nd–3rd places with 10/15, behind winner Nikolai Krogius. Then Kholmov suffered perhaps his greatest career disappointment in the Soviet Zonal tournament, Moscow 1964, where he scored 6/12 for 4th in a super-strong field, but fell one place short of advancing to the Interzonal stage. At Kiev in the URS-ch32 (1964/65), Kholmov tied 5th–6th places with 11½/19, as Korchnoi won. He made a notable result at Havana and finished undefeated in the tournament. At Tbilisi 1966/67 for URS-ch34, he scored 10/20 to tie for 10th–12th places, as Stein won again.

Kholmov moved to Moscow in 1967 and lived there for the rest of his life. He won at Belgrade 1967 with 6½/9. One of his best career results was 2nd in a very strong field at Leningrad 1967 with 12/16, behind Korchnoi. He was 4th in an excellent field at Skopje 1967 with 11½/17, as Fischer won. Kholmov won at Havana

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