Yuri Averbakh 85

Today Yuri Lvovich Averbakh has reached the age of 85. Awerbach has become famous especially for his years of hard work in the field of endgames, which resulted in many high-level endgame manuals. However, especially in the fifties he was also one of the world’s strongest chess players.

Awerbach was born in Kaluga on February 8th, 1922 and learnt to play chess when he was seven.

Kaloega

Google Map: Kaluga, Russia

In 1938 he won the school championship of the Soviet Union. In 1944 he gained the title of Master of the Soviet Union and in 1952 he was honoured the title of grandmaster by FIDE. Three times (1949, 1950 and 1962) Averbakh won the championship of Moscow.

In 1952 he ended shared fifth at the interzonal tournament of Saltsjöbaden, and so he qualified for the candidates tournament in Zürich in 1953. There he finished shared tenth. A year later Awerbach won the championship of the Soviet-Union and in 1956 he became shared first with Mark Taimanow and Boris Spassky. Furthermore, he won many tournaments, such as Djakarta 1956, Adelaide 1960, Wenen 1961, Moskau 1962, Boekarest 1971, and Manila 1979. At his peak, in 1957, Averbakh (the originator of the system 1. d4 Nf6 2.c2 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Be2 0-0 6.Bg5) was the world’s number eight. His highest rating was 2615, and in Divinsky’s Life Maps of the Great Chess Masters he is ranked among the 30 best players of all time. Besides playing, Averbakh has always been active in other chess-related fields as well. In 1956 he became an International Judge of Chess Compositions and in 1969 an International Arbiter. He was President of the USSR Chess Federation from 1973 to 1978. He wrote works such as Turmendspiele, Läufer- und Springerendspiele, Bauernendspiele, Endspiele Springer gegen Läufer, Turm gegen Leichtfigur and Damen-Endspiele: Dame gegen Bauern; Dame gegen Dame; Dame gegen Turm; Dame gegen Springer; Dame gegen Läufer (Sportverlag, Berlin).

Congratulations, Mr Averbakh!

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