Pics 03 - Korchnoi Searched

Passing by is surely chess legend Yuri Averbakh ...

Averbakh! Averbakh! Averbakh!

(Of course, I had an unfair advantage, having translated a book featuring him...)

Hey, Mig,

Here's a most curious page -

http://www.chesspro.ru/book/urs05-3.shtml

- a ratings list of Russian emigrants!

Tip o' the hat,

This is actually rating list of emigrants from the USSR. A product of creative mind of Zhenia Atarov. :-)
P.S. Averbakh worked in TV program, called "chess school" in the USSR. So perhaps some 100 mln people are still able to recognise him.

Oh, of course you're right - there's Boris [ex-BLR] Gelfand right up at the top; and Viorel [ex-MDA] a few spaces down, and Lesha [ex-LAT] Shirov, and... and... and...

I'm SO embarrassed - it's just like Fischer to lump them all as 'Russians'...

Toodles,

There's no Viorel on that list, is there? If you mean Viorel Bologan, he is no emigrant, but still plays for Moldova.

Hmmm...My Russian is limited, but surely there are some players missing?

For example, GM Roman Dzindzichashvili, FIDE 2542. I believe he is still the only person to have played first board at the Olympiad for three different countries (Russia, Israel, and US, in three different Olympiads, of course).

Or is there something in the article that implies only active players?

--Duif

Hey Fluffybunny--

I really enjoyed your translations of the annotations by Shipov et al from the Russian Super Championship! Any more translations on the way? And what about "2005 US Championship - Nakamura - An Appraisal From Overseas"? When I click on this link on your page (http://www.geocities.com/j_marfia/Russian_Chess_Translated.html) I get an error message.

Keep up the good work

F.

The Nakamura link has a typo; it should be http://www.geocities.com/j_marfia/Nakamura/Nakamura_01.html

Duif,

I know I'm wasting my time preaching to the ignorant, but....
Of course, Dzindzi was on first board for the US, maybe more than once. He did make a stopover in Israel for some time before coming here, so he might had a chance to play for that country too.
It's the first part of the trifecta that makes no sense.
Roman left the USSR in the 1970's, how could he play for Russia, which only became a country after 1991?
Plus, Roman is ethnic Georgian (as his name implies), who never lived in what now is the Russian Federation.
Then again, Board One for the USSR means he would be ahead of Karpov, Spassky, Petrosian, Tal and others.
Is this how you imagine chess history? I know it's not a required course if you feel like posting on a chess message board, but the credibility....
Then again, once I had a wager with a USCF Master who claimed that Lev Alburt was a three-time champ of both the USA and the USSR. I'm still looking to collect....

Duif and Yermo:
The Olimpbase site (http://www.olimpbase.org/players/4s4q0sen.html)
lists Roman Dzindzichashvili as playing in three Chess Olympics: 1976, 1978, and 1984. In 1976 he was third board for Israel, in 1978 he was first board for Israel, and in 1984 he was first board for the USA. No listing for him playing for the USSR or Russia, although I don't know how accurate this information is.

GM Yermolinsky,

My apologies for being so offbase, then! Thank you for the correction. It's something I've seen published elsewhere, but you're right, on reflection it doesn't make sense.

The 1970s were a bit before my time, and I don't know how the Olympiad teams were organized then, if as in the Olympics there was one combined Soviet team, or if they were divided so tht there was a sepqate Russian team.

As I mentioned, my Russian isn't very good, but as I read the first paragraph of the article we were discussing, doesn't the author himself use the term "Russians," and then correct it to the larger group? I'll admit I assumed that GM Dzindzichashvili played for the "Soviet team" at the Olympiad, but I may just be very confused. It wouldn't be the first time! :)

On the other hand, GM Dzindzichashvili's FIDE rating IS 2542, and he is a former Soviet player, so I think my original question about the list of emigres posted was still appropriate. Is the list intended only to be of active players? Or were there just a few left off? My Russian isn't good enough to tell.

If the article under discussion intended all emigres, regardless of how wrong I was in the Olympiad item, one would still expect to see GM Dzindzichashvili there.

GM Dzindzichashvili's FIDE entry:

http://www.fide.com/ratings/card.phtml?event=2000113

But of course if it's just active players, he hasn't had a rated FIDE game for awhile.

Thank you again,
Duif

By the way, regarding the comment that GM Dzindzichashvili "never lived in the Russian Federation"...

IM Boris Kogan told me personally that he had at one point had GM Dzindzichashvili in a chess class. And GM Dzindzichashvili confirmed this later.

(As you may know, I gave the eulogy at IM Kogan's funeral, and several people spoke to me about him afterwards since it was republished in CHESS LIFE.)

I'm pretty sure that would have been in Moscow, although again I may be confused. And of course it may have been a very temporary situation, so again I may simply have misunderstood.

Respectfully,
Duif

I hav been able to confirm that GM Dzindzichashvili played board 1 for the Israeli team during at least 2 rounds of the 1978 Olympiad. For example, he had a win over GM Schmidt (playing board 1 for Poland) in the 9th round. Dzindzichashvili was NOT the highest rated Israeli player (that was GM Liberzon), but he did play Board 1 for some rounds at least.

I see that at least at that time there was a single "Soviet Union" team.

http://www.olimpbase.org/1978/1978fa.html

So it looks like "two countries" is correct (Israel and USA), but, as GM Yermolinsky pointed out, I was completely incorrect in saying three.

My apologies again for the error.

Duif

Yes, but didn't Dzindzi win the Soviet Championship one year? (Holy cow, what a tournament: all those roman numerals!)

GM Dzindzichashvili played in the Soviet Championship twice, but never won it. He did later win the US Championship.

I believe GM Gulko is the only man to ever win both the Soviet Championship and the US Championship.

At least that's what the official USCF bio says.

To be specific, Dzindzichashvili was Co US Champion in 1983 and 1989.

1983 Browne, Walter; Christiansen, Larry; Dzindzichashvili, Roman

1989 Dzindzichashvili, Roman; Seirawan, Yasser; Rachels, Stuart

While security staff check his bag, Korchnoi is cleverly concealing something in his mouth (note protruding cheek pouch). Could it be an extra pawn?

Thanks for your clarifications.
Regarding Boris Kogan's story I can't comment on that because I don't know where he lived during his time in the USSR, but I doubt it was Georgia...

To add to the confusion, sometimes different USSR Team or Club Championship titles could be translated incorrectly and later misconstrued as Individual Championship titles.

>Hey Fluffybunny--

>I really enjoyed your translations of the >annotations by Shipov et al from the Russian >
>Super Championship! Any more translations on the way?

Thanks, DL, for correcting that link. I have to get back and fix it - eventually.

Thanks for the kind words, Flan. It's a vanity project of mine, really: I just got *so* disgusted at the absolute lack of USCF coverage of these major events in world chess, I decided to make English-language versions available on my own - and "publicize" it to all the chessplayers on my address list!

As for more of the same, 'fraid not. When he saw those up on the 'Net, Hanon Russell, for whom I've been translating both Dvoretsky's columns and most of the Endgame Manual, slapped THREE new projects on me. The first - Beim's contemporary appreciation of Morphy - is now in print; the second - Dvoretsky's update to the Manual - should be out this fall. And the third is a wonderful autobiography of Viorel Bologan, which I promise you're gonna love - as soon as I get it done!

Ciao,

Fluff--

I look forward to those books. And I hope Hanon is paying you well!

--F.

Fluffy,

Thanks from several chess players from my neighberhood. We're all thankfull for your great work!!!

Also thanks for pointing out your work on those books. As I am a compulsive books buyer I might end-up placing an order at ChessCafe for Beim's book soon. I also hope that Hanon is paying you well! ;-)

Anybody know if Averbakh and Taimonov are on speaking terms? I know they weren't for a while after Taimonov married his daughter. I suppose I could call and ask them myself, but I'm sure it would be a rather uncomfortable exchange.

Yeah, Carl, this may turn out to be uncomfortable, especially since you can't spell TaimAnov's name....

Yermo, Haven't you been there before? Why does someone of your stature feel the need to consistently pick on the little guys (or come here at all for that matter, although I am not complaining).

If you're not complaining, what was your post? I've never understood this "stature" thing. GMs are very good chess players. Yermo has just as much a right to be a pedantic pain in the butt as anyone else. Many GMs get caught up in this faux stature thing themselves. I prefer the human ones, for the most part.

Thanks for the heads up, Yermo. Oddly enough, I deliberated for about 3 minutes — and about four yahoo! searches — before opting for the "o" and getting back to work. I should have done a Yandex search. My bad. Ya' got me.

But I was serious about the Averbakh-Taimanov rift. Is this common knowledge? Maybe I'm the ignoramus (and an apparently illiterate one, at that). I only heard about it from my chess teacher here in Moscow.

Cheers,
Carl

It actually wasn't a complaint but a question out of interest(the cause of any normal question, although I guess I could see how this one could be seen as rhetorical). Yermo has the right to do whatever he wants, but why would he take his time to correct the spelling of Taimanov's name many times over. This is especially picky considering its not even an English word and although there is a system of transliteration, neither Taimanov nor Taimonov really captures the man's name exactly, its sort of a cross between the two. But whatever, maybe I'm just being picky too. I guess I can follow your point about the faux statue thing though and appreciate that Yermo is not deluded by it. It's just that you get so used to seeing the ex-Soviet GMs hang out only with one another(unless you give them money), that you begin to believe it(almost like back in a high school). Carl is a good sport about it.