Andreï Sokolov

Andreï Sokolov, 2008
Association	Soviet Union (until 1991) Russia (1992 to 2000) France (since 2000)
Born	March 20, 1963 Vorkuta
title	International Master (1982) Grand Master (1984)
Current  Elo rating	2490 (July 2020)
Best Elo rating	2645 (January 1987)
Tab at the FIDE (English)

Andreï Sokolov (originally Russian Андрей Юрьевич Соколов / Andrei Jurjewitsch Sokolow , scientific transliteration Andrej Jur'evič Sokolov ; born March 20, 1963 in Vorkuta ) is a French chess master of Russian origin.

Life

Sokolov learned chess from his father when he was six. In the mid-1970s he and his family moved from Vorkuta to Moscow. He joined a Moscow chess school at the age of twelve and received Vladimir Jurkov as his first coach. Then he was accepted into the renowned chess school of Mikhail Botvinnik for a year and a half . In 1981 he won the championship of Moscow , 1982 in Copenhagen the junior world championship . In the same year FIDE awarded him the title of International Master . In 1984 Sokolov won the USSR championship in Lviv and became a grandmaster .

At the Soviet zone tournament in Riga 1985 Sokolow shared the 4th – 6th. Place and qualified for the interzonal tournament that took place in Biel that same year . His third place meant the qualification for the candidates tournament in Montpellier 1985, which was again a great success for Sokolov: he shared first place with Rafael Vaganian and Artur Jussupow and thus reached the semi-finals of the candidate fights. Vaganian was the first opponent in Minsk in 1986, whom Sokolov defeated with 6-2 (+4 = 4 −0) and advanced to the final, which was organized in Riga in 1986. Sokolov won in a dramatic final sprint with 7.5-6.5 (+4 = 7 -3) against his compatriot Artur Jussupow. Yusupov was leading 6-4 after ten games, but Sokolov won games 11 to 13, while Yusupov only managed a draw in the last game. In the spring of 1987 Sokolov then had to compete in Linares against Anatoly Karpov , who had lost his world championship fight against Garry Kasparov the year before , to the superfinal . Sokolov was clearly defeated with 3.5-7.5 (+0 = 7 −4), which meant Karpov's qualification for the world championship fight in Seville in 1987.

After this exhausting start to the world championship, Sokolov did not achieve another great success. He had his sporting climax in 1987/1988 when he took third place in the world rankings behind Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov. At the candidate fights in 1988 in Saint John he was defeated by the Canadian Kevin Spraggett in the first round (after tournament games 3-3, after rapid chess 5.5-6.5). At the end of the 1990s Sokolov moved to France and took part in the French championship for the first time in 2001, and in 2002 he played for his new home at the Chess Olympiad in Bled for the first time . At the French championship in 2003 in Aix-les-Bains , Sokolov initially finished 1st – 3rd together with Joël Lautier and Étienne Bacrot . Place, after which a playoff had to decide: Bacrot prevailed, Sokolov came third. At the French Championship in Chartres in 2005 , Sokolov was runner-up behind Joël Lautier.

In February 2015 he was in 19th place in the French ranking. He had his highest rating to date of 2645 in January 1987, when he was together with Artur Jussupow in third place in the world rankings.

National team

Sokolov took part in four Chess Olympiads . In 1984 and 1986 he won with the Soviet Union, in 2002 and 2006 he competed with France. He also won the World Team Championship with the Soviet Union in 1985 and played with France at the 2003 European Team Championship . In 1984 he was nominated for the USSR against the rest of the world on board 10 of the Soviet team and lost to Eugenio Torre 1: 2.

societies

In the 1970s and 1980s Sokolov played for the Trud team , with whom he won the Soviet club championship in 1982 and the European Club Cup in 1984. He later played for Tigran Petrosyan Moscow , with whom he took part in the European Club Cups in 1990 and 1992. In France, Sokolov plays for Philidor Mulhouse , with whom he also took part in the 1997 European Club Cup. In the German federal chess league, Sokolov played in the 1998/99 season for SK Freiburg-Zähringen 1887 and from 2001 to 2009 for TV Tegernsee , with which he took part in the 2005 European Club Cup. In the Swiss National League A he played for the chess friends Reichenstein until 2012 , with whom he won the Swiss team championship in 2006 and in the same year took part in the European Club Cup. Since the 2014 season he has played at the Club d'Echecs de Genève , with whom he won the 2015 and 2019 team champion. In the Swiss Bundesliga , Sokolov played for Echiquier Bruntrutain Porrentruy in the 2016/17 and 2017/18 seasons .

Game example

Minasian – Sokolov

	a	b	c	d	e	f	G	H
8th									8th
7th									7th
6th									6th
5									5
4th									4th
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	G	H

End position after 24.… Nxd4 +!

As his best game he commented in the chess magazine Europe Échecs (No. 589, June 2009, p. 29) the black victory against Ara Minasian from the Linares Open in 1999:

Minasian – Sokolov 0-1

Anibal Open, January 11, 1999

Sicilian Defense , B40

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. b3 Nc6 4. Bb2 d6 5. Bb5 Bd7 6. 0–0 Nf6 7. Re1 Be7 8. c3 0–0 9. Sa3 a6 10. Bf1 b5 11. Nc2 Qb6 12. d4 d5 13. e5 Ne4 14. Bd3 f5 15. exf6 Nxf6 16. Rb1 c4 17. Bf1 Qc7 18. Qc1 Ne4 19. bxc4 bxc4 20. Ne3? Nxf2 21. Kxf2 Qxh2 22. Ke2 Rxf3! 23.Ng4 Raf8! 24.Nxh2 Nxd4 +! 0: 1

Web links

Commons : Andrei Sokolov  - collection of images

• Replayable chess games by Andreï Sokolov on chessgames.com (English)
• Andreï Sokolov's homepage (French)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The Chess Week 1987/09, p. 2.
2. ↑ Rating list from January 1987 at olimpbase.org (English)
3. ↑ Andreï Sokolov's results at the Chess Olympiads on olimpbase.org (English)
4. ↑ Andreï Sokolov's results at the World Team Championships on olimpbase.org (English)
5. ↑ Andreï Sokolov's results at the European Team Championships on olimpbase.org (English)
6. ↑ Andreï Sokolov's results at Soviet club championships on olimpbase.org (English)
7. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Andreï Sokolov's results at European Club Cups on olimpbase.org (English)