Elena Donaldson-Akhmilovskaya

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ElenaDonaldson0301 012.jpg
Elena Donaldson-Akhmilovskaya, Seattle 2003
Association Soviet UnionSoviet Union Soviet Union (until 1989) United States (from 1990)
United StatesUnited States 
Born March 11, 1957
Leningrad , Soviet Union
Died November 18, 2012
Kirkland (Washington)
title International Women's Champion (1977)
Women's Grandmaster (1977)
Best Elo rating 2435 (January 1987)

Elena Donaldson-Akhmilovskaya , née Jelena Bronislawowna Achmylowskaja , (born March 11, 1957 in Leningrad , † November 18, 2012 in Kirkland ) was a Soviet or American chess player . She was runner-up in 1986 and has been a United States citizen since 1988.

Life

Elena Akhmilovskaya learned the game of chess from her mother. She went to school in Krasnoyarsk and then started studying at the local university. In 1979 she moved to Sochi and then lived in Georgia . She was trained by Fyodor Scriptschenko and Georgi Orlow, among others.

Akhmilovskaya was already very successful as a 20-year-old. She won the RSFSR championship in 1978, 1980 and 1983 . Because of her international success she received the title of Grand Master of Women in 1977 . She was awarded the Soviet Medal of Honor in 1981 and the honorary title of Honored Master of Sports of the USSR in 1987 for her services .

In 1976 she shared second prize with Alla Kuschnir in the interzonal tournament in Roosendaal . In the quarter-finals of the elimination games for the World Chess Championship, she defeated Tatiana Lematschko , but lost in the semi-finals to Maia Chiburdanidze . In the next series of eliminations she shared first place at the Interzonal Tournament Alicante in 1979 with Tatjana Lematschko, but then lost in the quarter-finals against Nana Alexandria .

Only in the 1985–1986 cycle was she able to fight for the right to compete against the reigning world champion Maia Tschiburdanidze via the interzonal tournament in Havana and the candidates' tournament in Malmö . She lost the world championship fight in Sofia with 5.5 to 8.5 points and received the title of vice world champion. In the 1988 Candidates Tournament in Split , she was tied first (with Nana Iosseliani ), then lost in the playoff game. Her last appearance in a candidate tournament was in Borzomi in 1990 .

Elena Akhmilovskaya and John Donaldson at the 1986 Chess Olympiad in Dubai, right on board Nona Gaprindashvili

In 1978 she took part in a women's chess Olympiad in Buenos Aires for the first time at the age of 21 . She won gold twice with 10 points from 10 games: a medal for the best individual result on the reserve board and one for first place on her team. The Soviet Union won the Olympics ahead of Hungary and the Federal Republic of Germany . In 1986 she won a gold medal for team victory and in 1988 a silver medal in the team and two in the individual competition.

She played three times for the Soviet Union (1978, 1986, 1988) and five times for the USA team ( 1990 , 1992 , 1994 , 1998 , 2002 ) in the women's chess Olympiads. Here she achieved a result of 57 points from 83 games (68.7 percent).

During the Chess Olympiad in Thessaloniki in 1988 , she married John Donaldson , the captain of the US team. The two then unexpectedly traveled to the United States after the tenth round. Akhmilovskaya had so far scored 8.5 points from 9 games. This was a serious problem for the Soviet team, which for the first time (with the exception of 1976, when the team did not take part) could not win gold at a chess Olympiad, only silver. By Garry Kasparov and Maia Chiburdanidze unsportsmanlike conduct she was therefore accused.

In the United States, Donaldson-Akhmilovskaya won the US Women's Championships three times (1990, 1993 and 1994). She had lived in Seattle since 1990 with her new husband Georgi Orlow and their son . She passed away on November 18, 2012 after a long illness.

Web links

Commons : Elena Donaldson-Akhmilovskaya  - collection of pictures

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jeremy Gaige: Chess personalia . Jefferson 2005. p. 4.
  2. ^ Willy Iclicki: FIDE Golden book 1924-2002 . Euroadria, Slovenia, 2002, p. 77.
  3. ↑ World Chess Championship for Women (English)
  4. ↑ World Chess Championship (Women) 1990 Borzomi Candidates Tournament (English)
  5. ↑ Chess Olympiad (women) Dubai 1986 Results of the Soviet Union
  6. ↑ Elena Donaldson-Akhmilovskaya's results at the women's chess Olympiads on olimpbase.org (English)
  7. ↑ 64 04/1989, pp. 12-13.
  8. ↑ Russian Chess Federation: 18 ноября ушла из жизни Елена Ахмыловская (Russian). November 19, 2012, accessed May 20, 2015
personal data
SURNAME Donaldson-Akhmilovskaya, Elena
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Donaldson-A., Elena (FIDE); Achmylowskaya, Jelena Bronislavovna
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Soviet or American chess player
DATE OF BIRTH March 11, 1957
PLACE OF BIRTH Leningrad
DATE OF DEATH November 18, 2012
Place of death Kirkland (Washington)