Igor Sakharovich Bondarewski

Igor Sacharowitsch Bondarevskij ( Russian Игорь Захарович Бондаревский , scientific transliteration Igor 'Zacharovič Bondarevskij ; * May 12, 1913 in Samsonow near Rostow-on-Don ; † June 14, 1979 in Pyatigorsk ) was a Soviet chess player in 1940 .

successes

Bondarewski appeared in the late 1930s on the scene of Soviet chess : when he first participated in a Soviet championship in 1937, he shared 10-13th place and was awarded the title of Soviet Master . At the championship in 1939 he was sixth.

He celebrated his greatest success a year later when he won the championship together with Andor Lilienthal in 1940 and became Grand Master of the USSR . Instead of a playoff between the two winners, however, the Soviet Chess Federation held a tournament for the Absolute Championship of the USSR in 1941, a tournament that was unique in chess history with six participants and 20 rounds (each against four games). This tournament, which was supposed to determine the official Soviet challenger of world champion Alexander Alekhine , is generally considered to have been arranged in the interests of Mikhail Botvinnik , as the top Soviet player finished fifth in the championship (which was originally intended to determine the World Cup challenger) but won the Superior championship with 13.5 from 20. Bondarewski and Lilienthal took the last places in this world class tournament .

In 1942 Bondarewski won the Moscow championship . After the end of the Second World War he took part in the interzonal tournament in Saltsjöbaden , which was first organized by FIDE in 1948 , and finished 6th to 9th, which meant qualifying for the Candidates' tournament in Budapest in 1950 , but was unable to take part due to illness.

Bondarewski took part in the 1951 USSR championship (12th-13th place), but from then on only played tournament chess sporadically. In 1954 he was appointed international arbitrator . His last significant result was second place in Hastings 1960/1961.

Bondarewski, who was appointed Grand Master by FIDE in 1950 , devoted himself intensively to correspondence chess in the 1950s and 1960s . At the 3rd Correspondence Chess Olympiad, he played on the first board of the USSR selection, which won the gold medal. In 1961 the ICCF awarded him the correspondence chess grandmaster title. In the 1960s, Bondarewski's work as a second to Boris Spassky , whom he supported in his world championship bouts against Tigran Petrosyan in 1966 and 1969 , also falls . In addition, a number of chess books penned by Bondarewski appeared in the USSR.

A variant in the Richter-Rauser variant of the Sicilian Defense is named after Bondarewski : 1. e2 – e4 c7 – c5 2. Ng1 – f3 Nb8 – c6 3. d2 – d4 c5xd4 4. Nf3xd4 Ng8 – f6 5. Nb1 – c3 d7 – d6 6. Bc1 – g5 g7 – g6 (the Bondarewski line ).

Works (selection)

• Mieschsonalnyj shachmatnyj turnir. Gothenburg 1955 , Moscow 1957. (Russian)
• Kombinacii v central spile . Moscow 1960. (English translation: Combinations in the middlegame, Nottingham 1977)
• together with Isaak Boleslawski : Petrosjan-Spasski 1969 , Moscow 1970. (Russian)

Web links

• Replayable chess games by Igor Sacharowitsch Bondarewski on chessgames.com (English)