Lev Abramowitsch Polugajewski

Lev Polugajewski, Amsterdam 1984
Association	Soviet Union Russia
Born	November 20, 1934 Mahiljou
Died	August 30, 1995 Paris
title	International Master (1961) Grand Master (1962)
Best Elo rating	2645 (July 1972, January 1975)

Lev Abramovič Polugajewski ( Russian Лев Абрамович Полугаевский , scientific transliteration Lev Abramovič Polugaevskij ; born November 20, 1934 in Mahiljou ; † August 30, 1995 in Paris ) was a Russian - Soviet chess master and was one of the World Cups in the 1970s .

Life

Lev Polugayevsky, 1972

Lev Polugajewski spent his school and study time in Kuibyshev , where he was enrolled at the Industrial Institute in the department of industrial heat energy management from 1952 to 1957. He graduated with an engineer degree . His passion, however, was the game of chess , which he learned as a 7-year-old. At the age of 12 he joined the chess section in the city's pioneer palace and at the age of 18 had earned the title of master of the sport . As early as 1953 he drew the attention of world champion Mikhail Botvinnik , who certified him with great talent in a publication. In 1956 he played for the first time in a USSR championship and shared the 5th – 7th. Place with Ratmir Cholmow and the future world champion Michail Tal . In 1961 he became an international master . His breakthrough came in 1962 when he finished second behind Boris Spasski in the USSR championship and was awarded the FIDE Grandmaster title in the same year . Polugajewski became USSR champion three times: 1967 (shared with Mikhail Tal), 1968 (he defeated Alexander Nikolayevich Saizew in the playoff with 3.5: 2.5) and 1969 (shared with ex-world champion Tigran Petrosyan ).

In 1970 he played for the first time in an interzonal tournament (at the interzonal tournament Palma de Mallorca 1970 ), but could not yet qualify for the candidates tournament (9th-10th place). At his next participation, in Petrópolis 1973, he shared the 2nd – 4th. Place, which resulted in a subsequent playoff. This was held between him, Efim Geller and Lajos Portisch in Portorož . Portisch and Polugajewski qualified for the candidate fights. In the 1974 quarter-finals, Polugajewski met Anatoly Karpov , who defeated him smoothly with 5.5: 2.5 and became world champion a year later after Bobby Fischer's withdrawal from chess. In 1976 Polugajewski qualified again for the candidate fights. Together with Vlastimil Hort, he was second at the interzonal tournament in Manila . In 1977 he defeated the Brazilian Henrique da Costa Mecking in the quarter-finals with 6.5: 5.5 (+1 = 11 −0) and met Viktor Kortschnoi in the semi-finals , who eliminated him with 8.5: 4.5. At the interzonal tournament in Riga in 1979, Polugajewski came second and was back with the candidates. In the quarter-finals he defeated Michail Tal with 5.5: 2.5 (+3 = 5 −0) and met Kortschnoi again in the semifinals. Again, Polugayevsky failed to assert himself against him. He was slightly defeated with 6.5: 7.5 (+2 = 9 −3). He still took part in the interzonal tournaments in Toluca in 1982, Biel / Bienne 1985 and Zagreb in 1987, but he was no longer able to advance to the candidates.

In addition to qualifying for the World Cup, Polugajewski achieved a long series of successes at international tournaments . The most valuable victories were Mar del Plata 1962 and 1971, Sarajevo 1964, Beverwijk 1966, Amsterdam 1970 and 1972, Solingen 1974, Sotschi 1976, Wijk aan Zee 1979, Manila 1982, Biel / Bienne 1986 and 1989, Haninge 1988 and Reykjavík 1990.

Polugajewski, who was also the coach and second of Anatoly Karpov during his world championship fights with Viktor Korchnoi, began to work increasingly in this direction after the collapse of the Soviet Union. In 1989 he moved to France , where he coached French players, including Joël Lautier . Polugajewski died of cancer in 1995 in Paris and was buried on the famous Cimetière Montparnasse , not far from Alexander Alekhine (1892–1946).

Polugajewski, considered one of the greatest theorists of the Sicilian Defense , made a great contribution to the study of this opening . The Polugajewski variant in the Najdorf variant is named after him. It arises after the moves 1. e2 – e4 c7 – c5 2. Ng1 – f3 d7 – d6 3. d2 – d4 c5xd4 4. Nf3xd4 Ng8 – f6 5. Nb1 – c3 a7 – a6 6. Bc1 – g5 e7 – e6 7 f2-f4 b7-b5 .

Polugajewskis last Elo number was 2585, his highest Elo number of 2645 he reached in July 1972 and again in January 1975. His best world ranking was the third place, which he occupied in July 1972 and January 1976 tied with Tigran Petrosyan. Before the Elo rating was introduced, its highest historical rating was 2750 in November 1969.

Game example

Spassky – Polugayevsky

	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 51 ... Rb1

In the following game Polugayevsky defeated the eventual world champion Spassky with the black stones at the USSR championship in Moscow in 1961.

Spassky – Polugajewski 0-1

Moscow, January 26, 1961

Queen's Indian Defense , E12

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. Nc3 Bb7 5. Bg5 Be7 6. e3 Ne4 7. Nxe4 Bxe4 8. Bf4 0–0 9. Bd3 Bb4 + 10. Kf1 Bxd3 + 11. Qxd3 Be7 12. h4 f5 13. Ke2 d6 14. g4 Nd7 15. Day1 fxg4 16. Rxg4 Nf6 17. Rg5 Qd7 18. h5 Ne8 19.Rg2 b5 20. c5 dxc5 21. h6 Rf5 22. Be5 c4 23. De4 Qd5 24. Qg4 c3 25. b3 b4 26.e4 Qb5 + 27. Ke3 Rf7 28.hxg7 Nf6 29.Bxf6 Rxf6 30.Rxh7 Rxf3 + 31. Kxf3 Qd3 + 32. Kf4 Bd6 + 33. Kg5 Kxh7 34. Kh5 Qb5 + 35.Kh4 Be7 + 36.Kh3 Qg5 37. Dxg 38. Rxg5 Td8 39. f4 Kg8 40. Rc5 Rxd4 41. Rxc7 Rxe4 42. Kg4 e5 43. a3 Rxf4 + 44. Kg5 a5 45. axb4 axb4 46. Kg6 Rg4 + 47. Kf6 Kh7 48. g8 = D + Kxg8 49. Kxe 50. Kf6 Rf1 + 51. Ke5 Rb1 0: 1

National team

Polugajewski, 1961 in Oberhausen

Polugajewski took part in seven Chess Olympiads with the Soviet Union . He won with the team in Havana in 1966 , in Lugano in 1968 , in Siegen in 1970 , in Valletta in 1980 , in Lucerne in 1982 and in Thessaloniki in 1984 and took second place in Buenos Aires in 1978 . In the individual ranking he reached second place on the second reserve board in 1966, on the first reserve board in 1968 and on the third board in 1978, and third place on the fourth board in 1970.

With the Soviet team he also won the 1985 World Team Championship in Lucerne, where he achieved the best individual result on the second reserve board, and the European Team Championships in Oberhausen in 1961 , in Kapfenberg in 1970 , in Moscow in 1977, in Skara in 1980 , in Plovdiv in 1983 and in Haifa in 1989 . In the individual ranking he won on the ninth board in 1961, on the third board in 1970 and on the fourth board in 1980.

Polugajewski was called up to the USSR selection in both 1970 and 1984 for the USSR versus the rest of the world competition . In 1970 he was defeated on the fourth board Vlastimil Hort with 1.5: 2.5, while in 1984 he had to admit defeat on the third board Viktor Korchnoi with 1: 2.

societies

Polugajewski first played for Nauka , in the 1960s for Burevestnik , with whom he won the Soviet club championship in 1961 and 1968, and in the 1970s and 1980s for Lokomotiv . In 1993 he took part in the European Club Cup with the Hilversums Schaakgenootschap .

Web links

Commons : Lev Polugajewski  - Collection of Images

• Playable chess games by Lew Abramowitsch Polugajewski on chessgames.com (English)
• Literature by and about Lev Abramowitsch Polugajewski in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Willy Iclicki: FIDE Golden book 1924-2002. Euroadria, Ljubljana 2002, p. 75.
2. ↑ International tournament 1974 in Solingen on TeleSchach (table and games)
3. ^ The grave of Lev Abramowitsch Polugajewski. In: knerger.de. Klaus Nerger, accessed on October 31, 2018 . 
4. ↑ Elo history at olimpbase.org (English)
5. ↑ Lev Polugajewski historical Elo numbers at chessmetrics.com (English)
6. ↑ Lev Polugajewski's results at the Chess Olympiads on olimpbase.org (English).
7. ↑ Lev Polugajewski's results at the World Team Championships on olimpbase.org (English)
8. ↑ Lev Polugajewski's results at European Team Championships on olimpbase.org (English)
9. ↑ Lev Polugajewski's results at Soviet club championships on olimpbase.org (English)
10. ↑ Lev Polugajewski's results at European Club Cups on olimpbase.org (English)