Ratmir Dmitrievich Kholmov

Ratmir Dmitrijewitsch Cholmow ( Russian Ратмир Дмитриевич Холмов , born May 13, 1925 in Schenkursk , † February 18, 2006 in Moscow ) was a Soviet , later Russian chess player .

Life

Ratmir Cholmow learned to play chess at the age of twelve and was already the master of Arkhangelsk at the age of 14 . After that he was a sailor in the Soviet merchant fleet. Between 1949 and 1961 he won the championship of Lithuania several times . In 1954 he became International Master , 1960 Grand Master . In 1967 he settled in Moscow and played there for Spartak Moscow for many years . Between 1948 and 1972 he took part in sixteen national championships of the USSR , his best result he achieved with a shared first place in Leningrad in 1963. He also played some tournaments abroad, but only in socialist countries, and won in Kecskemét in 1962, Havana 1968 and Budapest 1976. He was active in chess well into old age, as he could not live on his modest state pension.

In 1982 he published an autobiography with 63 commented parts in Russian. Cholmow played his two best-known winning games in 1965 in Kiev against Dawid Bronstein and in Havana against Bobby Fischer . An anecdote passed down by Kholmov himself is that he considered himself the "real world champion" in 1954, because before the World Cup match between Mikhail Botvinnik and Vasily Smyslow , the two World Cup fighters played secret training competitions with Kholmov and Kholmov won both.

His best historical rating was 2736 in March 1961, which put him in 8th place in the world rankings.

Game examples

	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

Position after 17.… De7

Cholmow won a brilliant game at the 32nd USSR Championship in Kiev in 1964 against David Bronstein . The knight sacrifice on move 18 is ranked 4th by the English grandmaster John Emms in his book The most amazing chess moves of all time .

Kholmov - Bronstein

Kiev, January 23, 1965

Sicilian Defense ( Najdorf Variation ), B99

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nc3 d6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 Be7 8. Qf3 Qc7 9. 0–0–0 Nbd7 10. g4 b5 11. Bxf6 gxf6 12. f5 Ne5 13. Qh3 0–0 14. g5 b4 15. gxf6 Bxf6 16. Rg1 + Kh8 17. Qh6 De7 diagram 18. Nc6 Nxc6 19. e5 Bg5 + Even after the better 19.… Bxe5 20. f6 Bxf6 21. Bd3 Bg5 + 22 Rxg5 f6 23.Rg3 together with Rdg1 White has the decisive attack 20.Rxg5 f6 21. exd6 Qf7 22.Rg3 bxc3 23.Bc4 cxb2 + 24.Kb1 Nd8 25.Rdg1 Ra7 26.d7 Rxd7 27.fxe6 Nxe6 28. Bxe6 Rd1 + 29. Rxd1 Bxe6 30. Kxb2 Rb8 + 31. Ka1 Bxa2 32. Rgd3 De7 33. Kxa2 De6 + 34. Rb3 1: 0

Fisherman - Kholmov

Havana, September 20, 1965

Spanish Match ( Closed Defense ), C98

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. 0–0 Be7 5. 0–0 Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3 0–0 9. h3 Sa5 10. Bc2 c5 11. d4 Qc7 12. Nbd2 Nc6 13. dxc5 (So ​​White is betting on the knight support points d5 and f5) dxc5 14. Nf1 Be6 15. Ne3 Rad8 16. Qe2 c4 17. Ng5 h6 Black provokes a double pawn on e6 for himself white knight support points d5 and f5. 18.Nxe6 fxe6 19. b4? Nd4! 20. cxd4 exd4 21. a3 d3 22. Bxd3 Rxd3 23. Ng4 Kh7 24. e5 Nxg4 25. De4 + g6 26. Qxg4 Rf5 27. De4 Qd7 28. Be3 Qd5 29. Qxd5 Rxd5 30. f4 g5 31. g3 gxf4 32. gxf4 Rf8 33. Kg2 Kg6 34. Rg1 Rd3 35. Kf3 + Kf5 36. Rg7 Bd8 37. Rb7 Rg8 38. Rb8 Rg7 39. a4 h5 40. axb5 axb5 41. Lxb5 Lh4 42. Ke2 Rg2 + 43. Kf1 Th2 44. Kg1 Re2 45.Bb6 c3 46. Kf1 Th2 0: 1

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Willy Iclicki: FIDE Golden book 1924-2002 . Euroadria, Slovenia, 2002, p. 75.

literature

• Anatoli Karpow et al. a .: Chess - encyclopedic dictionary , Sowjetskaja enzyklopedija, Moscow 1990, ISBN 5-85270-005-3 , p. 441. (Russian)

Web links

• Replayable chess games by Ratmir Dmitrijewitsch Kolmow on chessgames.com (English)