Vladimir Makogonov

Vladimir Makogonov, around 1938
Association	Soviet Union
Born	August 27, 1904
Died	2nd January 1993
title	International Master (1950) Honorary Grand Master (1987)
Best Elo rating	2735 (October 1945) ( historical rating )

Vladimir Andreevich Makogonow ( Russian Владимир Андреевич Макогонов ; * August 27, 1904 , † January 2, 1993 ) was a Soviet chess player who came from Azerbaijan .

Life

Makogonov was born in the Azerbaijani enclave of Nakhchivan , but spent most of his life in Baku . In 1950 he became an International Master . In 1987 he was awarded the title of Honorary Grand Master by FIDE .

Makogonov was not widely known outside the Soviet Union, but was highly valued as a player and coach in his homeland. Between 1947 and 1952 he won the Azerbaijani chess championships five times. His best placings in the Soviet championships were two fourth places in 1937 and 1939.

His best tournament results included:

• 3rd place Leningrad - Moscow 1939 behind Salo Flohr and Samuel Reshevsky
• 2nd place in Sverdlovsk in 1943 behind Mikhail Botvinnik

As a player, Makogonov was known for his positional style. He made some contributions to the theory of chess openings .

The following variants are named after him:

• the Makogonow variant of the King's Indian Defense :

1. d2 – d4 Ng8 – f6 2. c2 – c4 g7 – g6 3. Nb1 – c3 Bf8 – g7 4. e2 – e4 d7 – d6 5. h2 – h3

• the Makogonow variant of the Grünfeld-Indian Defense :

1. d2 – d4 Ng8 – f6 2. c2 – c4 g7 – g6 3. Nb1 – c3 d7 – d5 4. Ng1 – f3 Bf8 – g7 5. e2 – e3 0–0 6. b2 – b4

• the Tartakower -Makogonov- Bondarewski -System (TMB-System for short) as a further development of the Tartakower Defense in the Rejected Queen's Gambit .

He ended his competitive phase in the 1950s; after that he was still a successful chess trainer. So he trained Vasily Smyslow in the preparation phase for the 1957 world chess championship match against Mikhail Botvinnik. He also trained Vladimir Bagirov , Genrik Tschepukaitis and finally the young Garry Kasparov .

His brother Michail Makogonow (1900-1943) was also a Soviet chess master.

Web links

• Replayable chess games by Vladimir Makogonow on chessgames.com (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Stephen Ham: The Young King ( Memento of April 13, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; English)