Anatoly Bannik
Encyclopedia
Anatoly Bannik is a Ukrainian
Chess
Master
, who was of Grandmaster strength during his peak years. He is a five-time Ukrainian champion, and qualified for the Soviet Chess Championship final seven times. He was among the top half-dozen Ukrainian players from 1944 to 1966. Bannik currently lives in Germany, and was active in competitive chess as recently as 2000.
, who challenged for the world title in 1951. Bannik made his high-level debut at age 18 in the 1940 Ukrainian Chess Championship
in Kiev, placing last in the field of 18 with 5.5/17. The Second World War then cancelled most chess activity in the Soviet Union for the next several years.
Bannik returned to chess with the 1944 Ukrainian Championship in Kiev, where he scored 7.5/11 to finish in a tie for 3rd-6th places.
Bannik won the Ukrainian Chess Championship
five times (1945, 1946, 1951, 1955, and 1964). He also placed in the top six on another six occasions (1944, 1947, 1948, 1950, 1956, and 1966).
Bannik qualified for the USSR Championship final seven times (1954, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1961, 1962, and 1964), with his best result being 10.5/19 at Yerevan
1962.
Bannik's peak chessmetrics
.com rating was 2640 in 1950, #33 in the world.
In the 1947 Championship of the Nauka Club, Bannik scored 6/11 to tie for 4th-5th places. At Moscow 1948, Bannik won the classification tournament 'Candidates to Masters', Group I, with 11.5/15, becoming a Soviet Master. At Vilnius
1949, he placed a fine fourth, with 11/17, behind joint winners Vladas Mikėnas
, Semyon Furman
, and Alexei Sokolsky. At Riga
1952, he could only make 7.5/17 for a tied 12th-13th place. At Yerevan 1955, he tied 4th-7th with 8/15; the winner was Alexander Kotov
. At Kharkov 1956, he scored 11/18 to tie for 4th-5th places; the joint winners were Isaac Boleslavsky
and Rashid Nezhmetdinov
. At Kiev 1957, he tied for 2nd-5th places, with 11.5/19; the winner was Tigran Petrosian
. He won the USSR Championship semi-final at Kiev 1960 with 11.5/16; second was Leonid Stein
. He also won the Championship of the Spartak Club at Minsk 1962 with 12/17, ahead of Ratmir Kholmov
, Alexander Zaitsev, and Alexei Suetin, who all scored 11/17. In the 1963 Championship of the Kiev Avangard Club, he scored 8/13 to tie for 4th-5th places; the winner was Naum Levin.
Bannik never got the opportunity to compete outside the Soviet Union in an individual tournament. He did play in two team matches for the Soviet Union: he scored 0.5/1 against Bulgaria
at Kiev 1962, and 2/4 against Yugoslavia
at Rijeka 1963.
Bannik moved to Germany later in his life, and was active in chess as late as 2000, at age 79, in German team events. In the Niederbayern Team Championship 1999-2000 at Landshut, Bannik scored an astounding 7/9.
There is a selection of 572 of his games at chessbase.com, while chessgames.com has 435 of his games; some of these games are duplicated between sites.
Ukrainians
Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens...
Chess
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
Master
Chess master
A chess master is a chess player of such skill that he/she can usually beat chess experts, who themselves typically prevail against most amateurs. Among chess players, the term is often abbreviated to master, the meaning being clear from context....
, who was of Grandmaster strength during his peak years. He is a five-time Ukrainian champion, and qualified for the Soviet Chess Championship final seven times. He was among the top half-dozen Ukrainian players from 1944 to 1966. Bannik currently lives in Germany, and was active in competitive chess as recently as 2000.
Biography
Anatoly A. Bannik grew up in Kiev, and was a childhood friend and chess rival of David BronsteinDavid Bronstein
David Ionovich Bronstein was a Soviet chess grandmaster, who narrowly missed becoming World Chess Champion in 1951. Bronstein was described by his peers as a creative genius and master of tactics...
, who challenged for the world title in 1951. Bannik made his high-level debut at age 18 in the 1940 Ukrainian Chess Championship
Ukrainian Chess Championship
This is a list of all the winners of the Ukrainian Chess Championship, including those held when Ukraine was a Soviet republic and those held after Ukraine became independent. Players' names listed in parentheses indicate that the player won the tournament but did not receive the title since he...
in Kiev, placing last in the field of 18 with 5.5/17. The Second World War then cancelled most chess activity in the Soviet Union for the next several years.
Bannik returned to chess with the 1944 Ukrainian Championship in Kiev, where he scored 7.5/11 to finish in a tie for 3rd-6th places.
Bannik won the Ukrainian Chess Championship
Ukrainian Chess Championship
This is a list of all the winners of the Ukrainian Chess Championship, including those held when Ukraine was a Soviet republic and those held after Ukraine became independent. Players' names listed in parentheses indicate that the player won the tournament but did not receive the title since he...
five times (1945, 1946, 1951, 1955, and 1964). He also placed in the top six on another six occasions (1944, 1947, 1948, 1950, 1956, and 1966).
Bannik qualified for the USSR Championship final seven times (1954, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1961, 1962, and 1964), with his best result being 10.5/19 at Yerevan
Yerevan
Yerevan is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's oldest continuously-inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerevan is the administrative, cultural, and industrial center of the country...
1962.
Bannik's peak chessmetrics
Chessmetrics
Chessmetrics is a system for rating chess players devised by Jeff Sonas. It is intended as an improvement over the Elo rating system.-Implementation:...
.com rating was 2640 in 1950, #33 in the world.
In the 1947 Championship of the Nauka Club, Bannik scored 6/11 to tie for 4th-5th places. At Moscow 1948, Bannik won the classification tournament 'Candidates to Masters', Group I, with 11.5/15, becoming a Soviet Master. At Vilnius
Vilnius
Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania, and its largest city, with a population of 560,190 as of 2010. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality. It is also the capital of Vilnius County...
1949, he placed a fine fourth, with 11/17, behind joint winners Vladas Mikėnas
Vladas Mikenas
Vladas Mikėnas was a Lithuanian International Master of chess, an Honorary Grandmaster, and a journalist.- Early life :Vladas Mikėnas played for Lithuania at first board in five official and one unofficial Chess Olympiads....
, Semyon Furman
Semyon Furman
Semyon Abramovich Furman was a Soviet chess International Grandmaster and trainer. He is best known for developing Anatoly Karpov into a World Chess Champion, but was a formidable player himself, as well as a successful coach for several other world-class players...
, and Alexei Sokolsky. At Riga
Riga
Riga is the capital and largest city of Latvia. With 702,891 inhabitants Riga is the largest city of the Baltic states, one of the largest cities in Northern Europe and home to more than one third of Latvia's population. The city is an important seaport and a major industrial, commercial,...
1952, he could only make 7.5/17 for a tied 12th-13th place. At Yerevan 1955, he tied 4th-7th with 8/15; the winner was Alexander Kotov
Alexander Kotov
Alexander Alexandrovich Kotov was a Soviet chess grandmaster and author. He was a Soviet champion, a two-time world title Candidate, and a prolific chess author. Kotov served in high posts in the Soviet Chess Federation and most of his books were written during the period of Cold War between the...
. At Kharkov 1956, he scored 11/18 to tie for 4th-5th places; the joint winners were Isaac Boleslavsky
Isaac Boleslavsky
Isaac Yefremovich Boleslavsky was a Soviet–Jewish chess Grandmaster.-Early career:Boleslavsky taught himself chess at age 9...
and Rashid Nezhmetdinov
Rashid Nezhmetdinov
Rashid Gibiatovich Nezhmetdinov was an eminent Soviet chess player, chess writer, and Checkers player.-Early life:Nezhmetdinov was born in Aktubinsk, Russian Empire, in what is now Aqtöbe, Kazakhstan, of Tatar ethnicity. His parents died when he was very young, leaving him and two other siblings...
. At Kiev 1957, he tied for 2nd-5th places, with 11.5/19; the winner was Tigran Petrosian
Tigran Petrosian
Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian was a Soviet-Armenian grandmaster, and World Chess Champion from 1963 to 1969. He was nicknamed "Iron Tigran" due to his playing style because of his almost impenetrable defence, which emphasised safety above all else...
. He won the USSR Championship semi-final at Kiev 1960 with 11.5/16; second was Leonid Stein
Leonid Stein
Leonid Zakharovich Stein was a Soviet chess Grandmaster from Ukraine. He won three USSR Chess Championships in the 1960s , and was among the world's top ten players during that era.- Early life :...
. He also won the Championship of the Spartak Club at Minsk 1962 with 12/17, ahead of Ratmir Kholmov
Ratmir Kholmov
Ratmir Dmitrievich Kholmov was a Russian chess Grandmaster. He won many international tournaments in Eastern Europe during his career, and tied for the Soviet Championship title in 1963, but lost the playoff...
, Alexander Zaitsev, and Alexei Suetin, who all scored 11/17. In the 1963 Championship of the Kiev Avangard Club, he scored 8/13 to tie for 4th-5th places; the winner was Naum Levin.
Bannik never got the opportunity to compete outside the Soviet Union in an individual tournament. He did play in two team matches for the Soviet Union: he scored 0.5/1 against Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
at Kiev 1962, and 2/4 against Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
at Rijeka 1963.
Bannik moved to Germany later in his life, and was active in chess as late as 2000, at age 79, in German team events. In the Niederbayern Team Championship 1999-2000 at Landshut, Bannik scored an astounding 7/9.
There is a selection of 572 of his games at chessbase.com, while chessgames.com has 435 of his games; some of these games are duplicated between sites.
Notable chess games
- Semyon Furman vs Anatoly Bannik, USSR Championship semi-final, Vilnius 1949, Nimzo-Indian Defence, Rubinstein Variation (E54), 0-1 A very hard endgame grind over the player who would become Karpov's coach.
- Anatoly Bannik vs Vladimir Simagin, USSR Championship semi-final, Vilnius 1949, Ruy Lopez, Marshall Attack (C89), 1-0 Black sacrifices material but his attack slowly grinds to a halt in the face of Bannik's excellent defence.
- Salo Flohr vs Anatoly Bannik, USSR Championship semi-final, Tartu 1950, Catalan System, Open Variation (E02), 0-1 Flohr was a wonder of precise positional play, and a world title Candidate that year, but he meets his match here.
- Anatoly Bannik vs Tigran V. Petrosian, USSR Team Championship, Tbilisi 1951, Nimzo-Indian Defence, Rubinstein Variation (E56), 1-0 Petrosian, who was making his move into the world's elite group of players, simply gets decisively outplayed.
- Alexei Suetin vs Anatoly Bannik, USSR Championship semi-final, Erevan 1954, Ruy Lopez, Closed Variation (C97), 1-0 Lovely precise endgame.
- Anatoly Bannik vs Viktor Korchnoi, USSR Championship, Kiev 1954, Alekhine's Defence (B02), 1-0 White plays very sharply, with success.