Isaac Boleslavsky
Encyclopedia
Isaac Yefremovich Boleslavsky (June 9, 1919 Zolotonosha
, Ukraine
– February 15, 1977 Minsk
) was a Soviet–Jewish chess Grandmaster
.
.
Three years later, he won third prize in the 1936 USSR All-Union Junior Championship, held in Leningrad
.
In 1938, at nineteen, he won the Ukrainian Championship
; the following year, he won the Ukraine SSR championship, qualified to play in the USSR Chess Championship
at the age of 20, and gained his national chess master title.
He earned a degree in philology
at Sverdlovsk University.
In 1940, Boleslavsky played in the 12th USSR championship final in Moscow. He won eight of his last ten games and tied for fifth/sixth place. At the end of 1940 he won the Ukrainian Championship for the third consecutive year. In March 1941, he took part in the match-tournament for the title of Absolute Champion of the USSR, finishing fourth of six participants. On the eve of the match-tournament, he had to pass an examination at the University, and his preparation for the chess event proved to be inadequate.
In 1945 he took second place in the 14th USSR championship, behind Mikhail Botvinnik
. He won nine games, drew six, and lost two. He was awarded the Grandmaster title in the USSR. He made his international debut on third board of the USSR-USA radio match
. He drew his first game with Reuben Fine
and defeated him in the second game, winning a prize for the best game of the match (see the game http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1043950). Boleslavsky secured a clear advantage in the opening thanks to his superior pawn structure and won without allowing Fine much counterplay. It should be noted that the Soviets regarded Fine as possibly the strongest American player based on his international results in the pre-World War II era.
In 1946, his daughter Tatiana was born; she later married David Bronstein
. Boleslavsky and Bronstein had become friends in the late 1930s, and remained so through their lives. In 1946, Boleslavsky played abroad in an international tournament for the first time in Groningen and tied for sixth/seventh place.
In 1950 he was one of the inaugural recipients of the International Grandmaster title from FIDE.
at Saltsjöbaden
1948 into the Candidates Tournament
two years later in Budapest
. In the Candidates tournament—the winner of which would play a World Chess Championship
match against Mikhail Botvinnik
—he was the only undefeated player, and led for most of the tournament, but in the last round he was caught by Bronstein, who later won a playoff in Moscow (+3−2=9).
This turned out to be Boleslavsky's last chance as a serious contender for the world championship. In 1953, he participated in the Candidates' tournament in Zürich
, but finished in 10th-11th places, and never qualified for subsequent world championship cycles.
. This was the only Olympiad
he would play in his career, but he attended several others to provide support for the Soviet team.
He won the Belarusian Championship
in 1952 (joint) and 1964.
In 1961, he played in his last USSR Championship final. He took first place at an international tournament in Debrecen. He was world champion Tigran Petrosian
's assistant from 1963 to 1969.
In 1968 he captained the USSR students' team, which won the World Championship at Ybbs. His last tournament appearance was in Minsk
in 1971, at 52. Boleslavsky was the chief trainer of the Soviet Chess Federation in the 1960s, and he remained until his death a very well respected analyst and chess writer, particularly in the area of opening theory.
He died in Minsk on February 15, 1977, at the age of 57, after falling on an icy sidewalk, fracturing his hip and contracting a fatal infection while in hospital.
(1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Be2 e5). This is similar to the Najdorf Variation, with 5...a6 instead of 5...Nc6.
Boleslavsky, together with fellow Ukrainians Bronstein, Efim Geller
, and Alexander Konstantinopolsky
, beginning in the late 1930s, turned the King's Indian Defence
from a suspect variation into one of the most popular defences today. Hans Kmoch
in his book Pawn Power in Chess calls the King's Indian configuration of black pawns on c6 and d6 (especially if the d-pawn is on a semi-open file) "the Boleslavsky Wall."
Lev Polugaevsky
said of him:
A book of his best games, published in 1990, won the prize as the best chess book published in Great Britain that year.
(+2 =3). He even beat Tal with the black pieces in Riga
in 1958. See game at chessgames.com
Zolotonosha
Zolotonosha is a city located in the Cherkasy Oblast in central Ukraine. Located at around , the city serves as the administrative center of the Zolotoniskyi Raion , however the city itself is designated with the status of a separate district within the oblast.Zolotonosha is located on the...
, Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
– February 15, 1977 Minsk
Minsk
- Ecological situation :The ecological situation is monitored by Republican Center of Radioactive and Environmental Control .During 2003–2008 the overall weight of contaminants increased from 186,000 to 247,400 tons. The change of gas as industrial fuel to mazut for financial reasons has worsened...
) was a Soviet–Jewish chess Grandmaster
International Grandmaster
The title Grandmaster is awarded to strong chess players by the world chess organization FIDE. Apart from World Champion, Grandmaster is the highest title a chess player can attain....
.
Early career
Boleslavsky taught himself chess at age 9. In 1933, Boleslavsky became schoolboy champion of DnipropetrovskDnipropetrovsk
Dnipropetrovsk or Dnepropetrovsk formerly Yekaterinoslav is Ukraine's third largest city with one million inhabitants. It is located southeast of Ukraine's capital Kiev on the Dnieper River, in the south-central region of the country...
.
Three years later, he won third prize in the 1936 USSR All-Union Junior Championship, held in Leningrad
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
.
In 1938, at nineteen, he won the Ukrainian 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...
; the following year, he won the Ukraine SSR championship, qualified to play in the USSR Chess Championship
USSR Chess Championship
This is a list of all the winners of the USSR Chess Championship. It was the strongest national chess championship ever held, with eight world chess champions and four world championship finalists among its winners...
at the age of 20, and gained his national chess master title.
He earned a degree in philology
Philology
Philology is the study of language in written historical sources; it is a combination of literary studies, history and linguistics.Classical philology is the philology of Greek and Classical Latin...
at Sverdlovsk University.
In 1940, Boleslavsky played in the 12th USSR championship final in Moscow. He won eight of his last ten games and tied for fifth/sixth place. At the end of 1940 he won the Ukrainian Championship for the third consecutive year. In March 1941, he took part in the match-tournament for the title of Absolute Champion of the USSR, finishing fourth of six participants. On the eve of the match-tournament, he had to pass an examination at the University, and his preparation for the chess event proved to be inadequate.
In 1945 he took second place in the 14th USSR championship, behind Mikhail Botvinnik
Mikhail Botvinnik
Mikhail Moiseyevich Botvinnik, Ph.D. was a Soviet and Russian International Grandmaster and three-time World Chess Champion. Working as an electrical engineer and computer scientist at the same time, he was one of the very few famous chess players who achieved distinction in another career while...
. He won nine games, drew six, and lost two. He was awarded the Grandmaster title in the USSR. He made his international debut on third board of the USSR-USA radio match
USA vs. USSR radio chess match 1945
The USA vs. USSR radio chess match 1945 was a chess match between the USA and the USSR that was conducted over the radio from September 1 to September 4, 1945. The ten leading masters of the United States played the ten leading masters of the Soviet Union for chess supremacy. The match was played...
. He drew his first game with Reuben Fine
Reuben Fine
Reuben Fine was one of the strongest chess players in the world from the early 1930s through the 1940s, an International Grandmaster, psychologist, university professor, and author of many books on both chess and psychology.Fine won five medals in three chess Olympiads. Fine won the U.S...
and defeated him in the second game, winning a prize for the best game of the match (see the game http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1043950). Boleslavsky secured a clear advantage in the opening thanks to his superior pawn structure and won without allowing Fine much counterplay. It should be noted that the Soviets regarded Fine as possibly the strongest American player based on his international results in the pre-World War II era.
In 1946, his daughter Tatiana was born; she later married David Bronstein
David 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...
. Boleslavsky and Bronstein had become friends in the late 1930s, and remained so through their lives. In 1946, Boleslavsky played abroad in an international tournament for the first time in Groningen and tied for sixth/seventh place.
In 1950 he was one of the inaugural recipients of the International Grandmaster title from FIDE.
World Championship Candidate
Boleslavsky qualified from the first-ever InterzonalInterzonal
Interzonal chess tournaments were tournaments organized by FIDE, the World Chess Federation, and were a stage in the triennial World Chess Championship cycle.- Zonal tournaments :...
at Saltsjöbaden
Saltsjöbaden
Saltsjöbaden is a locality situated in Nacka Municipality, Stockholm County, Sweden with 8,937 inhabitants in 2005. It is located on the coast of the Baltic Sea.- History :...
1948 into the Candidates Tournament
Candidates Tournament
The Candidates Tournament is a chess tournament organized by the world chess federation FIDE since 1950, as the final contest to determine the challenger for the World Chess Championship...
two years later in Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
. In the Candidates tournament—the winner of which would play a World Chess Championship
World Chess Championship
The World Chess Championship is played to determine the World Champion in the board game chess. Men and women of any age are eligible to contest this title....
match against Mikhail Botvinnik
Mikhail Botvinnik
Mikhail Moiseyevich Botvinnik, Ph.D. was a Soviet and Russian International Grandmaster and three-time World Chess Champion. Working as an electrical engineer and computer scientist at the same time, he was one of the very few famous chess players who achieved distinction in another career while...
—he was the only undefeated player, and led for most of the tournament, but in the last round he was caught by Bronstein, who later won a playoff in Moscow (+3−2=9).
This turned out to be Boleslavsky's last chance as a serious contender for the world championship. In 1953, he participated in the Candidates' tournament in Zürich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
, but finished in 10th-11th places, and never qualified for subsequent world championship cycles.
Later career
In 1951, he was Bronstein's second during his match with Botvinnik for the world championship, which wound up drawn after 24 games. In 1952, he scored 7 out of 8 at the Helsinki Olympiad10th Chess Olympiad
The 10th Chess Olympiad, organized by the FIDE and comprising an open and women's tournament, as well as several events designed to promote the game of chess, took place between August 9 and August 31, 1952, in Helsinki, Finland.-References:* OlimpBase...
. This was the only Olympiad
Chess Olympiad
The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams from all over the world compete against each other. The event is organised by FIDE, which selects the host nation.-Birth of the Olympiad:The first Olympiad was unofficial...
he would play in his career, but he attended several others to provide support for the Soviet team.
He won the Belarusian Championship
Belarusian Chess Championship
The 65th Belarusian Chess Championship was held 18–28 February 1999.GM Viacheslav Dydyshko won the 12-player, single round-robin tournament , earning his tenth championship in 26 attempts.-References:**...
in 1952 (joint) and 1964.
In 1961, he played in his last USSR Championship final. He took first place at an international tournament in Debrecen. He was world champion 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...
's assistant from 1963 to 1969.
In 1968 he captained the USSR students' team, which won the World Championship at Ybbs. His last tournament appearance was in Minsk
Minsk
- Ecological situation :The ecological situation is monitored by Republican Center of Radioactive and Environmental Control .During 2003–2008 the overall weight of contaminants increased from 186,000 to 247,400 tons. The change of gas as industrial fuel to mazut for financial reasons has worsened...
in 1971, at 52. Boleslavsky was the chief trainer of the Soviet Chess Federation in the 1960s, and he remained until his death a very well respected analyst and chess writer, particularly in the area of opening theory.
He died in Minsk on February 15, 1977, at the age of 57, after falling on an icy sidewalk, fracturing his hip and contracting a fatal infection while in hospital.
Chess legacy
One of Boleslavsky's main contributions to opening theory is the Boleslavsky Variation in the Sicilian DefenceSicilian Defence
The Sicilian Defence is a chess opening that begins with the moves:The Sicilian is the most popular and best-scoring response to White's first move 1.e4...
(1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Be2 e5). This is similar to the Najdorf Variation, with 5...a6 instead of 5...Nc6.
Boleslavsky, together with fellow Ukrainians Bronstein, Efim Geller
Efim Geller
Efim Petrovich Geller was a Soviet chess player and world-class grandmaster at his peak. He won the Soviet Championship twice and was a Candidate for the World Championship on six occasions...
, and Alexander Konstantinopolsky
Alexander Konstantinopolsky
Alexander Markovich Konstantinopolsky was a Soviet International Master of chess, chess coach and trainer, and a chess author. He was a five-time Kiev champion, and trained the world title challenger David Bronstein from a young age...
, beginning in the late 1930s, turned the King's Indian Defence
King's Indian Defence
The King's Indian Defence is a common chess opening. It arises after the moves:Black intends to follow up with 3...Bg7 and 4...d6.The Grünfeld Defence arises when Black plays 3...d5 instead, and is considered a separate opening...
from a suspect variation into one of the most popular defences today. Hans Kmoch
Hans Kmoch
Johann "Hans" Joseph Kmoch was an Austrian-Dutch-American chess International Master , International Arbiter , and a chess journalist and author, for which he is best known....
in his book Pawn Power in Chess calls the King's Indian configuration of black pawns on c6 and d6 (especially if the d-pawn is on a semi-open file) "the Boleslavsky Wall."
Lev Polugaevsky
Lev Polugaevsky
Lev Abramovich Polugaevsky was an International Grandmaster of chess and frequent contender for the world chess championship, although he never achieved that title...
said of him:
- "I am convinced that any player, even the very strongest, can and should learn from his games (especially the SiciliansSicilian DefenceThe Sicilian Defence is a chess opening that begins with the moves:The Sicilian is the most popular and best-scoring response to White's first move 1.e4...
!). As regards his depth of penetration into the mysteries of the Sicilian DefenceSicilian DefenceThe Sicilian Defence is a chess opening that begins with the moves:The Sicilian is the most popular and best-scoring response to White's first move 1.e4...
, for both sides moreover, it is doubtful if anyone could compare with Boleslavsky. He had a virtuoso feeling for the dynamics of the opening, and always aimed for a complicated and double-edged struggle, although by nature he was one of the most modest grandmasters with whom I have had the pleasure of rubbing shoulders."
A book of his best games, published in 1990, won the prize as the best chess book published in Great Britain that year.
Notable games
Boleslavsky had a plus record against Mikhail TalMikhail Tal
Mikhail Tal was a Soviet–Latvian chess player, a Grandmaster, and the eighth World Chess Champion.Widely regarded as a creative genius, and the best attacking player of all time, he played a daring, combinatorial style. His play was known above all for improvisation and unpredictability....
(+2 =3). He even beat Tal with the black pieces in 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,...
in 1958. See game at chessgames.com