Nikolai Krogius
Encyclopedia
Nikolai Vladimirovich Krogius (first name sometimes written Nikolay) (born Saratov
, July 22, 1930) is a Russian Chess
Grandmaster, International Arbiter
(1985), psychologist
, chess coach
, chess administrator, and author. He won several tournament titles at Sochi
and in eastern European events, and appeared in seven Soviet finals from 1958–1971. His peak was in 1967 when he ranked 18th in the world for a time. He earned his doctorate in psychology
, and specialized in sports psychology. He coached World Champion Boris Spassky
for several years, also served as President of the Soviet Chess Federation, and co-authored five chess books. He was the co-winner of the 1993 World Senior Chess Championship
.
1946 in the Soviet Junior Championship; the winner was Tigran Petrosian
. Krogius made his first creditable result in Master
company at Leningrad 1949, tallying 8/17 for a tied 12th-15th in a very good field; this was a Soviet Championship semi-final, and he did not advance to the final. He also missed advancing from the Soviet semi-final at Leningrad 1951, although complete results from this are unavailable. He competed in three Russian Championships: at Yaroslavl
1951, in his home town of Saratov
in 1953, and at Rostov-on-Don
in 1954, but complete results of these events are also unavailable.
Krogius was selected for the Soviet team for Oslo
1954, the World Student Olympiad, where he scored 7.5/9 (+7 =1 -1) on board three, and won team silver. At Leningrad 1955-56, a Soviet semi-final, Krogius scored 9/18 for a tied 11th-14th place in an excellent field. He was gradually working his way up through the deep Soviet chess hierarchy. In the Soviet semi-final at Tbilisi
1956, he scored 11/19 for seventh place, and missed advancing to the final by half a point.
1958, URS-ch25, and he debuted strongly with 9.5/18 and a tied 9th-11th place; the winner was Mikhail Tal
. Although he did not as yet earn an international title for this, it showed that he was of at least International Master standard by this time, because of the immense strength of the Soviet finals. He made his first appearances for the USSR in team matches against Bulgaria
(Sofia
1957) and Yugoslavia
(Zagreb
1958), scoring 50 percent in both. At Tbilisi
for URS-ch26, he scored just 6.5/19 for 18th place; the winner was Petrosian. He improved at Leningrad for URS-ch27, scoring 10/19 for a tied 9th-10th place, as Viktor Korchnoi
won.
Krogius earned his first international opportunity for Varna
1960, where he tied for 1st-2nd with Nikola Padevsky
on 8/12. At Yerevan
for URS-ch30, he scored 8.5/19 for 11th place, as Korchnoi won again. He scored 6.5/11 for a tied 3rd-4th place at Sochi
1963, as Lev Polugaevsky
won. Krogius earned his International Master title in 1963.
in Sochi
1964 on 11/15. This earned him the Grandmaster title later that year. At Kiev
1964-65 for URS-ch32, he scored 10.5/19 for a tied 8th-9th place; Korchnoi won again. Krogius was fifth at Sochi
1965 with 8.5/15; the winners were Boris Spassky
and Wolfgang Unzicker
. He was selected for the USSR team for Hamburg
1965, the European Team Championships, where he played on board nine, scored 4.5/8 (+2 =5 -1), won the gold medal on his board, and was part of the gold-medal winning team. He was 4th at Budapest
1965 with 10/15, as Lev Polugaevsky
, Laszlo Szabo
, and Mark Taimanov
shared first place.
In URS-ch34 at Tbilisi
1966, Krogius scored 11/20 for 8th place, as Leonid Stein
won.
A sure sign of favour in high circles was his first trip to Western Europe
for an individual tournament, Le Havre
1966, which celebrated the 900th anniversary of the voyage which led to the Norman Conquest of England. Since the Soviet Chess Federation controlled all foreign invitations, opportunities outside the Soviet bloc were highly sought, and many players with better results, such as Ratmir Kholmov
, never received one during their prime years. Krogius performed well with a shared 2nd-3rd place on 7/11; the winner was Bent Larsen
.
Krogius scored 10/15 at Sochi
1966 for a shared 3rd-4th place, as Korchnoi won. He made one of his top career results with a shared 1st-5th place at Sochi
1967 on 10/15; the other co-winners were Boris Spassky
, Alexander Zaitsev, Leonid Shamkovich
, and Vladimir Simagin
. At Sarajevo
1967, Krogius scored 9.5/15 for a shared 3rd-4th place; the winners were Anatoly Lein
and Dragoljub Ciric
.
Krogius scored his career peak rating around this time. Chessmetrics
.com ranks him at 2686 in September 1967, good for #18 in the world, and he ranked 17th in the world from January to March 1968. Sochi 1964 was a 2703 performance, as was Sochi 1966. Krogius shared 2nd-3rd places at Polanica Zdroj
1969 with 9.5/15; Laszlo Barczay won. Krogius won at Varna
1969.
in psychology, and specialized in sports psychology. He served as part of Boris Spassky
's team for his second world title match against Tigran Petrosian
at Moscow 1969, where Spassky won a tight struggle. Krogius was again selected to assist Spassky against Bobby Fischer
at Reykjavík
1972, in the Match of the Century, won by Fischer.
Krogius himself was still keeping up an active and successful tournament schedule during these years. He tied 2nd-5th places at Hastings
1969-70 with 5/9, behind winner Lajos Portisch
. He placed 2nd in the Russian Championship at Kuibyshev
1970, behind winner Anatoly Karpov
. At Leningrad
for URS-ch39, his last Soviet final, he scored 10.5/21 for a tied 10th-11th place, as Vladimir Savon
won. Krogius placed tied 3rd-4th at Sochi
1973 with 9/15 as Mikhail Tal
won. Overall, he tallied 67/135 in his seven Soviet finals, from 1958 to 1971, for just under 50 percent, and had six solid appearances out of seven, with only 1959 being much below standard.
at London 1984. He served as President of the USSR Chess Federation, and was the head of delegation for Anatoly Karpov
's team for the 1990 title match against Garry Kasparov
at New York
and Lyon
, where Kasparov won narrowly.
Krogius returned to high-class tournament play at the Senior level in the 1990s. In the 1991 World Senior Championship at Bad Woerishofen, he scored 8/11 to tie for 3rd-6th places. He tied for the title at the World Senior Championship at Bad Wildbad
1993, with 8.5/11, along with Lein, Taimanov, Bukhuti Gurgenidze
, and Boris Arkhangelsky. Krogius stayed fairly active in tournament play until 1998, mostly at the Senior level.
There is a file of 741 of his games at mychess.com; chessbase.com has 692 of his games, while chessgames.com has 248 of his games. Many of these games would be duplicated between sites.
and Semyon Furman
, both of whom eventually became formidable players by their late 20s. Krogius had several failed attempts at reaching the Soviet final, and did not make his first one until age 27. His graduate studies were the priority until he finished his doctorate. However, when he did get opportunities at high level, he usually made the most of them, and scored several notable tournament victories in high-standard events during his peak years in the 1960s. He was a middle-range player at the perilous Soviet finals level. Krogius is a very interesting and unusual figure in chess history, since he chose the career of a professional sports psychologist, concentrating on chess, and may have been the first to follow this precise path. In his role as coach, he was undoubtedly an important part of Boris Spassky
's team for the world title matches of 1969 and 1972, and maintained a successful tournament program himself during this period. His own playing style was often highly tactical in nature, and he defeated many acknowledged masters of tactical play. By his mid-40s, Krogius appeared less frequently in major events, and moved on to writing and chess administration, also with notable success. He returned to the board after age 60, with some impressive results in Senior events.
Saratov
-Modern Saratov:The Saratov region is highly industrialized, due in part to the rich in natural and industrial resources of the area. The region is also one of the more important and largest cultural and scientific centres in Russia...
, July 22, 1930) is a Russian 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...
Grandmaster, International Arbiter
International Arbiter
In chess, International Arbiter is a title awarded by FIDE to individuals deemed capable of acting as arbiter in important chess matches . The title was established in 1951....
(1985), psychologist
Psychologist
Psychologist is a professional or academic title used by individuals who are either:* Clinical professionals who work with patients in a variety of therapeutic contexts .* Scientists conducting psychological research or teaching psychology in a college...
, chess coach
Coach (sport)
In sports, a coach is an individual involved in the direction, instruction and training of the operations of a sports team or of individual sportspeople.-Staff:...
, chess administrator, and author. He won several tournament titles at Sochi
Sochi
Sochi is a city in Krasnodar Krai, Russia, situated just north of Russia's border with the de facto independent republic of Abkhazia, on the Black Sea coast. Greater Sochi sprawls for along the shores of the Black Sea near the Caucasus Mountains...
and in eastern European events, and appeared in seven Soviet finals from 1958–1971. His peak was in 1967 when he ranked 18th in the world for a time. He earned his doctorate in psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
, and specialized in sports psychology. He coached World Champion Boris Spassky
Boris Spassky
Boris Vasilievich Spassky is a Soviet-French chess grandmaster. He was the tenth World Chess Champion, holding the title from late 1969 to 1972...
for several years, also served as President of the Soviet Chess Federation, and co-authored five chess books. He was the co-winner of the 1993 World Senior Chess Championship
World Senior Chess Championship
The World Senior Chess Championship is an annual chess tournament established in 1991 by FIDE, the World Chess Federation.Participants must have reached 60 years old on 1 January of the year of the event...
.
Early years
Nikolai V. Krogius scored 4.5/15 for a tied 13th-14th place at LeningradLeningrad
Leningrad is the former name of Saint Petersburg, Russia.Leningrad may also refer to:- Places :* Leningrad Oblast, a federal subject of Russia, around Saint Petersburg* Leningrad, Tajikistan, capital of Muminobod district in Khatlon Province...
1946 in the Soviet Junior Championship; 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...
. Krogius made his first creditable result in 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....
company at Leningrad 1949, tallying 8/17 for a tied 12th-15th in a very good field; this was a Soviet Championship semi-final, and he did not advance to the final. He also missed advancing from the Soviet semi-final at Leningrad 1951, although complete results from this are unavailable. He competed in three Russian Championships: at Yaroslavl
Yaroslavl
Yaroslavl is a city and the administrative center of Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia, located northeast of Moscow. The historical part of the city, a World Heritage Site, is located at the confluence of the Volga and the Kotorosl Rivers. It is one of the Golden Ring cities, a group of historic cities...
1951, in his home town of Saratov
Saratov
-Modern Saratov:The Saratov region is highly industrialized, due in part to the rich in natural and industrial resources of the area. The region is also one of the more important and largest cultural and scientific centres in Russia...
in 1953, and at Rostov-on-Don
Rostov-on-Don
-History:The mouth of the Don River has been of great commercial and cultural importance since the ancient times. It was the site of the Greek colony Tanais, of the Genoese fort Tana, and of the Turkish fortress Azak...
in 1954, but complete results of these events are also unavailable.
Krogius was selected for the Soviet team for Oslo
Oslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
1954, the World Student Olympiad, where he scored 7.5/9 (+7 =1 -1) on board three, and won team silver. At Leningrad 1955-56, a Soviet semi-final, Krogius scored 9/18 for a tied 11th-14th place in an excellent field. He was gradually working his way up through the deep Soviet chess hierarchy. In the Soviet semi-final at Tbilisi
Tbilisi
Tbilisi is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Mt'k'vari River. The name is derived from an early Georgian form T'pilisi and it was officially known as Tiflis until 1936...
1956, he scored 11/19 for seventh place, and missed advancing to the final by half a point.
First Soviet final
Krogius qualified for his first Soviet final by scoring 11.5/19, for a tied 5th-7th place, in the semi-final at Leningrad 1957. The final was at RigaRiga
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,...
1958, URS-ch25, and he debuted strongly with 9.5/18 and a tied 9th-11th place; the winner was Mikhail Tal
Mikhail 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....
. Although he did not as yet earn an international title for this, it showed that he was of at least International Master standard by this time, because of the immense strength of the Soviet finals. He made his first appearances for the USSR in team matches 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...
(Sofia
Sofia
Sofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria and the 12th largest city in the European Union with a population of 1.27 million people. It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of Mount Vitosha and approximately at the centre of the Balkan Peninsula.Prehistoric settlements were excavated...
1957) and Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
(Zagreb
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...
1958), scoring 50 percent in both. At Tbilisi
Tbilisi
Tbilisi is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Mt'k'vari River. The name is derived from an early Georgian form T'pilisi and it was officially known as Tiflis until 1936...
for URS-ch26, he scored just 6.5/19 for 18th place; the winner was Petrosian. He improved at Leningrad for URS-ch27, scoring 10/19 for a tied 9th-10th place, as Viktor Korchnoi
Viktor Korchnoi
Viktor Lvovich Korchnoi ; pronounced in the original Russian as "karch NOY"; Ви́ктор Льво́вич Корчно́й, born March 23, 1931 is a professional chess player, author and currently the oldest active grandmaster on the tournament circuit...
won.
Krogius earned his first international opportunity for Varna
Varna
Varna is the largest city and seaside resort on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast and third-largest in Bulgaria after Sofia and Plovdiv, with a population of 334,870 inhabitants according to Census 2011...
1960, where he tied for 1st-2nd with Nikola Padevsky
Nikola Padevsky
Nikola Bochev Padevsky is a Bulgarian chess Grandmaster.Padevsky was born in Plovdiv, Bulgaria's second largest city. He became Bulgarian National Champion in 1954, going on to win it in 1955, 1962 and 1964 in a play off after which he gained the status of a grandmaster, after initially being...
on 8/12. 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...
for URS-ch30, he scored 8.5/19 for 11th place, as Korchnoi won again. He scored 6.5/11 for a tied 3rd-4th place at Sochi
Sochi
Sochi is a city in Krasnodar Krai, Russia, situated just north of Russia's border with the de facto independent republic of Abkhazia, on the Black Sea coast. Greater Sochi sprawls for along the shores of the Black Sea near the Caucasus Mountains...
1963, as 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...
won. Krogius earned his International Master title in 1963.
Grandmaster
Krogius scored his most impressive triumph with clear first at the Chigorin MemorialChigorin Memorial
The Chigorin Memorial is a chess tournament played in honour of the chess legend Mikhail Chigorin , founder of the Soviet School. The first and most important edition was the one played in 1909 in St. Petersburg. Later on, the tournament was mainly played in the Black Sea resort Sochi. From 1993...
in Sochi
Sochi
Sochi is a city in Krasnodar Krai, Russia, situated just north of Russia's border with the de facto independent republic of Abkhazia, on the Black Sea coast. Greater Sochi sprawls for along the shores of the Black Sea near the Caucasus Mountains...
1964 on 11/15. This earned him the Grandmaster title later that year. At Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
1964-65 for URS-ch32, he scored 10.5/19 for a tied 8th-9th place; Korchnoi won again. Krogius was fifth at Sochi
Sochi
Sochi is a city in Krasnodar Krai, Russia, situated just north of Russia's border with the de facto independent republic of Abkhazia, on the Black Sea coast. Greater Sochi sprawls for along the shores of the Black Sea near the Caucasus Mountains...
1965 with 8.5/15; the winners were Boris Spassky
Boris Spassky
Boris Vasilievich Spassky is a Soviet-French chess grandmaster. He was the tenth World Chess Champion, holding the title from late 1969 to 1972...
and Wolfgang Unzicker
Wolfgang Unzicker
Wolfgang Unzicker was one of the strongest German chess Grandmasters from 1945 to about 1970.He decided against making chess his profession, choosing law instead....
. He was selected for the USSR team for Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
1965, the European Team Championships, where he played on board nine, scored 4.5/8 (+2 =5 -1), won the gold medal on his board, and was part of the gold-medal winning team. He was 4th at 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...
1965 with 10/15, as 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...
, Laszlo Szabo
László Szabó (chess player)
László Szabó was a prominent Hungarian Grandmaster of chess.Born in Budapest, he burst onto the international chess scene in 1935, at the unusually young age of 18...
, and Mark Taimanov
Mark Taimanov
Mark Evgenievich Taimanov is a leading Soviet and Russian chess player and concert pianist.-Chess:He was awarded the International Grandmaster title in 1952 and played in the Candidates Tournament in Zurich in 1953, where he tied for eighth place. From 1946 to 1956, he was among the world's top...
shared first place.
In URS-ch34 at Tbilisi
Tbilisi
Tbilisi is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Mt'k'vari River. The name is derived from an early Georgian form T'pilisi and it was officially known as Tiflis until 1936...
1966, Krogius scored 11/20 for 8th place, as 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 :...
won.
A sure sign of favour in high circles was his first trip to Western Europe
Western Europe
Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...
for an individual tournament, Le Havre
Le Havre
Le Havre is a city in the Seine-Maritime department of the Haute-Normandie region in France. It is situated in north-western France, on the right bank of the mouth of the river Seine on the English Channel. Le Havre is the most populous commune in the Haute-Normandie region, although the total...
1966, which celebrated the 900th anniversary of the voyage which led to the Norman Conquest of England. Since the Soviet Chess Federation controlled all foreign invitations, opportunities outside the Soviet bloc were highly sought, and many players with better results, such as 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...
, never received one during their prime years. Krogius performed well with a shared 2nd-3rd place on 7/11; the winner was Bent Larsen
Bent Larsen
Jørgen Bent Larsen was a Danish chess Grandmaster and author. Larsen was known for his imaginative and unorthodox style of play and he was the first western player to pose a serious challenge to the Soviet Union's dominance of chess...
.
Krogius scored 10/15 at Sochi
Sochi
Sochi is a city in Krasnodar Krai, Russia, situated just north of Russia's border with the de facto independent republic of Abkhazia, on the Black Sea coast. Greater Sochi sprawls for along the shores of the Black Sea near the Caucasus Mountains...
1966 for a shared 3rd-4th place, as Korchnoi won. He made one of his top career results with a shared 1st-5th place at Sochi
Sochi
Sochi is a city in Krasnodar Krai, Russia, situated just north of Russia's border with the de facto independent republic of Abkhazia, on the Black Sea coast. Greater Sochi sprawls for along the shores of the Black Sea near the Caucasus Mountains...
1967 on 10/15; the other co-winners were Boris Spassky
Boris Spassky
Boris Vasilievich Spassky is a Soviet-French chess grandmaster. He was the tenth World Chess Champion, holding the title from late 1969 to 1972...
, Alexander Zaitsev, Leonid Shamkovich
Leonid Shamkovich
Leonid Aleksandrovich Shamkovich was a chess Grandmaster, and chess writer.He was born in a Jewish family in Rostov-on-Don in Russia...
, and Vladimir Simagin
Vladimir Simagin
Vladimir Simagin was a Russian Grandmaster of chess. He was three times Moscow champion , helped to train Vasily Smyslov to the World Championship, and made many significant contributions to chess openings...
. At Sarajevo
Sarajevo
Sarajevo |Bosnia]], surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of Southeastern Europe and the Balkans....
1967, Krogius scored 9.5/15 for a shared 3rd-4th place; the winners were Anatoly Lein
Anatoly Lein
Anatoly Yakovlevich Lein is a Soviet-born American chess Grandmaster.FIDE awarded him the International Master title in 1964 and the Grandmaster title in 1968.He won the 1971 Moscow championship after a play-off...
and Dragoljub Ciric
Dragoljub Čirić
Dragoljub Miladin Čirić in Novi Sad) is a former Yugoslavian, now Serbian, chess Grandmaster.- Background :Čirić gained the title of International Master in 1961 and became a Grandmaster in 1965....
.
Krogius scored his career peak rating around this time. 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 ranks him at 2686 in September 1967, good for #18 in the world, and he ranked 17th in the world from January to March 1968. Sochi 1964 was a 2703 performance, as was Sochi 1966. Krogius shared 2nd-3rd places at Polanica Zdroj
Polanica Zdrój
Polanica-Zdrój is a town in Kłodzko County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland.It lies approximately south-west of Kłodzko, and south-west of the regional capital Wrocław...
1969 with 9.5/15; Laszlo Barczay won. Krogius won at Varna
Varna
Varna is the largest city and seaside resort on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast and third-largest in Bulgaria after Sofia and Plovdiv, with a population of 334,870 inhabitants according to Census 2011...
1969.
Coaches the World Champion
Krogius earned his doctorateDoctorate
A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder to teach in a specific field, A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder...
in psychology, and specialized in sports psychology. He served as part of Boris Spassky
Boris Spassky
Boris Vasilievich Spassky is a Soviet-French chess grandmaster. He was the tenth World Chess Champion, holding the title from late 1969 to 1972...
's team for his second world title match against 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...
at Moscow 1969, where Spassky won a tight struggle. Krogius was again selected to assist Spassky against Bobby Fischer
Bobby Fischer
Robert James "Bobby" Fischer was an American chess Grandmaster and the 11th World Chess Champion. He is widely considered one of the greatest chess players of all time. Fischer was also a best-selling chess author...
at Reykjavík
Reykjavík
Reykjavík is the capital and largest city in Iceland.Its latitude at 64°08' N makes it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói Bay...
1972, in the Match of the Century, won by Fischer.
Krogius himself was still keeping up an active and successful tournament schedule during these years. He tied 2nd-5th places at Hastings
Hastings International Chess Congress
The Hastings International Chess Congress is an annual chess congress which takes place in Hastings, England, around the turn of the year. The main event is the Hastings Premier tournament, which was traditionally a 10 to 16 player round-robin tournament. In 2004/05 the tournament was played in the...
1969-70 with 5/9, behind winner Lajos Portisch
Lajos Portisch
Lajos Portisch is a Hungarian chess Grandmaster, whose positional style earned him the nickname, the "Hungarian Botvinnik"...
. He placed 2nd in the Russian Championship at Kuibyshev
Samara, Russia
Samara , is the sixth largest city in Russia. It is situated in the southeastern part of European Russia at the confluence of the Volga and Samara Rivers. Samara is the administrative center of Samara Oblast. Population: . The metropolitan area of Samara-Tolyatti-Syzran within Samara Oblast...
1970, behind winner Anatoly Karpov
Anatoly Karpov
Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov is a Russian chess grandmaster and former World Champion. He was the official world champion from 1975 to 1985 when he was defeated by Garry Kasparov. He played three matches against Kasparov for the title from 1986 to 1990, before becoming FIDE World Champion once...
. At Leningrad
Leningrad
Leningrad is the former name of Saint Petersburg, Russia.Leningrad may also refer to:- Places :* Leningrad Oblast, a federal subject of Russia, around Saint Petersburg* Leningrad, Tajikistan, capital of Muminobod district in Khatlon Province...
for URS-ch39, his last Soviet final, he scored 10.5/21 for a tied 10th-11th place, as Vladimir Savon
Vladimir Savon
Vladimir Andreyevich Savon was a Ukrainian chess player.He learned how to play late, at the age of 13....
won. Krogius placed tied 3rd-4th at Sochi
Sochi
Sochi is a city in Krasnodar Krai, Russia, situated just north of Russia's border with the de facto independent republic of Abkhazia, on the Black Sea coast. Greater Sochi sprawls for along the shores of the Black Sea near the Caucasus Mountains...
1973 with 9/15 as Mikhail Tal
Mikhail 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....
won. Overall, he tallied 67/135 in his seven Soviet finals, from 1958 to 1971, for just under 50 percent, and had six solid appearances out of seven, with only 1959 being much below standard.
Later years
Krogius scaled back his tournament play by the mid-1970s, playing only in occasional lower-level events. He began important contributions as a chess author, eventually writing or co-writing five chess books. He moved into chess administration as well. He was the captain of the USSR team for the USSR vs. Rest of the World matchRussia (USSR) vs Rest of the World
There have been two chess matches featuring USSR vs. Rest of the World and 1 match Russia vs. Rest of the World. The first two matches were between a team from the USSR and a team of players from the "rest of the world"...
at London 1984. He served as President of the USSR Chess Federation, and was the head of delegation for Anatoly Karpov
Anatoly Karpov
Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov is a Russian chess grandmaster and former World Champion. He was the official world champion from 1975 to 1985 when he was defeated by Garry Kasparov. He played three matches against Kasparov for the title from 1986 to 1990, before becoming FIDE World Champion once...
's team for the 1990 title match against Garry Kasparov
Garry Kasparov
Garry Kimovich Kasparov is a Russian chess grandmaster, a former World Chess Champion, writer, political activist, and one of the greatest chess players of all time....
at New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
and Lyon
Lyon
Lyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais....
, where Kasparov won narrowly.
Krogius returned to high-class tournament play at the Senior level in the 1990s. In the 1991 World Senior Championship at Bad Woerishofen, he scored 8/11 to tie for 3rd-6th places. He tied for the title at the World Senior Championship at Bad Wildbad
Bad Wildbad
Bad Wildbad is a town in Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located in the government district of Karlsruhe and in the district of Calw. Its coordinates are 48° 45' N, 8° 33' E. About 11,250 people live there...
1993, with 8.5/11, along with Lein, Taimanov, Bukhuti Gurgenidze
Bukhuti Gurgenidze
Bukhuti Ivanovich Gurgenidze was a Georgian chess Grandmaster, born in Surami.He was a multiple Georgian Champion, and played in eight USSR Chess Championships. He shared first place with Mikhail Tal at Tbilisi in 1969–70 and placed first at Olomouc in 1976. Gurgenidze was a trainer to several...
, and Boris Arkhangelsky. Krogius stayed fairly active in tournament play until 1998, mostly at the Senior level.
There is a file of 741 of his games at mychess.com; chessbase.com has 692 of his games, while chessgames.com has 248 of his games. Many of these games would be duplicated between sites.
Legacy
Krogius was somewhat of a late bloomer by Soviet standards, although this was not that uncommon for players who lived through the Second World War during their formative chess years; other examples are Efim GellerEfim 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 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...
, both of whom eventually became formidable players by their late 20s. Krogius had several failed attempts at reaching the Soviet final, and did not make his first one until age 27. His graduate studies were the priority until he finished his doctorate. However, when he did get opportunities at high level, he usually made the most of them, and scored several notable tournament victories in high-standard events during his peak years in the 1960s. He was a middle-range player at the perilous Soviet finals level. Krogius is a very interesting and unusual figure in chess history, since he chose the career of a professional sports psychologist, concentrating on chess, and may have been the first to follow this precise path. In his role as coach, he was undoubtedly an important part of Boris Spassky
Boris Spassky
Boris Vasilievich Spassky is a Soviet-French chess grandmaster. He was the tenth World Chess Champion, holding the title from late 1969 to 1972...
's team for the world title matches of 1969 and 1972, and maintained a successful tournament program himself during this period. His own playing style was often highly tactical in nature, and he defeated many acknowledged masters of tactical play. By his mid-40s, Krogius appeared less frequently in major events, and moved on to writing and chess administration, also with notable success. He returned to the board after age 60, with some impressive results in Senior events.
Notable chess games
- Nikolai Krogius vs Leonid Shamkovich, Russian Championship, Yaroslavl 1951, Blumenfeld Gambit (E10), 1-0 It's a sharp game between two rising young Masters.
- Nikolai Krogius vs Efim Geller, USSR 1955, Sicilian Defence, Dragon Variation (B76), 1-0 Geller was never afraid of a theoretical duel, but here he meets his match.
- Nikolai Krogius vs Viktor Korchnoi, USSR Championship semi-final, Tbilisi 1956, French Defence, Tarrasch Variation (C05), 1-0 These two contemporaries would be destined to meet many more times, and Korchnoi gradually established superiority, but not on this day.
- Mark Taimanov vs Nikolai Krogius, USSR Championship, Riga 1958, Modern Defence, Averbakh Variation (A42), 0-1 Here Krogius, normally a model of probity in the opening, takes up a rare sharp variation with success.
- Paul Keres vs Nikolai Krogius, USSR Championship, Tbilisi 1959, Sicilian Defence, Taimanov Variation (B48), 0-1 Keres would finish second in the World Championship Candidates' tournament a few months later.
- Nikolai Krogius vs David Bronstein, Tbilisi 1967, Modern Defence, Gurgenidze Variation (B06), 1-0 Bronstein is known for his sharp, creative play, but he has to concede here.
- Nikolai Krogius vs Raymond Keene, Hastings 1970-71, King's Indian Defence, Fianchetto Variation (E67), 1-0 Keene was one of the best of the rising British generation.
- Yuri Balashov vs Nikolai Krogius, USSR Team Championship, Riga 1975, Sicilian Defence, Richter-Rauzer Variation (B63), 0-1 Another young Master has to tilt his King to the older chess sage.
Writings
- Notes on the endgame, by Nikolai Krogius, 1973.
- Psychology in Chess, by Nikolai Krogius, 1976.
- Marshall-Angriff, by Nikolai Krogius and Andrei Matsukevich, Sportverlag Berlin, 1989 (German).
- Schach fur Aufsteiger. 33 Lektionen, by Nikolai Krogius, 1997 (German).