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Updated: November 2008

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"Yuri Averbakh" - 85 years old

Yuri Lvovich Averbakh (born February 8, 1922) is a Russian chess player and author. His father was half German and half Jewish, and his ancestors came from Germany and were called Auerbach meaning "meadow brook". His mother was Russian. Both sets of grandparents disapproved of their marriage because his father was a likely atheist and his mother was Eastern Orthodox, as well as the fact that his maternal grandmother died very young so his mother was expected to look after the family. Yuri himself calls himself a fatalist.
His first major success was first place in the Moscow Championship of 1949, ahead of players such as Andor Lilienthal, Yakov Estrin and Vladimir Simagin. He became an International Grandmaster in 1952. In 1954 he won the USSR Chess Championship ahead of players including Mark Taimanov, Viktor Korchnoi, Tigran Petrosian, Efim Geller and Salo Flohr. In the 1956 Championship he came equal first with Taimanov and Boris Spassky in the main event, finishing second after the playoff.

«Yuri Lvovich Averbakh - Young
Russian Grandmaster - ©Photo: public domain»
Yuri Lvovich Averbakh when he was Young
Russian Grandmaster - ©Photo: public domain

Later Averbakh´s daughter, Jane, would marry Taimanov. Averbakh´s other major tournament victories included Vienna 1961 and Moscow 1962. He qualified for the 1953 Candidates' Tournament (the last stage to determine the challenger to the World Chess Champion), finishing joint tenth of the fifteen participants. He also qualified for the 1958 Interzonal at Portoroz, by finishing in fourth place at the 1958 USSR Championship at Riga. At Portoroz he wound up in a tie for 7th to 11th places, half a point short of advancing to the Candidates' Tournament.

«Yuri Lvovich Averbakh - During the
Saltsjobaden Interzonal in 1952 © Photo: ChessBase»

His solid style was difficult for many pure attackers to overcome, as he himself wrote: "...Nezhmetdinov, who if he had the attack, could kill anybody - including Tal! But my score against him was something like 8½–0½ because I did not give him any possibility for an active game. In such cases he would immediately start to spoil his position because he was looking for complications."

«Vladimir Bagirov & Yuri Lvovich Averbakh
arrive at Mascot, Sidney (Australia)
© Photo: Mulligan, Jack (29 Sep 1960)
© Copyright: Australian Photographic Agency »

In 1956 Averbakh became an International Judge of Chess Compositions and in 1969 an International Arbiter. Averbakh was also an important chess journalist and author. He edited the Soviet chess periodicals Shakhmaty v SSSR and Shakhmaty biuletin, and from 1956 to 1962 volumes of his major work on the endgame, Shakhmatnye okonchaniya, appeared (revised in 1980-84 and translated as Comprehensive Chess Endings, five volumes).

«From left to right: Ineke Bakker former
Secretary-General of FIDE, Yuri Averbakh,
Florencio Campomanes and Dr. Max Euwe
- Opening meeting of the FIDE Commission
for Chess Developing Countries in 1975. © Photo: Susan Grumer, 1975»

Averbakh is the eponym of several opening variations, perhaps most notably the Averbakh System in the King's Indian Defence:

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Be2 O-O 6.Bg5

«Yuri Lvovich Averbakh -
in Amsterdam (2002)
© Photo: Origin unknown»

«The Interzonal in Portoroz, Yugoslavia, was Fischer’s first international outing. In a tough field of 21 he scored a respectable 12-8, trailing victor Mikhail Tal by 1½ points. In round 7, facing Averbakh for the first and last time, Fischer embarked on a risky piece sacrifice instead of settling for 14...g5 (or Qb6) 15 h4 gxh4 16 g5 hxg5 17 Bxg5 Bg6. At the end, he offered a draw in an unclear setting.»

(Evans on Chess - Larry Avans in Chess News - Interview with Averbakh by Larry Evans)

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Be2 0–0 6.Bg5 h6 7.Be3 c5 8.d5 e6 9.h3 exd5 10.exd5 Re8 11.Nf3 Bf5 12.g4 Be4 13.Rg1 Nbd7 14.Nd2 a6!? 15.h4 b5 16.g5 b4 17.gxf6 bxc3 18.Nxe4 Rxe4 19.fxg7 Qxh4 20.Kf1 (diagram) cxb2 21 Rb1

Position after 20.Kf1. Who stands better?
(Larry Evans' question) - Averbakh-Fischer
Interzonal, Portoroz 1958 :

«Yuri Lvovich Averbakh turns 85
One of the great chess legends
© Copyright Photo: ChessBase»

Yuri Averbakh's writings :

Chess Endings: Essential Knowledge, by Yuri Averbakh, 1966, 1993, Everyman Chess, ISBN 1-85744-022-6.

Comprehensive Chess Endings 1: Bishop Endings, Knight Endings, by Averbakh and Chekhover, 1983, Pergamon, ISBN 0-08-026900-1.

Comprehensive Chess Endings 2: Bishop vs Knight Endings, Rook vs Minor Piece Endings, by Averbakh, 1985, Pergamon, ISBN 0-08-026901-X.

Comprehensive Chess Endings 3: Queen Endings, by Averbakh, 1986, Pergamon, ISBN 0-08-026904-4.

Comprehensive Chess Endings 4: Pawn Endings, by Averbakh and Maizelis, 1987, Pergamon, ISBN 0-08-032043-0.

Comprehensive Chess Endings 5: Rook Endings, by Averbakh, 1987, Pergamon, ISBN 0-08-032048-1.

Chess Tactics for Advanced Players, by Averbakh, 1985, Pergamon.

References :

Averbakh's Selected Games, by Yuri Averbakh, 1998, Everyman Chess, ISBN 1-85744-548-1.

Interview in The Day Kasparov Quit by Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam.

Links related to Yuri Averbakh :

FIDE rating card for Yuri Averbakh

Interview of Yuri Averbakh - part I & II on ChessCafé

Interview of Yuri Averbakh by Larry Evans

Yuri Averbakh games at ChessGame.com

Tactics by Yuri Averbakh, on the Susan Polgar BLOG

commons.wikimedia.org - Yuri Averbakh's picture in the 50s

Personalia - Persons celebrating an Anniversary in February 2007

Russian Chess Books - Russians versus Fischer Compiled by Plisetsky
and Voronkov. Foreword by GM Yuri Averbakh. 398 pg. Hard Cover.

© John E Hawkes - April 2007

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