YURI AVERBAKH

The oldest living grandmaster of the world, 90 years old Yuri Averbakh, is a guest of honour of the chess match Snowdrops vs. Oldhands 2012. On Wednesday the 12th of December at 3 p.m., you can come to listen his lecture about the history of chess game in Europe and in Russia.

Yuri Averbakh was born on the 8th of February 1922 in v Kaluga, Russia. His father was German and atheist, his mother Russian and Eastern Orthodox, Yuri himself calls himself a fatalist. He became an International Grandmaster in 1952 and he qualified to the famous Candidates´ tournament in Zurich in 1953. In 1954 he won the USSR Chess Championship ahead of players including Mark Taimanov, Viktor Korchnoi, Tigran Petrosian, Efim Geller and Salo Flohr. He won also the international tournaments in Vienna 1961 and in Moscow 1962.

For long years, he was general editor of the magazine “Shakhmaty v SSSR“ and president of Soviet Chess Federation. He has published more than 100 chess studies. He wrote also several chess books, mainly about endgame theory and he was interested about the chess history as well. His last book for the moment are the memories of a life in the chess world called Centre-Stage and Behind the Scenes.

























The oldest living grandmaster Yuri Averbakh with Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam, the editor-in-chief of the magazine New In Chess.