Igor Vasilyevich Ivanov

Encyclopedia : I : IG : IGO : Igor Vasilyevich Ivanov

Igor Vasilyevich Ivanov (January 8 1947 – November 17 2005), was a Grandmaster of chess and a concert pianist. Born in Leningrad, USSR in 1947, he first became famous in 1979 as an unknown player by defeating World Chess Champion Anatoly Karpov in a game in Russia. Here is the game score in algebraic chess notation:

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.Nc3 b5 6.Bd3 Bb7 7.0–0 Ne7 8.Kh1 Nec6 9.Nxc6 Nxc6 10.Qg4 h5 11.Qe2 Ne5 12.f4 Ng4 13.Rf3 Qh4 14.h3 Bc5 15.Bd2 g6 16.Raf1 Qe7 17.a3 f5 18.Re1 Qf8 19.b4 Bd4 20.a4 Rc8 21.Nd1 Qf6 22.c3 Ba7 23.axb5 axb5 24.exf5 gxf5 25.Bxb5 Bxf3 26.Qxf3 Rc7 27.c4 Bd4 28.Qd5 Kd8 29.Qd6 Nf2+ 30.Nxf2 Bxf2 31.Be3 Bxe3 32.Rxe3 Qe7 33.Qd2 Ke8 34.Qd4 Rg8 35.Qb6 Qg7 36.Qxe6+ Kd8 37.Qd5 Ra7 38.Rd3 Ra1+ 39.Kh2 Ra2 40.Bc6 Ra7 41.Qc5 Rc7 42.Qb6 1–0

In 1980, he became even more famous for defecting in a dramatic way. He was sent as a member of a Soviet delegation to play chess in Cuba. On what was supposed to have been a direct flight home to Moscow, his airplane had to make an unscheduled stop in Gander, Newfoundland for mechanical reasons. On the ground in the airport transit lounge, Ivanov told his friend, Grandmaster Yuri Razuvayev, "I will see you back here in five minutes". Ivanov then made a mad dash to airport security and requested political asylum. Razuvayev did not see Ivanov again for another five years .

Ivanov was granted political asylum in Canada and immediately won the Canadian Chess Championship. He went on to win the Championship of Canada four times. He was clearly a grandmaster strength player but had a problem with alcoholism . He was finally awarded the Grandmaster title in 2004.

He moved to the United States and joined the "Chicken Circuit" in the early 80's. He travelled around the country by bus, playing in small chess tournaments every weekend, which he almost always won. He won nine first prizes, usually $10,000, for most Grand Prix points in a year, and was one of the most active players in the country.

He was diagnosed with cancer in March of 2005. The Professional Players Health and Benefit Fund of the United States Chess Federation had been giving him financial support for his chemotherapy treatments. In August of 2005, three months before his death, he tied for eighth place at the US Open Chess Championship in Phoenix, Arizona against some of the best players in the country.

Ivanov died on November 17, 2005 in St. George, Utah. He played in the Utah Open on October 29, 2005, only 3 weeks before his death, finishing in a tie for first place [link].

References

[Igor Ivanov - Grandmaster and pianist] from Chessbase News.

External links

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.