Yuri Sakharov
Yuri Nikolaevich Sakharov (Ukrainian: Ю́рій Микола́йович Са́харов; 18 September 1922 – 26 September 1981) was a Ukrainian Chess Master(1958), International Correspondence Chess Master (1971), Merited Coach of the Ukrainian SSR(1963). [1] [2]
Biography
Yuri Sakharov was born on September 18, 1922 in Yuzovka (now Donetsk). His father was an official in the Donbass mining industry.[3] In 1937 during the Great Purge he was arrested and executed. Yuri Sakharov became a "son of an enemy of the people." During the Great Patriotic War the Nazis sent him to work in a Belgian coal mine. When Allied Forces entered Belgium, Yuri Sakharov joined the US Army and fought against the Nazis. He earned a Purple Heart Medal. When his unit reached the Elbe in 1945, he was repatriated.
Back home in Ukraine, he got a job as an Inspector in Kiev.
In 1951 he brilliantly won the Semi Final USSR Chess Championship in Lvov[4] and was qualified together with Lev Aronin and Vladimir Simagin who tied up the second and third places to participate in the XIX USSR Chess Championship in Moscow. Also, he fulfilled the norm requirement of Chess Master. But very soon he was arrested by denunciation and his Chess Master Title was revoked. Lev Aronin, Vladimir Simagin, and Salomon Flohr were qualified from Lvov and went to Moscow.
Sakharov faced a closed-door trial, and he was given 25 years of jail in Vladimir Central Prison.
After Stalin's death in 1953, mass amnesty of the victims of Stalin's repressions started. In 1955 Yuri Sakharov was offered amnesty too, but he refused insisting on full rehabilitation. In 1956 he eventually was freed on full rehabilitation. His father was rehabilitated, too (posthumously).
Sakharov rebuilt his chess career. When he was 46, he became the 17th highest rated player in the world.
He tragically died in 1981 in Kiev. The circumstances of his death remains unknown.
Chess career
Sakharov was the champion of Kiev in 1948 and in 1949, and shared 1-2 place with A. Kofman in 1947 (8.5/13) and with V.Shianovsky in 1961 (8/12).[5]
Sakharov was twice the Ukrainian Champion in 1966 and 1968.[6] He participated in 19 Ukrainian Championships, tying for 4-6th in 1946 (Anatoly Bannik won), tying for 3rd-4th in 1947 (Alexey Sokolsky won), tying for 6-9th in 1949 (Isaac Lipnitsky won),[7] taking 5th in 1951 (Bannik won), taking 2nd, behind Efim Geller, in 1958, tying for 4-5th in 1959 (Geller won),[8] sharing 1st with Leonid Stein but lost to him a match for the title (+1 −3 =2) in 1960, tying for 3rd-4th in 1961 (Yuri Kots won), taking 3rd in 1962 (Stein won), and tying for 2nd-3rd in 1964 (Bannik won).[9]
| Year | City | Name | Points | Place | Featured Game |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1940 | Kiev | 12 Championship of Ukraine | 6.5/17 | 13-15 | vs I. Boleslavsky (W) |
| 1946 | Kiev | 15 Championship of Ukraine | 11.5/17 | 4-6 | |
| 1947 | Kiev | 16 Championship of Ukraine | 10.5/16 | 3-4 | |
| 1948 | Kiev | 17 Championship of Ukraine | 7.5/18 | 13-15 | vs E. Geller(W) |
| 1949 | Odessa | 18 Championship of Ukraine | 11.5/19 | 6-9 | vs E. Geller(W) |
| 1950 | Kiev | 19 Championship of Ukraine | 8.5/17 | 9-11 | vs I. Lipnitsky(D) |
| 1951 | Kiev | 20 Championship of Ukraine | 10.5/17 | 5 | |
| 1957 | Kiev | 26 Championship of Ukraine | 11/17 | 3 | vs Flohr (D) |
| 1958 | Kiev | 27 Championship of Ukraine | 10.5/16 | 2-4 | vs GM E. Geller(D) |
| 1959 | Kiev | 28 Championship of Ukraine | 13/21 | 4-5 | |
| 1960 | Kiev | 29 Championship of Ukraine | 12/17 | 1-2 | vs L. Stein(W) |
| 1961 | Kiev | 30 Championship of Ukraine | 9/15 | 3-4 | |
| 1962 | Kiev | 31 Championship of Ukraine | 11.5/17 | 3 | |
| 1963 | Kiev | 32 Championship of Ukraine | 10/17 | 4-5 | |
| 1964 | Kiev | 33 Championship of Ukraine | 13/19 | 2-3 | |
| 1966 | Kiev | 35 Championship of Ukraine | 13/17 | 1 | |
| 1967 | Kiev | 36 Championship of Ukraine | 8/13 | 6-16 | |
| 1968 | Kiev | 37 Championship of Ukraine | 12.5/17 | 1 | |
| 1970 | Kiev | 39 Championship of Ukraine | 4.5/17 | 18 |
Yuri Sakharov played in the Ukrainian team during Soviet Team Chess Championships.
| Year | City | Name | Board | Result | Featured Game |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1948 | Leningrad | 1st Soviet Team Chess Championship | 9 | 3.5/6 | |
| 1958 | Vilnius | 5th Soviet Team Chess Championship | 3 | 4.5/8 | vs GM Averbakh (D) |
| 1959 | Moscow | 6th Soviet Team Chess Championship | 4 | 6/9 | vs GM Tolush (W) |
| 1960 | Moscow | 7th Soviet Team Chess Championship | 3 | 4.5/8 | vs IM Makogonov(W) |
| 1967 | Moscow | 10th Soviet Team Chess Championship | 4 | 4/8 | vs GM Antoshin (D) |
| 1968 | Grozny | 11th Soviet Team Chess Championship | Reserve | 2.5/6 | vs GM Furman (D) |
Twice Sakharov became the Champion of the Ukrainian Voluntary Sports Society "Avangard" (Russian: ДСО "Авангард") in 1962 (11.5/15) and 1964 (8.5/13).
He played for the "Avangard" Team during Soviet Team Chess Cup Tournaments.
| Year | City | Name | Board | Result | Featured Game |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1961 | Moscow | 3rd Soviet Team Chess Cup | 4 | 2.5/5 | vs GM Boleslavsky (D) |
| 1964 | Moscow | 4th Soviet Team Chess Cup | 2 | 2/6 | vs GM Averbakh (D) |
| 1966 | Moscow | 5th Soviet Team Chess Cup | 2 | 4/8 | vs GM Korchnoi (D) |
| 1968 | Riga | 6th Soviet Team Chess Cup | 2 | 3.5/9 | vs IM Osnos (D) |
| 1971 | Rostov-on-Don | 7th Soviet Team Chess Cup | Reserve | .5/2 | vs GM Krogius (D) |
He participated in the USSR Chess Championships 5 times.
| Year | City | Championship | Points | Place | Featured Game |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960 | Leningrad | XXVII | 6/19 | 18-20 | vs Bronstein (D) |
| 1964/65 | Kiev | XXXII | 7.5/19 | 17 | vs Bannik (W) |
| 1965 | Tallinn | XXXIII | 10.5/19 | 7 | vs Stein (W) |
| 1967 | Kharkov | XXXV | 9/13 | 6 | vs Polugaevsky (D) |
| 1968/69 | Alma-Ata | XXXVI | 9/19 | 14 | vs Tal (D) |
He was a winner of International Chess Tournament in Varna in 1968 and made the first norm for a title of International Master.
Yuri Sakharov successfully played in friendly international matches both for the USSR and Ukraine.
| Match | Year | Location | Score | Games |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 Match USSR-Yugoslavia | 1966 | Sukhumi | 3 out 5 | |
| USSR-Yugoslavia | 1968 | Sochi | 3.5 out 4 | |
| Ukraine-West Berlin | 1970 | Kiev | 2 out 4 |
Yuri Sakharov was part of the Soviet Team that won gold in Chess Correspondence Olympiad VI of 1968-72 and VII of 1972-76.
| Year | Name | Board | Points | Team Place | Featured Game |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1968-1972 | 6th Correspondence Chess Olympiad | 4 | 7/8 (the best board) | 1 | |
| 1972-1977 | 7th Correspondence Chess Olympiad | 4 | 5/9 | 1 |
He earned the title of International Correspondence Chess Master (IMC) in 1971.
| Year | Name | Points | Place | Featured Game |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1973-1977 | 1st CC World Cup Final | 7/14 | 7 | |
| 1977-1983 | 9th Correspondence World Championship Final | 7.5/16 | 10 | vs Tonu Oim (L) |
Honors
As a chess player
- Winner of the 9th Championship of Trade Unions in Leningrad, now Saint Petersburg (1971) [10]
- Winner of the International Tournament in Varna (1968)[6]
- USSR Chess Championships Participant (5): 1960, 1964/65, 1965(7 place), 1967(6 place), 1968/69
- Ukrainian Chess Championship Winner(2): 1966, 1968
- Championship of Sports Society "Avangard" Winner(2): 1962, 1964
- Kiev Chess Championship Winner(4): 1947 (1-2), 1948, 1949, 1961 (1-2)
- Stalino (now Donetsk) Region Championship Winner(2): 1940, 1946
References
- Gaige, Jeremy (2005). Chess Personalia, A Biobibliography. McFarland. p. 369. ISBN 978-0-7864-2353-8.
- Yeremenko, A. (2005). "Honor Deferred" (PDF). British Chess Magazine. pp. 383–384.
- Soltis, Andrew (2019), Tal, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi: A Chess Multibiography with 207 Games, McFarland, p.13, ISBN 978-1-4766-7146-8
- Felice, Gino di (2010), Chess Results, 1951–1955: A Comprehensive Record with 1,620 Tournament Crosstables and 144 Match Scores, with Sources, McFarland, p.48, ISBN 978-0-7864-4801-2
- Felice, Gino di(2013), Chess Results, 1961–1963: A Comprehensive Record with 938 Tournament Crosstables and 108 Match Scores, with Sources, McFarland, p.52, ISBN 978-1476603728
- Felice, Gino di (2013), Chess Results, 1968-1970: A Comprehensive Record with 854 Tournament Crosstables and 161 Match Scores, with Sources, McFarland, p.42, pp.89-90 ISBN 978-0786475742
- "Konstantin Maliszewski Chess Page : Ukrainian Championships : 1940-49 years". maliszew.chat.ru.
- "Konstantin Maliszewski Chess Page : Ukrainian Championships : 1950-59 years". maliszew.chat.ru.
- "Konstantin Maliszewski Chess Page : Ukrainian Championships : 1960-69 years". maliszew.chat.ru.
- Felice, Gino di (2014), Chess Results, 1971-1974: A Comprehensive Record with 854 Tournament Crosstables and 161 Match Scores, with Sources, McFarland, p.37 ISBN 978-0786496549