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), and Merited Coach of the Ukrainian SSR (1963).[1][2]

Yuri Sakharov
Yuri Nikolaevich Sakharov (Ukrainian: Ю́рій Микола́йович Са́харов)

Biography

Yuri Sakharov was born on 18 September 1922 in Yuzovka (now Donetsk). His father was an official in the Donbas 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 Kyiv.

In 1951 he brilliantly won the Semi Final USSR Chess Championship in Lviv[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 But very soon he was arrested by denunciation and his Chess Master Title was revoked.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 died in 1981 in Bucha, Kyiv Oblast. The circumstances of his death remains unknown.

Chess career

Sakharov was the champion of Kyiv 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]

YearCityNamePointsPlaceFeatured Game
1940Kyiv12 Championship of Ukraine6.5/1713-15vs I. Boleslavsky (W)
1946Kyiv15 Championship of Ukraine11.5/174-6
1947Kyiv16 Championship of Ukraine10.5/163-4
1948Kyiv17 Championship of Ukraine7.5/1813-15vs E. Geller(W)
1949Odessa18 Championship of Ukraine11.5/196-9vs E. Geller(W)
1950Kyiv19 Championship of Ukraine8.5/179-11vs I. Lipnitsky(D)
1951Kyiv20 Championship of Ukraine10.5/175
1957Kyiv26 Championship of Ukraine11/173vs Flohr (D)
1958Kyiv27 Championship of Ukraine10.5/162-4vs GM E. Geller(D)
1959Kyiv28 Championship of Ukraine13/214-5
1960Kyiv29 Championship of Ukraine12/171-2vs L. Stein(W)
1961Kyiv30 Championship of Ukraine9/153-4
1962Kyiv31 Championship of Ukraine11.5/173
1963Kyiv32 Championship of Ukraine10/174-5
1964Kyiv33 Championship of Ukraine13/192-3
1966Kyiv35 Championship of Ukraine13/171
1967Kyiv36 Championship of Ukraine8/136-16
1968Kyiv37 Championship of Ukraine12.5/171
1970Kyiv39 Championship of Ukraine4.5/1718

Yuri Sakharov played in the Ukrainian team during Soviet Team Chess Championships.

YearCityNameBoardResultFeatured Game
1948Leningrad1st Soviet Team Chess Championship93.5/6
1958Vilnius5th Soviet Team Chess Championship34.5/8vs GM Averbakh (D)
1959Moscow6th Soviet Team Chess Championship46/9vs GM Tolush (W)
1960Moscow7th Soviet Team Chess Championship34.5/8vs IM Makogonov(W)
1967Moscow10th Soviet Team Chess Championship44/8vs GM Antoshin (D)
1968Grozny11th Soviet Team Chess ChampionshipReserve2.5/6vs 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.

YearCityNameBoardResultFeatured Game
1961Moscow3rd Soviet Team Chess Cup42.5/5vs GM Boleslavsky (D)
1964Moscow4th Soviet Team Chess Cup22/6vs GM Averbakh (D)
1966Moscow5th Soviet Team Chess Cup24/8vs GM Korchnoi (D)
1968Riga6th Soviet Team Chess Cup23.5/9vs IM Osnos (D)
1971Rostov-on-Don7th Soviet Team Chess CupReserve.5/2vs GM Krogius (D)

He participated in the USSR Chess Championships 5 times.

YearCityChampionshipPointsPlaceFeatured Game
1960LeningradXXVII6/1918-20vs Bronstein (D)
1964/65KyivXXXII7.5/1917vs Bannik (W)
1965TallinnXXXIII10.5/197vs Stein (W)
1967KharkovXXXV9/136vs Polugaevsky (D)
1968/69Alma-AtaXXXVI9/1914vs 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.

MatchYearLocationScoreGames
10 Match USSR-Yugoslavia1966Sukhumi3 out 5
USSR-Yugoslavia1968Sochi3.5 out 4
Ukraine-West Berlin1970Kiev2 out 4

Yuri Sakharov was part of the Soviet Team that won gold in Chess Correspondence Olympiad VI of 1968–1972 and VII of 1972–1976.

YearNameBoardPointsTeam PlaceFeatured Game
1968-19726th Correspondence Chess Olympiad47/8 (the best board)1
1972-19777th Correspondence Chess Olympiad45/91

He earned the title of International Correspondence Chess Master (IMC) in 1971.

YearNamePointsPlaceFeatured Game
1973-19771st CC World Cup Final7/147
1977-19839th Correspondence World Championship Final7.5/1610vs Tonu Oim (L)

Honors

As a chess player

References

  1. Gaige, Jeremy (2005). Chess Personalia, A Biobibliography. McFarland. p. 369. ISBN 978-0-7864-2353-8.
  2. Yeremenko, A. (2005). "Honor Deferred" (PDF). British Chess Magazine. pp. 383–384.
  3. Soltis, Andrew (2019), Tal, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi: A Chess Multibiography with 207 Games, McFarland, p.13, ISBN 978-1-4766-7146-8
  4. 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
  5. 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
  6. 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
  7. "Konstantin Maliszewski Chess Page : Ukrainian Championships : 1940-49 years". maliszew.chat.ru.
  8. "Konstantin Maliszewski Chess Page : Ukrainian Championships : 1950-59 years". maliszew.chat.ru.
  9. "Konstantin Maliszewski Chess Page : Ukrainian Championships : 1960-69 years". maliszew.chat.ru.
  10. 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
  11. "ЮРИЙ САХАРОВ". Российская Шахматная Федерация.
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