Vassily Ivanchuk

Vassily Mykhaylovych Ivanchuk, also transliterated

as Vasyliy or Vasyl (Ukrainian:
; born March 18, 1969), is a Ukrainian chess
grandmaster and current World Rapid Chess Champion.

World Chess Championship 2002. While being consistently among the top 10 from 1988, Mark Crowthers The
Week in Chess said that his erratic play was due to poor
temperament.[11] His inability to become World Champion despite his immense talent and longevity among the
chess elite has been attributed to his admittedly poor
nerves, demonstrated by astonishing blunders such as in
the 1994 London Grand Prix blitz, failing to complete a
strong attack on Viswanathan Anand in blitz with a basic
and obvious mate in one, all despite having 1:14 left on
the clock. Ivanchuks nerves were notably exposed during the high-tension atmosphere of World Championship
match-format tournaments, such as in 2002 where he was
heavily favored in the FIDE championship nal after having defeated defending champion Viswanathan Anand in
the seminals, only to lose to countryman Ruslan Ponomariov in a signicant upset, denying him the World
Championship. Subsequent match-play tournaments in
World Championship cycles saw Ivanchuk consistently
underperform; in the FIDE World Chess Championship
2004, Chess World Cup 2005, Chess World Cup 2007,
and Chess World Cup 2009, he failed to advance past the
third round despite being seeded No. 5, No. 1, No. 1
and No. 6 respectively in those events.

A leading player since 1988,[1] Ivanchuk was ranked No.

2 three-times (July 1991, July 1992, October 2007).[2]
His erratic results has seen him drop as low as 30th in
July 2009[3] before returning to the top ten in the next
list.[4]
Ivanchuk has won Linares, Wijk aan Zee, Tal Memorial,
Gibraltar Masters and M-Tel Masters titles. Ivanchuk was
the 2007 World Blitz Chess champion,[5] won the Melody
Amber rapid in 1992 and shared the combined event in
2010.
In 2011, by the decree of the President of Ukraine,
Ivanchuk was awarded the Order of Prince Yaroslav the
Wise IV degree.[6]
In 2016, Ivanchuk won the World Rapid Chess Championship in Doha, Qatar.[7]

1
1.1

Career

Ivanchuks world championship aspirations were also

dampened by the unfortunate title split 1993 to 2006.
Due to obligations with FIDE, Ivanchuk and Anand did
not participate in the 2002 Dortmund Candidates tournament for the Classical World Chess Championship
2004.[12] He was then narrowly excluded, on the basis of
rating, from the rival FIDE World Chess Championship
2005. While he won one of the events of the FIDE Grand
Prix 20082010, his overall performance was not enough
to qualify him for the World Chess Championship 2012
candidates tournament.

Early years

Ivanchuk was born in Kopychyntsi, Ukraine.

He
won the 1987 European Junior Chess Championship in
Groningen and rst achieved international notice by winning the 1988 New York Open with 7/9, ahead of a
eld of Grandmasters. He tied for rst place in the 1988
World Junior Chess Championship at Adelaide, but lost
the title on tiebreak to Jol Lautier.[8] He was awarded
the Grandmaster title in 1988, and entered the world top
10 the same year.[2]

1.2

Reaches world elite

Ivanchuk attained chess world fame at the age of 21

when he won the Linares tournament in 1991. Fourteen players participated, eight of them rated top-ten of 1.3 Since 2013
the world, including World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov, while the rest were all among the worlds top 50
players. Ivanchuk narrowly edged Kasparov by a half- Ivanchuk played in the 2013 Candidates Tournament,
point,[9] defeating Kasparov in their individual game.[10] which took place in London, from 15 March to 1 April.
[13]
It was widely believed that Ivanchuk might become World He nished seventh, with a score of +35=6.
Champion. He has not so far achieved this, although he In 2016, Ivanchuk won the World Rapid Chess Champicame close in 2002 when he reached the nal of the FIDE onship in Doha, Qatar, with a score of 11/15.[7]
1

NOTABLE GAMES

Cup, Ivanchuk announced, in a highly emotional interview, his retirement from professional chess.[17][18] However, he soon recanted on this decision.[19]

3 Notable tournament victories

4 Team chess performances
Ivanchuk has often been at his best in international team
competitions. He has played in 14 Chess Olympiads,
twice for the Soviet Union (1988 and 1990), and twelve
times for Ukraine, after the Soviet Union split up in 1991.
He has won a total of thirteen medals, and has been on
four gold-medal winning teams (USSR in 1988 and 1990,
Ukraine in 2004 and 2010). In 162 games, Ivanchuk has
scored (+63 =87 12), for 65.7 per cent. His detailed
Olympiad records are as follows:[23]
Thessaloniki 1988, USSR 2nd reserve, 6/9 (+4 0
=5), team gold
Novi Sad 1990, USSR board 1, 7/10 (+5 1 =4),
team gold, board bronze
Ivanchuk

Assessment and personality

In 2013, Gawain Jones described Ivanchuk as possibly

the most talented [player] ever.[14] Judit Polgr, when
asked in 2012 to name chess players whom she considers geniuses, named only Ivanchuk, Magnus Carlsen and
Viswanathan Anand.[15]
Chucky, as Ivanchuk is called, has been described by
Anand as the most eccentric player in the chess world.
Anand, tongue-in-cheek, gave his view on Ivanchuk like
this:[16]
Hes someone who is very intelligent ... but
you never know which mood he is going to be
in. Some days he will treat you like his longlost brother. The next day he ignores you completely.
The players have a word for him. They
say he lives on Planet Ivanchuk. (Laughs)
... I have seen him totally drunk and singing
Ukrainian poetry and then the next day I have
seen him give an impressive talk.
His playing style is unpredictable and
highly original, making him more dangerous
but sometimes leading to quick losses as well.
After a string of unsuccessful performances culminated
in his elimination at the early stages of the 2009 World

Manila 1992, Ukraine board 1, 8/13 (+6 1 =5)

Moscow 1994, Ukraine board 1, 9/14 (+5 0 =9)
Yerevan 1996, Ukraine board 1, 8/11 (+6 0 =5),
team silver, board silver, perf. bronze
Elista 1998, Ukraine board 1, 7/11 (+3 0 =8), team
bronze
Istanbul 2000, Ukraine board 1, 9/14 (+4 0 =10),
team bronze
Bled 2002, Ukraine board 2, 9/14 (+4 0 =10)
Calvi 2004, Ukraine board 1, 9/13 (+6 0 =7),
team gold, board bronze
Turin 2006, Ukraine board 1, 8/13 (+4 1 =8)
Dresden 2008, Ukraine board 1, 6/11 (+3 2 =6)
Khanty-Mansiysk 2010, Ukraine board 1, 8/10 (+7
1 =2), team gold, board gold
Istanbul 2012, Ukraine board 1, 6/10 (+4 2 =4),
team bronze
Tromso 2014, Ukraine board 1, 4/9 (+2 3 =4)

5 Notable games
Ivanchuk vs Kasparov, Linares 1991

3
At round one of Linares in 1991 the then only 21-yearold Ivanchuk gives up both his bishops for knights and
then boxes Kasparov, then world champion, into complete passivity.[24][25]

Personal life

Ivanchuk was rst married to chess Woman Grandmaster

Alisa Galliamova. On November 18, 2006, he married
for the second time.[26]

[5] Ivanchuk wins World Blitz Championship, Anand second. ChessBase. 22 November 2007. Retrieved 21 July
2015.
[6] Vassily Ivanchuk awarded the Order of Prince Yaroslav
the Wise IV degree. Chessdom. 28 August 2011. Retrieved 29 August 2011.
[7] Fischer, Johannes (28 December 2016).
Vassily
Ivanchuk is new World Champion in Rapid Chess.
ChessBase. Retrieved 28 December 2016.
[8] Event Details: Adelaide (U20 World Championship),
1988. Chessmetrics. Retrieved 21 July 2015.

In 2011, Ivanchuk and his second wife were mugged

the day they were set to leave from So Paulo, Brazil [9] John Henderson (2 March 2002). Linares 2002: Just
How Much Wood Can a Woodchuck Chuck, Chucky?".
on a plane bound for Spain to nish the second half of
Chessbase. Archived from the original on 2002-04-09.
the Bilbao Grand Slam Masters. Ivanchuk threatened to
withdraw from the tournament altogether, but his wife
[10] Vassily Ivanchuk vs Garry Kasparov (1991) Chess Boxconvinced him to continue. He had been leading in the
ing"". chessgames.com. 23 March 2010. Retrieved 21
tournament before this event, but did not play as well in
July 2015.
the second half of the tournament.[27]
[11] Corus, Wijk aan Zee 2006. The Week in Chess.
Archived from the original on 2006-08-26.

Doping test controversy

[12] Yasser Seirawan (2002). From a Fresh Start to a New

Dawn Part 2. The Week in Chess. Archived from the
original on 2002-06-09.

Ivanchuk was playing on board 1 for Ukraine in the 2008

Chess Olympiad held in Dresden. Going into the last
[13] Tournament standings. FIDE. Retrieved 6 April 2013.
round Ukraine was second with decent chances of placing 1st, and only a strong loss against a 10th-seeded USA [14] Peter Doggers (13 March 2013). FIDE Candidates: Prewould leave them without a medal. Ivanchuk was chosen
dictions. ChessVibes. Archived from the original on
2013-03-16. Retrieved 30 June 2013.
to be tested for illegal substances in his system immediately after the last round.
[15] KC-Conference with Judit Polgar. Crestbook. 12 Jan-

In a major upset, the USA defeated Ukraine 3 to

uary 2012. Retrieved 1 December 2014.
with Ivanchuk losing his game against GM Gata Kamsky, causing Ukraine to fall to fourth and miss out on a [16] Shekhar Gupta (1 January 2004). Talking with:
Viswanathan Anand. The Indian Express. Archived from
medal. Ivanchuk was in such a distraught state after the
the
original on 2004-06-03.
game that he was seen kicking a large concrete pillar.
Ivanchuk refused to take a doping test and stormed out, [17] Ivanchuk threatens to quit professional chess. 26
risking punishment under FIDE rules and forfeiting his
November 2009. Retrieved 12 January 2013.
games in the event as had happened in the 2004 Chess
Olympiad in Majorca.[28] Ivanchuk was cleared when it [18] Vassily IVANCHUK: 'I was thrown out of the saddle'".
Chess in Khanty-Mansiysk. Archived from the original on
emerged that he had not been warned of the test, and that
29 November 2009.
in his distraught frame of mind, he had not fully under[29]
stood the arbiters request.

[19] Ivanchuk: Sorry, I am not quitting chess. 30 November

2009. Retrieved 30 November 2009.

References

[1] Fide Rating Lists - Archive: July 1988 - FIDE Rating

List. delists.blogspot.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-04-04.
[2] All Time Rating List. Chess.eusa.ed.ac.uk. Retrieved
20 October 2011.

[20] Ivanchuk Vassily (UKR) is the European Rapid Chess

Champion 2004. FIDE. 2004-12-01. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
[21] 47th Capablanca Memorial won by Ivanchuk Chessbase
Retrieved 15 May 2012.
[22]

[3] FIDE Top 100, July 2009. FIDE. Retrieved 20 October

2011.

[23] Ivanchuk, Vasyl. olimpbase.org. Retrieved 21 July

2015.

[4] FIDE Top 100, September 2009. Ratings.de.com.

Retrieved 20 October 2011.

[24] Vassily Ivanchuk vs Garry Kasparov (1991) Chess Boxing"". Chessgames.com. Retrieved 1 December 2014.

[25] Vassily Ivanchuks Amazing Immortal Sicilian Defence

Crush vs Kasparov in Linares 1991. YouTube. 7 December 2007. Retrieved 1 December 2014.
[26] Evgeny Surov (21 February 2011). "
"["In my life
model I managed to unify the game and the circus"].
chess-news.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 21 July 2015.
[27] So Paulo Masters Highway robbery in So Paulo!".
Chessbase.com. 4 October 2011. Retrieved 1 December
2014.
[28] Olympiad Dresden: The Ivanchuk Files. ChessBase. 2
December 2008. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
[29] Decision of the FIDE doping hearing panel. FIDE. 22
January 2009. Retrieved 20 October 2011.

External links
Vassily Ivanchuk player prole and games at
Chessgames.com
Elo rating with world rankings and historical development since 1990 (benoni.de/schach/elo) for Vassily Ivanchuk
Interview with Vassily Ivanchuk (2000)
Interview of Vassily Ivanchuk: I can still become
World Champion (2011)

EXTERNAL LINKS

10
10.1

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

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