Vassily Ivanchuk

Infobox chess player
playername = Vassily Ivanchuk


caption=
birthname = Vasyl Mykhaylovych Ivanchuk
country = UKR
datebirth = birth date and age|1969|3|18
placebirth = Berezhany, Soviet Union
datedeath =
placedeath =
title = Grandmaster
worldchampion =
womensworldchampion =
rating = 2781
(No. 4 on the July 2008 FIDE ratings list)
peakrating = 2787 (October 2007)

Vassily Ivanchuk, also transliterated as Vasyl ( _uk. Василь Михайлович Іванчук , "Vasyl Mykhaylovych Ivanchuk") (born March 18 1969), is a Ukrainian chess grandmaster.

Ivanchuk has been a leading player in the world since 1988, at times reaching 2nd in the Elo rating list, [ [http://chess.eusa.ed.ac.uk/Chess/Trivia/AlltimeList.html All Time Rankings] , includes FIDE top 10 1970-1997] but has never won the World Chess Championship. Ivanchuk often has erratic results, and since 2007 his world ranking has ranged from 12th [ [http://ratings.fide.com/toparc.phtml?cod=109 FIDE Top 100, April 2007] ] to 2nd. [ [http://ratings.fide.com/toparc.phtml?cod=117 FIDE Top 100, October 2007] ] In the current (July 2008) list he is 4th in the world.

As of November 2007 he is the World Blitz Chess champion. [ [http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=4275 Ivanchuk wins World Blitz Championship, Anand second] , Chessbase, November 22 2007]

Early years

Ivanchuk was born in Berezhany, Ukraine. He first achieved international notice by winning the 1988 New York Open with 7.5/9, ahead of a field filled with Grandmasters. He tied for first place in the 1988 World Junior Chess Championship at Adelaide, but lost the title on tiebreak to Joel Lautier, [ [http://db.chessmetrics.com/CM2/SingleEvent.asp?Params=199510SSSSS3S073394000000131100842000000010100 Adelaide (U20 World Championship), 1988] , Chessmetrics] He was awarded the Grandmaster title in 1988, and entered the world top 10 the same year. [ [http://chess.eusa.ed.ac.uk/Chess/Trivia/AlltimeList.html All Time Rankings] , includes FIDE top 10 1970-1997]

Reaches world elite

Ivanchuk reached 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 the world, including World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov, while the rest were all among the world's top 50 players. It was a close call between Ivanchuk and Kasparov, but Ivanchuk won by half a point, [ [http://www.chessbase.com/events/events.asp?pid=110 Just How Much Wood Can a Woodchuck Chuck, Chucky?] - a report on Ivanchuk at Linares, Chessbase, March 2 2002] and Ivanchuk defeated Kasparov in their individual game. [ [http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1060207 Ivanchuk-Kasparov, Linares 1991] , chessgames.com]

It was believed that Ivanchuk would become World Champion, but this has not yet happened, although he came close in 2002 when he reached the finals of the FIDE World Championship Knockout. Even though he has been consistently among the top 10 since 1988, ranked as high as number 2 on a few occasions, he has played poorly in matches which require a different approach than tournament play. Most chess fans blame this on his weak nerves and his tendency to blunder in critical positions.

Eccentric character

"Big Chucky", as Ivanchuk is called, has been described by Viswanathan Anand as the most eccentric player in the chess world. Anand, tongue-in-cheek, gave his view on Ivanchuk like this: [ [http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=38320&pn=2 Anand interview in Indiaexpress.com] ,dead link in July 2008]

:"He’s 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 long-lost 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."

:"For a while he was trying to learn Turkish. Don’t ask me why ... Everyday is a surprise with him."

When he plays, Ivanchuk rarely looks at the board. Instead he stares at the ceiling and at the walls with a blank stare (although this is not uncommon with top players who calculate without looking at the board). His playing style is unpredictable and highly original, making him a threat to any chess player, although it sometimes also leads to quick losses.

Major titles

Major tournament wins include New York Open 1988, Corus 1996, Linares 1989, 1991 and 1995, Foros (Aerosvit) 2006 and 2007, Montreal International 2007. Ivanchuk lost to compatriot Ruslan Ponomariov in the final match of the 2002 FIDE World Chess Championship. In 2004 he won the European Championship, and in 2006 he finished second in that Championship. He won the 2005 Canadian Open Chess Championship at Edmonton (shared). In November 2007, Ivanchuk won the World Blitz Chess Championship in Moscow beating classical chess World Champion Anand in the last decider game. On May 18, 2008, he won the M-Tel Masters tournament in Sofia, Bulgaria with a score of 8/10 (six wins, four draws, and no losses). Ivanchuk also won the 2008 Tal Memorial ahead of Vladimir Kramnik, Alexander Morozevich, Peter Leko, Ruslan Ponomariov, Boris Gelfand and Gata Kamsky. [Chessvine Article, [http://chessvine.com/archives/102-Vassily-Ivanchuk-wins-2008-Tal-Memorial.html "Vassily Ivanchuk wins 2008 Tal Memorial"] ] . He did a double at 2008 Tal Memorial by winning the Blitz tournament too, ahead of Kramnik, Carlsen and others.

Team chess standout

Ivanchuk has often been at his best in international team competitions. He has played in ten chess Chess Olympiads, twice for the Soviet Union (1988 and 1990), and eight times for Ukraine, after the Soviet Union split up in 1991. He has won a total of ten medals, and has been on three gold-medal winning teams (USSR in 1988 and 1990, Ukraine in 2004). In 122 games, Ivanchuk has scored (+47 =71 -4), for 67.6 per cent. His detailed Olympiad records, from the site http://www.olimpbase.org/players/oeo8eigf.html, follow.

* Thessaloniki 1988, USSR 2nd reserve, 6.5/9 (+4 =5 -0), team gold;
* Novi Sad 1990, USSR board 1, 7/10 (+5 =4 -1), team gold, board bronze;
* Manila 1992, Ukraine board 1, 8.5/13 (+6 =5 -1);
* Moscow 1994, Ukraine board 1, 9.5/14 (+5 =9 -0);
* Yerevan 1996, Ukraine board 1, 8.5/11 (+6 =5 -0), team silver, board silver, perf. bronze;
* Elista 1998, Ukraine board 1, 7/11 (+3 =8 -0), team bronze;
* Istanbul 2000, Ukraine board 1, 9/14 (+4 =10 -0), team bronze;
* Bled 2002, Ukraine board 2, 9/14 (+4 =10 -0);
* Calvia 2004, Ukraine board 1, 9.5/13 (+6 =7 -0), team gold, board bronze;
* Turin 2006, Ukraine board 1, 8/13 (+4 =8 -1).

References

External links

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* [http://chess.vrsac.com/search/player_e.asp?FC=14100010 Rating data]