He was born into a world that flowed along very differently from our own. Kaluga was his city, but don’t reach for that atlas, just follow the River Oka setting your clock to a time when, as Trotsky was to write, Lenin, despite the efforts of his medics, was a hopelessly sick man. Averbakh bore some little German and Jewish blood, grew to be a tall and scholarly man (headmasterly?) but played chess under the banner of hammer and sickle.

Yury (Yuri) Lvovich Averbakh was born one hundred years ago today and, as such, is the oldest holder of the International Grandmaster title ever, that chess title formalised after World War II. Already – he got the title of national master in 1943 – he was looking at chess not so much as life substitute, as a Tal or Fischer might have done, but more as a career from which possibilities would spring, in the manner (say) of his contemporary, Smyslov. He played in Soviet Championships 1948-70, winning the title in Kiev in 1954 and tying for first place at Leningrad, 1956.

[pgn]
[Event “URS-ch21 Final”]
[Site “Kiev”]
[Date “1954.01.17”]
[Round “7”]
[White “Geller, Efim P”]
[Black “Averbakh, Yuri L”]
[Result “0-1”]
[ECO “A05”]
[Annotator “James Pratt”]
[PlyCount “92”]
[EventDate “1954.01.07”]
[EventType “tourn”]
[EventRounds “19”]
[EventCountry “URS”]
[SourceTitle “URS-ch”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “1999.07.01”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “1999.07.01”]
[SourceQuality “1”]

{[%evp 0,92,19,38,40,41,51,17,38,-2,-15,4,5,19,19,-27,-11,-22,-9,0,42,47,37,33,
57,33,22,76,55,17,21,34,33,21,28,70,24,15,44,24,17,31,58,36,36,-9,-15,-36,-43,
-11,-18,-18,-2,-48,-59,-75,-62,-283,-82,-100,-99,-127,-118,-160,-128,-136,-71,
-136,-93,-178,-169,-202,-201,-213,-211,-246,-250,-230,-236,-261,-367,-371,-454,
-473,-139,-235,-404,-436,-427,-546,-611,-822,-927,-1045,-1107]} {The young
Geller, as well versed in book lines as any, steers surprisingly away from
open, theoretical lines as early as move 3. He may later have had cause to
regret. I take my cue from that charming book, A Gnat May Drink by Jonathan
Hinton.} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d3 g6 4. g3 Bg7 5. Bg2 d6 6. O-O Nf6 7. Nbd2
O-O 8. a4 Bd7 9. Nc4 {[#]} d5 $5 $146 ({Relevant:} 9… Qc8 10. Re1 Ng4 11. c3
h6 12. Qe2 Kh7 13. Nfd2 f5 14. f4 fxe4 15. dxe4 Nf6 16. Nf3 Bg4 17. Ne3 Bh3 18.
Nh4 Bxg2 19. Qxg2 e6 20. Qc2 Ne7 21. Nc4 Ne8 22. Bd2 Qc6 23. Re2 Rd8 24. Rae1
b5 25. axb5 Qxb5 26. Ne3 Rb8 27. Bc1 Bf6 28. Nf3 c4 29. Kg2 Bg7 30. h4 Kg8 31.
Rd1 Rc8 32. e5 dxe5 33. Qe4 Rc5 34. fxe5 Qc6 35. Nc2 Qxe4 36. Rxe4 Nc6 37. Ne3
Na5 38. Nd2 Nc7 39. Nexc4 {Petrosian,T-Stahlberg,G Zuerich 1953 1-0 (67)}) 10.
exd5 Nxd5 11. Re1 Qc7 12. Ng5 Nb6 13. Ne3 a5 14. h4 h6 15. Ne4 Nd4 16. h5 $5 (
16. c3) 16… g5 17. c3 Nf5 18. Qb3 Nd6 19. Nd5 Nxd5 20. Qxd5 Nxe4 21. Qxe4
Rab8 22. Qd5 e6 23. Qa2 Bc6 24. Qc4 Bxg2 25. Kxg2 Qc6+ 26. Qe4 {[#]} Rfd8 $1
27. Be3 Rd5 $1 28. Rad1 $2 Rbd8 $2 (28… f5 $19 29. Qf3 g4 30. Qe2 f4 31. Qxg4
fxe3 32. Rxe3 Rxd3+ 33. Kh2 Rxe3 34. fxe3 Rf8 $19) 29. Kf1 (29. c4) 29… c4
30. d4 Qxa4 31. g4 Qd7 32. Ra1 a4 33. Re2 b5 34. Rae1 {[#]} b4 $1 35. f4 gxf4
$19 36. Bxf4 a3 $1 37. Rg2 Qe7 $1 38. Qe3 Qf6 39. Kg1 axb2 40. g5 hxg5 41. Be5
Rxe5 42. dxe5 {[#]} Qxe5 $1 43. Qxe5 Bxe5 44. Rxg5+ Kh7 45. Rgxe5 bxc3 46. Rb5
{[#]} Rd1 $3 {Time for a diagram’ as old Chernev enjoyed saying} 0-1
[/pgn]

5th= in the 1952 Interzonal and, a year later, just failed to finish on 50% in the celebrated Candidates of ’53. He drew a training match with Botvinnik himself in 1957. International success was obviously his too. Averbakh became known for his endgame books but he wrote on all aspects of the game, maybe twenty books flowing from his pen. Wade called him ‘prodding organiser’ and there is no doubt he touched so many areas of the game, as author, arbiter, diplomat, much in the manner of Euwe.

Though he was largely retired, here is a game to enjoy from his last playing years:

[pgn]
[Event “URS-chT Cup 11th 1st league”]
[Site “Jurmala”]
[Date “1980.05.24”]
[Round “2.2”]
[White “Bagirov, Vladimir”]
[Black “Averbakh, Yuri L”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[ECO “E47”]
[WhiteElo “2560”]
[BlackElo “2490”]
[Annotator “James Pratt”]
[PlyCount “49”]
[EventDate “1980.05.23”]
[EventType “team-tourn”]
[EventRounds “6”]
[EventCountry “LAT”]
[SourceTitle “EXT 2010”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “2010.11.25”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “2010.11.25”]
[SourceQuality “1”]
[WhiteTeam “Daugava”]
[BlackTeam “Zenit”]
[WhiteTeamCountry “URS”]
[BlackTeamCountry “URS”]
{[%evp 0,49,19,31,25,-16,-12,-6,4,22,30,34,33,20,24,-40,23,6,17,15,15,-10,4,-4,
49,-16,-22,-48,97,-8,-16,-42,-46,-46,-46,-12,-78,-146,-59,-97,-97,-99,-99,-91,
-85,-112,-88,-116,-74,-102,-188,-39]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 O-O
5. Bd3 c5 6. d5 $6 {?! According to Larsen} b5 7. dxe6 {[#]} bxc4 $146 {
(Deviating from Games 6 and 17 of the Karpov-Korchnoi WC Match, 1978)} ({
Relevant:} 7… fxe6 8. cxb5 a6 9. Nge2 d5 10. O-O e5 11. a3 axb5 12. Bxb5 Bxc3
13. bxc3 Ba6 14. Rb1 Qd6 15. c4 d4 16. Ng3 Nc6 17. a4 Na5 18. Qd3 Qe6 19. exd4
cxd4 20. c5 Rfc8 21. f4 Rxc5 22. Bxa6 Qxa6 23. Qxa6 Rxa6 24. Ba3 Rd5 25. Nf5
Kf7 26. fxe5 Rxe5 27. Rb5 Nc4 28. Rb7+ Ke6 29. Nxd4+ Kd5 30. Nf3 Nxa3 31. Nxe5
Kxe5 32. Re7+ Kd4 33. Rxg7 Nc4 34. Rf4+ Ne4 35. Rd7+ Ke3 36. Rf3+ Ke2 37. Rxh7
{Kortschnoj,V (2665)-Karpov,A (2725) Baguio City 1978 0-1}) 8. exf7+ Kh8 9.
Bxc4 d5 10. Bd3 Nc6 {Pretty obvious} (10… d4 {Preserves a little mystery})
11. Nge2 d4 12. exd4 cxd4 13. Bb5 {[#]} Qb6 $1 14. Bxc6 dxc3 15. bxc3 Bxc3+ 16.
Nxc3 Qxc6 17. Ne2 {Is better than} (17. Qf3 {when} Qc4 $19 {leaves Black ahead}
) 17… Qxg2 $2 ({Bagirov likes} 17… Bh3 $1 {but, even still, the fun is not
over.} 18. Bf4 Bxg2 19. Rc1 Qe4 20. Rg1 Nd5) 18. Rg1 Qe4 19. Qd4 Rxf7 (19…
Qe6) 20. Qxe4 Nxe4 21. Be3 Ba6 22. Rc1 Re8 23. Nf4 h6 $2 (23… Rb7 $17) 24. h4
g5 25. hxg5 $15 1/2-1/2
[/pgn]

Happy Birthday Yury!

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