Remembering Ragozin

110th Anniversary

The name of Viacheslav Ragozin is known to most chess players today only in connection with variation of the Queen's Gambit the named after him. He linked the ideas of Nimzowitsch and the bishop foray to b4 with the structure of the Queen's Gambit, typically leading to dynamic middlegame positions.

Ragozin was born on October 8th, 1908 in St. Petersburg. After his school years, he completed an engineering degree, and in the early 1930s, when Ragozin was in his early twenties, he made a mark for himself through successes in chess — among other things, he won a match against Alexander Ilyen-Zhenevsky, in the 9th USSR championship of 1934, where he tied for 4th to 8th places. Afterwards, he was invited to the big international Moscow tournament of 1935 where he split 8th to 10th place — a good performance for the young master in the heavily occupied field of 20 players.

A year later, in the next edition of Moscow Tournament in 1936 — this time a double-round-robin with ten participants — Ragozin again finished in the middle of the field. His fifth place score included a win over Emanuel Lasker, who lived in exile in Moscow for a while after his escape from Germany in 1933.

Master Class Vol.5: Emanuel Lasker

The name Emanuel Lasker will always be linked with his incredible 27 years reign on the throne of world chess. In 1894, at the age of 25, he had already won the world title from Wilhelm Steinitz and his record number of years on the throne did not end till 1921 when Lasker had to accept the superiority of Jose Raul Capablanca. But not only had the only German world champion so far seen off all challengers for many years, he had also won the greatest tournaments of his age, sometimes with an enormous lead. The fascinating question is, how did he manage that?

In 1937, he won the Young Masters Championship in Leningrad and was shared second at the 10th USSR Championship in Tbilisi. (Between 1934 and 1956 he participated eleven times in the USSR championships with varying degrees of success.) Also in 1937, he was invited to a major international tournament Semmering / Baden (Austria), but only took the shared 6th-7th, 3 points behind the winner, Paul Keres.

In 1939 at the tournament of Leningrad and Moscow Ragozin shared 3rd-6th but his result stands out for including just four draws in a field of 18 participants. Keres took 13th place there. Ragozin's greatest success in tournament chess came after the Second World War, at the Chigorin Memorial 1947, when he was second, just a half point behind the winner Mikhail Botvinnik.

From the 1930s to the 1950s Ragozin worked closely with Botvinnik and played several training matches in preparation for World Championships, some of which remained secret for a long time. 

Master Class Vol.10: Mikhail Botvinnik

Our experts show, using the games of Botvinnik, how to employ specific openings successfully, which model strategies are present in specific structures, how to find tactical solutions and rules for how to bring endings to a successful conclusion

Excerpt from a training match with Botvinnik

Ragozin was also active in other areas of chess life. From 1946 to 1955 he was editor of the chess magazine of the USSR Shakhmaty v SSSR (formerly Shakhmatny listok). Circulation: 55,000 copies (!). In 1950, Ragozin was awarded the title of International Grandmaster by FIDE and in 1951 he also became an International Arbiter. From 1950 to 1961 Ragozin represented the USSR as Vice President of FIDE.

In correspondence chess, Ragozin was even more successful than in tournament chess. He took clear first at the Second Correspondence World Championships, which lasted from 1955-1958, becoming Correspondence Chess World Champion.

Viacheslav Ragozin died on March 11, 1962 while working on his autobiography "Izbrannyie partii Ragozina". He was only 53 years old.

Translation from German: Macauley Peterson