GM Dmitry Svetushkin (1980-2020)

by André Schulz
9/11/2020 – Last Friday, September 4, 2020, Dmitry Svetushkin died. The Moldovan Grandmaster played ten times for his country at chess Olympiads and was also an active and renowned trainer. He was 40 years old. | Photo: Andreas Kontokanis, Wikipedia
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Last Friday, September 4, 2020, Dmitry Svetushkin threw himself out of the window on the 6th floor of a house in Chisinau. Svestushkin left no farewell letter. The day before he had talked to friends via Skype and did not give the impression that something was wrong.

His friends describe Dmitry Svestushkin as a very friendly, well-read and versatile person, who, for example, tried to learn German to be able to read Goethe in the original. He was sporty, ran marathons and even once took part in an Ironman event.

Dmitry Svetushkin, born on July 25, 1980, was one of the best players of his country. Like practically all other Moldavian Grandmasters of his generation, he was a student of Vjacheslav Chebanenko.

Svetushkin cultivated a solid positional style and was particularly strong in the endgame. In 2000 Svetushkin won the Moldovan national championship and between 2000 and 2018 he represented his country at ten chess Olympiads.

Svetushkin took part in team championships in various countries. In the German Bundesliga he played for SG Trier and SK Heidelberg-Handschuhsheim. In 2002 he became a Grandmaster and in 2014 Svetushkin became an official FIDE trainer. He has done a lot to help and to train young Moldovan talents.

To remember and to honor Dmitry Svetushkin Mikhail Golubev annotated a game, which he played Svetushkin in 2002 at a tournament in Bucharest.

Translation from German: Johannes Fischer

 
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MoveNResultEloPlayers
1.e41,166,62354%2421---
1.d4947,29855%2434---
1.Nf3281,60256%2441---
1.c4182,10256%2442---
1.g319,70256%2427---
1.b314,26554%2427---
1.f45,89748%2377---
1.Nc33,80151%2384---
1.b41,75648%2380---
1.a31,20654%2404---
1.e31,06848%2408---
1.d395450%2378---
1.g466446%2360---
1.h444653%2374---
1.c343351%2426---
1.h328056%2418---
1.a411060%2466---
1.f39246%2436---
1.Nh38966%2508---
1.Na34262%2482---
Dmitry Svetushkin and Fischer' bad King's Indian The premature death of the Moldova GM Dmitry Svetushkin, aged 40, who allegedly committed a suicide, made me deeply saddened. I remember Dima as a young player, because we almost didn't meet after the all-play-all tournament in Bucharest, Romania in March 2002. (Maybe a very strong Swiss system blitz in Yuzhny, 2012 with a large number of participants was the last time when I saw him). In Bucharest, it was a Category 8 event where we both eventually scored 6.5/11. In our personal encounter I was exceptionally badly crushed. Because of White's tricky move order, very early I got a position which I both disliked as such and didn't know at all. On the 14th move in the already bad position I started a desperate attack, which was refuted in the most precise was. 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nge2 In my previous games White used this move in order to continue with Ng3 and I didn't pay much attention that the transposition to the Saemisch System is still possible. e5 Black's idea is 6. d5 Nh5!? and if 7.Ng3 Nf4. Instead, just normal is 5...0-0 While 5...Nbd7 can make some sense, preparing an early ...h5 after Ng3. But instead White can transpose to The Saemisch, again. 6.f3! 0-0 7.Bg5! A well-known variation, which had been often played by Kasparov as Black is 7.Be3 c6 8.Qd2 Nbd7 - not that I like this position, but at least I would have had some ideas over the board. 7...exd4 Maybe, also here Black rather should try 7...c6!? 8.Qd2 Nbd7 where 9.d5 h6 10.Be3 10.Bxh6 Nxe4! 10...cxd5 11.cxd5 a6 12.Nc1 with better chances for White was Ponomariov-Radjabov, Bazna/Medias 2010. 8.Nxd4 Nc6 9.Nc2! Stronger than 9.Nxc6 bxc6 9...Be6!? After an immediate 9...h6 White can consider 10.Be3!? 10.Be2 h6 11.Bh4! The line 11.Be3 Ne5 12.b3 Nh5! is playable for Black weaker is 12...c6?! 13.0-0 Gulko-Sherzer, New York 1994 and other games 11...Ne5?! Instead, Black rather had to try an immediate 11...g5! 12.Bf2 and now Nh5! . One difference is that after 13.g3 White's knight doesn't control the f5 square and Black can consider f5 12.Ne3! g5?! Here, weakening of the f5 square (and the whole Black's kingside) isn't justified at all. But after the objectively preferable 12...Qd7 (later tried in Sunilduth Lyna-Barros Rivadeneira, Wch U20 Kocaeli 2013) it's self-evident that Black is seriously worse already. 13.Bf2 Nh5N With the inclusion of ...Ne5 and Ne3 the position turns to be quite bad for Black whatever he plays. Much later, I found in a database that a young Fischer lost with Black to Benko in this variation. (Bobby played 11...g5! first and only then 12...Ne5?, which transposed to the same thing). Ages ago, I surely must have seen Fischer's game in the book by Mednis, but unfortunately forgot about it. Probably, I didn't expect that I will ever get such an ugly position with Black in my own game! 13...c6 14.h4! 14.0-0 ...1-0 (41) Benko-Fischer, Portoroz Interzonal1958 13...Nfd7 14.h4! 14.Qd2 Anoshin-Liberzon, Moscow Ch 1958 14.Qc2 Van Dam-Teuling, Netherlands corr. 1973 14.g3! Qd7?! Ignoring White's threat. Objectively I had to continue 14...Bh3 where possible is, for example, 15.Qd2!? and nothing compensates Black his huge structural problems. 15.h4!+- f5 Black's position collapses anyway so it's a logical try to open centre and obtain practical chances. 16.exf5 Also after 16.hxg5 f4 Black is lost if White plays precisely. 16...Bxf5 17.hxg5! Surely simpler than 17.g4 (?) Bxg4 18.fxg4 Nf4 19.hxg5 Rae8! (a kind of position which I was hoping to get) where my engine now suggests 20.Kf1! 17...Bg6 18.f4 Also quite good is 18.gxh6 18...Rxf4 19.Rxh5! After 19.gxf4 Nxf4 20.gxh6 Black is objectively lost, but can try to disturb White by Ned3+ or 20...Nfd3+ 19...Rxf2 Other moves doesn't make much sense. 20.Kxf2 Bxh5 21.Bxh5 Qh3 22.Qh1! With an easy win. Rf8+ 23.Ke2 Qxg3 24.Ne4! 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Svetushkin,D2501Golubev,M25311–02002E81Supercom Cup, Bucharest4

Video of a blitz game against Savchenko from a tournament in Voronezh

André Schulz started working for ChessBase in 1991 and is an editor of ChessBase News.

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