Jon Speelman: Triple-jump in spring, a celebration of Vasyl Ivanchuk

by Jonathan Speelman
5/11/2025 – Ukrainian chess legend Vasyl Ivanchuk has made a remarkable comeback, gaining 40 rating points in April and re-entering the top 100 with a FIDE rating of 2644. The 54-year-old grandmaster remained unbeaten in 27 games across three tournaments, including the Reykjavík Open, Semana Santa Open and Menorca Open, where he finished first with an impressive 8/9 score. Despite the turmoil in Ukraine, Ivanchuk continues to demonstrate his enduring talent, reminding the chess world of his prodigious skill and unpredictable brilliance. | Photo: Andreas Kontokanis, via Wikimedia Commons (2007)

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Pure brilliance

[Note that Jon Speelman also looks at the content of the article in video format, here embedded at the end of the article.]

This month we celebrate with joy and awe the great Vasyl Ivanchuk. About a dozen years younger than me, I faced Ivanchuk about 10 times in the early-to-mid-1990s and found him almost unplayable, making about the same number of draws as losses. Even more so than Karpov or Kasparov, I felt that I was playing "God", and a capricious god whose moves were almost impossible to predict.

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Ivanchuk, who lives in Lviv, cannot but have been deeply upset. He's continued to play quite a lot and host some fascinating streams, but by this March his rating had dwindled to a mere 2604, which he retained at the beginning of April too.

But between April 9th and 26th, he played an incredible 27 games in three tournaments in a row (obviously sometimes twice a day) not losing a single one and coming second equal in the Reykjavík Open behind Parham Maghdoosloo, first equal at the Semana Santa Open in San Vicente and first outright in the Menorca Open with a massive 8/9.

This gained Ivanchuk an enormous 40 rating points in a month, and he's moved up into the top hundred again with 2644, which puts him 82nd. It's an incredible jump, and I'm eager to see what he does next.

For this month's games I've chosen a couple of the 27, and to remind us of his prodigious talent, Ivanchuk's beautiful win against Kasparov in Linares 1991, which he won ahead of Kasparov (and was one of my best ever tournaments too).

Vasyl Ivanchuk

Vasyl Ivanchuk at the 2024 Chess Olympiad | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

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1.d4       In order to play so much chess in such a short time, Ivanchuk had perforce to rely to some extent on his superb technique. In this his 17th game in 12 days(!) he squeezed well but did allow an interesting resource which would have saved the day for Black. Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Bg5 dxc4 5.e4 c5 6.Nf3 cxd4 7.Qxd4 A very sensible approach to this enormously complicated position and the circumstances. Qxd4 8.Nxd4 a6 9.Bxc4 b5 10.Be2 Bb7 11.f3 Nfd7 12.Nb3 Nc6 13.Rc1 Be7 14.Be3 0-0 15.Kf2
White has an appreciable advantage due to the weakness of c5 and the bulwark on f3 and e4 which stymies Black's b7-bishop. Of course a computer can defend this but it's far from fun for a human being. 15...Rfd8 16.Rhd1 Rac8 17.a4 bxa4 17...b4 18.Nb1 Bf6 19.Rc2 Ncb8 20.Rxc8 Rxc8 21.Na5 Ba8 22.Nc4 18.Nxa4 Kf8 19.Nbc5 Nxc5 20.Rxd8+ Nxd8 21.Nxc5 Bxc5 22.Bxc5+ Ke8 23.Bd1 23.b4 23.Rc3 e5 24.Ke3 Ne6 23...Bc6 23...e5 24.Ba4+ 24.Bb3 24...Bc6 25.Bb6 24.Bd6 Bd7 25.Rxc8 Bxc8
Endings with two bishops against a bishop and knight are normally deeply unpleasant for the latter if there is play on both sides of the board, and this is pretty vile even though Black has a good post for the bishop on b5. 26.Ke3 Bd7 27.f4 Bb5 28.Kd4 Nb7 29.Bb4 Bc6 30.g4 Bb5 31.h4 Bc6 32.g5 Bb5 33.Ke5 Nd8 34.Kd6 Nc6 35.Bc3 g6 36.h5 Kf8 37.Bf3 37.h6 Ke8 38.Bc2 Kf8 39.f5 exf5 40.exf5 Ne7 41.Bg7+ Ke8 42.fxg6 Nxg6 42...fxg6 43.Bf6 Nf5+ 44.Bxf5 gxf5 45.g6 43.Bf5 37...Ne7 38.Ke5 38.h6 38...Kg7 39.h6+ Kg8 40.Kf6 Nc8 41.f5 exf5 42.exf5 Bc4 42...Nd6 43.fxg6 hxg6 44.Be5 Nf5 45.Bd5 Be8 46.Bc3 43.Bb4 43.fxg6 fxg6 43...Nb6 44.Ke5 Bb3 45.Kd4 45.fxg6 fxg6 46.Kd4 45...Bc2?
45...gxf5 46.Be2 f6 47.Bd3 fxg5 48.Bxf5 Bf7 gave real chances and indeed apparently should be defensible. 46.f6? When playing so much chess in such a short time you're bound to make some inaccuracies, and this is a blunder because if Black can just get control of the a2 to f7 diagonal and give up the knight for the b-pawn then he would draw due to stalemate! Bb3 47.Kc3 Be6 47...Bd5 48.Be2 Be6 49.Bxa6 49.Bd1? Nd5+ 49...Na4+ 50.Kc2 Nxb2 51.Kxb2 gets to the desired position. Black simply waits with the bishop on its diagonal and White can do nothing better than to exchange it. Then when White plays Ke7 he replies Kh8 and because of the total blockage of the kingside Kxf7 is stalemate. 48.Kd4 48.Kc2! Nc4 49.b3 Ne3+ 50.Kb2 Nd5 48...a5? 48...Nc4 49.b3 Na5 50.Bxa5 Bxb3= was another way. 48...Na4 49.Bxa5 Nc4 50.b4 Now Black is unable to give up the knight for the pawn. Na3 51.Kc5 Bb3 52.Bc6 Be6 53.Bc7 Ba2 54.Bf4 Be6 55.Bc1 Nb1 56.Kd4
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Ivanchuk,V2604Raczek,K24481–02025D509th Semana Santa Alicante8.5
Chasin,N2435Ivanchuk,V26040–12025D31IV Menorca Open A 20253.6
Ivanchuk,V2695Kasparov,G28001–01991B51Linares 09th1

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Jonathan Speelman, born in 1956, studied mathematics but became a professional chess player in 1977. He was a member of the English Olympic team from 1980–2006 and three times British Champion. He played twice in Candidates Tournaments, reaching the semi-final in 1989. He twice seconded a World Championship challenger: Nigel Short and then Viswanathan Anand against Garry Kasparov in London 1993 and New York 1995.
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