Congratulations, Vassily Ivanchuk

by André Schulz
3/18/2019 – Vassily Ivanchuk is a fixture in the international tournament chess scene. It feels like the Ukrainian has always been there among the world's elite. In July 1991, almost 30 years ago, the he first reached number two in the world with and Elo of 2735. Today Ivanchuk celebrates his 50th birthday. Congratulations! | Photo: Nugzar Kereselidze
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Vassily Ivanchuk's 50th birthday

Vassily (actually "Vassyl", but most people refer to the FIDE spelling) Ivanchuk is one of the few players in the world who can, on a good day, really beat anyone. When Garry Kasparov (once again) lost to Ivanchuk, the former World Champion complained:

"Ivanchuk plays sometimes better, sometimes worse, but against Kasparov Ivanchuk always plays like Ivanchuk"

In the late 1980s, Vassily Ivanchuk burst onto the tournament scene. Ivanchuk was one of the best players in the USSR behind Kasparov and Karpov. In 1988, he won silver at the Junior World Championships. Only Joel Lautier was better. He won the 1988 and 1990 Soviet Gold medals at the Chess Olympiad. The fate of the "eternal second" pursued Ivanchuk more and more even in the later years of his career. In July 1991, he was also second in the FIDE World Ranking. Only Kasparov was rated higher.

 
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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.f3 0-0 6.Bg5 a6 7.Qd2 c5 8.d5 b5 9.cxb5 Nbd7 10.a4 Qa5 11.Nge2 Nb6 12.Nc1 axb5 13.Bxb5 Ba6 14.N1a2 Bxb5 15.axb5 Nh5 16.Rb1 Bd4 17.Bh6 Rfe8 18.b3 e6 19.dxe6 Rxe6 20.Be3 Bxe3 21.Qxe3 d5 22.b4 Qa3 23.bxc5 Nc4 24.Qd4 Nf4 25.0-0 Qxa2 26.Rf2 Qa3 27.Nxd5 Qd3 28.Qxd3 Nxd3 29.Rc2 Na3 30.Ra2 Nxc5 31.Rba1 f5 32.Nc7 Re5 33.Nxa8 Nxb5 34.exf5 gxf5 35.Nb6 Nc3 36.Rc2 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Ivanchuk,V2740Kasparov,G27951–01997E81Linares 14th8

Following the collapse of the USSR, Ivanchuk continued his winning streak for the Ukrainian team and won silver in 1996, bronze in 1998 and 2000, gold in 2004 and 2010 and bronze again in 2013. 

At the FIDE World Cup 2001-2002 Vassily Ivanchuk reached the final, but despite being the favourite he lost to his compatriot Ruslan Ponomariov. 

Throughout his career, Ivanchuk has celebrated countless tournament successes, and is particularly strong in rapid and blitz chess tournaments, even if at the World Championships in these disciplines he often lacked that little hint of luck to win the tournament often after he had defeated the favourites. At least once — in 2007 — Ivanchuk did win the title of Blitz World Champion.

Ivanchuk is said to have a photographic memory. So he should be able to look at a page of a magazine briefly and memorize the text. Afterwards, he can recite the page by heart — even if the text is written in a language unknown to him.

Ivanchuk's chess is characterized by great creativity. And just as in chess, the grandmaster often finds unusual solutions to the problems in life and off the board. For example, Ivanchuk was chosen to be the subject of a doping test at the 2008 chess Olympiad. Ivanchuk had just lost his game, unpleasantly, and, annoyed with himself, kicked a concrete wall for punishment — according to eye witnesses. When the doping control officers approached the Ukrainian he either didn't realise it, or was in no mood to cooperate for what many chess players regards as a superfluous exercise.

Ivanchuk was one of the participants in the Candidates Tournament 2013 in London, where he played a pivotal role in the proceedings. Magnus Carlsen, as world number one, was the big favourite there, but the young Norwegian was nervous. In the 12th round, Carlsen lost to Ivanchuk which put Vladimir Kramnik ahead. 

But, Kramnik had not yet played against Ivanchuk himself, and in the final round, the Ukrainian grandmaster, who's often referred to as a genius, defeated Kramnik as well, which dramatically allowed Carlsen to win the tournament despite losing his own last round game to Peter Svidler!

 
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The 2013 Candidates tournament in London, had the most exciting denouement of any tournament I can remember. The brilliant Norwegian Wunderkind Magnus Carlsen, was eventually to stagger over the line, after a war of attrition and nerves that will live in the memory for many years. But it was the Russian Vladimir Kramnik who will perhaps feel most aggrieved - he did not lose a game until the last round, a game we shall now analyse, and his chess was of a very high quality indeed. There are a lot of ifs and buts, but I would not criticise the format. One player had to qualify, and if there had not existed the tie-break format, and the tournament had gone to play-offs, perhaps you would have had a much more cautious approach from the players, resulting in the veritable bore-fest which was the previous candidates. Clearly this tournament format is the way forward. 1.d4 d6 2.e4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 Kramnik essays the Pirc, a surprising choice you might think in such an important encounter. But going into the game he must have felt that he needed to win, as he could hardly have expected Carlsen to lose with White to Svidler, so perhaps he felt that his normal repertoire was too solid, and that a sharper game was needed. However I have little doubt that if such a situation were to arise again, Kramnik would not choose this opening. Readers with a good memory, may recall that the Pirc has a mixed success rate in last round games at the world championship level. Famously, Korchnoi was to be thoroughly routed when he chose this defence against Karpov in the decisive last game of their 1978 Baguio match. It is my belief that a player should stick with the approach that has brought them to this point in the first place, and not change at the last moment when on the brink of success. If you are a strategic and positional player like Kramnik or Korchnoi, you should not play the Pirc, you should stick to what you know, even if there is a danger that the game will be too dry to play for a win. But that it is just my thought and I will never play a match for the world championship! 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Be2 0-0 6.0-0 a6 7.h3 Nc6 8.Bg5 Already we are in fairly unexplored territory. 8.d5 tries to "punish" Black for his loss of time, but White was unable to prove any advantage here either. Nb8!? 9.a4 e5 10.dxe6 Bxe6 11.Nd4 Bd7 12.Bg5 h6 13.Bh4 Nc6! 14.Nxc6 Bxc6 15.Bd3 Re8 16.Re1 Qc8 17.Qd2 Nd7 18.Rad1 Nc5 and Black had comfortably equalised in the game Khalifman,A-Svidler,P Tilburg 1994, which later ended in a draw. 8...b5! Gaining some useful space, while creating a threat of ...b4. 9.a3 h6 10.Be3 e5!? A firm and commital decision, but it does create some weaknesses on the queenside, like the c5-square for example. Black might ideally like to play 10...Nd7 so that he can recapture on e5 with a piece, but the problem is that this runs into 11.d5! Nce5 12.Nxe5 12.Nd4!? Bb7 13.f4 c5 14.Ndxb5! axb5 15.Bxb5 is also good for White 12...Nxe5 13.f4 Nd7 14.Bd4 with a nice edge for White. 11.dxe5 11.d5?! Ne7 is really what Black wants. He can then look forward to very good King's Indian style play, with ...Nh5 followed by ...f5 ect. White is not helped in such structures by the fact that he has already played h3, which just gives Black an additional target on the kingside. 12.Nd2 c6 13.dxc6 Nxc6 14.Nd5 Nxd5 15.exd5 Ne7 16.c4 f5! 17.f3 Qd7 looks more than ok for Black. 11...dxe5 12.Qc1 Kh7 13.Bc5 Re8 14.Rd1 Bd7 15.b4 Qc8 16.Qe3 Nd8 17.a4 White is fighting for space for his pieces. He wants to put the bishop on c4, and also just to attack the black queenside. 17.Nd5 gets nowhere after Nxd5 18.Rxd5 Bc6 19.Rd2 Ne6 17...bxa4 18.Nxa4 Ne6! 19.Bc4 Kramnik's last turn smartly took advantage of the fact the e5-pawn is immune: 19.Nxe5? Nxc5 20.Qxc5 Nxe4 is not what the doctor ordered. 19...Nh5 20.Nc3 Nhf4 21.Nd5 Ivanchuk wants to challenge Kramnik's strong knight play in the centre, with some of his own. Serious consideration could have been given to 21.Bf1 creating an eventual threat of g3. Nxc5 22.bxc5 Ne6 with the threat of ...Nd4. 23.Nd5! sidesteps that threat, but even here play is not so clear after a5 21...Bb5!? 22.Bb3 22.Bxb5 axb5 23.Rxa8 Qxa8 only looks good for Black, he has his army very harmoniously posted, while he can start to pester White with moves like ...Qa2. 22...Bc6 Around about here Kramnik already started to think about taking over the initiative. One can only imagine the emotions raging through the players at this point, with so much at stake. Did Kramnik need to play for a win, or a draw? He was keeping a close eye on proceedings in the Carlsen encounter, which perhaps distracted him from his own game. 23.Ra5 Qb7 24.g3 Ivanchuk wants to force matters. Nxh3+ 25.Kg2 Nhg5 26.Rh1 Kg8 Jon Speelman enquired in the press conference afterwards, whether Kramnik had considered the possibility of the sacrifice 26...Nxe4!? Kramnik replied that he had, but was unsure about this as it might just be losing. However this is an excellent suggestion by the imaginative Speelman, as it would have given Black superb practical chances. One can also see Kasparov playing this way, but perhaps Kramnik found his usual instincts, to play solid, positional chess, difficult to desert? 27.Qxe4 f5 28.Qc4 Rad8 29.Be3! you see it is easy to go wrong here. At first I thought the simple 29.Rd1 was good, but this runs into e4! 30.Nh4 Bb5! 31.Rxb5 axb5 32.Qe2 c6 33.Nf4 Nxf4+ 34.gxf4 Rxd1 35.Qxd1 Bf6 and Black is taking over 29...Bb5 30.Qh4! Rxd5 31.Bxh6 It is important to make every move count Rd6 32.Bxg7+ Kxg7 33.Qh7+ Kf8 with an extremely sharp situation on the board. 27.Nxg5 Nxg5 28.f3 Bxd5 29.Bxd5 c6 30.Bc4 Qc8!? Trying to keep the game as sharp as possible, an understandable decision considering the tournament situation at this point. Afterwards Kramnik bemoaned the fact that he didn't just play 30...Ne6 here, which he considered to be close to a draw. But the problem is he didn't know which result he should be playing for at this point, as it wasn't clear yet that Carlsen was going to lose. 31.Bxe6 31.c3 Nxc5 32.Qxc5 Red8 33.Ra2 Rd7 also looks fairly equal, Black is a pawn up, but this is balanced out by his queenside weaknesses and the superb bishop on c4 31...Rxe6 32.Qd3 h5 33.Rha1 Bf8 does indeed look quite drawish. 31.Qb3 h5 32.Be3 Ne6 33.Rha1 h4 Another move that later brought sharp criticism by Kramnik, but for me this is a very human reaction - Black is becoming slowly squeezed, so it's human nature to want to grab some squares for his pieces. 34.gxh4 Qd8 35.Rxa6 Rc8? But only this move really cost Vladimir a rematch with Vishy. Now Black just has a bad position, without even a pawn to compensate for that. One can only imagine that Kramnik refrained for the seemingly natural continuation 35...Rxa6! 36.Rxa6 Qxh4 37.Rxc6 as perhaps he felt that Black is only fighting for a draw here. But at least he has some squares! Ng5 38.Bxg5 The computer makes the suggestion 38.Bxf7+ Nxf7 and now the calm 39.b5 a very sharp idea indeed, but would Ivanchuk have played this way? I somehow doubt it. Bf6 40.b6 Rd8∞ with the idea of ...Rd1, where there is still everything to play for 38...Qxg5+ 39.Kf1 Ra8 40.Ra6 Rxa6 41.Bxa6 Bh6 which should objectively end in a draw. 36.Rh1 The computer points out that it's possible to even ignore the threat on the h-pawn with 36.c3! Qxh4 37.Bxe6 Rxe6 38.b5! and the b-pawn comes through, with similar gruesome results to the game. 36...Rc7 37.Bxe6 Rxe6 38.b5! A move that effectively ended Kramnik's brave challenge for another two years, and ensured that the Norwegian Wunderkind Magnus Carlsen would challenge Anand for the World title. White's threats are murderous. Rb7 39.b6 c5 40.Rb1 Bf8 40...Bf6 41.Qd5 Rb8 42.Qxd8+ Bxd8 43.Bxc5+- 41.Qd5! By this stage it was clear that Carlsen was going to lose, but this must have been scant consolation for Vladimir, staring at the ruins of his position. Qb8 Kramnik had missed that 41...Rd7 runs into 42.Qa8! Rd2+ 43.Kg3 but his task is helpless in any case. 42.Rba1 Rd6 43.Ra8! Rxd5 44.Rxb8 Rxb8 45.exd5 Bd6 46.Ra6 Rb7 47.Kf1 The king simply runs to the queenside, while Black can't move a thing. 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Ivanchuk,V2757Kramnik,V28101–02013B08Candidates Tournament14

Today Vassily Ivanchuk celebrates his 50th birthday. We congratulate you!

This DVD allows you to learn from the example of one of the best players in the history of chess and from the explanations of the authors (Pelletier, Marin, Müller and Reeh) how to successfully organise your games strategically, consequently how to keep y

Translation from German: Macauley Peterson

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

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