Igor Platonov
Encyclopedia
Igov Platonov was a Ukrainian
–Soviet
Grandmaster of chess
(Soviet Union Grandmaster, Гроссмейстер СССР), generally a middle-ranking player for most of his career. Platonov had no international title (FM, IM, GM) at all. He was active between 1958 and 1984, with his best years from 1967 to 1972, when he earned the Soviet Union Grandmaster title. Top tournament results included a tie for first in the Kiev
Championship of 1963, a tied 3rd-4th place in the very strong 1964 Trade Union Championship, a tied 7th-9th place in the 1969 Soviet Zonal at Moscow, and 2nd place in the José Raúl Capablanca
Memorial tournament, Cienfuegos
1972. He played in five straight Soviet finals from 1967 to 1971. As an inactive player, he became a chess trainer.
, in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic of the USSR
. Before he started to be interested in chess, he was an engineer. In 1958, at age 24, he started to play in tournaments. He was active between 1958–1984, when he became a chess trainer. Platonov is also said to be a philatelist, however this is unclear. On November 13, 1994, he was murdered in his Kiev
apartment by two thieves. The identities of killers are not known.
Championship to tie 8th-9th places; the winner was Yuri Nikolaevsky
. Later that same year, he scored 6.5/16 in the Ukrainian Championship
at Kiev for 11th place; the winner was Efim Geller
.
In the Spartak Club Championship, Minsk
1962, Platonov scored 8/17 for a tied 11th-13th place; the winner was Anatoly Bannik
. He tied for the top place at the 1963 Kiev
Championship with Efrim Lazarev, on 9.5/14. In the Ukrainian Championship, Kiev 1963, he scored 8/17 for a tied 13th-14th place, as Nikolaevsky won again. At the 1964 Trade Union Championship in Moscow, there were nine players who eventually became Grandmasters in the field, and Platonov scored 9/15 for a very impressive tied 3rd-4th place, as the winner was World Champion Tigran Petrosian
. This was his best result so far.
Platonov qualified for his first Soviet final
at Kharkov 1967 (URS-ch35), where the event was run on a Swiss format with more than 100 players. He finished well above the middle of the field; the winners were Mikhail Tal
and Lev Polugaevsky
. His performance was good enough to make the team for the USSR's match against Bulgaria
, Sofia
1967. He also played for the USSR against Yugoslavia
, Sochi
1968, scoring 1.5/4. In the Soviet final at Alma Ata 1968 (URS-ch36), he could only score 6.5/19 for 18th place, as Polugaevsky and Alexander Zaitsev won.
Platonov made his career best score in a Soviet final in the 1969 Zonal at Moscow (URS-ch37), where he finished with 12.5/22, to tie for 7th-9th places; the winners were Petrosian and Polugaevsky. He missed qualifying for the Interzonal
by one point. Chessmetrics
.com rates this as a 2719 performance. Platonov's peak chessmetrics rating was 2663 in January, 1968, good for 24th in the world.
He got his first international tournament opportunity at Wijk aan Zee
1970, but found the company too strong, posting just 5.5/15 for a tied 12th-13th place, as Mark Taimanov
won. He had to qualify for the next Soviet final, and was successful at Kiev 1970. In the final at Riga
1970 (URS-ch38), he finished 20th with 7.5/21, as Viktor Korchnoi
won. Another successful qualification at Novosibirsk
1971 earned his place for the final at Leningrad
1971 (URS-ch39), where he was very respectable with 10/21 for a tied 12th-13th place, as Vladimir Savon
won.
Platonov's next international chance was the José Raúl Capablanca
Memorial at Cienfuegos
1972, where he had one of his best career results, placing 2nd with 13/19, behind only Anatoly Lein
. This finish, together with his 1969 Soviet Championship result, earned him the Soviet Union Grandmaster title.
After that, he appeared less frequently in top events, his results dropped, and he did not manage to make another Soviet final, despite several attempts. His last high-class competitive games on file are from 1984.
Platonov broadened his opening repertoire in the late 1960s, and this led to greater success. He favoured the Sicilian Defence
as Black against 1.e4, and was dangerous for even the best with this. He opened mainly with 1.e4 early in his career, but added closed games such as the Reti Opening
as he matured, with success. Platonov scored wins over top Soviet players such as Mikhail Tal
, Vasily Smyslov
, Efim Geller
, Leonid Stein
, Vladimir Savon
, Ratmir Kholmov
, and Evgeni Vasiukov
.
There is a selection of 230 of his games at chessgames.com; chessbase.com has 325 of his games, while mychess.com has 373 Platonov games. Many of these games would be repeated between sites.
Ukrainians
Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens...
–Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
Grandmaster of chess
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
(Soviet Union Grandmaster, Гроссмейстер СССР), generally a middle-ranking player for most of his career. Platonov had no international title (FM, IM, GM) at all. He was active between 1958 and 1984, with his best years from 1967 to 1972, when he earned the Soviet Union Grandmaster title. Top tournament results included a tie for first in the Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
Championship of 1963, a tied 3rd-4th place in the very strong 1964 Trade Union Championship, a tied 7th-9th place in the 1969 Soviet Zonal at Moscow, and 2nd place in the José Raúl Capablanca
José Raúl Capablanca
José Raúl Capablanca y Graupera was a Cuban chess player who was world chess champion from 1921 to 1927. One of the greatest players of all time, he was renowned for his exceptional endgame skill and speed of play...
Memorial tournament, Cienfuegos
Cienfuegos
Cienfuegos is a city on the southern coast of Cuba, capital of Cienfuegos Province. It is located about from Havana, and has a population of 150,000. The city is dubbed La Perla del Sur...
1972. He played in five straight Soviet finals from 1967 to 1971. As an inactive player, he became a chess trainer.
Biography
Igor V. Platonov was born in 1934 in OdessaOdessa
Odessa or Odesa is the administrative center of the Odessa Oblast located in southern Ukraine. The city is a major seaport located on the northwest shore of the Black Sea and the fourth largest city in Ukraine with a population of 1,029,000 .The predecessor of Odessa, a small Tatar settlement,...
, in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic of the USSR
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. Before he started to be interested in chess, he was an engineer. In 1958, at age 24, he started to play in tournaments. He was active between 1958–1984, when he became a chess trainer. Platonov is also said to be a philatelist, however this is unclear. On November 13, 1994, he was murdered in his Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
apartment by two thieves. The identities of killers are not known.
Chess results
Igor V. Platonov did not make a significant mark in competitive chess until 1958, when at age 24 he posted an even score of 6.5/13 in the KievKiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
Championship to tie 8th-9th places; the winner was Yuri Nikolaevsky
Yuri Nikolaevsky
Yuri V Nikolaevsky was a Russian chess player. He won the Ukrainian Chess Championship three times , and represented the Soviet Union three times in international student team competition, winning a total of four medals...
. Later that same year, he scored 6.5/16 in the Ukrainian Championship
Ukrainian Chess Championship
This is a list of all the winners of the Ukrainian Chess Championship, including those held when Ukraine was a Soviet republic and those held after Ukraine became independent. Players' names listed in parentheses indicate that the player won the tournament but did not receive the title since he...
at Kiev for 11th place; the winner was Efim Geller
Efim Geller
Efim Petrovich Geller was a Soviet chess player and world-class grandmaster at his peak. He won the Soviet Championship twice and was a Candidate for the World Championship on six occasions...
.
In the Spartak Club Championship, Minsk
Minsk
- Ecological situation :The ecological situation is monitored by Republican Center of Radioactive and Environmental Control .During 2003–2008 the overall weight of contaminants increased from 186,000 to 247,400 tons. The change of gas as industrial fuel to mazut for financial reasons has worsened...
1962, Platonov scored 8/17 for a tied 11th-13th place; the winner was Anatoly Bannik
Anatoly Bannik
Anatoly Bannik is a Ukrainian Chess Master, who was of Grandmaster strength during his peak years. He is a five-time Ukrainian champion, and qualified for the Soviet Chess Championship final seven times. He was among the top half-dozen Ukrainian players from 1944 to 1966...
. He tied for the top place at the 1963 Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
Championship with Efrim Lazarev, on 9.5/14. In the Ukrainian Championship, Kiev 1963, he scored 8/17 for a tied 13th-14th place, as Nikolaevsky won again. At the 1964 Trade Union Championship in Moscow, there were nine players who eventually became Grandmasters in the field, and Platonov scored 9/15 for a very impressive tied 3rd-4th place, as the winner was World Champion Tigran Petrosian
Tigran Petrosian
Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian was a Soviet-Armenian grandmaster, and World Chess Champion from 1963 to 1969. He was nicknamed "Iron Tigran" due to his playing style because of his almost impenetrable defence, which emphasised safety above all else...
. This was his best result so far.
Platonov qualified for his first Soviet final
USSR Chess Championship
This is a list of all the winners of the USSR Chess Championship. It was the strongest national chess championship ever held, with eight world chess champions and four world championship finalists among its winners...
at Kharkov 1967 (URS-ch35), where the event was run on a Swiss format with more than 100 players. He finished well above the middle of the field; the winners were Mikhail Tal
Mikhail Tal
Mikhail Tal was a Soviet–Latvian chess player, a Grandmaster, and the eighth World Chess Champion.Widely regarded as a creative genius, and the best attacking player of all time, he played a daring, combinatorial style. His play was known above all for improvisation and unpredictability....
and Lev Polugaevsky
Lev Polugaevsky
Lev Abramovich Polugaevsky was an International Grandmaster of chess and frequent contender for the world chess championship, although he never achieved that title...
. His performance was good enough to make the team for the USSR's match against Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
, Sofia
Sofia
Sofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria and the 12th largest city in the European Union with a population of 1.27 million people. It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of Mount Vitosha and approximately at the centre of the Balkan Peninsula.Prehistoric settlements were excavated...
1967. He also played for the USSR against Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
, Sochi
Sochi
Sochi is a city in Krasnodar Krai, Russia, situated just north of Russia's border with the de facto independent republic of Abkhazia, on the Black Sea coast. Greater Sochi sprawls for along the shores of the Black Sea near the Caucasus Mountains...
1968, scoring 1.5/4. In the Soviet final at Alma Ata 1968 (URS-ch36), he could only score 6.5/19 for 18th place, as Polugaevsky and Alexander Zaitsev won.
Platonov made his career best score in a Soviet final in the 1969 Zonal at Moscow (URS-ch37), where he finished with 12.5/22, to tie for 7th-9th places; the winners were Petrosian and Polugaevsky. He missed qualifying for the Interzonal
Interzonal
Interzonal chess tournaments were tournaments organized by FIDE, the World Chess Federation, and were a stage in the triennial World Chess Championship cycle.- Zonal tournaments :...
by one point. Chessmetrics
Chessmetrics
Chessmetrics is a system for rating chess players devised by Jeff Sonas. It is intended as an improvement over the Elo rating system.-Implementation:...
.com rates this as a 2719 performance. Platonov's peak chessmetrics rating was 2663 in January, 1968, good for 24th in the world.
He got his first international tournament opportunity at Wijk aan Zee
Corus chess tournament
The Tata Steel Chess Tournament formerly called the Corus chess tournament takes place every year, usually in January, in a small town called Wijk aan Zee, part of the larger Beverwijk in the province of North Holland in the Netherlands...
1970, but found the company too strong, posting just 5.5/15 for a tied 12th-13th place, as Mark Taimanov
Mark Taimanov
Mark Evgenievich Taimanov is a leading Soviet and Russian chess player and concert pianist.-Chess:He was awarded the International Grandmaster title in 1952 and played in the Candidates Tournament in Zurich in 1953, where he tied for eighth place. From 1946 to 1956, he was among the world's top...
won. He had to qualify for the next Soviet final, and was successful at Kiev 1970. In the final at Riga
Riga
Riga is the capital and largest city of Latvia. With 702,891 inhabitants Riga is the largest city of the Baltic states, one of the largest cities in Northern Europe and home to more than one third of Latvia's population. The city is an important seaport and a major industrial, commercial,...
1970 (URS-ch38), he finished 20th with 7.5/21, as Viktor Korchnoi
Viktor Korchnoi
Viktor Lvovich Korchnoi ; pronounced in the original Russian as "karch NOY"; Ви́ктор Льво́вич Корчно́й, born March 23, 1931 is a professional chess player, author and currently the oldest active grandmaster on the tournament circuit...
won. Another successful qualification at Novosibirsk
Novosibirsk
Novosibirsk is the third-largest city in Russia, after Moscow and Saint Petersburg, and the largest city of Siberia, with a population of 1,473,737 . It is the administrative center of Novosibirsk Oblast as well as of the Siberian Federal District...
1971 earned his place for the final at Leningrad
Leningrad
Leningrad is the former name of Saint Petersburg, Russia.Leningrad may also refer to:- Places :* Leningrad Oblast, a federal subject of Russia, around Saint Petersburg* Leningrad, Tajikistan, capital of Muminobod district in Khatlon Province...
1971 (URS-ch39), where he was very respectable with 10/21 for a tied 12th-13th place, as Vladimir Savon
Vladimir Savon
Vladimir Andreyevich Savon was a Ukrainian chess player.He learned how to play late, at the age of 13....
won.
Platonov's next international chance was the José Raúl Capablanca
José Raúl Capablanca
José Raúl Capablanca y Graupera was a Cuban chess player who was world chess champion from 1921 to 1927. One of the greatest players of all time, he was renowned for his exceptional endgame skill and speed of play...
Memorial at Cienfuegos
Cienfuegos
Cienfuegos is a city on the southern coast of Cuba, capital of Cienfuegos Province. It is located about from Havana, and has a population of 150,000. The city is dubbed La Perla del Sur...
1972, where he had one of his best career results, placing 2nd with 13/19, behind only Anatoly Lein
Anatoly Lein
Anatoly Yakovlevich Lein is a Soviet-born American chess Grandmaster.FIDE awarded him the International Master title in 1964 and the Grandmaster title in 1968.He won the 1971 Moscow championship after a play-off...
. This finish, together with his 1969 Soviet Championship result, earned him the Soviet Union Grandmaster title.
After that, he appeared less frequently in top events, his results dropped, and he did not manage to make another Soviet final, despite several attempts. His last high-class competitive games on file are from 1984.
Platonov broadened his opening repertoire in the late 1960s, and this led to greater success. He favoured the Sicilian Defence
Sicilian Defence
The Sicilian Defence is a chess opening that begins with the moves:The Sicilian is the most popular and best-scoring response to White's first move 1.e4...
as Black against 1.e4, and was dangerous for even the best with this. He opened mainly with 1.e4 early in his career, but added closed games such as the Reti Opening
Réti Opening
The Réti Opening is a hypermodern chess opening whose traditional or classic method begins with the moves:White plans to bring the d5-pawn under attack from the flank, or entice it to advance to d4 and undermine it later...
as he matured, with success. Platonov scored wins over top Soviet players such as Mikhail Tal
Mikhail Tal
Mikhail Tal was a Soviet–Latvian chess player, a Grandmaster, and the eighth World Chess Champion.Widely regarded as a creative genius, and the best attacking player of all time, he played a daring, combinatorial style. His play was known above all for improvisation and unpredictability....
, Vasily Smyslov
Vasily Smyslov
Vasily Vasilyevich Smyslov was a Soviet and Russian chess grandmaster, and was World Chess Champion from 1957 to 1958. He was a Candidate for the World Chess Championship on eight occasions . Smyslov was twice equal first at the Soviet Championship , and his total of 17 Chess Olympiad medals won...
, Efim Geller
Efim Geller
Efim Petrovich Geller was a Soviet chess player and world-class grandmaster at his peak. He won the Soviet Championship twice and was a Candidate for the World Championship on six occasions...
, Leonid Stein
Leonid Stein
Leonid Zakharovich Stein was a Soviet chess Grandmaster from Ukraine. He won three USSR Chess Championships in the 1960s , and was among the world's top ten players during that era.- Early life :...
, Vladimir Savon
Vladimir Savon
Vladimir Andreyevich Savon was a Ukrainian chess player.He learned how to play late, at the age of 13....
, Ratmir Kholmov
Ratmir Kholmov
Ratmir Dmitrievich Kholmov was a Russian chess Grandmaster. He won many international tournaments in Eastern Europe during his career, and tied for the Soviet Championship title in 1963, but lost the playoff...
, and Evgeni Vasiukov
Evgeni Vasiukov
Evgeni Andreyevich Vasiukov is a Russian chess Grandmaster. During his career, he won the Championship of Moscow on six occasions and scored many victories in international tournaments, such as Belgrade Open 1961, Moscow International 1961, East Berlin 1962, and Manila 1974...
.
There is a selection of 230 of his games at chessgames.com; chessbase.com has 325 of his games, while mychess.com has 373 Platonov games. Many of these games would be repeated between sites.
Notable chess games
- Igor Platonov vs Lev Alburt, USSR Championship, Kharkov 1967, Reti Opening (A04), 1-0 Platonov shows off his new positional style in his first Soviet final.
- Igor Platonov vs Ratmir Kholmov, USSR Championship, Kharkov 1967, Queen's Indian Defence (E14), 1-0 Platonov takes off one of the top Soviet defensive players.
- Mikhail Tal vs Igor Platonov, USSR Championship, Alma Ata 1968, Sicilian Defence, Najdorf Variation (B95), 0-1 Former World Champion Tal has to tip over his King.
- Igor Platonov vs Vladimir Savon, USSR 1968, Pirc Defence (B07), 1-0 A very attractive 24-move miniature.
- Igor Platonov vs Vasily Smyslov, USSR Championship, Moscow 1969, English Opening (A17), 1-0 A player knows he has arrived near the top when he can win in the strategic English against former World Champion Smyslov.
- Igor Platonov vs Efim Geller, USSR Championship, Moscow 1969, Two Knights' Defence (C59), 1-0 Fellow Ukrainian Geller, a strong tactician and many-time Candidate, gets outgunned in a sharp variation.
- Igor Platonov vs Leonid Stein, USSR Championship, Riga 1970, King's Indian Defence, Saemisch Variation (E80), 1-0 Stein was as dangerous an attacker as there was in the world during this era.
- Igor Platonov vs Jan Hein Donner, Cienfuegos 1972, Catalan Opening, Open Variation (E05), 1-0 One of his best games from his strongest international performance.