Leonid Aleksandrovich Shamkovich (Russian

Russian language

Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...

: Леони́д Алекса́ндрович Шамко́вич, June 1, 1923 – April 22, 2005) was a 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...

 Grandmaster

International Grandmaster

The title Grandmaster is awarded to strong chess players by the world chess organization FIDE. Apart from World Champion, Grandmaster is the highest title a chess player can attain....

, and chess writer.

He was born in a Jewish family in Rostov-on-Don

Rostov-on-Don

-History:The mouth of the Don River has been of great commercial and cultural importance since the ancient times. It was the site of the Greek colony Tanais, of the Genoese fort Tana, and of the Turkish fortress Azak...

 in Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

. He became a Grandmaster in 1965 and won several tournaments, with his best victory coming at 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...

 in 1967, where he tied for first place with Nikolai Krogius

Nikolai Krogius

Nikolai Vladimirovich Krogius is a Russian Chess Grandmaster, International Arbiter , psychologist, chess coach, chess administrator, and author. He won several tournament titles at Sochi and in eastern European events, and appeared in seven Soviet finals from 1958–1971...

, Vladimir Simagin

Vladimir Simagin

Vladimir Simagin was a Russian Grandmaster of chess. He was three times Moscow champion , helped to train Vasily Smyslov to the World Championship, and made many significant contributions to chess openings...

, Boris Spassky

Boris Spassky

Boris Vasilievich Spassky is a Soviet-French chess grandmaster. He was the tenth World Chess Champion, holding the title from late 1969 to 1972...

 and Alexander Zaitsev

Alexander Zaitsev (chess player)

Alexander Nikolayevich Zaitsev was a leading Soviet chess grandmaster. He was born in Vladivostok, Russia.Perhaps his finest achievement was a share of first place at the 1968/69 USSR Chess Championship of Alma Ata...

. Other notable results included a tie for 3rd at the 1962 Moscow

Moscow

Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

 Championship (behind Yuri Averbakh

Yuri Averbakh

Yuri Lvovich Averbakh is a Soviet and Russian chess player and author. He is currently the oldest living chess grandmaster.-Life and career:...

 and Evgeny Vasiukov) and finishing third at Mariánské Lázně

Mariánské Lázne

Mariánské Lázně is a spa town in the Karlovy Vary Region of the Czech Republic. The town, surrounded by green mountains, is a mosaic of parks and noble houses...

 1965 (behind Paul Keres

Paul Keres

Paul Keres , was an Estonian chess grandmaster, and a renowned chess writer. He was among the world's top players from the mid-1930s to the mid-1960s....

 and Vlastimil Hort

Vlastimil Hort

Vlastimil Hort is a chess Grandmaster of Czech nationality. During the 1960s and 1970s he was one of the world's strongest players and reached the Candidates stage of competition for the world chess championship, but was never able to compete for the actual title.Hort was born in Kladno,...

).

Shamkovich left the Soviet Union in 1975, moving first to Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

, then Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, and finally the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, where he lived the remainder of his life. He won the 1975 Canadian Open Chess Championship

Canadian Open Chess Championship

The Canadian Open Chess Championship is Canada's Open chess championship, first held in 1956, and held annually since 1973, usually in mid-summer. It is organized by the Chess Federation of Canada....

. He continued to play through the 1990s, and wrote several chess books.

His Sacrifice in Chess begins, "A real sacrifice involves a radical change in the character of a game which cannot be effected without foresight, fantasy, and the willingness to risk."

His aristocratic bearing and manner of speech earned him the nickname "Prince".

Shamkovich died of complications from Parkinson's disease

Parkinson's disease

Parkinson's disease is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system...

 and cancer

Cancer

Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...

in his Brooklyn home on April 22, 2005.

External links