Leonid Yudasin
Encyclopedia
Leonid Grigoryevich Yudasin ' onMouseout='HidePop("29803")' href="/topics/Saint_Petersburg">Leningrad
, August 8, 1959) is a prominent chess grandmaster and trainer, now living in New York City
.
Awarded the International Master title in 1982, he secured the International Grandmaster
title in 1984, the year he became Leningrad Champion
. Demonstrating that his skills were not just restricted to classical chess, he went on to gain the USSR Cup for rapid chess in 1988.
However, these notable early achievements were soon to be surpassed when he became joint winner of the 1990 USSR Championship
(with Beliavsky
, Bareev
and Vyzmanavin
, the title going to Beliavsky on tie-break). He added individual bronze and team gold medals the same year, at the Novi Sad
Olympiad
, when he represented the USSR and registered the best performance of any of his team-mates. In 1994 and again in 1996, he played under the Israeli flag at the Moscow
and Yerevan
Olympiads, respectively.
A world championship
Candidate
in 1991, he qualified again in 1994 and this time progressed to the latter stages, losing out to Vladimir Kramnik
in the quarter finals by a score of 2.5-4.5.
Arguably his most impressive international tournament success occurred at León
in 1993, where he won ahead of Vyzmanavin
, Topalov
, Karpov
and a young Peter Leko
.
His prolific tournament record features many more victories, including Leningrad 1989, Calcutta 1990 Pamplona
1990/91 (also 1991/92, jointly with Illescas
), Dos Hermanas
1992, Botvinnik Memorial 1995, Haifa
Super Tournament 1996 and St. Petersburg White Knights 1998. At Reggio Emilia
, he was joint winner with Dimitri Komarov in 1997/1998 (conceding the title on tie-break) and was outright winner in 1999/2000.
Yudasin lived in Israel for many years and was twice the Israeli champion
, in Tel-Aviv 1994 and Jerusalem 1996. He has won tournaments all over the USA, perhaps most notably, second place at the US Open
1990 and Pennsylvania
World Open 2001. Since 2002, he has spent most of his time in New York, dominating the weekly Masters tournament (top money winner), along with the likes of Hikaru Nakamura
, Jaan Ehlvest
, and the late Aleksander Wojtkiewicz
. In 2004, he topped a strong tournament in Montreal
, Canada.
His Elo rating was 2550 as of April 2007, but has been 2645. He is also a respected coach and Director of the Brooklyn
Chess Academy. His many students include Varuzhan Akobian
, Irina Krush
, Jennifer Shahade
and the late Lembit Oll
.
Leonid Yudasin is a practicing Jew, living in Brooklyn NY.
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
, August 8, 1959) is a prominent chess grandmaster and trainer, now living in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
.
Awarded the International Master title in 1982, he secured the International 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....
title in 1984, the year he became Leningrad Champion
Leningrad City Chess Championship
The Leningrad City Chess Championship is a chess tournament held officially in the city of Leningrad, Russia starting from 1920. The city was called Petrograd from 1914 to 1924, then Leningrad until 1991, and Saint Petersburg afterwards...
. Demonstrating that his skills were not just restricted to classical chess, he went on to gain the USSR Cup for rapid chess in 1988.
However, these notable early achievements were soon to be surpassed when he became joint winner of the 1990 USSR Championship
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...
(with Beliavsky
Alexander Beliavsky
-External links:...
, Bareev
Evgeny Bareev
Evgeny Bareev is a Russian chess Grandmaster and chess coach. In October 2003, he was in fourth place in the world rankings, with an Elo rating of 2739....
and Vyzmanavin
Alexey Vyzmanavin
Alexey Borisovich Vyzmanavin was a Russian chess Grandmaster.During the early part of his career, he regularly played in the Moscow Championships and in 1981, with an Elo rating of 2200, finished sixth, ahead of several strong grandmasters including David Bronstein, Yuri Razuvaev, Artur Yusupov,...
, the title going to Beliavsky on tie-break). He added individual bronze and team gold medals the same year, at the Novi Sad
Novi Sad
Novi Sad is the capital of the northern Serbian province of Vojvodina, and the administrative centre of the South Bačka District. The city is located in the southern part of Pannonian Plain on the Danube river....
Olympiad
Chess Olympiad
The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams from all over the world compete against each other. The event is organised by FIDE, which selects the host nation.-Birth of the Olympiad:The first Olympiad was unofficial...
, when he represented the USSR and registered the best performance of any of his team-mates. In 1994 and again in 1996, he played under the Israeli flag at the 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...
and Yerevan
Yerevan
Yerevan is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's oldest continuously-inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerevan is the administrative, cultural, and industrial center of the country...
Olympiads, respectively.
A world championship
World Chess Championship
The World Chess Championship is played to determine the World Champion in the board game chess. Men and women of any age are eligible to contest this title....
Candidate
Candidates Tournament
The Candidates Tournament is a chess tournament organized by the world chess federation FIDE since 1950, as the final contest to determine the challenger for the World Chess Championship...
in 1991, he qualified again in 1994 and this time progressed to the latter stages, losing out to Vladimir Kramnik
Vladimir Kramnik
Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik is a Russian chess grandmaster. He was the Classical World Chess Champion from 2000 to 2006, and the undisputed World Chess Champion from 2006 to 2007...
in the quarter finals by a score of 2.5-4.5.
Arguably his most impressive international tournament success occurred at León
León, Spain
León is the capital of the province of León in the autonomous community of Castile and León, situated in the northwest of Spain. Its city population of 136,985 makes it the largest municipality in the province, accounting for more than one quarter of the province's population...
in 1993, where he won ahead of Vyzmanavin
Alexey Vyzmanavin
Alexey Borisovich Vyzmanavin was a Russian chess Grandmaster.During the early part of his career, he regularly played in the Moscow Championships and in 1981, with an Elo rating of 2200, finished sixth, ahead of several strong grandmasters including David Bronstein, Yuri Razuvaev, Artur Yusupov,...
, Topalov
Veselin Topalov
Veselin Aleksandrov Topalov is a Bulgarian chess grandmaster. He currently has the sixth highest rating in the world, and was the challenger facing world champion Viswanathan Anand in the World Chess Championship 2010, losing the match 6½–5½....
, Karpov
Anatoly Karpov
Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov is a Russian chess grandmaster and former World Champion. He was the official world champion from 1975 to 1985 when he was defeated by Garry Kasparov. He played three matches against Kasparov for the title from 1986 to 1990, before becoming FIDE World Champion once...
and a young Peter Leko
Péter Lékó
On the way to winning the prestigious Corus chess tournament in 2005, Lékó defeated Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand with the black pieces. The moves were:...
.
His prolific tournament record features many more victories, including Leningrad 1989, Calcutta 1990 Pamplona
Pamplona
Pamplona is the historial capital city of Navarre, in Spain, and of the former kingdom of Navarre.The city is famous worldwide for the San Fermín festival, from July 6 to 14, in which the running of the bulls is one of the main attractions...
1990/91 (also 1991/92, jointly with Illescas
Miguel Illescas
Miguel Illescas Córdoba is a prominent Spanish grandmaster of chess.He was a highly skilled player as a youngster and became junior champion of Catalonia at the age of 12. A trained computer scientist, chess remained his real passion and continued progress brought him an International Master title...
), Dos Hermanas
Dos Hermanas
Dos Hermanas is a Spanish city south of Seville in Andalusia, with a population of 125,086 as of 2010.The city's name, which means "two sisters", dates from its founding in 1248 by King Ferdinand III of Castile and honours the sisters of Gonzalo Nazareno, one of the king's principal military...
1992, Botvinnik Memorial 1995, Haifa
Haifa
Haifa is the largest city in northern Israel, and the third-largest city in the country, with a population of over 268,000. Another 300,000 people live in towns directly adjacent to the city including the cities of the Krayot, as well as, Tirat Carmel, Daliyat al-Karmel and Nesher...
Super Tournament 1996 and St. Petersburg White Knights 1998. At Reggio Emilia
Reggio Emilia chess tournament
The Reggio Emilia chess tournament is a chess tournament played in Reggio Emilia, Italy. In Italian the tournament is called Torneo di Capodanno , as it starts just after Christmas and ends on the day of Epiphany...
, he was joint winner with Dimitri Komarov in 1997/1998 (conceding the title on tie-break) and was outright winner in 1999/2000.
Yudasin lived in Israel for many years and was twice the Israeli champion
Israeli Chess Championship
The Israeli Chess Championship is a chess event held every year in Israel.-History:From 1951-1971, the men's and women's championships were held every two years, eventually becoming an annual event...
, in Tel-Aviv 1994 and Jerusalem 1996. He has won tournaments all over the USA, perhaps most notably, second place at the US Open
U.S. Open Chess Championship
The U.S. Open Championship is an open national chess championship that has been held in the United States annually since 1900.-History:Through 1938, the tournaments were organized by the Western Chess Association and its successor, the American Chess Federation .The United States Chess Federation ...
1990 and Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
World Open 2001. Since 2002, he has spent most of his time in New York, dominating the weekly Masters tournament (top money winner), along with the likes of Hikaru Nakamura
Hikaru Nakamura
Hikaru Nakamura is an American chess Grandmaster . He has been ranked among the top six players in the world by FIDE....
, Jaan Ehlvest
Jaan Ehlvest
Jaan Ehlvest Jaan Ehlvest Jaan Ehlvest (born 14 October 1962 is a chess player, who was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 1987 and was named Estonian sportsman of the year in 1987 and 1989...
, and the late Aleksander Wojtkiewicz
Aleksander Wojtkiewicz
Aleksander Wojtkiewicz was a Polish International Grandmaster of chess. He was born in Latvia. In his early teens he was already a strong player; a student of ex-world champion Mikhail Tal whom he assisted in the 1979 Interzonal tournament in Riga. He won the Latvian Chess Championship in 1981...
. In 2004, he topped a strong tournament in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, Canada.
His Elo rating was 2550 as of April 2007, but has been 2645. He is also a respected coach and Director of the Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
Chess Academy. His many students include Varuzhan Akobian
Varuzhan Akobian
Varuzhan Akobian is an Armenian-American Grandmaster of chess, originally from Armenia, who now resides in Los Angeles.He became an International Master at age 16...
, Irina Krush
Irina Krush
Irina Krush is an American chess player who won the U.S. Women's Chess Championship in 1998, 2007, and 2010. Born in Odessa, USSR , she is widely known for her series of chess training videos, the "Krushing Attacks" series.Krush learned to play chess at age five, emigrating with her parents to...
, Jennifer Shahade
Jennifer Shahade
Jennifer Shahade is an American chess player and writer. She is a two-time American women's chess champion and, as of October 2007, has a FIDE rating of 2322. She has the FIDE title of Woman Grandmaster. Jennifer is the author of the book Chess Bitch...
and the late Lembit Oll
Lembit Oll
Lembit Oll was an Estonian chess grandmaster. He was already successful as a junior, becoming champion of Estonia in 1982 and junior champion of the Soviet Union in 1984. He also won multiple European and World junior championships. FIDE awarded him the IM-title in 1983 and the GM-title in 1992...
.
Leonid Yudasin is a practicing Jew, living in Brooklyn NY.