Vladimir Antoshin
Encyclopedia
Correspondence chess
Correspondence chess is chess played by various forms of long-distance correspondence, usually through a correspondence chess server, through email or by the postal system; less common methods which have been employed include fax and homing pigeon...
.
Student Olympiad performances
As a young man, he was a high achiever, principally as part of the USSR's highly successful Student Olympiad team of 1954-56. The team won the silver medal at the first ever Student Olympiad in OsloOslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
1954 and then took gold medals at Lyon
Lyon
Lyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais....
s 1955 and at Uppsala
Uppsala
- Economy :Today Uppsala is well established in medical research and recognized for its leading position in biotechnology.*Abbott Medical Optics *GE Healthcare*Pfizer *Phadia, an offshoot of Pharmacia*Fresenius*Q-Med...
1956. His best performance probably occurred at Lyons, as the strength of the competition was far greater than at Oslo. Playing below world-class grandmasters 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...
and 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...
, but above Alexey Suetin
Alexey Suetin
Alexey Stepanovich Suetin was a Russian International Grandmaster of chess and author.-Biography:A resident of Moscow and a mechanical engineer by profession, he became an International Master in 1961 and a Grandmaster in 1965. His philosophy was always that "mastery is not enough; you must dare,...
, his endeavors also earned him an individual gold medal for best score on board three. In all, he accumulated three gold and one silver medal, for a total score of 16/19.
During this period of his career, FIDE awarded him the International Master title (1963) and the Grandmaster title (1964).
Later career
Making a limited number of international tournament appearances, he was successful at Ulan Bator (1965) and ZinnowitzZinnowitz
Zinnowitz is a spa town in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern on the northern German island of Usedom on the Baltic Sea. The town has rail connections to Wolgast and Ahlbeck.-History:...
(1966). The latter was probably his finest moment, scoring +8, =6, -1, to take first place among reasonably strong opposition, including Victor Ciocaltea
Victor Ciocâltea
Victor Ciocâltea was a Romanian chess master. He was awarded the International Master title in 1957 and the International Grandmaster title in 1978...
and Wolfgang Uhlmann
Wolfgang Uhlmann
Wolfgang Uhlmann is a prominent German International Grandmaster of chess. Despite being a dedicated professional chess player, and undoubtedly the GDR's most successful ever, he has also had a career in accountancy.-Chess career:...
.
Aside from Zinnowitz, Hartston
William Hartston
William Roland Hartston is an English chess player who played competitively from 1962 to 1987 with a highest Elo rating of 2515...
notes that Antoshin's over-the-board results were never outstanding. His other results were nevertheless respectable; 2nd at Kienbaum (Berlin) 1959 (Uhlmann won), 5th at Moscow 1960 (ahead of 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...
, 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,...
and Uhlmann), 4th 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...
1963, 4th at Moscow 1963 (ahead of 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....
, Liberzon
Vladimir Liberzon
Vladimir Mikhailovich Liberzon was a Russian–born Israeli chess grandmaster.-Biography:Liberzon played in several Soviet championships, his best result being fourth at the 36th Championship, Alma-Ata 1968/69...
, Szabó
László Szabó (chess player)
László Szabó was a prominent Hungarian Grandmaster of chess.Born in Budapest, he burst onto the international chess scene in 1935, at the unusually young age of 18...
and Hort), 6th= at Sochi 1964, 2nd at Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
1966 (Ivkov
Borislav Ivkov
Borislav Ivkov is a Serbian chess Grandmaster. He was the first ever World Junior Champion in 1951. He won the Yugoslav Championship in 1958 , 1963 and 1972. He was a World championship candidate in 1965, and played in four more Interzonal tournaments, in 1967, 1970, 1973, and 1979...
won) and 4th at Havana
Havana
Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...
1968 (The 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). He regularly played at Sochi, but finished lower on other occasions.
His tournament appearances were less frequent in the 1970s. He did however share 3rd place at Sarajevo
Sarajevo
Sarajevo |Bosnia]], surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of Southeastern Europe and the Balkans....
in 1970 and placed runner-up at Frunze in 1979.
A major reason for his limited progress as a player was his continued amateur status. He became a tournament organiser and trainer to the USSR Olympiad team, maintained a second career as a technical designer, and according to Cafferty & Taimanov, was also supposed to have strong links with the KGB
KGB
The KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...
. As a further distraction, he chose to play correspondence chess throughout the 1950s, although this notably culminated in him winning the USSR Correspondence Championship in 1960.
At the Soviet Championship, he had moderate results, participating in 1955, 1956, 1957, 1967 and 1970. His highest placing was a share of sixth in 1967.
Theory
Antoshin is the eponym of two openingChess opening
A chess opening is the group of initial moves of a chess game. Recognized sequences of opening moves are referred to as openings as initiated by White or defenses, as created in reply by Black. There are many dozens of different openings, and hundreds of named variants. The Oxford Companion to...
lines, one occurring in the Philidor Defence
Philidor Defence
The Philidor Defence is a chess opening characterised by the moves:It is named after the famous 18th-century player François-André Danican Philidor, who advocated it as an alternative to the common 2...Nc6...
and the other in the Dutch Defence
Dutch Defence
The Dutch Defence is a chess opening characterised by the moves:-History:Elias Stein , an Alsatian who settled in The Hague, recommended the defence as the best reply to 1.d4 in his 1789 book Nouvel essai sur le jeu des échecs, avec des réflexions militaires relatives à ce jeu.-Theory:Black's 1.....
.
Philidor Defence
In the Antoshin Variation, Black chooses to exchange central pawns and head for simple, rapid development of the kingside. After ... 0-0 and ... Re8, Black's cramped dark-square bishop is often reactivated by playing it to g7 via f8. Play commences,1.e4 e5
2.Nf3 d6
3.d4 exd4
4.Nxd4 Nf6
5.Nc3 Be7 (diag.)
and White usually chooses to develop one of his bishops, for example:
6.Bf4 0-0
7.Qd2 c6
8.0-0-0 b5
9.f3 b4
10.Nb1! Qb6
11.g4 d5
with a small advantage to White (Emms) in Hyldkrog-Jensen, corr., 1984. The opening remains fully playable however, with modern day proponents including Lev Aronian, Étienne Bacrot
Étienne Bacrot
Étienne Bacrot is a French chess grandmaster and currently ranked number one in France.He started playing at 4; by 10 young Bacrot was already winning junior competitions and in 1996, at 13 years of age, he won against Vasily Smyslov...
and Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu
Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu
Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu is a Romanian chess grandmaster. His peak FIDE rating was 2707 in October 2005, when he was ranked fifteenth in the world, and the highest ranked Romanian player ever...
.
Dutch Defence
The Hort-Antoshin Variation was first discovered by Vlastimil HortVlastimil 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,...
in 1960, when he was just sixteen; it was then further developed by Antoshin and consequently carries the names of both players. Black's idea is to omit the 'normal' e6 move and prepare a central break with e5 instead. The line may also be used with 'colours reversed' as a variant of Bird's Opening
Bird's Opening
Bird's Opening is a chess opening characterised by the move:Bird's is a standard but never popular flank opening. White's strategic ideas involve control of the e5-square without occupying it, but his first move is also non-developing and slightly weakens his kingside...
, where of course White is a move up. Play starts,
1.d4 f5
2.g3 Nf6
3.Bg2 d6
4.c4 (Burgess
Graham Burgess
Graham K. Burgess is an English FIDE Master of chess and a noted writer and trainer. He became a FIDE Master at the age of twenty. He attended Birkdale High School in Southport, Merseyside. In 1989 he graduated from the University of Cambridge with a degree in mathematics...
gives the more modern alternative 4.Nc3 c6 5.e4 fxe4 6.Nxe4 Nxe4 7.Bxe4 Bf5 8.Qf3 Bxe4 9.Qxe4 Qa5+ 10.c3 as favouring White in Khenkin-Vasiukov, Voskresensk 1990)
4. ... c6
5.Nc3 Qc7 (diag.)
whereupon, one possible continuation is the direct:
6.e4 e5
7.dxe5 dxe5
8.exf5 Bxf5
9.Nf3 Nbd7
10.0-0 0-0-0
which ended in an early draw in Minev-Hort, Moscow 1960.
Notable game
- Yuri Gusev-Vladimir Antoshin, Moscow Championship, 1952, 0-1 Black hits his opponent with successive pawn and exchange sacrifices, in order to open lines towards the enemy king.