Vladimir Andreyevich Savon (September 26, 1940, Chernihiv

Chernihiv

Chernihiv or Chernigov is a historic city in northern Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Chernihiv Oblast , as well as of the surrounding Chernihivskyi Raion within the oblast...

 – June 1, 2005, Kharkiv

Kharkiv

Kharkiv or Kharkov is the second-largest city in Ukraine.The city was founded in 1654 and was a major centre of Ukrainian culture in the Russian Empire. Kharkiv became the first city in Ukraine where the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic was proclaimed in December 1917 and Soviet government was...

) was a Ukrainian

Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

 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...

 player.

He learned how to play late, at the age of 13.

Savon competed in the Soviet 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...

 eleven times, from 1961 (at age 21) to the last championship in 1991. Undoubtedly his best result there, or elsewhere, was his first place in the 1971 championship with an undefeated 15/21. Savon, though then only an International Master, finished well ahead of former world champions 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 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...

 (both scoring 13.5), future world champion Anatoly 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...

 (13), and a host of other strong grandmasters

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....

, including 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 :...

 (12); David Bronstein

David Bronstein

David Ionovich Bronstein was a Soviet chess grandmaster, who narrowly missed becoming World Chess Champion in 1951. Bronstein was described by his peers as a creative genius and master of tactics...

 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...

 (both 11.5); 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...

 (11); and 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...

 (9.5). Taimanov and Bernard Cafferty, in their book on the Soviet championships, call Savon's win "the least plausible result for decades". One amusing explanation to surface centred around the distraction caused by Fischer's

Bobby Fischer

Robert James "Bobby" Fischer was an American chess Grandmaster and the 11th World Chess Champion. He is widely considered one of the greatest chess players of all time. Fischer was also a best-selling chess author...

 Candidates matches. It was claimed that Fischer's 6-0 wins against Larsen

Bent Larsen

Jørgen Bent Larsen was a Danish chess Grandmaster and author. Larsen was known for his imaginative and unorthodox style of play and he was the first western player to pose a serious challenge to the Soviet Union's dominance of chess...

 and Taimanov had hypnotised the best Soviet players, who were now following Petrosian's

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...

 similar demise in the Candidates match that was to finish only days after this tournament. Whatever the explanation, Savon never again achieved such dominating form. His next-best result in the Soviet championship came the following year, when he tied for 3rd-5th and qualified 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 :...

.

He did, however, achieve other good results in international competition; at Debrecen

Debrecen

Debrecen , is the second largest city in Hungary after Budapest. Debrecen is the regional centre of the Northern Great Plain region and the seat of Hajdú-Bihar county.- Name :...

 in 1970 (1st= with Bilek

Istvan Bilek

István Bilek was a Hungarian chess Grandmaster .-Biography:Bilek was a three-time Hungarian Champion , and he played in interzonals in 1962 and 1964. His most successful tournaments were Balatonfüred , Salgótarján , and Debrecen...

), at Sukhumi

Sukhumi

Sukhumi is the capital of Abkhazia, a disputed region on the Black Sea coast. The city suffered heavily during the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict in the early 1990s.-Naming:...

 1972 (2nd after Tal), at Vilnius

Vilnius

Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania, and its largest city, with a population of 560,190 as of 2010. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality. It is also the capital of Vilnius County...

 1975 (1st=), at Portorož

Portorož

- External links :**...

 1977 (2nd= with 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,...

, after Larsen) and at 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....

 1978 (2nd=).

FIDE awarded Savon the International Master title in 1967, and the International Grandmaster title in 1973. In the latter year, he finished eighth out of 18 at the Petropolis

Petrópolis

Petrópolis , also known as The Imperial City of Brazil, is a town in the state of Rio de Janeiro, about 65 km from the city of Rio de Janeiro....

 Interzonal. He shared the title of Ukrainian Champion

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...

 with Gennady Kuzmin

Gennady Kuzmin

Gennady Pavlovich Kuzmin is a Soviet - Ukrainian chess master and trainer. He should not be confused with Russian Grandmaster, Alexey Kuzmin.As a player, he reached his peak strength in the early to mid 1970s and in 1973, was awarded the International Grandmaster title by FIDE, the governing...

 in 1969.

Notable games

From the 39th USSR Championship 1971, rd. 13, Savon-Roman Dzindzichashvili

Roman Dzindzichashvili

Roman Yakovlevich Dzindzichashvili is a chess Grandmaster .-Life and career:Born in Tbilisi, Georgian SSR into a family of Georgian Jews, he won the Junior Championship of the Soviet Union in 1962 and the University Championships in 1966 and 1968. In 1970, he earned the title of International...

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 d6 6.g4 h6 7. Rg1 Nc6 8. Be3 a6 9.h3 Bd7 10.f4 Qc7 11.Qd2 b5 12.Bd3 Nxd4 13.Bxd4 Bc6 14.Qe2 e5 15.Nd5 Nxd5 16.exd5 Bxd5 17.fxe5 0-0-0 18.0-0-0 Qc6 19.Rgf1 dxe5 20.Bxe5 f6 21.Bf5+ Kb7 22.Rxd5 Rxd5 23.Be4 Bc5 24.Rd1 Ka7 25.Bxd5 Qe8 26.Be6 fxe5 27. Qxe5 1-0

From Leningrad 1971, Yuri Balashov

Yuri Balashov

-Chess career:He was awarded the grandmaster title in 1973. Balashov was Moscow Champion in 1970 and 2nd to Anatoly Karpov in the 1976 USSR Chess Championship. In 1977 he won Lithuanian Chess Championship. He finished 1st= at Lone Pine 1977 and 1st= at Wijk aan Zee 1982.Balashov represented the...

-Savon
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 e6 4.Nc3 exd5 5.cxd5 d6 6.Nf3 g6 7.e4 Bg7 8.Be2 0-0 9.0-0 Bg4 10.Bf4 Re8 11.Qc2 Na6 12.h3 Bxf3 13.Bxf3 Qb6 14.b3 Nd7 15.a3 Bd4 16.Rad1 Ne5 17.Be2 Rac8 18.Na4 Qd8 19.Bb5 Rf8 20.Bh6 Nc7 21.Bxf8 Nxb5 22.Bh6 Nxa3 23.Qc1 Nb5 24.Be3 Nd7 25.Rde1 Qe7 26.Bxd4 Nxd4 27.Re3 b5 28.Nc3 Nxb3 29.Qa3 Nd4 30.Qxa7 b4 31.Qa6 Rb8 32.Na4 Nc2 33.Re2 b3 34.Rb1 Kg7 35.Nc3 Nd4 36.Re3 Nc2 37.Re2 Nd4 38.Re3 Rb6 39.Qf1 Nc2 40.Rg3 Nf6 41.Qd3 Rb4 42.f4 Rd4 43.Qe2 c4 44.e5 dxe5 45.fxe5 Ne4 46.Nxe4 Qxe5 47.Rf1 Rxe4 48.Qf3 f5 0-1

External links