Isaac Boleslavsky
| Isaac Boleslavsky | |
|---|---|
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| Full name | Isaac Yefremovich Boleslavsky |
| Country | Soviet Union |
| Born |
June 9, 1919 Zolotonosha, Ukrainian SSR |
| Died | February 15, 1977 (aged 57) Minsk, Belarussian SSR, USSR |
| Title | Grandmaster |
| Peak rating | 2560 (July 1971) |
Isaac Yefremovich Boleslavsky (Ukrainian: Ісаак Єфремович Болеславський, Исаак Ефремович Болеславский; June 9, 1919 in Zolotonosha, Ukraine – February 15, 1977 in Minsk) was a Soviet chess Grandmaster. He was also a chess writer.
Boleslavsky taught himself chess at age nine. In 1933, Boleslavsky became schoolboy champion of Dnipropetrovsk. Three years later, he won third prize in the 1936 USSR All-Union Junior Championship, held in Leningrad.
In 1938, at nineteen, he won the Ukrainian Championship; the following year, he won the Ukraine SSR championship, qualified to play in the USSR Chess Championship at the age of 20, and gained his national chess master title. He earned a degree in philology at Sverdlovsk University.
In 1940, Boleslavsky played in the 12th USSR championship final in Moscow. He won eight of his last ten games and tied for fifth/sixth place with Mikhail Botvinnik, but lost their personal meeting. Thereafter he sought revenge. Later, Boleslavsky as an ambitious 27-year-old master recalled the plans he had hatched :
I decided that by systematic work on myself I could win. "The devil is not so terrible as he is painted." Losses to Botvinnik in both games in a match tournament in 1941 and in our game in the XIV national championship four years later did not sober me. It seemed to me that I understood Botvinnik's game and saw its strengths and weaknesses. I began to prepare for a meeting with him. I understood, of course, it was a completely different style of player than my style in those years. But I thought I had a chance to win.
At the end of 1940 he won the Ukrainian Championship for the third consecutive year. In March 1941, he took part in the match-tournament for the title of Absolute Champion of the USSR, finishing fourth of six participants. On the eve of the match-tournament, he had to pass an examination at the University, and his preparation for the chess event proved to be inadequate.
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