Lev Polugaevsky

Lev Polugaevsky Лев Абрамович Полугаевский
Lev Polugaevsky in 1972
Full name	Lev Abramovich Polugaevsky
Country	Soviet Union Belarus
Born	(1934-11-20)20 November 1934 Mogilev, Soviet Union
Died	30 August 1995(1995-08-30) (aged 60) Paris, France
Title	Grandmaster (1962)
Peak rating	2645 (July 1972)

Lev Abramovich Polugaevsky (Russian: Лев Абрамович Полугаевский; 20 November 1934 – 30 August 1995) was an International Grandmaster of chess and frequent contender for the World Championship, although he never achieved that title. He was one of the strongest players in the world from the early 1960s until the late 1980s, as well as a distinguished author and opening theorist whose contributions in this field remain important to the present day.

Lev Polugaevsky was born in Mogilev in the Soviet Union (now Mahilyow, Belarus). Unlike many of his grandmaster colleagues, his development in chess came slowly, and he did not receive even the Soviet master title until he was an adult. His progress then accelerated rapidly, however, and by the late 1960s he was one of the world's strongest players, as was recognized by his participation in the famous "USSR vs. Rest of the World" match of 1970. In this match he occupied fourth board, losing one game to Vlastimil Hort and drawing his other three. Polugaevsky won at Mar del Plata in 1962 and 1971. He won or tied in the USSR Chess Championship three times. He played regularly in qualifying events to select a challenger for the world championship, qualifying for Candidates matches on four occasions. His greatest advancement toward the title came during the 1977 and 1980 cycles, when he defeated Henrique Mecking and former world champion Mikhail Tal, respectively, in quarterfinal Candidates matches, before succumbing both times in the semifinals to the eventual challenger, Viktor Korchnoi.