Mikhail Umansky
| Mikhail Umansky | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Full name | Mikhail Markovich Umansky |
| Country |
 Soviet Union Russia
|
| Born |
January 21, 1952 Stavropol, USSR |
| Died | December 17, 2010 (aged 58) Augsburg, Germany |
| Title | ICCF Grandmaster |
| ICCF World Champion | 1989–98 |
Mikhail Markovich Umansky (Russian: Михаил Уманский; January 21, 1952 – December 17, 2010) was a Russian chess grandmaster of correspondence chess, who was the 13th ICCF World Champion in correspondence chess between 1989 and 1998. He was also USSR Correspondence Champion in 1978.
Umansky was born in Stavropol, then USSR. He is considered by some to be the greatest correspondence chess player of all time, since he convincingly won a "champion of champions" tournament, the ICCF 50 Years World Champion Jubilee, a special invitational correspondence tournament involving all living former ICCF World Champions. He scored 7/8 (+6 −0 =2), two points ahead of Gert Jan Timmerman, Fritz Baumbach and Victor Palciauskas. One of his victims was Hans Berliner, who said after his defeat: "It is amazing that Umansky took only 55!! days to play this wonderful game. I still do not know where I went wrong in that game."
Umansky died on December 17, 2010 in Augsburg, Germany.
In 2011, the Russian Correspondence Chess Association organized in his honor the chess tournament Umansky Memorial, won by the Italian CCGM Eros Riccio.
Mikhail Umansky vs. Hans Berliner, 50th World Champions Jubilee Tournament (2002)
[Notes by GM Umansky]
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 0-0 5. Nc3 d6 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. 0-0 e5 8. d5 Ne7 9. e4
9... Nd7 10. Ne1 b6 11. Nd3 Nc5 12. f4 exf4 13. Bxf4 h6
14. Nf2!
14... g5 15. Be3 f5
16. Bd4 Bxd4 17. Qxd4 f4 18. b4 f3! 19. Bxf3
19... Rxf3 20. bxc5 bxc5 21. Qd1
21... Qf8
22. e5!
22... Ng6
23. e6 Ne5 24. Nce4
24... Ba6 25. Nd2 Bxc4 26. Nxc4 Nxc4 27. Ng4 Rxf1+
28. Qxf1 Qxf1+ 29. Rxf1 Kg7 30. Nf6 Ne5
31. h4!
31... Rc8 32. h5 c4 33. Kg2 a5 34. a4 g4
35. e7 Kf7 36. e8=Q+ Rxe8 37. Nxe8 Kxe8 38. Kf2 Ke7
...
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