Ratmir Kholmov
| Ratmir Kholmov | |
|---|---|
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| Full name | Ратмир Дмитриевич Холмов |
| Country | Russia |
| Born | May 13, 1925 Shenkursk |
| Died | February 18, 2006 (aged 80) Moscow, Russia |
| Title | Grandmaster |
| Peak rating | 2555 (January 1977) |
Ratmir Dmitrievich Kholmov (Russian: Ратмир Дмитриевич Холмов) (13 May 1925 in Shenkursk – 18 February 2006 in Moscow) was a Russian chess Grandmaster. He won many international tournaments in Eastern Europe during his career, and tied for the Soviet Championship title in 1963, but lost the playoff. Kholmov was not well known in the West, since he never competed there during his career peak, being confined to events in socialist countries. His chess results were impressive, so this may have been for security reasons, as Kholmov had been a wartime sailor. But he was one of the strongest Soviet players from the mid-1950s well into the 1970s, and was ranked as high as No. 8 in the world by Chessmetrics.com from August 1960 to March 1961. Kholmov stayed active in competitive chess right to the end of his life, and maintained a high standard.
Ratmir Dmitrievich Kholmov learned chess at age 12, and was near Master strength within three years. He served as a sailor in the Soviet merchant marine during World War II, sailing mainly the Northern Arctic route. In 1945, he took 5th in Tula. In 1946, he won in Zhdanovichi (Belarus). In 1947, he took 4th in the 13th Belarusian championship. Later that year, he made his first high-level appearance at the Mikhail Chigorin Memorial, Moscow 1947, scoring 5.5/15 against a powerful international field. In 1948, Kholmov won the next BLR-ch in 1948, unbeaten, with 11.5/13.
Kholmov qualified for his first Soviet final in 1948, Moscow URS-ch16, scoring 8.5/18 for 12th place, where the winners were David Bronstein and Alexander Kotov. He had to return to the Soviet semifinal level at Tbilisi 1949, where he placed 3rd with 10.5/17 to advance. At Moscow URS-ch17, 1949, he showed solid improvement, finishing tied 9th–10th with 10/19, as Bronstein and Vasily Smyslov won.
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