GM Evgeni Andreyevich Vasiukov died last May 10, 2018 at the age of 85. He was one of the top players in the world in the 1960s. Born March 5, 1933, Evgeni Andreyevich Vasiukov learned to play chess at a comparatively late age of 15. From then on it was a quick rise in chess strength as by 1955 he won the Moscow City Championship by 10.5/15, ahead of chess legend Salo Flohr and other famous names like Ragozin and Lilienthal. Vasiukov was to win the Moscow Championship another five times (1958, 1960, 1962, 1972 and 1978). He was a very fine attacking player who calculates very well. In the pages of “Chess Life and Review” GM Lubomir Kavalek says of Vaiukov: “though his chess knowledge and positional feeling have always been on a very high level and there was no doubt that he can play correctly, he has always struggled with his imaginative mind and has many times been carried away by beautiful combinations. Because of that he has lost many games.”
For me GM Evgeni Vasiukov is notable for three things. No. 1, he was amongst the finest blitz players in the Soviet Union. The story has been told numerous times of the two weeks the 15-year-old Bobby Fischer spent in the Moscow Central Chess Club in 1958. He defeated everyone in sight and, in a panic, the club management called in Petrosian and Vasiukov to defend the colors of the Soviet Union. As per recollection of Vasiukov “Petrosian won by a small margin while I literally crushed Fischer.”
No. 2, Vasiukov’s greatest tournament victory was in Manila 1974.
Marlboro Classic
Manila, Philippines
Oct. 5-24, 1974
Final Standings
1. GM Evgeni Vasiukov URS 2560, 10.5/14
2. GM Tigran V. Petrosian URS 2640, 9.5/14
3. GM Bent Larsen DEN 2630, 9.0/14
4-5. GM Florin Gheorghiu ROM 2540, GM Svetozar Gligoric YUG 2585, 8.5/14
6-7. GM Lubomir Kavalek USA 2625, GM Ljubomir Ljubojevic YUG 2605, 8.0/14
8-9. GM Helmut Pfleger FRG 2535, GM Ulf Andersson SWE 2580, 7.5/14
10. GM Miguel Quinteros ARG 2495, 7.0/14
11-12. GM Lajos Portisch HUN 2645, GM Eugenio Torre PHI 2450, 6.5/14
13. IM Yair Kraidman ISR 2470, 4.0/14
14. IM Rodolfo Tan Cardoso PHI 2385, 3.0/14
15. IM Renato Naranja PHI 2395, 1.0/14
Note: IM Sergio Mariotti of Italy canceled at the last minute and that is why there is an off number of players in the tournament.
Average Rating: 2542 Category 12
Chess was at the start of a giant tidal wave of popularity in 1974. Remember that in the previous year the Manila International Tournament was held in Manila and the reigning world champion, Bobby Fischer, made a historic trip to the Philippines to open the tournament with President Ferdinand Marcos. This made headlines all over the world.
In early 1974 the Philippines, with its “dream team” of Eugene Torre, Rodolfo Tan Cardoso, Renato Naranja, Rosendo Balinas, Ramon Lontoc, Jr. and Glenn Bordonada qualified for the Finals Group “A” of the Nice Olympiad — this symbolized our initiation among the top chess countries of the world. But that was not all — Eugene Torre earned the International Grandmaster title in that tournament and Glenn Bordonada, who started out by losing his first two games came back very strongly in the second half of the event and dazzled everybody with his “Penang Attack.”
Bordonada, Glenn — Sanz Alonso, Francisco Javier [B89]
Olympiad-21 Final A Nice (1), 15.06.1974
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 d6 6.Bc4 e6 7.Be3 Be7 8.Qe2 a6 9.0–0–0 Qc7 10.Rhg1 0–0 11.g4 Nxd4 12.Bxd4 b5 13.Bb3 Nd7 14.g5 Nc5 15.Qh5 b4 16.Bf6 Rd8 17.Rg3 bxc3 18.Rh3 h6 19.Qxh6 Nd3+ 20.cxd3 cxb2+ 21.Kxb2 gxh6 1–0
Bordonada, Glenn — Pavlov, Mircea Sergiu [B89]
Olympiad-21 Final A Nice (12), 27.06.1974
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 d6 6.Bc4 e6 7.Be3 Be7 8.Qe2 a6 9.0–0–0 Qc7 10.Rhg1 0–0 11.g4 b5 12.Bb3 Nxd4 13.Bxd4 Nd7 14.g5 Nc5 15.Qh5 Bb7 16.Bf6 Rfc8 17.Rg4 b4 18.Rh4 Bxe4 19.Rxe4 bxc3 20.Rh4 Nxb3+ 21.Kb1 Nd2+ 22.Rxd2 h6 23.Rd1 Rab8 24.b3 Qc5 25.Rh3 Bxf6 26.gxf6 Qxh5 27.Rxh5 gxf6 28.Rxd6 Rd8 29.Rd3 Rbc8 30.Rxh6 f5 31.Rg3+ Kf8 32.Rh8+ Ke7 33.Rxd8 Rxd8 34.Rxc3 Rd2 35.Rf3 Kf6 36.Kc1 Rd8 37.c4 e5 38.c5 Ke6 39.c6 e4 40.c7 Rc8 41.Rc3 f4 42.Kd2 f5 43.h4 a5 44.a3 Ke5 45.h5 a4 46.b4 Kd4 47.Rc6 f3 48.b5 f4 49.b6 e3+ 50.Ke1 1–0
The moving spirit of chess in the Philippines, Florencio Campomanes, was just getting started. He organized the 1974 World Junior Championship also in Manila in August 1974. This was the one which Anthony Miles won.
Campo got Marlboro to sponsor the powerful 1974 Manila International in October 1974, not just any event but the strongest international tournament in 1974. And the organization was superb — players were housed at the Philippine Village Hotel which had just hosted the Miss Universe 1974 beauty pageant. All newspapers carried the games of the tournament and there was even a TV show (hosted by Campo, who else?) where the human aspects of the players were discussed and the games for that day were analyzed on giant demonstration boards.
Really great. The kind of tournament I would have been proud to organize.
Ben Larsen started the tournament with 4.5/5 but lost brilliantly to Vasiukov in round 6.
Vasiukov, Evgeni — Larsen, Bent [B81]
Manila (6), 1974
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 d6 6.g4 h6 7.h4 Nc6 8.Rg1 h5 9.gxh5 Nxh5 10.Bg5 Qc7 11.Qd2 a6 12.0–0–0 Nxd4 13.Qxd4 Bd7 14.Kb1 Rc8 15.Be2 b5 16.Rge1 Qc5 17.Qd2 Nf6 18.a3 Qc7 19.f4 Qb7 20.e5 dxe5 21.Bf3 Qxf3 22.Bxf6 Qc6 23.Ne4 b4 24.fxe5 bxa3 25.Re3 Qxc2+ 26.Qxc2 a2+ 27.Kxa2 Rxc2 28.Rb3 Rc8 29.Rb7 Bb5 30.Bxg7 Bxg7 31.Nd6+ Kf8 32.Nxc8 Bxe5 33.Rd8+ Kg7 34.Rxh8 Kxh8 35.Rxf7 Bg3 36.h5 Be2 37.h6 e5 38.Nd6 Bf4 39.Re7 Bh5 40.Kb3 Bg6 41.Nf7+ Bxf7+ 42.Rxf7 Bxh6 43.Ra7 Kg8 44.Kc4 Kf8 45.Kd5 Bc1 46.b3 Bb2 47.Rxa6 Ke7 48.Rh6 Bc3 49.Rc6 1–0
In the succeeding rounds GM Evgeni maintained his hot form and defeated the Romanian version of Klaus Kinski GM Florin Gheorghiu and then brought down the Yugoslavian powerhouse Ljubojevic and after that it was obvious that he was headed for the biggest tournament win of his career.
OK, what is the 3rd thing which is notable for me about GM Evgeni Vasiukov? Well, he was the one who made GM Eugene give up on the Alekhine Defense. This weapon was El Eugenio’s killer in his younger years but he was having difficulty with it among the stronger players. In the 1973 Leningrad Interzonal Anatoly Karpov wiped him out without any chance:
Karpov, Anatoly — Torre, Eugenio [B04]
Interzonal–09a Leningrad (Russia) (17), 27.06.1973
1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 d6 4.Nf3 g6 5.Bc4 Nb6 6.Bb3 Bg7 7.Ng5 d5 8.f4 Nc6 9.c3 f6 10.Nf3 Bf5 11.0–0 Qd7 12.Nbd2 fxe5 13.fxe5 0–0 14.Rf2 Na5 15.Bc2 Bxc2 16.Qxc2 Qf5 17.Qd1 e6 18.Nf1 c5 19.h3 cxd4 20.cxd4 Nc6 21.b3 Nd7 22.Ba3 Rf7 23.g4 Qe4 24.Ng5 1–0
Already GM Torre was having misgivings about the Alekhine but the following game convinced him to finally retire what used to be his main weapon.
Vasiukov, Evgeni (2560) — Torre, Eugenio (2450) [B05]
Manila (14), 1974
1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 d6 4.Nf3 Bg4
This used to be the main line of the Alekhine’s, but lately it is no longer popular as the verdict on this line is that White always enjoys a small but steady edge while Black is condemned to passive defense without serious chances of counterplay.
5.Be2 e6
Another major line here is 5…c6 but it is even more passive than the text move and usually leaves a hole in d6. I will show you a typical game in this line: 6.0–0 Bxf3 7.Bxf3 dxe5 8.dxe5 e6 9.Re1 Nd7 10.Nd2 (targeting d6) 10…Be7 11.Nc4 0–0 12.a4 a5 13.Bd2 Preventing b5. 13…Qc7 14.Qe2 Rfd8 15.Qe4 Nb4 16.Bf4! White takes over the d6 square and Black is in trouble. Baklan,V (2571)-Kosikov,A (2460) Kiev 2000 1–0 25.
6.0–0 Be7 7.c4 Nb6 8.Nc3 0–0 9.h3 Bxf3
The Filipino GM took some time here deciding between the text and 9…Bh5.
10.Bxf3 Nc6 11.Bxc6 bxc6 12.b3 a5?!
Vasiukov described the endgame after 12…dxe5 13.dxe5 Qxd1 14.Rxd1 as very unpleasant for Black.
13.Be3 Nd7 <D>
POSITION AFTER 13…ND7
14.Qh5!
Sacrificing a pawn. The queen move clears d1 for his rooks and also gives Black several ways to win a pawn, all of which leave him with good compensation.
14…dxe5
There does not seem to be a good way of taking the proferred pawn. After 14…g6? 15.Qf3 Black cannot win the e5 pawn: 15…dxe5 16.Qxc6 exd4 17.Bxd4 White is holding all the cards.
15.dxe5 Nxe5 16.Qxe5 Bf6 17.Qe4 Bxc3 18.Rad1 Qc8
[18…Qe8? 19.Bc5]
19.Rd3! Bb4 20.Rfd1! a4 21.c5 Ba3 22.Rb1!
With the idea of b3–b4 imprisoning the a3–bishop.
22…f5 23.Qe5 Rb8 24.Bd4 Rf7 25.Rbd1 axb3 26.axb3 h6 27.Bc3 Qe8 28.b4 Kh7 29.Rd4
[White will win the bishop with 30.Ra1 Ra8 31.Rd2.]
29…Re7 30.Kh2 Ra8 31.f4 Qf7 32.R4d3 Rb8 33.Rb1 Rd7 34.Rg3 Ra8 35.Qe1!
White’s idea is 36.Rxg7+ Qxg7 37.Bxg7 Rxg7 38.Qxe6. Nominally Black has material compensation for the queen but his imprisoned bishop on a3 will do him in.
35…Qe8 36.Rb3 Ra4 37.Be5 Qa8 38.Qc3
White controls the entire board.
38…Bxb4 39.Rxb4 Rxb4 40.Qxb4 Qa2 41.Qb8 1–0
To be followed by Qb8–e8–g6+.
A really powerful performance. GM Evgeni Vasiukov, rest in peace.
Bobby Ang is a founding member of the National Chess Federation of the Philippines and its first Executive Director. A Certified Public Accountant, he taught accounting in the University of Santo Tomas for 25 years and is currently Chief Audit Executive of the Equicom Group of Companies.
bobby@cpamd.net
