- Lev Psakhis
Infobox chess player
playername = Lev Psakhis
caption=
birthname = Lev Borisovich Psakhis
country = ISR
datebirth = birth date and age|1958|11|29
placebirth =Krasnoyarsk ,USSR
datedeath =
placedeath =
title = Grandmaster
worldchampion =
womensworldchampion =
rating = 2538 (July 2008)
peakrating = 2625 (1995)Lev Borisovich Psakhis ( _he. לב בוריסוביץ' פסחיס; _ru. Лев Борисович Псахис; born
November 29 ,1958 , inKrasnoyarsk , Russia) is a renowned naturalisedIsraeli chess grandmaster, trainer and author. Born inSiberia , he is also a two-time former champion of theSoviet Union .He gained the International Master and
International Grandmaster titles in 1980 and 1982 respectively, either side of two momentous Soviet Championship victories in 1980 (Vilnius - shared withAlexander Beliavsky ) and 1981 (Frunze - shared withGarry Kasparov , whom he defeated in round 2).In international tournaments, he has had many fine results, including a tie for first at
Sarajevo in 1981, first atCienfuegos in 1983, first atSzirak in 1986, a tie for second atTrnava in 1988, and first atAndorra in 2002.In 1982, he finished tied for second at the (World Championship preliminary) zonal tournament in
Yerevan , but failed to make headway at the subsequentInterzonal .It is the suggestion of his fellow professionals that his physical condition and occasional low energy levels were the only barrier to an even brighter career.
Boris Gelfand (an Elo rated 2700 grandmaster) remarked that he has never beaten Psakhis at normal speed chess. Psakhis himself is more modest about his abilities, claiming that he can offer good advice on defensive technique due to the many dreadful positions he has had to play his way out of.He was champion of Israel in 1997 and shared the title in 1999. He has competed for Israel at the
Chess Olympiad seven times between 1990-2002. At theEuropean Team Championship , he first represented the USSR in 1983 and won individual and team gold medals. Representing Israel thereafter, he took the board 1 individual gold in 1999.Over the years, he has assisted in many training programs, dating back to the late eighties when he worked with Garry Kasparov and
Artur Yusupov . He played a training match with Kasparov in 1990 and lost heavily (1-5). Other students and/or chess stars that he has been a second to includeSusan Polgar ,Judit Polgar , andEmil Sutovsky .In terms of chess style, he was in his youth a player of sharp, complex positions, but nowadays prefers to play in a positional sense. Consequently, he has developed a love for the
French Defence and is a noted expert on it, beginning with writing "The Complete French" (and "The Complete Benoni") for B.T. Batsford in the early nineties. His latest Batsford effort is a mammoth four Volume treatise on the French in 2003/4, titled "Vol.1" "French Defence: 3. Nd2 (Tarrasch)", "Vol.2" "French Defence: Advance and Anti-French Variations", "Vol.3" "French Defence: 3. Nc3 Bb4 (Winawer)" and "Vol.4" "French Defence: Steinitz, Classical and Other Variations".References
*cite book | author=Hooper, David and Whyld, Kenneth | title=
The Oxford Companion to Chess | publisher=Oxford University | year=1984 | id=ISBN 0192175408*cite book | author=Cafferty, Bernard and
Mark Taimanov | title=The Soviet Championships | publisher=Cadogan Chess | year=1998 | id=ISBN 1-85744-201-6
* [http://www.olimpbase.org Olimpbase - Olympiads and other Team event information]External links
* [http://www.gmsquare.com/Psakhis/psakhis-buzz.html Grandmaster Square Website]
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* [http://www.worldchessnetwork.com/English/sitePros/levpsakhis.php Psakhis coaching homepage - WorldChessNetwork.com]
*fide|id=2800012|name=Lev Psakhis
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