- Emil Sutovsky
Infobox chess player
playername = Emil Sutovsky
|caption=Emil Sutovsky, Iraklion 2007
birthname = Emil Sutovsky
country = ISR
datebirth = birth date and age|1977|9|19
placebirth =Baku ,Azerbaijan
datedeath =
placedeath =
title = Grandmaster
worldchampion =
womensworldchampion =
rating = 2654
(No. 70 on the July 2008 FIDE ratings list)
peakrating = 2697 (October 2004)Emil Sutovsky (born
19 September ,1977 ) is anIsrael ichess Grandmaster. He is one of the several top chess grandmasters who were born inBaku ,Azerbaijan ("e.g.,"Garry Kasparov ,Teimour Radjabov ,Shakhriyar Mamedyarov andVladimir Akopian ).uccesses
He achieved notable successes by winning the
World Junior Chess Championship inMedellín in 1996, finishing first at the double-round-robin VAM Hoogeveen Tournament in 1997 (ahead ofJudit Polgar ,Loek van Wely , andVassily Smyslov ), and winning Hastings 2000 (ahead ofAlexey Dreev ,Ivan Sokolov andJonathan Speelman ).In 2001 he recorded perhaps the greatest individual result by an Israeli player: seeded only 35th among the 204 participants (143 GMs!) in the 2nd European Chess Championship in
Ohrid , Macedonia, he started with an ordinary 3.5/6. He then started a series of resounding victories (e.g. [http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1168179] ), and finished the tournament with 9.5/13, along with futureFIDE world championRuslan Ponomariov , and ahead ofJudit Polgar ,Nigel Short , and many other world-class players [http://www.chesscenter.com/twic/2cheurt.html] .He went on to beat Ponomariov 1.5-0.5 in arapid chess tie-break, and was crowned European Champion.In 2007, he placed second at the 8th European Chess Championship, held in
Dresden , following a play-off with the eventual winner GMVladislav Tkachiev and GMsDmitry Jakovenko and Ivan Cheparinov.He finished tied for first in two major open tournaments in 2005: in
Gibraltar he scored 7.5/10 (the same score asLevon Aronian , Zahar Efimenko,Kiril Georgiev , andAlexei Shirov ), and at theAeroflot Open inMoscow he scored 6.5/9 (the same asVasily Ivanchuk ,Alexander Motylev , Andrei Kharlov, andVladimir Akopian ). His superior tie-break in the latter gave him first place and with it an invitation to the prestigiousDortmund tournament later in the year, in which he beat classical world championVladimir Kramnik [http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1347860] , scoring 3.5/9.Sutovsky played in three
FIDE Knock-out World Championships: in 1997 he was eliminated in the first round by Guildardo Garcia; in 2000 he was eliminated in the first round by Igor Nataf; in 2001 he was eliminated in round three by eventual runner-upVasily Ivanchuk .He did not participate in the controversial 2004 championship because of concerns about how its hosts,
Libya , would treat Israeli players.He took part in
FIDE World Cup 2005 ,successfully passed first two rounds, but was eliminated in round threebyEtienne Bacrot in rapid tie-break.In 2007, Sutovsky, known for his vast theoretical knowledge, became a second of US Grandmaster Gata Kamsky, helping him to win the
FIDE World Cup 2007 .Playing style
His uncompromising style means his tournament results can be somewhat inconsistent: shortly before his successes in Gibraltar and Moscow, he had performed disappointingly in 2004 at round-robin events at
Pamplona (3/7),Pune (3.5/9) andAshdod (1.5/5). Sutovsky,who won a total of nearly 40 International Grandmaster Tournaments ( more than most of the Top Ten players!) is arguably the most volatile player among Top Grandmasters.Sutovsky's uncompromising style has also resulted in a number of highly spectacular games: his sacrificial victory over
Ilya Smirin in the 2002Israeli Championship was voted the best game of issue 86 of "Chess Informant " [http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1278763] , and his victory overDanny Gormally at Gibraltar 2005 earned him the prize for best game [http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1330256] . This game was highly appraisedby FIDE World ChampionVishwanathan Anand , who picked this game as the best chess game he had ever seen. "Just Checking" Questionnaire in: New In Chess Magazine, Issue 3/2005, p.106 ] Sutovsky is considered to be one of the most creative chessplayers,since 2006 he has his own column - "Jeu créateur" ("Creative chess") in major French chess magazineEurope Échecs Sutovsky virtually always plays 1.e4 with White, occasionally testing unfashionable or old-fashioned openings such as the
Two Knights Defence , theKing's Gambit , and theScotch Game . With black, he usually plays theGrünfeld Defence orKing's Indian Defence against 1.d4, andSicilian Defence orRuy Lopez against 1.e4.His romantic chess style might be linked to his hobby- Sutovsky is a profound
bass-baritone singer #REDIRECT [http://youtube.com/watch?v=JvpoYELytGA&mode=related&search=] Sutovsky is an avid Trivia player, he is a founder and captain of chess team,which participates inWhat? Where? When? tournaments.Sutovsky speaks five languages,and is widely acclaimed as one of the most intelligent personalities in the chess world.On the July 2007
FIDE list, Sutovsky had anElo rating of 2656 (his peak was 2697), making him Israel's number 2 (behindBoris Gelfand ) , and number 53 in the world.References
External links
*fide|id=2802007
*chessgames player|id=10836
* [http://www.supreme-chess.com/famous-chess-players/emil-sutovsky.html Emil Sutovsky] download 452 of his games in pgn format.
* [http://www.supreme-chess.com/famous-chess-players/emil-sutovsky.html Supreme Chess bio]
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