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 an Israeli chess Grandmaster. He is one of the several top chess grandmasters who were born in Baku, Azerbaijan ("e.g.," Garry Kasparov, Teimour Radjabov, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Vladimir Akopian).

uccesses

He achieved notable successes by winning the World Junior Chess Championship in Medellín in 1996, finishing first at the double-round-robin VAM Hoogeveen Tournament in 1997 (ahead of Judit Polgar, Loek van Wely, and Vassily Smyslov), and winning Hastings 2000 (ahead of Alexey Dreev, Ivan Sokolov and Jonathan 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 future FIDE world champion Ruslan Ponomariov, and ahead of Judit 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 a rapid 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 GM Vladislav Tkachiev and GMs Dmitry 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 as Levon Aronian, Zahar Efimenko, Kiril Georgiev, and Alexei Shirov), and at the Aeroflot Open in Moscow he scored 6.5/9 (the same as Vasily Ivanchuk, Alexander Motylev, Andrei Kharlov, and Vladimir Akopian). His superior tie-break in the latter gave him first place and with it an invitation to the prestigious Dortmund tournament later in the year, in which he beat classical world champion Vladimir 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-up Vasily 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 threeby Etienne 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) and Ashdod (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 2002 Israeli Championship was voted the best game of issue 86 of "Chess Informant" [http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1278763] , and his victory over Danny 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 Champion Vishwanathan 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 magazine Europe Échecs

Sutovsky virtually always plays 1.e4 with White, occasionally testing unfashionable or old-fashioned openings such as the Two Knights Defence, the King's Gambit, and the Scotch Game. With black, he usually plays the Grünfeld Defence or King's Indian Defence against 1.d4, and Sicilian Defence or Ruy 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 in What? 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 an Elo rating of 2656 (his peak was 2697), making him Israel's number 2 (behind Boris 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]