Daniel Abraham Yanofsky, (March 25, 1925 – March 5, 2000), commonly known as Daniel Yanofsky or Abe Yanofsky, was a Canadian chess player, chess writer, chess arbiter, and lawyer. He was Canada's first Grandmaster and an eight-time Canadian Chess Champion.

Early life

Yanofsky was born to a Jewish family in Brody, Poland (now western Ukraine), and moved to Canada when he was eight months old, settling with his family in Winnipeg.

Life in chess

Early successes

He learned to play chess at the age of eight. Yanofsky won his first Manitoba provincial championship at age 12 in 1937, also making his debut in the Closed Canadian Chess Championship that same year in Toronto. In 1939, just 14 years old, he played for Canada at the Buenos Aires Olympiad. Yanofsky was the sensation of the tournament, making the highest score on second board. He won his first Canadian Chess Championship in 1941 at age 16, at home in Winnipeg. He won at

Ventnor City Ventnor City is a city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the city's population was 9,210, a decrease of 1,440 in the preceding decade.Herman Steiner on 16/17 in the 1942 U.S. Open at Dallas.

First Commonwealth GM

In 1946, at age 21, Yanofsky entered the first top-class post-war tournament, at

Groningen Groningen (; gos, Grunn or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen province in the Netherlands. The ''capital of the north'', Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of the northern part of t ...

, and defeated Soviet champion and tournament winner

Mikhail Botvinnik Mikhail Moiseyevich Botvinnik, ( – May 5, 1995) was a Soviet and Russian chess grandmaster. The sixth World Chess Champion, he also worked as an electrical engineer and computer scientist and was a pioneer in computer chess. Botvinnik ...

, winning the brilliancy prize. During the next two years, he played several more European events, where his best result was second place behind Miguel Najdorf at Barcelona 1946. Yanofsky represented Canada at the Interzonals held in Saltsjöbaden 1948 and

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

1962. He won the British Championship in 1953. At

Dallas 1957 chess tournament The Dallas 1957 chess tournament was played in Hotel Adolphus in Dallas, then the tallest building in Texas, from November 30 to December 16, 1957. The main event was a contest among eight players from seven countries. Three Polish-born grandmaster ...

, Yanofsky achieved his first grandmaster norm with wins over Samuel Reshevsky,

Friðrik Ólafsson Friðrik Ólafsson (born 26 January 1935) is an Icelandic chess grandmaster. He was president of FIDE from 1978 to 1982. He is a six-time Icelandic Chess Champion and a two-time Nordic Chess Champion. Chess career Friðrik was born in Reykja ...

and Larry Evans. His performance at the Tel Aviv 1964 Olympiad earned him his second grandmaster norm, and the title, thereby becoming the first grandmaster raised in the British Commonwealth.

Eight-time Canadian champion

Yanofsky, winner in 1941, repeated as Canadian Champion in 1943, 1945, 1947, 1953, 1959, 1963, and 1965; his eight titles is a Canadian record (tied with Maurice Fox).

Eleven Olympiad appearances

He represented Canada at eleven Olympiads: ( Buenos Aires 1939, 2nd board, , Amsterdam 1954 1st board, , Munich 1958, 1st board, , Tel Aviv 1964, 1st board, , Havana 1966, 1st board, , Lugano 1968, 1st board, , Siegen 1970, 1st board, , Skopje 1972, 2nd board, , Nice 1974, 3rd board, , Haifa 1976, 3rd board, , and La Valletta 1980), 3rd board, ). His Olympiad totals are: (+50 =54 -37), for 54.6 per cent. His eleven Olympiad appearances is surpassed among Canadians only by IM Lawrence Day (thirteen). His total of 141 games played in Olympiads is the Canadian record among men, second only to

Nava Starr Nava Starr (née Shterenberg; born April 4, 1949) is a Latvia-born Canadian chess player. She holds the title of Woman International Master (WIM). Starr is an eight-time Canadian ladies' champion and has represented Canada 13 times in the Women's ...

's 147.

Further tournament successes

Further tournament titles included Arbon 1946 (tied with

Karel Opocensky Karel may refer to: People * Karel (given name) * Karel (surname) * Charles Karel Bouley, talk radio personality known on air as Karel * Christiaan Karel Appel, Dutch painter Business * Karel Electronics, a Turkish electronics manufacturer * ...

and Ludek Pachman), Reykjavík 1947, Hastings 1952-53 (tied with Harry Golombek,

Jonathan Penrose Jonathan Penrose, (7 October 1933 – 30 November 2021) was an English chess player, who held the titles Grandmaster (1993) and International Correspondence Chess Grandmaster (1983). He won the British Chess Championship ten times between 1958 ...

, and Antonio Medina), and the

Canadian Open Chess Championship The Canadian Open Chess Championship is Canada's Open chess championship, first held in 1956, and held annually since 1973, usually in mid-summer. It is organized by the Chess Federation of Canada. The event celebrated its 50th rendition in 2013. H ...

1979 ( Edmonton). Yanofsky placed second at Hastings 1951-52 behind Svetozar Gligorić, and second at

Netanya Netanya (also known as Natanya, he, נְתַנְיָה) is a city in the Northern Central District of Israel, and is the capital of the surrounding Sharon plain. It is north of Tel Aviv, and south of Haifa, between Poleg stream and Wingate I ...

1968 behind Robert Fischer.

Later years

Yanofsky had the lead organizer role for Canada's first supergrandmaster tournament at Winnipeg 1967, to mark

Canada's Centennial The Canadian Centennial was a yearlong celebration held in 1967 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation. Celebrations in Canada occurred throughout the year but culminated on Dominion Day, July 1, 1967. Commemorative coins we ...

, and also played in the tournament, winning the Brilliancy Prize for his victory over László Szabó. The Winnipeg tournament was jointly won by Bent Larsen and Klaus Darga. Yanofsky earned the

FIDE The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( Fédération Internationale des Échecs), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national c ...

International Arbiter title in 1977. He played in his final Canadian Championship in 1986 at age 61 at home in Winnipeg, and qualified for another Interzonal appearance, placing tied 3rd-5th with 9.5/15, but generously ceded that opportunity in favour of a younger player. He returned to

in 1996 for the 50th anniversary reunion tournament among the 1946 event's surviving players. Following Yanofsky's death in 2000, an annual Memorial Tournament has been held in Winnipeg to honor his wide-ranging contributions to Canadian chess.

Education, naval service, and professional legal career

Except for a short period, from 1946 to 1948, Yanofsky never concentrated full-time on chess. He entered the University of Manitoba in 1941, earning a degree in science in 1944. He served in the Royal Canadian Navy during World War II (1944-1946). He graduated with a law degree from the University of Manitoba in 1951. He won several scholarships, which allowed him to pursue legal studies at Oxford University (1951–1953). Following graduation, he practised law in Winnipeg, with his brother Harry, who was also a chess master. Daniel Yanofsky argued several cases before the

Supreme Court of Canada The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC; french: Cour suprême du Canada, CSC) is the Supreme court, highest court in the Court system of Canada, judicial system of Canada. It comprises List of Justices of the Supreme Court of Canada, nine justices, wh ...

Political career

He was mayor of the Winnipeg suburb of

West Kildonan West Kildonan is a residential suburb within the Old Kildonan and Mynarski city wards of Winnipeg, Manitoba, lying on the west side of the Red River, and immediately north of the old City of Winnipeg in the north-central part of the city. It ...

, and served on the Winnipeg City Council from 1970 to 1986, chairing the Finance Committee. Yanofsky campaigned for the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba in the 1959 provincial election as a candidate of the Liberal-Progressive Party. He finished third against

Co-operative Commonwealth Federation The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF; french: Fédération du Commonwealth Coopératif, FCC); from 1955 the Social Democratic Party of Canada (''french: Parti social démocratique du Canada''), was a federal democratic socialism, democra ...

candidate

David Orlikow David Orlikow (April 20, 1918 – January 19, 1998) was a Canadian politician, and a long-serving member of the House of Commons of Canada. He represented the riding of Winnipeg North from 1962 to 1988 as a member of the New Democratic Party. ...

in the St. Johns constituency. He was also a contributor to the development of the Seven Oaks General Hospital and the Wellness Institute.

Honours

In 1972, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. In 1980, he was appointed a Queen's Counsel. In 2000, he was inducted as a charter member of the Canadian Chess Hall of Fame.

Major writings

* ''Chess The Hard Way'' (1st and 2nd editions) * ''How to Win End-games'' * ''100 Years of Chess in Canada'' (1967) * served as Editor of the magazine ''Canadian Chess Chat'' for many years * wrote a weekly chess column for the newspaper ''Winnipeg Free Press'' * wrote the tournament book for the ''First Canadian Open, Montreal 1956''. * edited the tournament book for the Winnipeg 1967 Grandmasters' tournament.

Notable chess games

Daniel Yanofsky vs Alberto Ismodes, Buenos Aires Olympiad 1939, French, Classical (C11), 1-0
14-year-old Yanofsky unleashes a pretty rook sacrifice against

Alberto Ismodes Dulanto Alberto Ismodes Dulanto (1910 – unknown), was a Peruvian chess player. Biography Alberto Ismodes Dulanto was one of the strongest Peruvian chess players of the 1930s (It was only from 1942 that the history of the official Peruvian Chess Champi ...

to win the game, which was highly praised by World Champion Alexander Alekhine.
Daniel Yanofsky vs Mikhail Botvinnik, Groningen 1946, Ruy Lopez, Closed, Chigorin (C99), 1-0
In a Brilliancy Prize game, the young Canadian stuns the Soviet champion and Groningen event winner.
Viacheslav Ragozin vs Daniel Yanofsky, Saltsjobaden Interzonal 1948, French, Classical (C13), 0-1
Yanofsky coolly gives up his queen to forestall the experienced Soviet GM's dangerous attacking chances.
Samuel Reshevsky vs Daniel Yanofsky, Tel Aviv Olympiad 1964, Grunfeld (D93), 0-1
Yanofsky sacrifices a piece to entomb White's bishop and ruin his pawn structure, leading to a strategical masterpiece.
Laszlo Szabo vs Daniel Yanofsky, Winnipeg 1967, King's Indian (E70), 0-1
A lovely thematic dark-square King's Indian game which won the Brilliancy Prize.

References

External links

* * * *

at CanadianChess.info * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Yanofsky, Daniel 1925 births 2000 deaths People from Brody Chess grandmasters Canadian chess players Canadian military personnel of World War II Jewish Canadian sportspeople Jewish Canadian writers Lawyers in Manitoba Sportspeople from Winnipeg Writers from Winnipeg Jewish chess players Jews from Galicia (Eastern Europe) Polish emigrants to Canada Ukrainian Jews Officers of the Order of Canada Liberal-Progressive Party candidates in Manitoba provincial elections University of Manitoba alumni Alumni of the University of Oxford Canadian chess writers Chess arbiters Chess Olympiad competitors Canadian non-fiction writers Canadian people of Polish-Jewish descent Canadian people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent 20th-century Canadian lawyers Canadian King's Counsel Robson Hall alumni 20th-century chess players 20th-century non-fiction writers