Georgy Mikhailovich Lisitsin or Lisitsyn (russian: Гео́ргий Миха́йлович Лиси́цын; 11 October 1909 – 20 March 1972) was a Russian

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...

master from

Leningrad Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

. After high school he entered the Leningrad Industrial Institute, from which he graduated as a mechanical engineer.

Chess career

He earned the title of Master in 1931 for his performance in the 7th USSR Championship. He thrice won the

Leningrad City Chess Championship The Leningrad City Chess Championship is a chess tournament held officially in the city of Leningrad, Russia starting from 1920. The city was called Petrograd from 1914 to 1924, then Leningrad until 1991, and Saint Petersburg afterwards. Only player ...

, in 1933/34 (joint), 1939, and 1947 (joint). He was a frequent participant in the

USSR Chess Championship The USSR Chess Championship was played from 1921 to 1991. Organized by the USSR Chess Federation, it was the strongest national chess championship ever held, with eight world chess champions and four world championship finalists among its winners. ...

. His best result was in 1933 when he shared 3rd, behind the 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 ...

. He also played in international tournaments, finishing 15th in Moscow 1935. (Botvinnik and

Salo Flohr Salomon Mikhailovich Flohr (November 21, 1908 – July 18, 1983) was a Czechoslovak and Soviet chess player and writer. He was among the first recipients of the title International Grandmaster from FIDE in 1950. Flohr dominated many tournam ...

won.) He took 2nd at Helsinki 1946 behind winner

Viacheslav Ragozin Viacheslav Vasilyevich Ragozin (russian: Вячесла́в Васи́льевич Раго́зин; 8 October 1908 – 11 March 1962) was a Soviet chess player, writer and editor. He was world champion in correspondence chess and held the title ...

. Lisitsin was considered an expert on the Reti Opening above all others and won many of his best games with it. He was an author of several chess books, only a few sections of which have been translated from Russian into English. He wrote primarily about strategy, tactics, and endgame theory. He was awarded the

International Master FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...

title in 1950.

References

Books in English

* * * Note: Merges the First Book of Chess Strategy and Second Book of Chess Strategy into a single volume. *

External links

* 1909 births 1972 deaths Russian chess players Chess International Masters 20th-century chess players {{Russia-chess-bio-stub