Jaan Ehlvest (born 14 October 1962) is an Estonian-American
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 ...
player. He was awarded the title
Grandmaster by
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 ...
in 1987. Ehlvest was Estonian champion in 1986. Since 2006, he has represented the United States.
He was named
Estonian Athlete of the Year
The Estonian Athlete of the Year ( et, Eesti Aasta Sportlane) is an annual award presented by the Estonian Olympic Committee (''Eesti Olümpiakomitee'', EOK) to one male and one female sportsperson judged to have delivered the best performance o ...
in 1987 and 1989. From July 1990 to July 1991, he was among the top 10 on the
FIDE world rankings, peaking at number 5 in the list of January 1991.
[
]
Career
Ehlvest's tournament victories include the 1980 USSR Junior Chess Championship, the 1983 European Junior Championship, the 1986 Estonian Championship, the 1994 New York Open, and the 2003 World Open in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
. When SK Rockaden won the 2001 Swedish
Swedish or ' may refer to:
Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically:
* Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland
** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
championship they fielded Ehlvest.
He was a member of the gold medal-winning Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
team at the 28th Chess Olympiad
The 28th Chess Olympiad ( el, Η 28η Σκακιστική Ολυμπιάδα, ''I 28i Skakistikí Olympiáda''), organized by Fédération Internationale des Échecs, FIDE and comprising an openAlthough commonly referred to as the ''men's division ...
in Thessaloniki 1988 and played for Estonia in the Chess Olympiads
The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams representing nations of the world compete. FIDE organises the tournament and selects the host nation. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, FIDE held an Online Chess Olympiad in 2020 and ...
of 1992–2004.
In 2006, unsatisfied with the lack of support from the Estonian Chess Federation, Ehlvest decided to move to the United States; since then, he has been a member of the USCF and competed internationally for the US.
In March 2007, Ehlvest accepted an invitation to play an eight-game match against the chess program Rybka
Rybka is a computer chess engine designed by International Master Vasik Rajlich. Around 2011, Rybka was one of the top-rated engines on chess engine rating lists and won many computer chess tournaments.
After Rybka won four consecutive World ...
, one of the strongest chess programs in existence. He was playing Black in all games, but was given pawn odds (Rybka was playing each game a pawn down; a different white pawn was removed in each game). He lost the match by 2½:5½ (+1−4=3). In a following rematch, the pawn odds were removed, Ehlvest was given White in every game, twice the time on the clock, and significant computational handicaps were placed on the machine. Ehlvest lost decisively, 1½:4½.
In 2008 he won the Pan American-Continental Championship, which took place in Boca Raton
Boca Raton ( ; es, Boca Ratón, link=no, ) is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It was first incorporated on August 2, 1924, as "Bocaratone," and then incorporated as "Boca Raton" in 1925. The population was 97,422 in the ...
, Florida.
Personal life
Ehlvest's younger brother, Jüri Ehlvest, was a well-known writer in Estonia.
Ehlvest studied psychology at Tartu State University (now, University of Tartu). In 2004, Ehlvest published his autobiography, ''The Story of a Chess Player''.
References
Further reading
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External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ehlvest, Jaan
1962 births
Living people
Chess grandmasters
Chess Olympiad competitors
Estonian chess players
Soviet chess players
Estonian emigrants to the United States
American chess players
University of Tartu alumni
Sportspeople from Tallinn