Nukhim (Naum) Nikolayevich Rashkovsky (born 18 April 1946, in Sverdlovsk) is a

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 ...

Grandmaster and coach from Russia.

Life

His first meaningful chess moves were played at the Sverdlovsk Palace of Pioneers, one of many training schools for talented young players in Soviet Russia. He was a regular patron of the long-running

Soviet 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. ...

, from his first appearance in 1972 until the event's final edition in 1991. In total, he participated eight times, his best performance occurring in 1986, when he finished in eighth place. Competing at the former Russian Championship (known as the Championship of the

RSFSR The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...

), he was twice a winner, at

Tula Tula may refer to: Geography Antarctica *Tula Mountains *Tula Point India *Tulā, a solar month in the traditional Indian calendar Iran * Tula, Iran, a village in Hormozgan Province Italy * Tula, Sardinia, municipality (''comune'') in the pr ...

1974 and at

Novosibirsk Novosibirsk (, also ; rus, Новосиби́рск, p=nəvəsʲɪˈbʲirsk, a=ru-Новосибирск.ogg) is the largest city and administrative centre of Novosibirsk Oblast and Siberian Federal District in Russia. As of the Russian Census ...

1976. In 1974, Rashkovsky took part in the team championship of the Spartak Sports Society and along with

Albert Kapengut Albert Zinovievich Kapengut (born 4 July 1944, in Kazan, Tatarstan) is a Soviet chess master (since 1962). A holder of the International Master title, he is best known as a respected teacher, theoretician, writer, and member of the successful stude ...

, recorded the tournament's top individual performance, with a score of 5½/7. Curiously, the full results were censored by the authorities and remained so for many years, because both players had finished ahead of

Tigran Petrosian Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian (, ; 17 June 1929 – 13 August 1984) was a Soviet-Armenian chess grandmaster, and World Chess Champion from 1963 to 1969. He was nicknamed "Iron Tigran" due to his almost-impenetrable defensive playing style, ...

and it was not thought to be in the national interest to disclose even this relatively minor failing of the ex-World Champion. Progressing through the ranks, Rashkovsky 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 1976 and became a Grandmaster in 1980. Among his most successful international tournament results were first place at

Sochi Sochi ( rus, Со́чи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg) is the largest resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi River, along the Black Sea in Southern Russia, with a population of 466,078 residents, up to 600,000 residents in ...

1979, joint second place at the 1985 USSR Championship semi-final in Aktiubinsk, a share of third place at Kuibyshev 1986, a share of second at Vrnjacka Banja 1987 and another runner-up finish at

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 ...

(The Rilton Cup) in 1988. His best performance occurred at the 1982 Moscow Championship, where he shared victory with

David Bronstein David Ionovich Bronstein (russian: Дави́д Ио́нович Бронште́йн; February 19, 1924 – December 5, 2006) was a Soviet and Ukrainian chess player. Awarded the title of International Grandmaster by FIDE in 1950, he narr ...

. He was also crowned European Senior Champion in 2007, at

Hockenheim Hockenheim () is a town in northwest Baden-Württemberg, Germany, about 20 km south of Mannheim and 10 km west of Walldorf. It is located in the Upper Rhine valley on the tourist theme routes "Baden Asparagus Route" () and Bertha Benz M ...

, finishing level on points with

Algimantas Butnorius Algimantas Butnorius (20 February 1946 – 30 October 2017) was a Lithuanian chess grandmaster and world seniors champion in 2007. From 2014 he represented Monaco. Chess career He won the Lithuanian Chess Championship on ten occasions: in 1967 ...

but winning on tie-break (ahead of

Mark Tseitlin Mark Tseitlin ( he, מארק צייטלין; russian: Марк Данилович Цейтлин, translit=Mark Danilovich Tseitlin; 23 September 1943 – 25 January 2022) was a Soviet-born Israeli chess player. He was awarded the title of Inte ...

and

Wolfgang Uhlmann Wolfgang Uhlmann (29 March 193524 August 2020) was a German chess grandmaster. He was East Germany's most successful chess player, reaching the 1971 Candidates Tournament. During his career, Uhlmann played many of the top players of the time an ...

, among others). Although less active internationally, he continues to participate in domestic competition and has been player-coach for the highly successful Ural club (of Yekaterinburg) in the top Russian league and European Club Cup. He has, for many years, been a coach and trainer at the uppermost levels of his chosen sport.

Peter Svidler Pyotr Veniaminovich Svidler (russian: Пётр Вениами́нович Сви́длер; born 17 June 1976), commonly known as Peter Svidler, is a Russian chess grandmaster and an eight-time Russian Chess Champion who now frequently commenta ...

spoke with high regard of his tenure with the national team, remarking on his optimism and energy and the good spirits that surrounded the

Olympiad An olympiad ( el, Ὀλυμπιάς, ''Olympiás'') is a period of four years, particularly those associated with the ancient and modern Olympic Games. Although the ancient Olympics were established during Greece's Archaic Era, it was not until ...

camp. Less complimentary was chess commentator Vladimir Dvorkovich, who described Rashkovsky as inferior in every way to his American counterpart

Yasser Seirawan Yasser Seirawan ( ar, ياسر سيروان; born March 24, 1960) is a Syrian-born American chess grandmaster and four-time United States champion. He won the World Junior Chess Championship in 1979. Seirawan is also a published chess author an ...

, when Russia lost the ''Match of the New Century''—the 2002 edition of the

Russia (USSR) vs Rest of the World Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eigh ...

challenge matches. In 2008, Rashkovsky was appointed Director of the Urals Chess Academy. Having started his playing career in a similar facility, his aim is to recreate the same opportunities for talented children of the present day. The Academy is not solely for chess, but will cover a range of intellectual sports development needs.FIDE news article
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Notes

References

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External links

Rashkovsky's games at Chessgames.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rashkovsky, Nukhim 1946 births Living people Chess grandmasters Soviet chess players Russian chess players Chess coaches

Life

See also

Notes

References

External links