Yuri Sergeyevich Balashov (russian: Ю́рий Серге́евич Балашо́в; born 12 March 1949) is a Russian chess player. He was awarded the title of 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 1973.

Chess career

Born in

Shadrinsk Shadrinsk (russian: Ша́дринск) is a town in Kurgan Oblast, Russia, located on the left bank of the Iset River ( Ob's basin) northwest of Kurgan. Population: History Shadrinsk was founded in 1662 as an agricultural and trade settle ...

, Balashov was awarded the grandmaster title in 1973. Balashov was champion of Moscow in 1970 and runner-up to Anatoly Karpov in the 1976 USSR Championship. In 1977, he won Lithuanian Championship. He tied for first place at Lone Pine 1977 and at Wijk aan Zee 1982. In 2014, he won the Senior Tournament at the Moscow Open and tied with

Anatoly Vaisser Anatoly Vaisser (born 5 March 1949) is a Soviet-born French chess player. Awarded the title Grandmaster by FIDE in 1985, he is four-time world seniors' champion. Biography and career Vaisser was born in Almaty, Kazakhstan (then Soviet Union). In ...

, Viktor Kupreichuk and

Herman Claudius van Riemsdijk Herman Claudius van Riemsdijk (born 26 August 1948) is a Brazilian chess player. He was awarded the title International Master by FIDE in 1978. Van Riemsdijk was also granted the title of International Arbiter in 1981. Born in Tiel, the Netherla ...

for first in the World Senior Championship in the 65+ section. Balashov took the silver medal on tiebreak. In the 2018 edition he tied with Vlastimil Jansa for first and again took silver on tiebreak. Balashov represented the USSR in several team events. He played on the second board for the USSR team at the 1971, 1972, and 1974 World Student Team Championships, winning the second board individual gold in 1971, when he was an

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 ...

, with a score of 6½/8 points. Balashov played in four European Team Chess Championships, 1970, 1973, 1977, and 1980, winning the individual gold on the fifth board in 1977. At the

24th Chess Olympiad The 24th Chess Olympiad ( mt, L-24 Olimpijadi taċ-Ċess), organized by FIDE and comprising an openAlthough commonly referred to as the ''men's division'', this section is open to both male and female players. and a women's tournament, as well as ...

in 1980, he scored 7½/10 as the first board reserve to help the USSR team win the gold medal. Balashov played for team "Russia 1" which won the European Senior Team Championship in 2014. He also played for the gold medal-winning Russian team at the World Senior Team Championships in the 65+ section in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019.

Chess strength

In the 1970s and early 1980s he was one of the top 25 chess players in the world. According to Chessmetrics, at his peak in July 1977 Balashov's play was equivalent to a rating of 2715, and he was ranked number 11 in the world. His best single performance was at Moscow (URS Championship), 1976, where he scored 10½/16 possible points (66%) against 2688-rated opposition, for a

performance rating The PR (Performance Rating, P-rating) system was a figure of merit developed by AMD, Cyrix, IBM Microelectronics and SGS-Thomson in the mid-1990s (Cyrix announced it in February 1996) as a method of comparing their x86 processors to those of ri ...

of 2773.Moscow (URS Championship), 1976
. Chessmetrics.com. Retrieved on 2012-11-07.

Trainer

In 1992, he was

Boris Spassky Boris Vasilievich Spassky ( rus, Бори́с Васи́льевич Спа́сский, Borís Vasíl'yevich Spásskiy; born January 30, 1937) is a Russian chess grandmaster who was the tenth World Chess Champion, holding the title from 1969 ...

’s second in Yugoslavia during the "Revenge Match of the 20th century" against Bobby Fischer. In 2005 Balashov was awarded the title of

Senior Trainer.

Awards

Order of Friendship of Peoples The Order of Friendship of Peoples (russian: oрден Дружбы народов, translit=orden Druzhby narodov) was an order of the Soviet Union, and was awarded to persons (including non-citizens), organizations, enterprises, military unit ...

(1981)

Notable games

Yuri Balashov vs David Bronstein, Yerevan URS ch 1975, Spanish Game: Breyer Defense (C95), 1-0Evgeni Ellinovich Sveshnikov vs Yuri Balashov, Moscow URS ch 1976, French Defense: Euwe Variation (C02), 0-1Yuri Balashov vs Vasily Smyslov, Tilburg 1977, Spanish Game: Open Variations, Howell Attack (C81), 1-0Oleg Romanishin vs Yuri Balashov, Minsk URS ch 1979, Sicilian Defense: Paulsen Variation (B48), 0-1Khosro Sheik Harandi vs Yuri Balashov, Rio de Janeiro izt 1979, Sicilian Defense: Richter-Rauzer (B64), 0-1Anatoli Karpov vs Yuri Balashov, USSR 1980, Queen's Indian Defense: Kasparov Variation (E12), 0-1

Bibliography

References

External links

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Yury Balashov
at Chessmetrics {{DEFAULTSORT:Balashov, Yuri 1949 births Living people Chess grandmasters Russian chess players Soviet chess players Russian chess writers Chess Olympiad competitors Chess coaches Recipients of the Order of Friendship of Peoples Merited Coaches of the Soviet Union People from Shadrinsk Russian State University of Physical Education, Sport, Youth and Tourism, Department of Chess alumni