Maxim Alexandrovich Dlugy (born January 29, 1966) is an American

chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

player with the FIDE title of Grandmaster. He was born in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, USSR, and arrived with his family in the United States in 1977. 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 1982. He won the

World Junior Chess Championship The World Junior Chess Championship is an under-20 chess tournament (players must have been under 20 years old on 1 January in the year of competition) organized by the World Chess Federation (FIDE). The idea was the brainchild of William Rits ...

in 1985. He was awarded the Grandmaster title in 1986 for his result at the World

Chess Olympiad 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 FIDE Onli ...

in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. At this event, he played on the U.S. team, which was in first place going into the last round. Always a strong speed chess player, Dlugy was formerly ranked number one in the world by the World Blitz Chess Association.

Chess career

In 1984, he finished 3rd in the U.S. Chess Championship. He was 2nd in New York 1985, 2nd in Clichy 1986–87 and 3rd in the 1987 U.S. Chess Championship. He graduated from the

Dalton School The Dalton School, originally the Children's University School, is a private, coeducational college preparatory school in New York City and a member of both the Ivy Preparatory School League and the New York Interschool. The school is located in ...

in New York City in 1984. He was elected president of the

United States Chess Federation The United States Chess Federation (also known as US Chess or USCF) is the governing body for chess competition in the United States and represents the U.S. in FIDE, The World Chess Federation (FIDE). USCF administers the official national Chess ...

in 1990. Dlugy was the first chess grandmaster hired by

IBM International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...

to work on the Deep Blue chess computer project, in 1990. In March 2006, after returning to the U.S., Dlugy received a special invitation to play in the U.S. Chess Championship in

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

, California. He achieved a plus score. Dlugy was one of the campaign managers along with

Garry Kasparov Garry Kimovich Kasparov (born Garik Kimovich Weinstein on 13 April 1963) is a Russian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster, former World Chess Champion (1985–2000), political activist and writer. His peak FIDE chess Elo rating system, ra ...

for

Anatoly Karpov Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov (, ; born May 23, 1951) is a Russian and former Soviet Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster, former World Chess Championship, World Chess Champion, ⁣and politician. He was the 12th World Chess Champion from 1975 ...

when he ran for

FIDE The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( , ), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national chess federations and acts as the Spor ...

President in

Khanty-Mansiysk Khanty-Mansiysk (, lit. ''Khanty-Mansi Town''; Khanty: , ''Jomvoćś''; Mansi: , ''Abga'') is a city in west-central Russia. Technically, it is situated on the eastern bank of the Irtysh River, from its confluence with the Ob, in the oil-ri ...

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

, in 2010. Dlugy operates Chess Max Academy, a chess school with locations in New York City and Connecticut.

Cheating allegations

In 2013, Dlugy helped investigate a cheating scandal involving Bulgarian FM

Borislav Ivanov Borislav Krastev Ivanov (; born 21 December 1987) is a Bulgarian chess player. During 2012 and 2013 his results improved significantly, and he beat several grandmasters. This led to cheating accusations against him, and he was subsequently bann ...

, who according to Dlugy was using a device in his shoe that signaled him what moves to make. Ivanov was subsequently banned by the Bulgarian Chess Federation. On two separate occasions in 2017 and 2020, Dlugy was suspected of, and later admitted to, having cheated himself in a Titled Tuesday online tournament run by Chess.com. The incident received renewed attention after

Magnus Carlsen Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen (born 30 November 1990) is a Norwegian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster. Carlsen is a five-time World Chess Championship, World Chess Champion, five-time World Rapid Chess Championship, World Rapid Chess Champio ...

referenced it during the Carlsen–Niemann controversy, claiming that Dlugy had previously served as a coach of Hans Niemann. Later, Vice published an article where Chess.com released e-mails showing that Dlugy had confessed to cheating multiple times on Chess.com and had to be banned entirely from all events with cash prizes. On October 10, 2022, Dlugy made a lengthy statement denying that he had done any actual cheating, defending Niemann, and denying any involvement with Niemann's game.

Personal life

Dlugy worked on

Wall Street Wall Street is a street in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs eight city blocks between Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway in the west and South Street (Manhattan), South Str ...

. He became a principal of the Russian Growth Fund, a hedge fund. Former world chess champion

was formerly associated with Dlugy's Russian Growth Fund. Dlugy was imprisoned in Russia in April 2005 on charges of

embezzlement Embezzlement (from Anglo-Norman, from Old French ''besillier'' ("to torment, etc."), of unknown origin) is a type of financial crime, usually involving theft of money from a business or employer. It often involves a trusted individual taking ...

, but he was acquitted and freed later that year.

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dlugy, Maxim 1966 births Living people American chess players Russian chess players Jewish chess players Chess Grandmasters Chess officials World Junior Chess Champions American people of Russian-Jewish descent Soviet emigrants to the United States Russian Jews Dalton School alumni Chess players from Moscow Chess Olympiad competitors