When did Lev Polugaevsky Learn Chess?

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Joshua Gibbs

When did Lev Polugaevsky Learn Chess?

Post by Joshua Gibbs » Mon Aug 15, 2016 11:42 pm

A friend of mine in the states has just told me that (Lev) Polugaevsky learnt chess when he was very old and that he entered the worlds top ten when he was 40.

I discounted this off hand (even though the guy who told me it is about 2400) and then googled

Wikipedia states "Unlike many of his grandmaster colleagues, his development in chess came slowly, and he did not receive even the Soviet master title until he was an adult. " , but gives no reference.

Can anyone give me a link to state or distate that

1 he learnt the game as an adult/very old
2 He entered the worlds top ten at 40
3 he got the soviet title as an adult

Edit i just looked at russian wiki and it said he learnt it aged 7
Родился в Могилёве 20 ноября 1934 года. С началом Великой Отечественной войны семья Полугаевских эвакуировалась в Куйбышев (Самару), где юный Лёва с семи лет заинтересовался шахматами.

however even this isnt footnoted.

Roger de Coverly
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Re: When did Lev Polugaevsky Learn Chess?

Post by Roger de Coverly » Mon Aug 15, 2016 11:57 pm

Joshua Gibbs wrote:A friend of mine in the states has just told me that (Lev) Polugaevsky learnt chess when he was very old and that he entered the worlds top ten when he was 40.
He was born in 1934 which makes him 40 in 1974. I'm not sure about world top 10, but the variation named after him was around in the 1960s. Fischer had demolished and discredited many of the earlier generations of Soviet superstars, so there were vacancies.

He's first on record as playing in top class tournaments in the Soviet Union in 1953/1954, so he was a strong player at the age of 19/20. When he learned chess isn't recorded, but it was presumably in his teens at least. Only by current day standards would that count as "very old".

As well as the top ten or so who were allowed to play in the West and become better known, the Soviet Union in the 1950s and 1960s had numerous players who would have seriously challenged leading Western players had they been allowed to play them.

Joshua Gibbs

Re: When did Lev Polugaevsky Learn Chess?

Post by Joshua Gibbs » Tue Aug 16, 2016 12:00 am

Roger de Coverly wrote:
Joshua Gibbs wrote:A friend of mine in the states has just told me that (Lev) Polugaevsky learnt chess when he was very old and that he entered the worlds top ten when he was 40.
He was born in 1934 which makes him 40 in 1974. I'm not sure about world top 10, but the variation named after him was around in the 1960s. Fischer had demolished and discredited many of the earlier generations of Soviet superstars, so there were vacancies.

He's first on record as playing in top class tournaments in the Soviet Union in 1953/1954, so he was a strong player at the age of 19/20. When he learned chess isn't recorded, but it was presumably in his teens at least. Only by current day standards would that count as "very old".

As well as the top ten or so who were allowed to play in the West and become better known, the Soviet Union in the 1950s and 1960s had numerous players who would have seriously challenged leading Western players had they been allowed to play them.
Thanks for replying Roger, but where did you get your info?
I dunno if you read above but i edited it to say russian wikipedia said he learnt chess aged 7. i shall ask my friend where he got the info.

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Re: When did Lev Polugaevsky Learn Chess?

Post by Roger de Coverly » Tue Aug 16, 2016 12:17 am

Joshua Gibbs wrote: Thanks for replying Roger, but where did you get your info?
I was around in 1974. But beyond that, I looked up his date of birth on wiki and then searched for his games. The first ones that come up were in 1953/1954 but they are in the prestige Soviet tournaments against the established players.

He may well have learned chess aged 7 given the educational policies of the Soviet Union. He didn't play in any events where the results were recorded for posterity until he was of university age.

By contrast Leonard Stein was also born in 1934, but was Soviet champion three times before his death in 1973, shortly before he was due to play in the UK in the European Team Championships. The first games of his are dated from 1955. So the same comment applies.

Both Stein and Polugaevsky made the Soviet team that played in the 1966 Olympiad.

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IM Jack Rudd
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Re: When did Lev Polugaevsky Learn Chess?

Post by IM Jack Rudd » Tue Aug 16, 2016 12:40 am

Bear in mind that the world's top ten isn't well-defined until about 1970 or so.

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Re: When did Lev Polugaevsky Learn Chess?

Post by Roger de Coverly » Tue Aug 16, 2016 1:01 am

IM Jack Rudd wrote:Bear in mind that the world's top ten isn't well-defined until about 1970 or so.
Professor Elo ranked him at number 10 in 1968 (8th in the USSR)

http://www.olimpbase.org/Elo/data/Elo1968.pdf

2610, 100 points behind Fischer at 2710.

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Re: When did Lev Polugaevsky Learn Chess?

Post by John Moore » Tue Aug 16, 2016 7:23 am

Polugaevsky's first appearance in the Soviet Championship was in the 23rd such event in January/February 1956 when he would have been 21. He came equal 5th, level with Tal (also in his first Championship appearance) and Kholmov. So whilst he may not have been a child prodigy, he was certainly a strong player at a relatively young age because he would have needed to go through the Championship qualification tournaments of quarter and semi-finals in the previous year.

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Re: When did Lev Polugaevsky Learn Chess?

Post by Colin Patterson » Tue Aug 16, 2016 12:25 pm

The only really good interview I ever found with Polugaevsky was in the book 'Sicilian Love'. There he talks at length about his early life, dodging German air raids in Mogilev in 1941 and escaping on the last train to Kuybishev (which also was bombed along the way). It's a very nice interview ... no-one in his family played chess or encouraged him, but is father later developed an interest to keep in touch with his son's achievements.

Regarding his earliest chess experiences, he says he was "about 10 years old" and he learned at the Kuybishev Pioneer Palace. It was a chance encounter - he walked into the Palace on the first occasion, armed with many interests, including maths and geography and everything was catered for there. He randomly opened the first door on the left and decided whatever it was, he would give it a go! Chess!

As others have said, he was a very strong player in 1953 (2nd at the RSFSR Championship, Saratov), and already a first category player by 1948, but he was pushed towards engineering by his family, and wrestled with the two options until 1973, when he finally decided to become a chess professional. Much later than many would have imagined.

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Re: When did Lev Polugaevsky Learn Chess?

Post by Jonathan Bryant » Tue Aug 16, 2016 6:58 pm

Spassky:
"The first time I saw Lyova was in Leningrad at the junior championships in 1949. I was twelve, and Lyova was a couple of years older."

That’s taken from the chapter on Polugaevsky in Sosonko’s Russian Silhouettes

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John Upham
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Re: When did Lev Polugaevsky Learn Chess?

Post by John Upham » Tue Aug 16, 2016 10:08 pm

LP was born 20th November 1934.

Game number 94944 from MegaBase 2014 is:

[Event "URS-chT U20"]
[Site "Leningrad "]
[Date "1951.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Polugaevsky, Lev"]
[Black "Zilber, Israel"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C45"]
[Annotator "Upham,John"]
[PlyCount "39"]
[EventDate "1951.??.??"]
[EventType "team-tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "URS"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.26"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nxc6 bxc6 6. e5 Ne4 (6... Qe7) 7.
Qf3 Nc5 8. Bc4 Ne6 9. O-O $32 Qh4 10. Nd2 Bc5 11. Ne4 Qe7 $6 (11... O-O) 12.
Bxe6 $1 fxe6 13. Qh5+ $1 g6 14. Qh3 $40 {[%csl Rf6,Rg5,Rh6]} h5 15. Qg3 {[%csl
Rg6]} Kf7 16. Bg5 Qf8 17. Qf3+ Kg8 18. Nxc5 Qxc5 19. Qf6 Qxc2 $2 20. Qd8+ 1-0

I would expect earlier games to exist somewhere.
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Roger de Coverly
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Re: When did Lev Polugaevsky Learn Chess?

Post by Roger de Coverly » Wed Aug 17, 2016 2:03 am

Joshua Gibbs wrote:A friend of mine in the states has just told me that (Lev) Polugaevsky learnt chess when he was very old and that he entered the worlds top ten when he was 40.
Going back to the original question, it appears that he learned at a young age, similar to many of his USSR contemporaries. State support of chess in the former Soviet Union blurred the distinction between amateur and professional, but it appears he mostly "played as an amateur" until after the 1972 Fischer match had changed all the ground rules. This accounts for his relatively late emergence as a serious challenger in world title events.

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Re: When did Lev Polugaevsky Learn Chess?

Post by AustinElliott » Wed Aug 17, 2016 3:26 pm

John Upham wrote:LP was born 20th November 1934.

Game number 94944 from MegaBase 2014 is:

[Event "URS-chT U20"]
[Site "Leningrad "]
[Date "1951.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Polugaevsky, Lev"]
[Black "Zilber, Israel"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C45"]
[Annotator "Upham,John"]
[PlyCount "39"]
[EventDate "1951.??.??"]
[EventType "team-tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "URS"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.26"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nxc6 bxc6 6. e5 Ne4 (6... Qe7) 7.
Qf3 Nc5 8. Bc4 Ne6 9. O-O $32 Qh4 10. Nd2 Bc5 11. Ne4 Qe7 $6 (11... O-O) 12.
Bxe6 $1 fxe6 13. Qh5+ $1 g6 14. Qh3 $40 {[%csl Rf6,Rg5,Rh6]} h5 15. Qg3 {[%csl
Rg6]} Kf7 16. Bg5 Qf8 17. Qf3+ Kg8 18. Nxc5 Qxc5 19. Qf6 Qxc2 $2 20. Qd8+ 1-0

I would expect earlier games to exist somewhere.
Interesting. This is, I guess, the same Israel Zilber who features in "Searching For Bobby Fischer" as the homeless chess king of Washington Square Park in the 1980s, and who had beaten the young Tal in a Latvian tournament in the early 50s.

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Matt Mackenzie
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Re: When did Lev Polugaevsky Learn Chess?

Post by Matt Mackenzie » Wed Aug 17, 2016 4:01 pm

Also played in the Hastings Premier in 1979/80 (classified as an Israel player then IIRC)
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Re: When did Lev Polugaevsky Learn Chess?

Post by Simon Brown » Wed Aug 17, 2016 4:47 pm

I played Zilber in a tournament in Paris in February 1980, as I think did Andrew Martin. An unusual character, to say the least.

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