Mihai Suba

[Paul Heaton]

Those of a certain generation will remember GM Mihai Suba, who decamped to this country for a few years from his native Romania, before finally settling in Spain. He was a GM when the title was much rarer than today, and over 2500 when again much rarer.

As Bogdan Lalic has pointed out elsewhere, his FIDE rating is now 1983 - albeit for someone 76 this year.

[Joey Stewart]

Did he have some sort of illness that caused him to drop so low or is that just a result of playing too much in tournaments against underrated scrubs stealing his ratings points over many years?

[Tim Spanton]

Did he have some sort of illness that caused him to drop so low or is that just a result of playing too much in tournaments against underrated scrubs stealing his ratings points over many years?

Looking at his rating progress chart https://ratings.fide.com/profile/1203363/chart it seems to have been a fairly steady decline, albeit accelerating in the last few years

[Matt Mackenzie]

Well he was over 2400 as recently as mid-2014, so its a pretty precipitous decline from that point.

And that sort of drop can't really just be explained by un/under-rated opponents. Some sort of ill health?

Another curiosity about him is that he only started playing master level chess in his mid-20s - even back then that was pretty uncommon.

[James Plaskett]

He resides in the town of Alfas del Pi, which is about eighty miles due north of me and I play for their club too.
Yes, he did have some serious health scare circa 2014, I believe, necessitating a spell in hospital.
Haven´t seen him around for a few years.
He was rated comfortably above 2500 for several years and defeated many top GMs. His best games contain elements of genius and he even had a huge plus, quite possibly even missing a win, when playing board one for his country against Kasparov as black in a 4 g3 Nimzo in the 1984 Olympiad.

[Joey Stewart]

He resides in the town of Alfas del Pi, which is about eighty miles due north of me and I play for their club too.
Yes, he did have some serious health scare circa 2014, I believe, necessitating a spell in hospital.
Haven´t seen him around for a few years.
He was rated comfortably above 2500 for several years and defeated many top GMs. His best games contain elements of genius and he even had a huge plus, quite possibly even missing a win, when playing board one for his country against Kasparov as black in a 4 g3 Nimzo in the 1984 Olympiad.

That is an interesting bit of information and helps explain the rating drop as being though unnatural means rather then the broken system ruining it . And also surprising to find you live in Spain as I'm pretty sure I have never heard you speak any Spanish anywhere so the thought wouldn't have occurred.

[Matt Mackenzie]

Yes he was genuine GM strength at his best, a few *relatively* weak players got the title in that era but he wasn't one of them.

[Keith Arkell]

I think the introduction of the minimum rating of new GMs needing to be 2500, possibly as long ago as the late 70s, put a stop to 'relatively weak players' becoming GMs.

[Joey Stewart]

Now we have almost the opposite situation where relatively strong players are NOT becoming grand masters thanks to the rating system.

[Colin Patterson]

Another rating decline that is slightly baffling to me is that of Romain Edouard. Still only 32, he is currently playing at Hastings with an Elo of 2537, but was at his peak, 2702. I find that surprising, even if his recent focus has been more on authoring books.

Is it perhaps an example of some players being naturally gifted, while others can only reach the heights through constant hard work and high class prep?

[Tim Spanton]

Another rating decline that is slightly baffling to me is that of Romain Edouard. Still only 32, he is currently playing at Hastings with an Elo of 2537, but was at his peak, 2702. I find that surprising, even if his recent focus has been more on authoring books.

Is it perhaps an example of some players being naturally gifted, while others can only reach the heights through constant hard work and high class prep?

I wish I could be so weak

[Nick Burrows]

Another rating decline that is slightly baffling to me is that of Romain Edouard. Still only 32, he is currently playing at Hastings with an Elo of 2537, but was at his peak, 2702. I find that surprising, even if his recent focus has been more on authoring books.

Is it perhaps an example of some players being naturally gifted, while others can only reach the heights through constant hard work and high class prep?

I would guess it comes down to a relative decline in motivation. You work very hard and push for many years, realise you have peaked and motivation to do other things grows.

[Matt Mackenzie]

GM's falling from (say) 2650 at their peak to (say) 2500 in a fairly short time is far from unknown.

And yes, one suspects that motivation (or rather an absence of it) is often a factor in such cases.

But for a GM's rating to fall as low as Suba's has is very uncommon - even in old age.

[Matt Bridgeman]

GM's falling from (say) 2650 at their peak to (say) 2500 in a fairly short time is far from unknown.

And yes, one suspects that motivation (or rather an absence of it) is often a factor in such cases.

But for a GM's rating to fall as low as Suba's has is very uncommon - even in old age.

I spotted one at the Prague Open currently
- an IM down from 2400 to 1800; https://ratings.fide.com/profile/14101491/chart

[Matt Mackenzie]

Seems to have no games prior to 1990 when he had already turned 40, slightly curious.