Igor Zaitsev

Igor Arkadyevitch Zaitsev (Russian Игорь Аркадевич Зайцев, scientific transliteration Igor ' Arkadevič Zajcev; born May 27, 1938 in Ramenskoje ) is a Russian chess master.

Zaitsev won the 1969 Championship of Moscow, was a year later and got an International Master in 1976 by FIDE awarded the title of Grand Master. He was coach of former world champion Anatoly Karpov, whom he assisted in his world title fight in 1985 against Garry Kasparov, together with Efim Geller as Sekundant. His Elo rating is 2408 (as of September 2011).

In 2011 he was appointed head coach of the Central Chess Club in Moscow.

Contributions to opening theory

Zaitsev was a leading theoretician opening during his active career. According to him, a number of openings are named. In the Ruy Lopez 1 e2- e4 e7 - e5 2 Sg1 -f3 Sb8 - c6 3 Lf1 - b5 is in the closed Defence 3 ... a6 a7 - 4 Bb5 -a4 Ng8 - f6 5 0-0 BF8 e7 - 6 Tf1 - b7 - b5 e1 7 La4 -b3 d6 d7 - 8 c2 - c3 0-0 9 h3 h2 the train 9 ... Bc8 - b7 as Flohr - Zaitsev variation ( ECO code C92 ) referred.

In the open defense of the Ruy Lopez 3 ... a6 a7 - 4 Bb5 -a4 Ng8 - f6 5 0-0 Sf6xe4 ( C80 ) discovered Zaitsev after 6 d2 -d4 b7 - b5 -b3 7 La4 d7 -d5 8. d4xe5 Bc8 - e6 9 Nb1 -d2 Ne4 - c5 10 c2 c3 d5 -d4, the knight sacrifice 11 Nf3 - g5. With this train Karpov could surprise at the Chess World Cup 1978 Viktor Korchnoi, and Kasparov win in the World Chess Championship 1995 against Viswanathan Anand.

Against the Volga - Benko Gambit 1 d2 -d4 Ng8 - f6 2 c2 - c4 c7 - c5 3 d4 -d5 b7 - b5 is after 4 a7 - a6 cxb5 the train 5 Nb1 - c3 ( A57 ) to Zaitsev named. In 1974, Zaitsev proven in Tournament of Solnak this idea for the first time against the inventor Gambit Pál Benkő, the game had to give up but after 26 moves.