Vladimir Simagin
Vladimir Pavlovich Simagin (Russian: Владимир Павлович Симагин, scientific transliteration Vladimir ' Pavlovich Simagin; born June 21, 1919 in Moscow, † September 25, 1968 in Kislovodsk ) was a Russian- Soviet chess player.
He was considered one of the strongest players of Moscow and achieved good results in the city championships in 1946, he finished second behind David Bronstein, 1947 tied for first with Bronstein and Rawinski ( Simagin became champion after Tie ), 1956 Second after Tie against Tigran Petrosian and 1959 sole winner. When cities Moscow competition against Budapest 1949, he achieved a very good result with 12 points from 16 matches. Between 1951 and 1965 he took part in seven USSR Championships.
Simagin got in 1950 by the World Chess Federation FIDE the title of International Master in 1962 and awarded a Grand Master. One of his biggest international successes include second place in 1963 in Sarajevo, winning the tournament in Sochi 1967. Middle of the 20th century was Simagin Sekundant the former world chess champion Vasily Smyslov.
Simagin also played successfully correspondence chess. He took in 1948 at the first Correspondence Chess Championship of the USSR part and arrived there on the shared second place, where he missed the tournament victory only by a serious error. From disappointment he retired for some years from correspondence chess and then played again until 1964 at the 6th USSR Correspondence Chess Championship, which he won in 17 games before the later correspondence chess world champion Grigory Sanakoev with 13 points. At the 7th USSR Correspondence Chess Championship he narrowly failed to defend the title and was ranked 2nd 1965, the ICCF International Master title was awarded in correspondence chess it. He qualified for the final of 6 Correspondence Chess World Championship, but died tragically in 1968 during a chess tournament in Kislovodsk after a heart attack.
After Simagin some variants are designated by chess openings, such as the Simagin variant in Maroczy structure of the Sicilian Defense ( 7 ... Ng8 - h6) or in the classic Grünfeld ( 8 ... b7 - b6).
His best historical Elo rating was 2650 in October 1949, that he was ranked 22 in the world rankings.
Game example
In this position, the Dragon Variation Simagin played the exchange sacrifice 12 ... Bg7 - h8. This train is characteristic of the modern, dynamic understanding of chess, but at that time he looked like a " bolt from the blue ". Black sacrifices material, but gets to the valuable runner and gained in consequence good game on the black squares. Simagin won the game by attacking the white castling position by the other trains 13.Lxf8 Dxf8 14.Sd4 Bc4 15.g5 Ne5 18.f4 17.Kb1 Sfd7 16.Lh3 e6 Nf3 d5 19.Sxf3 Bxc3 20.bxc3 21.Dc1 Sa4 22.exd5 Lxa2 23.Ka1 Dc5 24.dxe6 Sxc3 25.Td4 Lxe6 26.Lxe6 fxe6 27.Ta4 Sxa4 28.c4 Rd8 29.Ka2 Db4 30.Te1 Td3 31.Txe6 Sc3 0-1