Vasyl Ivanchuk

Vasyl Ivanchuk
Full name	Vasyl Mykhaylovych Ivanchuk
Country	Ukraine
Title	Grandmaster
FIDE rating	2739 (No. 12 on the November 2009 FIDE ratings list)
Peak rating	2787 (October 2007)

Vasyliy Ivanchuk, also transliterated as Vasyl ([Василь Михайлович Іванчук, Vasyl Mykhaylovych Ivanchuk] Error: {{Lang-xx}}: text has italic markup (help)) (born March 18, 1969), is a Ukrainian chess grandmaster.

Ivanchuk has been a leading player in the world since 1988, at times reaching the second spot on the Elo rating list, but has never won the World Chess Championship. Ivanchuk often has erratic results, and since 2007 his world ranking has ranged from twelveth to second, before dropping to 30th in July 2009.

He was the 2007-2008 World Blitz Chess champion.

Early years

Ivanchuk was born in Kopychyntsi, Ukraine. He first achieved international notice by winning the 1988 New York Open with 7.5/9, ahead of a field filled with Grandmasters. He tied for first place in the 1988 World Junior Chess Championship at Adelaide, but lost the title on tiebreak to Joel Lautier. He was awarded the Grandmaster title in 1988, and entered the world top 10 the same year.

Reaches world elite

Ivanchuk reached chess world fame at the age of 21 when he won the Linares tournament in 1991. Fourteen players participated, eight of them rated top-ten of the world, including World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov, while the rest were all among the world's top 50 players. It was a close call between Ivanchuk and Kasparov, but Ivanchuk won by half a point, and Ivanchuk defeated Kasparov in their individual game.

It was widely believed that Ivanchuk might become World Champion, but this has not yet happened, although he came close in 2002 when he reached the final of the FIDE World Chess Championship 2002. Even though he has been consistently among the top 10 since 1988, ranked as high as second on a few occasions, he is generally thought to have a poor temperament, often losing critical games.

Ivanchuk has also been unlucky in his treatment during the split in the world title from 1993 to 2006. Due to obligations with FIDE, Ivanchuk and Viswanathan Anand did not participate in the 2002 Dortmund Candidates tournament for the Classical World Chess Championship 2004. He was then narrowly excluded, on the basis of rating, from the rival FIDE World Chess Championship 2005.

Eccentric character

GM Ivanchuk

"Big Chucky", as Ivanchuk is called, has been described by Viswanathan Anand as the most eccentric player in the chess world. Anand, tongue-in-cheek, gave his view on Ivanchuk like this:

He's someone who is very intelligent ... but you never know which mood he is going to be in. Some days he will treat you like his long-lost brother. The next day he ignores you completely.

The players have a word for him. They say he lives on 'Planet Ivanchuk'. (Laughs) ... I have seen him totally drunk and singing Ukrainian poetry and then the next day I have seen him give an impressive talk.

For a while he was trying to learn Turkish. Don’t ask me why ... Every day is a surprise with him.

When he plays, Ivanchuk rarely looks at the board. Instead he stares at the ceiling and at the walls with a blank stare (although this is not uncommon with top players who calculate without looking at the board). His playing style is unpredictable and highly original, making him a threat to any chess player, although it sometimes also leads to quick losses.

Notable tournament victories

• Lvov 1987 11.5/17 1st
• New York Open 1988 1st
• Debrecen 1988 10 8/11 1st
• Linares 1989 7/10 1st
• Yerevan 1989 8,5/11 1st
• Biel 1989 9/14 1-2
• Tilburg 1990 8.5/14 1-2
• Linares 1991 9.5/13 1st
• Reykjavik 10,5/15 1-2
• Muenchen 1994 7.5/11 1st
• Linares 1995 10/13 1st
• Horgen GER 1995 7/10 1-2
• Wijk aan Zee 1996 9/13 1st
• Belgrade 1997 6/9 1-2
• Talin 2000 6/7 1st
• Montecatini Terme 2000 5/7 1st
• Malmoe 2003 13 7/9 1st
• European Individual Chess Championship 2004
• La Habana 2005 9.5/12 1st
• Barcelona 2005 4/5 1-2
• Canadian Open Chess Championship 2005 Joint 1st
• Talin 2006 7/9 1-3
• Odessa 2006 7/9 1st
• Merida 2006 1st
• Odessa 2007 7/9 1st
• La Habana 2007 7.5/9 1st
• Foros 2007 7.5/11 1st
• FIDE World Blitz Chess Champion 2007
• Montreal International 2007
• M-Tel Masters Sofia 2008 8/10 2008 1st
• Tal Memorial Moscow 2008 6/9 1st
• Tal Memorial(Blitz) Moscow 2008 1st
• Linares 2009 8/14 Joint 1st (Alexander Grischuk declared winner because of higher number of wins)
• Bazna 2009 7/10 1st
• Jermuk 2009 8.5/13 1st

Team chess performances

Ivanchuk has often been at his best in international team competitions. He has played in eleven chess Chess Olympiads, twice for the Soviet Union (1988 and 1990), and nine times for Ukraine, after the Soviet Union split up in 1991. He has won a total of ten medals, and has been on three gold-medal winning teams (USSR in 1988 and 1990, Ukraine in 2004). In 133 games, Ivanchuk has scored (+50 =77 -6), for 66.5 per cent. His detailed Olympiad records, from the site http://www.olimpbase.org/players/oeo8eigf.html, follow.

• Thessaloniki 1988, USSR 2nd reserve, 6.5/9 (+4 =5 -0), team gold;
• Novi Sad 1990, USSR board 1, 7/10 (+5 =4 -1), team gold, board bronze;
• Manila 1992, Ukraine board 1, 8.5/13 (+6 =5 -1);
• Moscow 1994, Ukraine board 1, 9.5/14 (+5 =9 -0);
• Yerevan 1996, Ukraine board 1, 8.5/11 (+6 =5 -0), team silver, board silver, perf. bronze;
• Elista 1998, Ukraine board 1, 7/11 (+3 =8 -0), team bronze;
• Istanbul 2000, Ukraine board 1, 9/14 (+4 =10 -0), team bronze;
• Bled 2002, Ukraine board 2, 9/14 (+4 =10 -0);
• Calvià 2004, Ukraine board 1, 9.5/13 (+6 =7 -0), team gold, board bronze;
• Turin 2006, Ukraine board 1, 8/13 (+4 =8 -1);
• Dresden 2008, Ukraine board 1, 6/11 (+3 =6 -2).

Doping test controversy

Ivanchuk was playing on board 1 for the Ukraine in the 2008 Chess Olympiad held in Dresden. Going into the last round Ukraine was second and had decent chances placing 1 and only a strong loss against a 10th seeded USA would leave them without a medal. Ivanchuk was chosen to be tested for illegal substances in his system immediately after the last round.

In a major upset, USA defeated Ukraine 3.5 to 0.5 with Ivanchuk losing his game against GM Gata Kamsky, causing Ukraine to fall to fourth and miss out on a medal. He was in such a distraught state after the game that he was seen "kicking a large concrete pillar" with such fury that bystanders were surprised he did not break any toes. When the officials tried to get Ivanchuk to participate in the doping control, he refused and stormed out. Missing the test is equivalent to being tested positive under the rules and could result in a 2-year ban for Ivanchuk. It remains to be seen as to how effective such a ban would be as many major tournaments are not under the control of FIDE and would likely still invite Ivanchuk.

Under FIDE rules, a player found guilty of doping charges automatically forfeits all his or her games in the event concerned. This had previously happened to two amateur players who refused doping tests in the 2004 Chess Olympiad in Majorca. There was speculation that if this rule were applied to Ivanchuk, it would result in the USA's bronze medal being stripped and awarded to Hungary, but this did not happen.

Ivanchuk was eventually found innocent of the charges, on the basis that he was not informed of the need for the doping test beforehand by a Doping Control Officer, in accordance with correct FIDE procedure, and that in his distraught frame of mind, he had not fully understood the arbiter's request.

External links

• Vassily Ivanchuk rating card at FIDE
• Vasyl Ivanchuk player profile and games at Chessgames.com
• Rating data
• Interview with Vassily Ivanchuk