Ilya Smirin

Ilya Smirin
Full name	Илья Смирин
Country	Israel
Title	Grandmaster
FIDE rating	2649 (No. 64 on the July 2007 FIDE ratings list)
Peak rating	2702 (July 2001)

Ilya (or Ilia) Yulievich Smirin (Hebrew: איליה יוליביץ' סמירין; Russian: Илья Юльевич Смирин; born January 21, 1968, in Belarus) is a Soviet-Israeli chess grandmaster.

As of April 2007, his Elo rating was 2650, making him the 59th-highest rated player in the world.[1]. Smirin's peak rating was 2702 in July 2001, making him one of the elite few grandmasters to achieve a 2700+ rating.

Smirin's chess career began in the Soviet Union.

Smirin earned a diploma from the Belorussian State Institute of Physical Culture, Minsk, certifying him as a Chess Teacher-Trainer.[2]

In 1992 he emigrated to Israel, and has since been one of the leading Israeli players at Chess Olympiads and other international events. He is a member of the Ashdod chess club and the Israel national team.

Smirin's tournament successes include equal first places at Sverdlovsk 1987, New York 1994, and the 2002 Israeli Championship.

He has also won the first league of the USSR Championship (1987, 1989), the Israel Championship (1992 ,1994, 1999), and the qualifying tournaments for the 1994 and 1995 PCA World Grand Prix. In 2000 he won the prestigious NY Open[3] and Dos Hermanas 2001.[4]

Here Smirin, as Black, outplays the reigning World Champion:

Kramnik-Smirin, Russia (USSR) vs Rest of the World, Moscow 2002[5] 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 O-O 6.Be2 e5 7.O-O Nc6 8.d5 Ne7 9.b4 Nh5 10.Re1 a5 11.bxa5 f5 12.Nd2 Nf6 13.c5 Rxa5 14.cxd6 cxd6 15.a4 Bh6 16.Ba3 Bxd2 17.Qxd2 fxe4 18.Bb5 Bf5 19.h3 Ra8 20.g4 Bc8 21.Nxe4 Nxe4 22.Rxe4 Bd7 23.Bf1 Bxa4 24.Bb4 b5 25.Ra3 Rc8 26.Rc3 Qb6 27.Bg2 Rxc3 28.Bxc3 Bb3 29.Re1 Bc4 30.Ba5 Qb7 31.Rd1 Rf4 32.Bc3 Bb3 33.Bxe5 dxe5 34.d6 Qd7 35.Rc1 Bc4 36.Qb4 Nc8 37.Qc5 Nxd6 38.Qxe5 Rf8 39.Rd1 Nf7 0-1

External links

• Ilya Smirin player profile and games at Chessgames.com
• Ilia Smirin rating card at FIDE