Alexander Beliavsky
Notable Games

Alexander Beliavsky

15 celebrated games · 1483 in the full archive
Player Index ◈ Biography 1483 CURATED GAMES

Notable Games

  • 1973.08.04 Beliavsky, Alexander G vsMarjanovic, Slavoljub 1-0 Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation 63 moves World U20-ch12 Final A From the championship pool of the 1973 World Junior Championship at Teesside — the title the nineteen-year-old Beliavsky won to announce himself to the world: a Najdorf Sicilian against Slavoljub Marjanović squeezed with patience and precision into a winning king-and-pawn ending.
  • 1974.12.20 Tal, Mikhail vsBeliavsky, Alexander G 0-1 Tarrasch Defense: Symmetrical Variation 40 moves URS-ch42 Final The 42nd Soviet Championship, 1974 — the title Beliavsky shared with Mikhail Tal himself. Here he beats his eventual co-champion, the former World Champion, with the black pieces, weathering Tal's 15.Bxh7+ bishop sacrifice and converting the extra material to the full point.
  • 1975.07 Spassky, Boris Vasilievich vsBeliavsky, Alexander G 0-1 Grünfeld Defense: Exchange Variation, Spassky Variation 54 moves URS-chT Republics 13th final A A Black win over former World Champion Boris Spassky in the Exchange Grünfeld — fittingly in the very variation that carries Spassky's name — from the 1975 Soviet Team Championship, the initiative kept alive from the opening and ground out through a rook endgame.
  • 1976.05.23 Beliavsky, Alexander G vsAndersson, Ulf 1-0 Sicilian Defense: Scheveningen Variation, Modern Variation 32 moves Capablanca Memorial-13 Group A Capablanca Memorial 1976: a direct kingside attack against the famously impregnable Ulf Andersson, the f4–f5 break (16.f5, 18.Nf5) prising open a Scheveningen Sicilian before the white knights swarm in for the win.
  • 1977.06.30 Karpov, Anatoly vsBeliavsky, Alexander G 0-1 Ruy Lopez: Open, St. Petersburg Variation 39 moves October Revolution 60years One of Beliavsky's most prized scalps: defeating the reigning World Champion Anatoly Karpov with the black pieces, in the Open Ruy Lopez, at the 1977 tournament marking the 60th anniversary of the October Revolution.
  • 1978 Beliavsky, Alexander G vsPetrosian, Tigran V 1-0 Queen's Indian Defense: Classical Variation, Traditional Variation, Main Line 39 moves Vilnius Vilnius 1978: breaking down the legendary prophylaxis of former World Champion Tigran Petrosian in a Queen's Indian, the h4–h5–h6 pawn thrust and the d5–d6 wedge cracking open Black's fortress.
  • 1979.12 Beliavsky, Alexander G vsKasparov, Garry 1-0 Benoni Defense: Classical Variation, Main Line 35 moves URS-ch47 Final Schooling a sixteen-year-old Garry Kasparov at the 47th Soviet Championship, 1979 — the future World Champion's Classical Benoni met with cool positional play and a superior endgame.
  • 1981.10.07 Beliavsky, Alexander G vsLarsen, Bent 1-0 Caro-Kann Defense: Classical Variation, Spassky Variation 23 moves Interpolis-05 The showpiece of Beliavsky's tournament victory at Tilburg 1981 and often called his finest attacking game: a Caro-Kann against Bent Larsen lit up by the knight offers 15.Ng6 and 16.Nf5 and the sacrifice 20.Rxe6+, a 23-move king hunt to the bare king.
  • 1981.10.16 Beliavsky, Alexander G vsTimman, Jan H 1-0 Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation, Poisoned Pawn Accepted 34 moves Interpolis-05 Also from his triumphant Tilburg 1981: taking the White side of the sharpest line in all of chess — the Najdorf Poisoned Pawn — and outgunning Jan Timman in the resulting complications (10.f5, 22.Rxf6).
  • 1983.04.12 Beliavsky, Alexander G vsGeller, Efim P 1-0 Queen's Gambit Declined: Charousek Variation 29 moves URS-ch50 Final The 50th Soviet Championship, 1983: a ferocious kingside pawn-storm (7.g4, 8.h4–h5) against the veteran Efim Geller in a Queen's Gambit Declined, the blows 23.Rxe6 and 28.Bxh7+ forcing resignation in 29 moves.
  • 1986 Smyslov, Vasily V vsBeliavsky, Alexander G 0-1 Dutch Defense: Queen's Knight Variation 21 moves Sochi Chigorin Memorial A 21-move demolition of former World Champion Vasily Smyslov, with the black pieces, at the 1986 Chigorin Memorial in Sochi: Beliavsky meets Smyslov's early queen raid in the Dutch with 9…Qa5 and 10…b5, and after 17…b3 a mating net snaps shut around the white king.
  • 1992 Beliavsky, Alexander G vsGelfand, Boris 1-0 Slav Defense: Winawer Countergambit 24 moves Linares 10th Linares 1992: meeting Boris Gelfand's aggressive Winawer Countergambit in the Slav head-on, Beliavsky returns the sacrificed material for a raging initiative (18.e6, 19.e7) and mates in 24 moves (24.Rxg6).
  • 1993 Beliavsky, Alexander G vsAnand, Viswanathan 1-0 Queen's Gambit Accepted: Linares Variation 45 moves Linares 11th Linares 1993 — aptly in the Queen's Gambit Accepted line that bears the tournament's name: a wild fight against Viswanathan Anand, the future undisputed World Champion, where a cascade of pawn promotions on both wings (36…d1=Q, 39.b8=Q, 40.cxb8=Q+) leaves Beliavsky on top.
  • 1993 Kramnik, Vladimir vsBeliavsky, Alexander G 0-1 English Opening: King's English Variation, Four Knights Variation, Flexible Line 81 moves Groningen PCA Groningen 1993: a Black win over the eighteen-year-old Vladimir Kramnik, another future World Champion, in a King's English — Beliavsky wins the queens off with 18…Nxe3 and grinds the resulting endgame for 81 moves with the technique that made him so hard to beat.
  • 2006.08.28 Carlsen, Magnus vsBeliavsky, Alexander G 0-1 Ruy Lopez: Closed, Martinez Variation 56 moves Amsterdam NH Hotels 1st Three decades after beating Tal, Beliavsky completes his set: with the black pieces he outplays a fifteen-year-old Magnus Carlsen at the 2006 NH Hotels tournament in Amsterdam — the last of the nine undisputed World Champions, from Smyslov to Carlsen and all but Fischer, to fall to him.
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