Igor Bondarevsky
Notable Games

Igor Bondarevsky

16 celebrated games · 161 in the full archive
Player Index ◈ Biography 161 CURATED GAMES

Notable Games

  • 1936 Kotov, Alexander vsBondarevsky, Igor Tsakharovich 0-1 Dutch Defense: Stonewall Variation, Modern Variation 27 moves All Union 1st Category Tournament Gr1 All-Union first-category tournament 1936, the earliest game in the archive and one of the finest in it. Bondarevsky plays a Stonewall Dutch against Alexander Kotov — later a Candidate and the author of *Think Like a Grandmaster* — and hunts the white king down the board: 17...Nxg3 18.hxg5 Qh2+ 19.Kf2 Rh4 20.Rg1 Rxd4, then 22...Ne4+ 23.Ke3 f4+ 24.Nxf4 Qf2+ 25.Kd3 Qxd4+ 26.Kxd4 Bc5+ 27.Kd3 Nxe5 mate.
  • 1937.04.13 Bondarevsky, Igor Tsakharovich vsKasparian, Genrikh Moiseevich 1-0 Sicilian Defense: McDonnell Attack 24 moves URS-ch10 Final USSR Championship final 1937 against Genrikh Kasparian, the great study composer and himself a study player in this archive. Twenty-four moves: 9.Bxf7+ Nxf7 10.Qxg4 wins the bishop back with interest, and the knight on d5 does the rest — 16.Nf6+, 18.Nd5+, and finally 22.Qe6+ Kd8 23.Qxd6+ Ke8 24.Nc7+.
  • 1937 Lilienthal, Andor vsBondarevsky, Igor Tsakharovich 0-1 French Defense: McCutcheon Variation, Lasker Variation 23 moves Moscow Moscow 1937 with Black against Andor Lilienthal — three years before the two of them shared first place in the USSR Championship. A McCutcheon French in twenty-three moves: 16...Qb4+ 17.Ke2 drives the king out, and 20...Nxd4+ 21.Nxd4 Qxd4 22.exf6 Qxg4+ collects queen and centre together.
  • 1939.01.31 Bondarevsky, Igor Tsakharovich vsSmyslov, Vasily V 1-0 King's Indian Defense: Sämisch Variation, Orthodox Variation 26 moves Leningrad & Moscow Leningrad–Moscow 1939 against a seventeen-year-old Vasily Smyslov, fourteen years from the world title. A Sämisch King's Indian: 9.h4 and 11.h5 open the h-file before Black is ready, 13.Bh6 trades the defender off, and after 23.Rxg6 the kingside is gone.
  • 1940.09.05 Bondarevsky, Igor Tsakharovich vsBotvinnik, Mikhail 1-0 Nimzo-Indian Defense: Sämisch Variation 38 moves URS-ch12 Final USSR Championship final 1940 — Bondarevsky beats Mikhail Botvinnik in the event he would go on to win, sharing first place with Lilienthal. Thirty-eight moves: he wins the c4 pawn with 27.Nxc4, trades every rook off on the a-file, and 35.d6 Qxd6 36.Qd8 forces the queens into a lost ending.
  • 1940.09.24 Bondarevsky, Igor Tsakharovich vsKeres, Paul 1-0 Nimzo-Indian Defense: Classical Variation, Zurich Variation 56 moves URS-ch12 Final The same championship, three weeks later, against Paul Keres. Fifty-six moves of Nimzo-Indian manoeuvring with almost nothing exchanged: Bondarevsky walks his king to c3, brings the knight around to f1 and back, and squeezes until 53...b5 54.cxb5 Bxb5+ finally cracks the structure.
  • 1941.03.27 Botvinnik, Mikhail vsBondarevsky, Igor Tsakharovich 0-1 Queen's Gambit Declined: Modern Variation, Normal Line 89 moves URS-ch Absolute The 1941 Absolute Championship — the six-player match-tournament staged to settle the title Bondarevsky and Lilienthal had shared, and which Botvinnik won by two and a half points. This is Botvinnik beaten with Black over eighty-nine moves: the queens come off at 82.Qxg4+ hxg4 and the bishop and passed g-pawn finish the job.
  • 1941.04.12 Boleslavsky, Isaak vsBondarevsky, Igor Tsakharovich 0-1 Pirc Defense: Classical Variation 27 moves URS-ch Absolute Also from the 1941 Absolute Championship, twenty-seven moves with Black against Isaak Boleslavsky. A Pirc where the pawns do the attacking — 7...g5, 9...g4, 21...h5, 22.f4 gxf3 — and 24...Qxg3 25.Nxd5 Bh6 26.Rxh5 Rg8 leaves White's own king with nothing left.
  • 1945 Bondarevsky, Igor Tsakharovich vsBronstein, David Ionovich 1-0 Queen's Pawn Game: Torre Attack 37 moves URS-ch14 Final USSR Championship final 1945 against David Bronstein, six years from tying a World Championship match with Botvinnik. A Torre Attack: 10.c5 and 11.b4 seize the queenside, 15.Qa6 walks into the position, and the knights are slowly starved until 30.Rb8 arrives on the eighth rank.
  • 1946.06.19 Aitken, James Macrae vsBondarevsky, Igor Tsakharovich 0-1 French Defense: Advance Variation 33 moves Match/Nation ENG-URS radio The 1946 Great Britain–USSR radio match, played board by board over the airwaves. Bondarevsky takes both games from James Macrae Aitken; this is the first, with Black. 21...Ngxh4 wins the pawn, 26...Ne3+ 27.fxe3 Rf6+ 28.Qf4 Rxf4+ gives the exchange back to win the queen.
  • 1947.07.24 Flohr, Salo vsBondarevsky, Igor Tsakharovich 0-1 Slav Defense: Modern Line 41 moves Parnu Training Tournament Pärnu training tournament 1947, Black against Salo Flohr, who a decade earlier had been formally designated Alekhine's next World Championship challenger. Bondarevsky's central pawns decide it: 30...d4, 31...e3, 37...d3, 38...d2, and 40...d1=Q+ 41.Rxd1 Bxd1 leaves him a piece up.
  • 1948.07.19 Bondarevsky, Igor Tsakharovich vsFlohr, Salo 1-0 Grünfeld Defense: Russian Variation, Smyslov Variation 38 moves Interzonal-01 The first Interzonal, Saltsjöbaden 1948 — the tournament that founded the modern qualifying cycle — and Flohr beaten again, this time with White. 28.h3 and 30.f5 build the bind, and the queen breaks in at the end: 34.Qe8+ Qf8 35.Qe6+ Qf7 36.Qc8+ Kg7 37.f6+.
  • 1948.08.10 Bondarevsky, Igor Tsakharovich vsGligoric, Svetozar 1-0 Slav Defense: Quiet Variation, Schallopp Defense 41 moves Interzonal-01 Saltsjöbaden 1948 again, against Svetozar Gligorić at the start of the career that would make him Yugoslavia's leading player for thirty years. Everything comes off by move twenty-two and Bondarevsky wins the pure ending: the king marches c4–d5, 28.a5 and 36.h5 fix the pawns, and Black runs out of squares.
  • 1954.11 Bondarevsky, Igor Tsakharovich vsPolugaevsky, Lev 1-0 Sicilian Defense: Kan Variation 36 moves URS-ch22 Semifinal USSR Championship semifinal 1954 against a twenty-year-old Lev Polugaevsky, later a three-time Candidate. Bondarevsky sacrifices the queen for two pieces at move eleven — 11.e5 Bxf3 12.exd6 Bb7 — liquidates into an ending a pawn up, and pushes the a-pawn to a7 by move thirty-two.
  • 1961.01.04 Sliwa, Bogdan Stanislaw vsBondarevsky, Igor Tsakharovich 0-1 Queen's Gambit Declined 17 moves Christmas Congress 1960/61-36 Premier Christmas Congress premier, January 1961 — seventeen moves with Black and the shortest game in the archive. Nothing is sacrificed at all: Bondarevsky trades pieces off a Queen's Gambit, plays 15...cxd4, and 16.Rxc8 Rxc8 17.b4 Qxb4 simply drops a pawn with the position already gone.
  • 1964 Bondarevsky, Igor Tsakharovich vsMatulovic, Milan 1-0 Indian Defense 42 moves Chigorin Memorial-04 Chigorin Memorial 1964 against Milan Matulović — also a study player in this archive — and one of the last tournament games Bondarevsky played before devoting himself to training Boris Spassky, who took the world title five years later. 33.Be6+ and 35.Rf7 pin Black down, and 38.Rf8+ Kg7 39.Qc7+ Kh6 40.Qf4+ g5 41.Rf6+ ends it.
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