Ilia Kan
Notable Games

Ilia Kan

13 celebrated games · 158 in the full archive
Player Index ◈ Biography 158 CURATED GAMES

Notable Games

  • 1929.09.12 Kan, Ilia Abramovich vsBotvinnik, Mikhail 1-0 Italian Game: Evans Gambit 19 moves URS-ch06 Semifinal Group 1 USSR Championship semifinal, September 1929 — Kan is twenty, Mikhail Botvinnik eighteen, and neither is yet famous. An Evans Gambit, and Kan wins in nineteen moves: 12.Bxf6 wins the tempo, 16.Be7 traps the queen's escape squares, and 19.Bxd6 ends it. The first of four wins over the future World Champion in this archive.
  • 1930.05.02 Kan, Ilia Abramovich vsBotvinnik, Mikhail 1-0 Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense, Rubinstein Attack 40 moves Match/TradeUnions Leningrad-Moscow gr1 Leningrad–Moscow, May 1930, and this time Botvinnik is checkmated on the board. Kan breaks through with 28.Rxc6, hunts the king along the eighth rank — 32.Rxh6, 36.e6 Rxe6 37.Qh7+ Kf8 38.Rxe6 — and delivers 39.Qh8+ Kf7 40.Qe8#.
  • 1933.08 Kan, Ilia Abramovich vsZubarev, Nikolay 1-0 Dutch Defense: Staunton Gambit 21 moves URS-ch08 Final USSR Championship final 1933, a Staunton Gambit against the Dutch. Kan gives the e-pawn back with 10...e3 11.Bxe3, builds on the f-file with 17.Rxf4 and 18.Rh4, and wins the queen with 19.Nb5 Qxd2 20.Qxd2 cxb5 21.Rf1.
  • 1933.08 Romanovsky, Peter Arsenievich vsKan, Ilia Abramovich 0-1 Game fragment 23 moves URS-ch08 Final The same 1933 championship, with Black against Peter Romanovsky — twice USSR champion and the leading Soviet teacher of his generation. Kan lets the white queen roam to a7, b7, a8 and c8 while his own pieces close in: 13...Qc1+, 16...Ne3+, and by 23...Nxf4+ the attack is decisive.
  • 1935.03.05 Kan, Ilia Abramovich vsBotvinnik, Mikhail 1-0 Vienna Game: Vienna Gambit 26 moves Moscow International-02 Moscow 1935, one of the great international tournaments of the decade, and Kan beats Botvinnik for the third time. A Vienna Gambit; Botvinnik grabs on c2 and c3, and Kan takes the queenside apart in return — 25.Qa4 Rd7 26.Bxa6.
  • 1936.12 Kan, Ilia Abramovich vsGoglidze, Victor Arsentievich 1-0 Queen's Gambit Accepted: Classical Defense, Alekhine System 23 moves URS Young Masters-ch USSR Young Masters championship 1936, twenty-three moves. The double sacrifice 16.Ncxb5 axb5 17.Qxb5+ Ke7 leaves the king in the middle, and Kan finishes with 19.Rxc5, 21.Nc6+ and 22.Rd8+.
  • 1937.04.30 Kan, Ilia Abramovich vsLevenfish, Grigory 1-0 Queen's Gambit Declined: Semi-Tarrasch Defense, Main Line 51 moves URS-ch10 Final USSR Championship final 1937 against Grigory Levenfish — who won that championship, and who the same year drew a match with Botvinnik. Fifty-one moves of bishop endgame technique, Kan's king walking to h4 to collect the h-pawn and then back across to f3.
  • 1938 Riumin, Nikolay Nikolaevich vsKan, Ilia Abramovich 0-1 Sicilian Defense: Scheveningen Variation, Classical Variation 17 moves URS-ch11 Semifinal Extra Moscow Moscow 1938, seventeen moves with Black in a Scheveningen Sicilian — the family of positions Kan spent his career mapping. Nikolay Riumin's 16.g4 opens his own king, and after 16...Be7 17.Ne2 the position is already resignable.
  • 1942 Kan, Ilia Abramovich vsDus Chotimirsky, Fedor Ivanovich 1-0 Old Indian Defense 24 moves Moscow-ch22 Moscow championship 1942, played in the middle of the war. Queens come off on move eight and Kan still wins in twenty-four: 16.Nd5 cxd5 17.exd5 Rxc4 18.dxe6 fxe6 19.Rxe6+, and the rooks cut the position to pieces.
  • 1945 Kan, Ilia Abramovich vsKamishov, Mikhail Pavlovich 1-0 Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense, Bd3 Line 17 moves URS-ch14 Semifinal USSR Championship semifinal 1945, seventeen moves and no sacrifice at all — 15.Ne5 Nxe5 16.dxe5 Qc6 17.e4 simply builds a position Black cannot meet, and the game ends there.
  • 1947 Kan, Ilia Abramovich vsAverbakh, Yuri L 1-0 Queen's Pawn Game: Torre Attack 23 moves URS-ch16 Semifinal USSR Championship semifinal 1947 against a young Yuri Averbakh, later USSR champion and the century's great authority on the endgame. Kan wins with 17.exd5+ Kf8 18.Be7+ Kg8, the king stranded, and closes the net with 21.Rac1 and 23.g4.
  • 1952.09 Kan, Ilia Abramovich vsLevenfish, Grigory 1-0 English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense, Hedgehog System 21 moves URS-chT Cup 01st USSR team cup 1952, Levenfish again, twenty-one moves. Kan trades into a position where the c6 pawn is indefensible: 20.Nxc6 Qe8 21.Nxb8, and the rook drops with it.
  • 1952.11.01 Kan, Ilia Abramovich vsBotvinnik, Mikhail 1-0 Ruy Lopez: Closed, Chigorin Defense 38 moves Match/Training Botvinnik-Kan November 1952, a training match against Botvinnik — by then the reigning World Champion, and a man Kan helped prepare for his title matches with Smyslov. Twenty-three years after their first meeting, Kan wins again: 30.Ra6, 31.Nb6 and 32.Nd5 dominate the queenside, and 38.Rxb8 ends it.
EXPLORE ALL 158 GAMES