Vitaly Chekhover
Notable Games

Vitaly Chekhover

15 celebrated games · 107 in the full archive
Player Index ◈ Biography 107 CURATED GAMES

Notable Games

  • 1929 Chekhover, Vitaly A vsZek, I 1-0 King's Indian Defense: Normal Variation, Rare Defenses 18 moves Leningrad-ch07 sf-A Leningrad championship semifinal 1929, the earliest game in the archive and eighteen moves long. Chekhover gives up two pawns in the opening to open lines — 7.dxc5 Qa5 8.cxd6 Nxe4 9.dxe7 — and the rook on the seventh does the rest: 13.Rxb7, 15.Rc7, 17.Bxe7 and 18.Qd4.
  • 1932.09.22 Chekhover, Vitaly A vsModel, Abram Y 1-0 Dutch Defense: Stonewall Variation 23 moves Leningrad-ch09 Leningrad championship 1932, twenty-three moves against a Stonewall Dutch. 15.Bxd5+ cxd5 16.Nxd5 gives the bishop back to open the centre, and the knight tours the board unopposed — 17.Nc7, 21.Nxe6, 22.Nc7 — with the black queenside never developed.
  • 1934.08.27 Chekhover, Vitaly A vsKmoch, Hans 1-0 Queen's Gambit Accepted: Classical Defense, Alekhine System 47 moves Leningrad with Euwe and Kmoch Leningrad 1934, the tournament staged around visits by Max Euwe and Hans Kmoch. This is Kmoch beaten in forty-seven moves: the queens come off at 30.Qd7 Qxd7 31.Nxd7, and the knight then wins the game single-handed, hopping d7–c5–f6–h7–g5–f3–e5 while the h-pawn runs.
  • 1934.12.10 Chekhover, Vitaly A vsLevenfish, Grigory 1-0 Queen's Gambit Declined: Semi-Tarrasch Defense, Main Line 23 moves URS-ch09 Final USSR Championship final 1934 against Grigory Levenfish, who three years later would draw a match with Botvinnik for the Soviet title. Twenty-three moves: 19.d5 exd5 20.cxd5 Rxd5 wins back the pawn and loses the game, because 21.Qe4 Rc5 22.Qh7+ Kf8 23.Rce1 leaves Black with no answer at all.
  • 1935.02.21 Bohatirchuk, Fedor Parfenovich vsChekhover, Vitaly A 0-1 Caro-Kann Defense: Classical Variation 48 moves Moscow International-02 Moscow 1935 with Black — the great second Moscow international, won jointly by Botvinnik and Flohr ahead of Lasker and Capablanca. Chekhover beats Fedor Bohatirchuk in a rook-and-knight ending, taking the queenside apart with 41...Rg2, 47...Rxa4 and 48...Rg4.
  • 1935.03.02 Menchik, Vera vsChekhover, Vitaly A 0-1 Nimzo-Indian Defense: Classical Variation, Berlin Variation 42 moves Moscow International-02 Moscow 1935 against Vera Menchik — the reigning Women's World Champion, who held the title from 1927 until her death and played the men's international circuit on level terms. Chekhover meets 4.Qc2 with 4...c5 in the Nimzo-Indian, breaks with 32...d4, and the passed g-pawn decides it: 38.fxg5 hxg3 39.g6 Qf6+.
  • 1935.03.06 Levenfish, Grigory vsChekhover, Vitaly A 0-1 Nimzo-Indian Defense: Classical Variation, Berlin Variation 48 moves Moscow International-02 Four days later at the same tournament, Levenfish again — and Chekhover walks into the identical Nimzo-Indian, 4.Qc2 c5 5.dxc5 Nc6 6.Nf3 Bxc5, that had beaten Menchik. This one runs forty-eight moves: 36.Rxg7+ Qxg7 gives back the exchange, the queens come off at 40.Qg4 Qxg4+, and Black's king marches to h6.
  • 1936.12 Chekhover, Vitaly A vsKasparian, Genrikh Moiseevich 1-0 Old Indian Defense: Two Knights Variation 41 moves Match Kasparian-Chekhover From the 1936 match with Genrikh Kasparian — two of the greatest endgame study composers who ever lived, playing each other over the board. Forty-one moves, and fittingly it is decided in the ending: the queens come off at 34.Qxg6+ Kxg6, and 35.Nxe5+ leaves a knight and a passed g-pawn against a bare king's-side.
  • 1936.12 Chekhover, Vitaly A vsRagozin, Viacheslav 1-0 Ruy Lopez: Closed 30 moves URS Young Masters-ch USSR Young Masters championship 1936 against Viacheslav Ragozin, Botvinnik's long-time training partner and himself a study player in this archive. A Closed Ruy Lopez: 24.Bg5 and 26.Bxe7 strip the defenders, and 30.Ra8 arrives on the back rank with everything hanging.
  • 1937.04.17 Chekhover, Vitaly A vsLilienthal, Andor 1-0 Slav Defense: Quiet Variation, Schallopp Defense 64 moves URS-ch10 Final USSR Championship final 1937 against Andor Lilienthal, three years from sharing the Soviet title. Sixty-four moves, almost all of them rook and bishop against rook and bishop, with Chekhover repeating 45.Bf1 Ra1 46.Be2 Ra2 47.Bc4 Ra4 before finding the break 50.Bd3 h6 51.Kg4 and walking his king in to take on e5.
  • 1939.04.24 Chekhover, Vitaly A vsKotov, Alexander 1-0 Caro-Kann Defense 40 moves URS-ch11 Final USSR Championship final 1939 against Alexander Kotov, later a Candidate and the author of *Think Like a Grandmaster*. Chekhover strips the queenside with 21.Qxc6+ and 22.Qxe6, forces every piece off — 32.Rxd7 Qxd7 33.Qf4+, 36.Rxe8+, 39.Qe4+ Qxe4 — and 40.Bxe4+ ends it in a trivially won bishop ending.
  • 1945 Smyslov, Vasily V vsChekhover, Vitaly A 0-1 Caro-Kann Defense 63 moves URS-ch14 Final USSR Championship final 1945 with Black against Vasily Smyslov, eight years from the world title. Sixty-three moves in a Caro-Kann, and the study composer wins it in the ending: 46...Rd1+ 47.Bg1 fxg4 48.Kh2 g3+ 49.Kxg3 Rxg1 wins the bishop outright, and the passed pawns are picked off one by one.
  • 1945.12 Averbakh, Yuri L vsChekhover, Vitaly A 0-1 Yusupov-Rubinstein System 40 moves Moscow team Moscow team event, December 1945, with Black against a young Yuri Averbakh — the man who would become the world's foremost endgame theorist and Chekhover's own co-author on the Soviet endgame manuals. Forty moves: 29...d3 buries a pawn on the seventh, and 39...Rxf1+ 40.Kxf1 Qc1+ collects everything behind it.
  • 1958 Chekhover, Vitaly A vsEstrin, Yakov Borisovich 1-0 Queen's Gambit Declined: Modern Variation, Knight Defense 44 moves Leningrad-Moscow m Leningrad–Moscow match 1958 against Yakov Estrin, later World Correspondence Champion. Everything is traded by move twenty-nine and Chekhover wins a pure knight ending: the king walks f1–e2–d3–c2, 38.e4 and 42.g4 fix the pawns, and 44.Na6 leaves Black in zugzwang.
  • 1960 Chekhover, Vitaly A vsShekhtman, Eduard 1-0 Queen's Gambit Declined: Semi-Tarrasch Defense, Pillsbury Variation 20 moves Leningrad KM Leningrad 1960, the last game in the archive and twenty moves long — Chekhover at fifty-two, by then far better known as a composer of endgame studies and a Conservatory-trained pianist than as a tournament player. 16.f5 and 17.fxg6 tear the kingside open, 18.Bh6 walks in, and 19.Qg4 Nxd1 20.Rxf7 ignores the rook to mate.
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