Vladimir Savon
Notable Games

Vladimir Savon

18 celebrated games · 549 in the full archive
Player Index ◈ Biography 549 CURATED GAMES

Notable Games

  • 1958 Pogrebissky, Iosif vsSavon, Vladimir A 0-1 Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation 29 moves UKR Avantgard-ch Ukrainian club championship 1958 — the earliest game in an archive that runs to 2004, and Savon is eighteen. White sacrifices a knight on e6 for the attack and Savon simply survives it: 24...Rxd3 takes the bishop, and 28.R1e5 Nc4 29.Rxd7 Nxe5 leaves both white rooks gone and the extra piece decisive.
  • 1961.11.22 Savon, Vladimir A vsTaimanov, Mark E 1-0 Sicilian Defense: O'Kelly Variation 49 moves URS-ch29 Final USSR Championship final 1961 against Mark Taimanov — a study player here and a former Candidate. Forty-nine moves: 29.Nb3 and 31.Nd4 reroute the knight to e6, 42.g4 and 43.f5 fix the black pawns, and by 46.Nc7 and 47.Rd7 the rooks and knight are through on both wings.
  • 1962.12.03 Zaitsev, Igor A vsSavon, Vladimir A 0-1 King's Pawn Game: Maróczy Defense 41 moves URS-ch30 Final USSR Championship final 1962 with Black against Igor Zaitsev — also a study player here, and later Karpov's long-serving second. White runs a pawn to b7 and it is not enough: 31.dxc6 Nxc6 32.Rxc6+ bxc6 33.Qxa6+ Kb8 gives up a rook, and 38...Bxd4 39.b7 Rxb7 40.Qxc6 Ra7+ finishes the white king off in the open.
  • 1965.08.01 Savon, Vladimir A vsHort, Vlastimil 1-0 Réti Opening: Anglo-Slav Variation, Gurevich System 53 moves WchT Students 12th final A Student Team World Championship 1965 against Vlastimil Hort, later a Candidate. Fifty-three moves: Savon gives up the a- and b-pawns to activate everything — 41.Rxc5 Nxa2 42.Rc7+ Ke8 43.Nxg6 — and the knight cleans up the kingside at 45.Nxh5, 49.g4, 51.g5 and 53.Ng7+.
  • 1967.03.31 Savon, Vladimir A vsKavalek, Lubomir 1-0 King's Indian Defense: Fianchetto Variation, Delayed Fianchetto 58 moves Sarajevo-10 Sarajevo 1967 against Lubomír Kavalek, a study player here too and soon a two-time US Champion. Savon trades into a bishop-and-knight ending and wins it on the queenside: 52.Rd7 Rxd7 53.Bxd7 Nc7 54.Bc6 takes the last rook off, and 56.Kxe3 Ke7 57.Kd3 Kd8 58.Kc4 wins the race for the b-pawn.
  • 1969.09.08 Tukmakov, Vladimir B vsSavon, Vladimir A 0-1 Ruy Lopez: Open 22 moves URS-ch37 Final USSR Championship final 1969 with Black against Vladimir Tukmakov — twenty-two moves in an Open Ruy Lopez, and White never gets the piece back. 16.Qxd5 Nxc3 17.bxc3 Bxc2 wins the bishop, 20.Re1 Bxf3 21.gxf3 wrecks what is left of the kingside, and 22.Qc4 Na5 attacks the queen with the position collapsing.
  • 1969.09.16 Savon, Vladimir A vsTal, Mikhail 1-0 Indian Defense: Anti-Nimzo-Indian 33 moves URS-ch37 Final Eight days later in the same championship, Mikhail Tal — a former World Champion, and the first of three Savon beats in this archive. Thirty-three moves: 18.Rh3 lifts the rook, 26.f5 gxf5 27.gxf5 opens both files at once, and 28.Bxe6 Rxe6 29.fxe6 Qxe6 30.Re1 leaves the black king with 31.Qh8+ Kf7 32.Qh5+ Kf8 33.Qg6 to face.
  • 1970 Geller, Efim P vsSavon, Vladimir A 0-1 English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense, Anglo-Grünfeld Variation 37 moves Moscow Moscow 1970 with Black against Efim Geller, six times a Candidate. Savon gives up his queen for two rooks' worth of material — 32.Rxf7 gxf4 33.Rxg7+ Kxg7 34.Nxf4 — and the knight and bishop finish the job: 35...Kf7, 36...Rc5, and 37.Bxa5 Nxa5 with the queenside gone.
  • 1971.09.17 Savon, Vladimir A vsPolugaevsky, Lev 1-0 Sicilian Defense: Scheveningen Variation, Classical Variation 35 moves URS-ch39 Final USSR Championship final 1971 — the tournament Savon won, ahead of Smyslov and Tal, the peak of his career. Lev Polugaevsky is checkmated: 26.Rxf7+ Kh6 27.Rxb7 Nxa4 strips the position, 31.Ng4+ Kg5 32.Re7 pushes the king further, and 33.Kxg2 Nxb3 34.Kg3 Kf5 35.Re5 is mate.
  • 1971.10.01 Savon, Vladimir A vsStein, Leonid 1-0 Sicilian Defense: Classical Variation, Sozin Attack 54 moves URS-ch39 Final Two weeks later in the championship he was winning — Leonid Stein, three times Soviet champion himself. Savon gives back the exchange and everything else to run pawns on both wings: 44.Rxb7+ Kc6 45.Rb6+ Kc7 46.a5, then 48.a6 exf4 49.gxf4 Rxf4 50.a7 Ra4 51.Rf6 and 53.g6 h3 54.g7.
  • 1971.11.28 Korchnoi, Viktor Lvovich vsSavon, Vladimir A 0-1 Caro-Kann Defense: Panov Attack 58 moves Alekhine Memorial-02 Alekhine Memorial, Moscow 1971 with Black against Viktor Korchnoi, later twice a World Championship challenger. Fifty-eight moves: 43...Nd4 44.Bxd4 Bxd4+ leaves bishop and rook against knight and rook, and Savon's f-pawn is the point — 47...gxf2 48.Ng3 Be5 forces the knight to babysit it while the rook eats the queenside.
  • 1972.01.25 Savon, Vladimir A vsTimman, Jan H 1-0 Pirc Defense: Austrian Attack 56 moves Hoogovens Wijk aan Zee 1972 against Jan Timman, soon the strongest player in the West. An Austrian Attack in which Savon gives the exchange back at 46.Nf5+ Rxf5 47.Qxf5 to reach a queen-against-two-rooks ending, and then walks his own king across the board — 48.Kh2, 51.Kg3, 52.Kf2, 54.Ke2, 55.Kd3 — until 56.Qxg6+.
  • 1972 Savon, Vladimir A vsPilnik, Hermann 1-0 Sicilian Defense: Kan Variation, Maróczy Bind, Réti Variation 138 moves La Serena La Serena 1972 against the Argentine grandmaster Hermann Pilnik — 138 moves, the longest game in the archive by fifty. A queen ending for the last sixty in which Savon's king walks from the kingside to c8 through an unending stream of checks, and 128.b6 Qc5+ 129.Qc7 and 131.b7 finally get the pawn home.
  • 1973.08.08 Panno, Oscar vsSavon, Vladimir A 0-1 English Opening: King's English Variation, Four Knights Variation 36 moves Interzonal-09b Petropolis Interzonal 1973 with Black against Oscar Panno — a study player here, and the 1953 World Junior Champion. Savon's knight and bishop close in on the light squares: 29...g4 30.fxg4 Bxg4 31.Nc3 Bf3 plants the bishop, and 35...Bxe4 36.Nxe4 Qxe4 wins the piece outright.
  • 1973.08.15 Reshevsky, Samuel Herman vsSavon, Vladimir A 0-1 Benoni Defense: Classical Variation, Czerniak Defense, Tal Line 40 moves Interzonal-09b The same Interzonal a week later — Samuel Reshevsky, the dominant American player of the previous thirty years. Savon runs a c-pawn through a Benoni: 25...c4 26.Nb1 Bf5 27.Nd2 c3 28.Ne4 Qa3 29.Nxc3 Bxc3, and once the attack peters out at 39.Qxf7+ Kh6 40.Qxg6+ Bxg6 there is nothing left.
  • 1973.10 Smyslov, Vasily V vsSavon, Vladimir A 0-1 Zukertort Opening 43 moves URS-ch42 First League USSR First League 1973 with Black against Vasily Smyslov, a former World Champion. Savon's knight tours the queenside taking everything — 26...Nxc3 27.Nc2 Na2 28.Ra1 Nb4 29.Rxa8+ Bxa8 — and the c-pawn walks in behind it: 40...c3, 41...c2, and 43.Qd8 Qa3 with the pawn one square from a queen.
  • 1973.10.15 Spassky, Boris Vasilievich vsSavon, Vladimir A 0-1 Sicilian Defense: Accelerated Dragon, Maróczy Bind, Breyer Variation 62 moves URS-ch41 Final USSR Championship final 1973 with Black against Boris Spassky, the year after he lost the world title to Fischer. Sixty-two moves: 45.Rxh3 Nxd3+ 46.Rxd3 Rxh2 clears the board, and the b-pawn queens by force — 53...b3, 54...b2, 56.Kxf3 b1=Q 57.Rxb1 Rxb1 — leaving a won rook ending.
  • 2004.09.03 Savon, Vladimir A vsGaprindashvili, Nona 1-0 Caro-Kann Defense: Gurgenidze System 38 moves Botvinnik Memorial-A 4th Botvinnik Memorial, September 2004 — the last game in the archive, forty-six years after the first, against Nona Gaprindashvili, Women's World Champion from 1962 to 1978. Savon gives up the queen on move thirteen for two pieces, and the knights do the rest: 31.Rxd8+ Kxd8 32.d6 Re8 33.Nxb7+ Kc8 34.Nc5, and 38.Nc5 again with the d-pawn home.
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