Yuri Fedorovich Shabanov (Russian: Юрий Фёдорович Шабанов, 11 November 1937[1] Khabarovsk – 30 March 2010, Moscow) was a Soviet and Russian chess Grandmaster (2003), arbiter of the republican category (1997).

Yuri Shabanov
Shabanov in 1995
Country Soviet Union
 Russia
Born11 November 1937
Khabarovsk, USSR
Died30 March 2010 (aged 72)
Moscow, Russia
TitleGrandmaster (2003)
Peak rating2505 (January 2001)

Two-time world senior chess champion: Bad Zwischenahn (2003)[2] and Halle (2004).[3] Three-time European champion in the team of Russian seniors (2001, 2002[4] and 2006[5][6]). Three-time Moscow senior chess champion (2005, 2006 and 2007). Russian senior chess champion (1999). Champion of the Far East (1961). Multiple champion of the Magadan - Far North region (1961-1980).

Biography edit

Yuri Fedorovich Shabanov was born in the family of the editor-in-chief of a Far Eastern publishing house in 1937. He grew up practically without a father, since his father died during the World War II. His family moved from Khabarovsk after the end of the war. First, they moved to Nizhneudinsk, Irkutsk Region, later they moved to Lviv. Shabanov started to learn chess in 1951.

The young first-ranked player eventually played at the All-Union Youth Olympiad in Kiev as a part of the Ukrainian team in 1954. He scored 7 points out of 9 and took the second place in the semifinals. He scored 8.5 points out of 12 and took the third place in the final.

The All-Union Youth Championship took place in the city of Leningrad at the same year. Yuri played for the team of Ukraine on the third board. The team shared 4th and 5th place with the Leningrad team. Boris Spassky, Mikhail Tal, Edward Gufeld and others took part in this tournament, but Yuri Shabanov did not meet them.

Further, he became the winner of the regional chess championship in the city of Khabarovsk in 1955. Yuri scored 9 points out of 10 and took the first place. A zonal competition of the leading chess players of the Khabarovsk and Primorye Territories, Amur, Sakhalin and other regions was held in the city of Blagoveshchensk in 1957. At this time, Yuri Shabanov was a student of the Magadan mining technical school and became a candidate for the USSR Master of Sports after he scored 12 points out of 17 and took the first place. Later he got the right to participate in the 17th championship of the RSFSR, which was held in the city of Chelyabinsk. Yuri scored 10.5 points out of 19 and took 6-9 place.

Shabanov repeatedly won the Far Eastern semi-finals of the RSFSR, and participated in Russian championships. He became a multiple champion of the Magadan Region since 1960. Yuri was awarded a diploma in geology and worked in his specialty, so he didn't have much time to play chess. Only after the 1964 Trud Championship, where Yuri took the first place and became the first player ever from the Magadan region to get the title of the USSR Master of Sports, chess come to the fore of his life.

The practical strength of Yuri Shabanov grew. He was one of the strongest chess masters in the 70s. He won the finals of the Trud Championship again in 1978. Yuri participated in the semifinals of the USSR regularly, but every time he lacks something for a decisive step. Only after moving to Yaroslavl, where Shabanov worked as an instructor at the Children's and Youth Sports School, Yuri Fedorovich fulfilled his dream and entered in the First League of the Soviet Championship, where he took the fifth place in the 80s.

Shabanov became an international master in the 90s. He joined the powerful Russian senior chess movement and lived in Moscow since 2000s. He took part in the team championships of Moscow 2004-2008. He participated in six European Championships as a part of Russian seniors team in 2001, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2007 and 2008. He participated in the championships of Russia among seniors in 1999-2007. He also took part in the Moscow Senior Chess Championship in 2003–2007. He participated in the traditional matches of the Moscow-St. Petersburg as part of the Moscow team in 2002 and 2005.

Shabanov was awarded the title of international grandmaster for the victory at the 13th World Senior Chess Championship in 2003. He repeated his success and became a two-time world senior chess champion at the 14th World Senior Chess Championship in 2004.

He stopped participating in major chess competitions due to a serious illness since 2008.

Close people and comrades of Yuri Fedorovich Shabanov characterized him as an exceptionally modest, conflict-free, erudite and principled person. He was a man in love with chess and dedicated about 60 years of his life to chess.

I can’t tell that his name was widely known in the media. The reasons were his exceptional modesty, desire to remain in the shadows and absolute lack of conflict. Meanwhile, Yuri Fedorovich is a two-time world champion among seniors, a multiple European champion in the national team of Russian seniors, a champion of Russia among seniors and one of the strongest masters of the RSFSR in the 70s, when he lived in distant Magadan. We were acquainted with Yuri Fedorovich a long time ago, but seniors chess brought us together. We made friends, lived together in hotels, analyzed, communicated and empathized. He was erudite, and principled, he loved chess selflessly.

— Oleg Chernikov

Yuri Shabanov died on March 30, 2010.

Sports Achievements edit

 
Yuri at the RSFSR Championship in Omsk during a game against Vitaly Tseshkovsky in 1973 (at the right).
Year City Championship + = Result Place
1956 Irkutsk Zone RSFSR tournament of Siberia and the Far East 9½ of 13 III-IV
1957 Blagoveshchensk Zone RSFSR tournament of Siberia and the Far East 12 of 17 I
1957 Chelyabinsk 17th RSFSR Championship (Chelyabinsk Semifinal) 10½ of 19 VI-IX
1957 Awarded the title of the USSR Candidate Master of Sports
1959 Blagoveshchensk Games of the RSFSR (Far Eastern Zone) 6½ of 8 I
1961 Khabarovsk Championship of the Far East 10½ of 13 I
1963 Rostov-on-Don 1/2 Finals of CS DSO Trud 10 of 13 I
1964 Kamensk III Finals of CS DSO Trud 12½ of 17 I-II
1964 He fulfilled requirements for the USSR Master of Sports
1964 Riga Small Championship of the VCSPS (Group II) 6 of 9 II
1965 Cheboksary Semifinal of the 33th USSR Championship 9 of 16 VII-VIII
1967 Leningrad Finals of the RSFSR Games 6½ of 11
1969 Sverdlovsk Qualifying tournament for the 37th USSR Championship 12 of 17 I-III
1969 Barnaul Semifinal of the 37th USSR Championship 9 of 17 VIII-IX
1971 Moscow Finals of CS DSO Trud (1/4 USSR Final) 10 of 17 III-V
1971 Daugavpils USSR Championship Semifinal 8½ of 17 VII-VIII
1972 Rostov Finals of the RSFSR Championship, 1/4 USSR Finals 11 of 19 V-VI
1972 Uzhhorod USSR Championship Semifinal 10½ of 17 II-V
1973 Omsk Finals of the 29 RSFSR championship 6 of 15 13
1973 Frunze USSR semi-final 7½ of 15 IX-XI
1974 Tula 30th RSFSR Championship 5½ of 15 13-14
1977 Bălți Qualifying tournament for the USSR Championship 5½ of 13
1978 Astrakhan Finals of CS DSO Trud 10½ of 15 I-II
1978 Krasnodar Finals of the 7th RSFSR Spartakiad 6½ of 11 VII
1981 Vladimir 35th RSFSR Championship 8 of 15 VII
1982 Stavropol 36th RSFSR Championship 7 of 14 IX-X
1983 Krasnodar Finals of the 8th RSFSR Spartakiad 5 of 11 IX
1985 Berdyansk IV Finals of VS DSO Trud 8½ of 15 III
1985 Kostroma Qualifying tournament of the 53 USSR Championship 1 1 15 8½ of 17 VIII-X
1985 Tbilisi Alexander Kotov Memorial 3 0 8 7 of 11 II
1987 Kursk Championship of the RSFSR 4 2 11 9½ of 17 VI-IX
1990 Yaroslavl International tournament "Yaroslavl-90" 3 1 6 6 of 10 II-VI
1990 Kuybyshev 43rd Championship of the RSFSR 2 2 11 7½ of 15 VIII
1990 Sochi Michael Chigorin Memorial 3 1 7 6½ of 11 V
1991 Sochi International Tournament 6½ of 11 IV-VI
1992 Oryol 45th Russian Championship 2 2 7 5½ of 11 IX-XII
1996 Elista 49th Russian Championship 2 3 6 5 of 11 40
1999 Moscow Finals of the Russian Senior Chess Championship 7½ of 9 I
1999 Gladenbach 9th World Senior Chess Championship 6 1 4 8 of 11 V-XI
2000 Rowy 10th World Senior Chess Championship 8 of 11 IV
2001 Dresden European Senior Team Chess Championship 5½ of 7 I
2001 Arco 11th World Senior Chess Championship 8 of 11 IV-X
2002 Dresden European Senior Team Chess Championship 5 of 6 I
2003 Ashdod International Open Chess Championship in Israel 5 of 9 41
2003 Tula Michael Botvinnik Memorial among seniors 6½ of 10 I
2003 Bad Zwischenahn 13th World Senior Chess Championship 7 0 4 9 of 11 I
2004 Dresden European Senior Team Chess Championship 4½ of 7 III
2004 Arvier 4th European Senior Chess Championship 6 of 9 VI
2004 Halle 14th World Senior Chess Championship 6 0 5 8½ of 11 I
2005 Moscow Moscow Senior Chess Championship I
2006 Dresden European Senior Team Chess Championship 4½ of 7 I
2006 Moscow II International Chess Festival Moscow Open 2006 (Tournament A - Senior) I
2006 Moscow Moscow Senior Chess Championship 6 I
2007 Moscow III International Chess Festival Moscow Open 2007 (Tournament A - Senior) 5 I
2007 Moscow Moscow Senior Chess Championship 6 I
2007 Dresden European Senior Team Chess Championship 6 of 8 II
2007 Gmunden 17th World Senior Chess Championship 6 0 5 8½ of 11 II-IV
2008 Dresden European Senior Team Chess Championship 6½ of 9 III

References edit

  1. ^ Gaige, Jeremy (1987), Chess Personalia, A Biobibliography, McFarland, p. 386, ISBN 0-7864-2353-6
  2. ^ Crowther, Mark (1 December 2003), The Week in Chess 473, London Chess Center
  3. ^ Crowther, Mark (8 November 2004), The Week in Chess 522, London Chess Center
  4. ^ Crowther, Mark (4 March 2002), The Week in Chess 382, London Chess Center
  5. ^ Crowther, Mark (13 March 2006), The Week in Chess 592, London Chess Center
  6. ^ Von Dagobert Kohlmeyer (6 March 2006), Senioren-Team-EM: Moskau siegt vor Deutschland, ChessBase News

External links edit