Andrey Filatov Congratulates Evgeni Vasiukov on His Birthday

Legendary grandmaster turns 85.

On March 5, a famous grandmaster Evgeni Vasiukov celebrates his 85th anniversary. President of the Russian Chess Federation, Head coach of the Russian men's national chess team Andrey Filatov congratulates him on his birthday. 

Dear Evgeni Andreevich!

On behalf of the Russian Chess Federation, I would like to congratulate you on your birthday!

A professional life of chess veterans has been very active and abundant for many years thanks to your incessant efforts. Many tournament and events are being held for senior chess players. Handicap tournaments, where players of different ages and levels can compete almost on equal terms and where practically all participants are given gifts and prizes, are regularly organized by you according to your system.   

Your contribution to chess movement is difficult to overestimate and we are very grateful to you for it. I wish you robust health, energy, and new preffesional achievements! 

President of the Russian Chess Federation, Head coach of the Russian men's national chess team
Andrey Filatov

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Evgeni Vasiukov was born and lives in Moscow. He learned to play chess only at the age of 15. During the War, the eight-year-old child was evacuated to Tula, which he remembers to this day. In 1943, his father died in battle at Kursk. 

After starting late, he progressed rapidly and became a Soviet master of sport in 1954 and in 1961, an international grandmaster. Vasiukov recorded his first major victory in 1955 when he became the champion of Moscow after showing himself to be a fantastic tactician. He would go on to win five more of the capital’s championship and he represented Moscow in several domestic competitions. 

Vasiukov was always noted for quick thought and a reputation of a specialist in speed chess has remained with him since the 1950s- he continues to play blitz chess spectacularly to this day. He won the Moscow blitz championship six times for “Vecherka” prizes and split first place twice. In 1958, when 15-year-old Robert Fischer came to Moscow for a short time, only Vasiukov and Tigran Petrosian- who was invited to the Central Chess Club at short notice- managed to defend the honour of the capital. 

Four years later, Vasiukov once again tripped Fischer up. This happened at the candidates’ tournament on Curacao. An original analyst and theoretician, Vasiukov conceived of a new idea in the Ufimtsev Defence and he introduced it to Korchnoi. He implemented it while playing black against Fischer and won an important, decisive victory. 

Vasiukov shared his ideas freely while he was trainer of the Soviet students’ team, the Hungarian Olympic team and a trainer-consultant for Karpov, Korchnoi, Tal, Geller and other exceptional chess players. 

Vasiukov won over 50 competitions and played in 11 Soviet championships. His greatest result was victory in Manila in 1974- he finished ahead of Petrosian, Larsen, Portisch and Gligoric…on his count are gold medals at tournaments in Reykjavik, Athens, Varna, Berlin and other cities. 

Evgeni Vasiukov is an 11-time European and a 4-time World Senior Champion as a member of the Russian national team. He had been playing only on board 1 before 2015. World Senior Champion of 1995, medallist of many World Senior Championships. His last year results are worth mentioning in particular: bronze medal of the European Senior Championship (Spain) and sharing 2-10 places in the World Senior Championship (Italy) in the age of 84! 

Vasiukov won the Russian Senior Championships in 2014 and 2017. Last year, he managed to win the Russian Senior Championship in Sochi fighting against strong rivals who are 15-20 years younger than he. He is a manyfold winner and prize-winner of various veterans' rapid, blitz and handicap competitions. He had invented the system of handicap tournaments  and organized dozens of events. 

Vasiukov is one of the strongest grandmasters of the older generation, who are actively taking part on chess events at the age of 85 and older.