2 February 2016

Ideal Person Striving to Play Ideal Chess

Ivan Bukavshin, in memoriam, by Arnold Epstein.

January 20 is the ninth day since Ivan Bukavshin is no longer with us.

It is not going to be soon that his family and friends will wake up to the terrible news: a twenty year-old guy who has never had any health complains, towards whom everyone would have deep feelings of affection, and for whom, as everyone seemed to believe, a radiant future was in store, is no longer with us. Moreover, the pain of this loss is unlikely to subside for good anytime soon. Indeed, no person capable of compassion will ever forget his feelings at the moment of getting to know the fatal news about the Togliatti grandmaster.

Ivan Bukavshin (1995-2016)

“When they found Vanya, not even a brief thought would linger in my mind about the possibility of his departure. As for me, I kept believing that it was some sort of a story with a sad beginning, but which would have a happy ending a week later”, as was confided by one of Bukavshin’s coaches Jakov Geller.

Alas, it is only fairy tales that would unavoidably feature happy endings.

When such events occur, you start perceiving each trifle and each minor detail in a special way. For example, last year Ivan’s coaches were not especially willing that he continued participating, as it's termed in the chess slang, in the "children's" tournaments - that is, in the junior events, but to get focused on the adult competitions instead. But he insisted that he should go to Loo, where the U20 Junior Russian Championship was to take place, and went on to win it. "I have to slam the door", explained Ivan jokingly.

Yuri Yakovich shares his memories:

“I would not even want to go with Vanya to this tournament as I believed him to have outgrown the level of junior competitions. However, he started off poorly and I decided to fly to Loo. I had to remind him that his commitment to come to this place obliged him to assume a winning attitude. And, as so frequently used to be the case with Vanya in recent years, he geared up as the tournament progressed, winning decisive games and becoming champion. Previously, he featured an unpleasant systemic problem in the form of his uncertain play in the last rounds. In order to address the problem, Vanya would play for a whole year up to the point of "lone kings." Not only would he not offer draws himself, but he would also turn down peace proposals offered by his opponents, even if not being particularly excited about his own current position. We would not pay attention to the fact that this particular approach was to the detriment of certain individual game results. I remember our long walks prior to last rounds, the conversations we had about the last tournament rounds being no different from the previous ones and that one just needed to demonstrate good chess without deliberating on the final standings. All this allowed him developing the right kind of competitive arrogance, the lack of which would make it difficult for a humble, kind and well-mannered boy to display his mastery skills in the crucial moments. Therefore, when in March 2015 after a bitter defeat Vanya found himself in a must-win situation in the last round of the European Men’s Chess Championship so as to be able to qualify into the World Cup, I had little doubt about the final result. As for the Men's Russian Chess Championship, he went on to win brilliantly, it being one of the most difficult knock-out system tournaments.”

Ivan Bukavshin and Yuri Yakovich in Loo

And below is a fragment of his interview, given by Ivan prior to leaving for the World Cup in Baku, which happened to be just a few months ago.

“I am eternally grateful to my parents, and the older I get, the more I come to realize and appreciate as to what mom and dad have done for me. They abandoned everything, sacrificed a lot to offer an opportunity of fulfilling my potential in chess. It was after our moving in Tolyatti that I have crystallized as a chess player to the degree of 99%. It is Gulnara Ravilevna Salakhova who has fully undertaken the burden of all organizational aspects. Here, during the classes of the grandmaster school sessions with Yuri Rafaelovich Yakovich, and, alas, with the late Andrei Vasilyevich Kharlov, as well as through continuous collaboration with Jakov Vladimirovich Geller that the chess culture, and perhaps even a universal human one in general, has become an integral part of my inner being.”

He said it as if delivering a farewell speech, and did it in his own clear, concise and comprehensive style, as though it were a game analysis that has finally come to an end.

...The Bukavshins moved from the Rostov-on-Don in Togliatti in 2007, when Ivan was twelve years of age.

“After completion of the Russian Children’s Championship in Dagomys Vanya’s mother approached me to ask about my opinion about them moving in Togliatti and whether Vanya would be able to have regular chess classes and coach training during competitions”, as recalled by Gulnara Salakhova. “Of course, we did everything to help them in terms of seeking employment and an apartment to rent. Nevertheless, Vanya’s parents still had a hard time to go through since his father had had a good job with Rostselmash factory, whereas in Togliatti they needed to stay in the dormitory first, moving into an apartment only later. Only a couple of years ago did the Bukavshins finally become proprietors of their own large apartment in the most "chess-friendly" district of the city. And they agreed to go through all this for the sake of their son’s future, being the decision that cannot but inspire respect, in my opinion!

Togliatti, with all due sympathy for the "Russian Detroit", can by no means be put on the same par with the Rostov-on-Don. Nonetheless, it was here that Ivan Bukavshin became a truly happy person. Because in Togliatti he found himself immersed in that genuine chess environment in which alone a rising star can turn into a mature player. Excellent coaches, talented peers steering at full speed on parallel courses, as well as organizers, shielding their pets from all daily routine problems - that's what the Tolyatti Specialized Children and Youth Sports Chess School of the Olympic Reserve is all about. Had this article been devoted to a different topic, it would be worthy of an ample narrative of its own.

Trainers and students of the Tolyatti Specialized Children and Youth Sports Chess School of the Olympic Reserve Dmitry Frolyanov, Sanan Sjugirov, Gulnara Salakhova, Ivan Bukavshin, Yuri Yakovich, Alexandr Predke, Jakov Geller, and Alexey Mokshanov

The financial aspect of the transfer from Rostov to Togliatti was irrelevant for Ivan Bukavshin at all. The golden rain had stopped pouring on the athletes of the automotive city well before his becoming a native of the city situated on the banks of the Volga River. And chess players have never belonged to the ranks of privileged athletes anyway.

However, this aspect of life has never been of utmost importance for Ivan. Thus, for example, it was almost impossible to persuade him into buying a new pair of jeans unless the ones he was wearing were not fit for use any longer. "I do have only a single pair of buttocks, don’t I?" he would attempt to put off with a jest. He tried not to divert his attention from the main goal.

After moving in Togliatti his level of mastery started increasing as quickly as mushrooms would spring up after the rain. By the moment of Vanya’s parents venturing into taking that important step in their lives, his rating would freeze near the point of 2250, even though, by all accounts, he was capable of a lot more than that. However, already as soon as 2008 he took the "gold" of the Junior European and Russian Championships, whereas at sixteen he became a grandmaster already. It was, according to Yuri Yakovich, almost a vertical takeoff.

The story of Bukavshin conquering this level is extremely instructive. It narrates not only about the skill component, but also about the system of human values, which helped Ivan hone his skills. Here is what Jakov Geller has to say:

“It so coincided that Ivan became the starting point of my coaching career. When he arrived, we just found each other. Chess was my life, my profession, and then such a man was going to become my student... we could go on training all day round with him. At that time I had no idea how to go about working with children, but had a great desire to do something positive for him... During our first joint tournament Dima Frolyanov, after having spent some time with Ivan, joked that Vanya would make a grandmaster norm ahead of me. That is exactly what happened. Four years later, in one of the "Moscow Open" tournaments, he had to score a point and a half in the last two games for his first grandmaster norm. And, as luck would have it, we were paired together. We would always experience difficulties playing serious games against each other, so our classical encounters would usually end in draws. However, if we decided to fix a draw, he would have to win as Black against a strong grandmaster in the final round. It is hard to put into words the essence of making the first grandmaster norm for a young man living by chess, but he approached me, saying, "Jakov Vladimirovich, I do not want to play with you, there will be yet other occasions to make my norms!" However, already back then he would take eight out of ten games from me in blitz. I replied, of course, that he absolutely needed to make the norm and that we should not refrain from playing seriously. I added that at least he would know that he did everything that there was in his powers to do. He went on to win that game honestly and deservedly in spite of all my attempts to fight back, and ended up making the norm. The second and third grandmaster norms were covered by Ivan within the period of six months, closing the grandmaster norm issue even a couple of rounds ahead of the end of those tournaments.

Ivan Bukavshin and Jakov Geller

Ivan has always been a model of correctness over the board. An extremely unnerving atmosphere, usually created by loving parents, would unavoidably reign children's tournaments in all types of sports. In chess, however, it comes to the forefront in particularly acute forms: firstly, due to the specifics of the game, and, secondly, because unlike any other game it features fierce grueling competition that requires adopting a must-win attitude. Despite all this, Ivan has never tried to intimidate his opponents by his physical dimensions, which in children's sports can turn into nothing short of a strong argument indeed. Moreover, he never allowed himself to get away with taking any liberties against his opponents, acting in an invariably respectful manner throughout the game. And he would never fail to find courage to stop the clock in recognition of his defeat, extending his hand to offer handshakes to a winner despite experiencing extremely painful feelings about his defeat, as befits an athlete who loses rarely and aspires to achieve much in chess.”

Jakov Geller brings forth his memories:

“It happened during one of the tournaments when the guys entered my room and asked, "Jakov Vladimirovich, what is going happen if a hotel wall goes down?" I replied, "What do you mean by a hotel wall going down? It means that the wall is of poor quality". Then I stopped short of speaking, "Why are you asking?" It turned out that Vanya lost his game that day, entered his room and, being in a fit of temper, punched the wall with his fist that it went on through deep inside... But it was not the only damage, as it turned out. They decided to seal the hole in the damaged wall with a magazine page, soiling a table when doing the sealing job and spoiling a towel when trying to wipe the glue off the table. In short, we got fined, which amounted to more than prize money for that tournament. All the same, we felt dispirited only briefly, whereas afterwards we could never stop laughing whenever this episode would come back to our memories... People who lack competitive spirit are most unlikely to get it right. But take my word for it: this is exactly the type of character that a person should possess unless he intends to remain in the background.”

"A dormitory boy will never make it to the champion," such was a sentence that was passed upon Bukavshin by one of the Moscow specialists. And he proved wrong. Bukavshin did have a champion’s character. How could we forget, for instance, the 2009 World Youth Chess Olympiad in Turkey. It happened to be perhaps the worst event attended by our players in terms of its organizational aspects. They accommodated out team in out-of-the-way hotel rooms, served poor meals, all this being coupled with the fact that we had no reserve player either. Board one player Bukavshin got food poisoning. The last five rounds he was constantly feeling sick at the stomach. He was taken to the Turkish hospital, but the doctors failed to be of real help to him. Yet, Ivan still ended up ranking first on his board and made a significant contribution to the overall victory of the national team. The whole story finished when one hour after returning to Russia he was taken to the hospital in an ambulance and stayed there for treatment for two weeks!

The previous year confirmed: he had all required qualities to gain a foothold in the elite chess. Ivan became the Russian Champion among the 20-year-olds, shared 1st-3rd places in the Higher League of the Russian Men’s Championship, qualified for the Superfinal of the Russian Championship, made his debut in the Men’s World Cup, won the Russian Men’s Cup, and took 3rd place in the Aeroflot Open. He was perfectly well aware that a player’s progress in chess comes in leaps and bounds (Ivan mentioned it himself in one of his interviews), and worked patiently to approach the moment of his next takeoff. The transition from youth to adult sports is always a painful process, but he gained such a momentum that helped him clear this hurdle with a large margin.

The 2015 Russian Championship Superfinal in Chita. The encounter with the many-times national champion Peter Svidler

At the same time he was free of even a hint of star disease or any overestimation of his value for that matter. Yuri Yakovich narrates:

“Vanya would be the soul of any company. Being a grandmaster and a winner of the Russian Cup, he would never turn down a 10-year-old child’s request to play a few blitz games. And it was not only in chess that he used to keep the kids’ company – the same was also true for football, table tennis, and "mafia" activities. Children would cling to him and he was an interesting person for adults to be around with... He was an ideal person who strived to play ideal chess - such is a testimonial about him by Jakov Geller.”

Ivan Bukavshin, unlike many young grandmasters, would refrain from focusing on chess alone. Although he also spent a lot of time working on chess, he wanted to be a versatile man as well. Shortly after moving in Togliatti, Ivan insisted on his transfer to a stronger school, which he went on to graduate successfully from. He used to read a lot, wanted to deeply study psychology and enjoyed going in for various sports.

And, by the way, the last event that happened in his life was a game of table tennis with Sanan Sjugirov. Long time ago, when the eight-year old Vanya became the Boys’ champion of the Southern Federal Okrug, the ten- year old Sanan, who used to be a noted chess authority by that time already, the U10 Junior World Champion – awarded Ivan with the medal that was the first in his life. And he also happened to be the last one to communicate with Ivan Bukavshin...