Mikhail Chigorin

Mikhail Chigorin was born on November 12, 1850. He was a leading Russian chess player and the first grandmaster from Russia. He served as a major source of inspiration for the "Soviet school of chess," which dominated the chess world in the latter part of the 20th century. He played two matches against Wilhelm Steinitz for the World Chess Championship; the first in 1889 he lost 10.5-6.5; the second in 1892 he lost 12.5-10.5. His overall record against Steinitz was respectable: +24-27=8.

Chigorin started serious chess rather late in life, and his first international tournament was Berlin 1881, where he was 3rd=. He placed second, ahead of reigning world champion Lasker and former world champion Steinitz, in the Hastings 1895 chess tournament, in which all the greatest players of the time participated. The winner, Harry Nelson Pillsbury, lost their individual game and had great respect for Chigorin's ability. Chigorin maintained a narrow lifetime plus score against him (+8-7=6).

He was 2nd= in Budapest 1896, and beat Rudolf Charousek +3-1 in the playoff. He was skilled at gambits, and won the Vienna King's Gambit Tournament in 1903. He also beat Lasker +2-1=3 in a sponsored Rice Gambit tournament in Brighton, where he took black in every game; neither player took the result as reflecting chess strength as opposed to the weakness of the gambit.

Chigorin has several chess openings named after him, most notably the Chigorin Variation of the Ruy Lopez (in algebraic notation, 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 O-O 9.h3 Na5). There is also the Chigorin Defense to the Queen's Gambit (1.d4 d5 2.c4 Nc6).

Although Chigorin had a heavily negative record against Lasker (+1-8=4), he beat Lasker with the black pieces in their first game at Hastings in 1895. It resulted in a classic two knights v two bishops ending, where Lasker's bishops were better but he underestimated Chigorin's strategy. Chigorin died on January 25, 1908.

Download 171 chess games by Mikhail Chigorin

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