Vassily Ivanchuk was born on March 18, 1969 in Berejiany, Ukraine. He is a Ukranian chess grandmaster. On the FIDE July 2005 ratings list, he is ranked number 5 in the world and Ukraine's top player with an ELO rating on 2752.
Ivanchuk rose to fame at the age of 21 when he won the Linares tournament of 1991. Fourteen players participated in this tournament. Eight of them were rated in the top ten of the world, including World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov. Ivanchuk defeated Kasparov in their game and ended up winning the tournament by half a point.
Since 1990, he has consistently ranked among the top 10, rated as high as number 2 on a few occasions, but he played poorly in matches that require a different approach than tournament play. He easily gets nervous and blunders in critical positions. In 2002, he came close to becoming World Champion by reaching the finals of the FIDE World Championship Knockout, but lost to Ruslan Ponomariov.
His major tournament wins include Corus 1996, Linares 1989, Linares 1991, and Linares 1995.
Download 956 chess games by Vassily Ivanchuk
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