DTFC Rafael Vaganian B-Day Tournament

5 DAYS, VACATION ALLOWED, WILL BE 4 ROUNDS AND THE FINAL BETWEEN THE BEST SIX. 10 CONCURRENT PER ROUNDS.

One of the strongest Grandmasters of 1980ies, top-5 player and World Blitz Vice-Champion Rafael Vaganian turns 70 today! Congratulations to a legend of Armenian chess!

Rafael Artemovich Vaganian was born October,15,  1951 in Yerevan, Armenia.

Vaganian learned to play chess when he was 5. His father- a physicist- was an ardent admirer of the game who once beat Max Euwe during his youth in a simul with clock.

When he was 16, Vaganian became the Soviet champion among juniors, but he could not repeat Anatoly Karpov’s achievement and win the world championship. Nonetheless, in 1971, Vaganian immediately became a grandmaster (despite the lack of an international title) after victory at a tournament in Banja Luka.

“Botvinnik once noticed that Vaganian plays like chess never existed before him. These words convey both opprobrium for a disinclination to work and to study classical heritage and wonderment at authenticity and a lack of any prejudices. Perhaps that was why Vaganian’s judgment on some aspects of the game were sharp and unconventional. For example, he once said that the difference between Reti and Nimzowitsch lay in their varying positioning styles: Reti was more attack-focused while Nimzowitsch’s system was based on defence.” (Genna Sosonko)

In 1970s, Vaganian played in several finals of Soviet championships, won medals at military competitions and came first at the world junior team championship. In 1978, he came second in the zonal tournament and qualified for the inter-zonal. His star moment came in 1985, when Vaganian won the inter-zonal competition in Biel one point ahead of silver medallist. Then, at the candidates’ tournament in Montpellier, Rafael split 1st-3rd places with Artur Jussupow and Andrei Sokolov. In the semi-final in 1986, he lost heavily to Sokolov- 2:6. In the next cycle of the world championship in 1988, he lost the 1/8 finals to Lajos Portisch 2,5:3,5.

He won the 1989 Soviet championship. As a member of the Soviet team, he won two Olympiads (in 1984 and 1986), two world team championships (in 1985, when he was the best on the 3rdboard with 6 points out of 8, and 1989), three European team championships (in 1980, 1983 and 1989) and a match against Team World in 1984. In the latter, Vaganian lost 1,5:2,5 to Zoltan Ribli. From 1984-1986, he was third on FIDE’s ratings list, beneath Kasparov and Karpov.

In 1989, he played in the final of the world blitz championship, where he lost to Mikhail Tal.

After the collapse of the USSR, he came third at Olympiads, world championship and European team championships with the Armenian team. He has also won the European Cup and a bronze medal at the European League with De Variant- a Dutch team. He played in several FIDE knockout world championships, and he carries the title of “Mr Bundesliga” for his result at the German team championship: 14,5 out of 15 points- the best ever!

Aside from Robert Fischer, he has played against every world champion from Vassily Smylov to Vishy Anand. He has beaten all of them, except the younger generation of Kasparov, Kramnik and Anand.

In 2011, the President of Armenia awarded Rafael Vaganian a medal “For Service to the Motherland”, I Category. He is also an honorary citizen of Yerevan.

Rafael’s wife Irina used to be a celebrated chess player. The couple have a son and daughter.