Tutti Frutti

Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian – Evgeni Andreyevich Vasiukov
47th Moscow City Chess Championship; Moscow, 1956
English Opening A16

The Russian Chess Federation announced the death of Russian Grandmaster Evgeni Andreyevich Vasiukov (born in Moscow on March 5, 1933), who passed away in Moscow on May 10, 2018. During his prime, from the early 1960s to the mid-1970s, Vasiukov scored wins in individual games over many world’s top players. 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. 0-0 0-0 5. c4 d6 6. Nc3 Nc6 7. d3 Nh5 8. Rb1. Robert James “Bobby” Fischer recommended 8. d4 e5 9. d5 Ne7 10. e4 c5! 11. Ne1 Kh8 12. Nd3 f5 13. Rb1 Nf6= T. V. Petrosian – Boleslavsky, Semifinal of 24th Championship of USSR, Kiev 1957. 8. ... f5! 9. Qc2 a5 10. a3 f4. “Black obtains an excellent aggressive setup. I was as impressed by that game as Petrossiàn must have been, since he got crushed”, Bobby Fischer writes in his book “60 partite da ricordare”, Milano, Mursia, 1972, p. 18. 11. b4 axb4 12. axb4 Bg4 13. e3 e5 14. b5 Ne7 15. Ne4 Qd7 16. Bd2 h6! 17. Bc3 g5 18. exf4 gxf4. Black is dominating the board. 19. Qe2 Ng6 20. Ra1 Rxa1 21. Bxa1 b6! 22. Bc3 Qf5 23. Bd2 Kh8! 24. Bc1 Bf6 25. Kh1

25. ... Ng7! Black’s Knight heads to g5 with devastating effect. 26. Bb2 Ne6 27. Qc2 Qh5 28. Ned2 Ng5 29. Nxg5 Bxg5 30. Be4 Be2 31. Kg1 f3! Evgeni Andreyevich finishes in grand style. 32. Re1 Bxd2 33. Rxe2 Bg5 34. Re1 Qh3 35. Bxf3 Rxf3 36. d4 Nf4! 37. gxf4 Bxf4 0 : 1. Mate cannot be avoided.

The members of the winning team in the 3rd World Student Team Chess Championship in Uppsala, 1956; from left: Anatoly Stepanovich Lutikov, Lev Abramovich Polugaevsky, Mikhail Nekhemyevich Tal, Evgeni Andreyevich Vasiukov, Viktor Lvovich Kortschnoi, and Vladimir Sergeyevich Antoshin. Photo: Shakhmaty v SSSR.