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Andrei Sokolov | |
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 Andrei Sokolov, 2008 | |
| Full name | Andrei Yurievich Sokolov |
| Country | Soviet Union (until 1992) Russia (1992–2000) France (since 2000)[1] |
| Born | (1963-03-20)20 March 1963 (age 62) Vorkuta,Russian SFSR,Soviet Union |
| Title | Grandmaster (1984) |
| FIDE rating | 2452 (March 2025) |
| Peak rating | 2645 (January 1987) |
| Peak ranking | No. 4 (January 1987) |
Andrei Yurievich Sokolov (Russian:Андре́й Ю́рьевич Соколо́в; born 20 March 1963, inVorkuta,Komi ASSR,Russian SFSR,Soviet Union) is achessGrandmaster of Russian origin, now living in France. He was one of the leading players in the world in the late 1980s.
He learned the game from his father Yuri, a Soviet Army officer andCandidate Master. At 6 years old, inspiration arrived in the form of a book ofAlekhine's games. At age 12, he attended one of the many chess schools that existed in and around Moscow and he occasionally frequented the legendary Pioneer Palace. Some major preparation followed in the years 1975–1982, mainly under the tutelage of renowned coach,Vladimir Yurkov.
Alexey Suetin attended the same sports club (Trud) and as senior Moscow coach, observed the youngster's progress closely. Sokolov won the minor championship of Moscow in 1981, but fared less well in the major Open Championship a short while later. He had yet to learn the subtleties of positional play, but already there was much to admire. Suetin described him as "a practical-minded chess player ... most concentrated, deprived of any impulsiveness and very persistent in attaining his aims."
By 1982, the groundwork was paying off as he went on to win theJunior World Chess Championship, held inCopenhagen. A strong entry had includedJoel Benjamin,Iván Morovic,Nigel Short andNiaz Murshed. At this time, Sokolov was anInternational Master with anElo rating of 2450. At that time, FIDE automatically awarded the International Master title to the winner of the Junior Championship. (Later the rule would be changed to make the Junior Champion a grandmaster.) HisGrandmaster status was achieved in 1984, a year of outstanding achievement for the 21-year-old as he rocked the chess world by winning theChampionship of the Soviet Union at his first attempt. Impressive was his penultimate round effort against ex-championBeliavsky who, playing white, quickly mounted a ferocious attack against Black'sking position. It was however already a quality of Sokolov that he remain ice-cool under pressure. He not only repelled the attack, but launched a counter-offensive of his own and won a crucial game. It was also a year that saw him finish a creditable second at the strongNovi Sad tournament and advance his Elo rating up to 2550.
Representing the Soviet Union at theThessaloniki 1984 andDubai 1986Chess Olympiads, his performances were assured, scoring close to 67% on each occasion and contributing to two team gold medals.
Sokolov's career highlight was the1987 World Championship cycle, where he reached the final of theCandidates Tournament. After qualifying through theInterzonal and round-robin Candidates Tournament, he won matches againstRafael Vaganian (6–2), andArtur Yusupov (7½–6½). In the final however, he lost toAnatoly Karpov, 3½–7½. Having beaten Karpov atBugojno 1986, he felt that his pre-match mood had been overly optimistic and he described his defeat as "very severe".
Nevertheless, in 1987/88 his rating peaked at 2645 and he was listed as the third strongest player in the world behindGarry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov. He even went on to defeat Karpov again atBelfort 1988, a World Cup event.
However, he was unable to repeat his success in later World Championship cycles. Inthe 1988 Candidates' matches, he unexpectedly lost his first-round match toKevin Spraggett. Inthe 1990 Interzonal he scored 6½ out of 13, failing to qualified for the Candidates.
Exceptionally, in 1990, he scored a resurgent win at the Moscow Open (finishing ahead ofMikhail Tal,Rafael Vaganian,Alexey Vyzmanavin andMikhail Krasenkov, among others). This preceded a period of lesser chess activity.
He moved to France and acquired French nationality in 2000. While he has not yet won theFrench Championship, he came close in 2003 when he tied first withJoël Lautier andÉtienne Bacrot, losing out to Bacrot in a playoff. In 2005, he finished equal second with 14-year-oldMaxime Vachier-Lagrave, behind Lautier.
There have been two appearances for the French Olympiad team (in 2002 and 2006) and he further represented his adopted country at theEuropean Team Chess Championship of 2003, held inPlovdiv.
As a participant of the 1988–89 World Cup series, he competed atBrussels,Belfort,Reykjavík andRotterdam, finishing an overall 11th from a field of 25 and winning a combined prize fund of $36,584. In the following game, played during the Brussels leg in 1989, Sokolov sacrifices a piece and thenthe exchange in order to create a powerful double threat of twopassed pawns on one wing and akingside attack on the other.
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