Mark Taimanov

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Mark Taimanov

Mark Evgenievich Taimanov (Марк Евгеньевич Тайманов) (born February 7, 1926, Kharkov) is a Jewish-born, leading Ukrainian chess player and concert pianist.

He was awarded the International Grandmaster title in 1952 and played in the Candidates Tournament in Zurich in 1953, where he tied for 8th. From 1946-56, he was among the world's top ten players. He played in 23 USSR Chess Championships, a record equalled by Efim Geller, and tied for 1st twice. In 1952 he lost the playoff match to Mikhail Botvinnik, while in 1956, he beat Yuri Averbakh and Boris Spassky for the title. He is probably best known for his 6-0 loss to Bobby Fischer in the 1971 World Championship Candidates match. However, few players have beaten as many world champions as Taimanov: Botvinnik, Smyslov, Tal, Petrosian, Spassky, and Karpov.

After his loss to Fischer, the Soviet government was embarrassed, and, as Taimanov later put it in a 2002 interview, found it "unthinkable" that he could have lost the match so badly to an American without a "political explanation". [1] They took away Taimanov's salary, and he was no longer allowed to travel overseas. They later "forgave" him, and lifted the sanctions against him. Fischer's 6-0 defeat of Bent Larsen later in 1971 may have helped change their minds.

He has opening variations named after him in the Sicilian Defense and Nimzo-Indian Defense - see Taimanov Variation.

With his wife Lyobov Bruk he formed a piano duo, some of whose recordings were included in the Philips series Great Pianists of the 20th Century.

Here is his win, as Black, against the then-reigning World Champion Anatoly Karpov:

Karpov-Taimanov, Leningrad 1977 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.c4 e5 6.Nb3 Nf6 7.Nc3 Bb4 8.f3 O-O 9.Be3 d6 10.Rc1 b6 11.Bd3 Bc5 12.Qd2 Be6 13.Nxc5 bxc5 14.O-O Nd4 15.Nd5 Nd7 16.f4 Rb8 17.f5 Bxd5 18.cxd5 Qb6 19.Rf2 f6 20.Rc4 a5 21.Ra4 Ra8 22.Qe1 Ra7 23.b3 Rfa8 24.Rb2 Qc7 25.Bd2 Nb6 26.Rxa5 c4 27.Bf1 Rxa5 28.Bxa5 Qc5 29.Bxb6 Qxb6 30.Kh1 cxb3 31.axb3 g6 32.fxg6 hxg6 33.b4 Kg7 34.b5 f5 35.exf5 Nxf5 36.Rb3 Qd4 37.b6 Ra1 38.Rb1 Ng3+! 39.hxg3 Ra8 0-1