Lev Psakhis

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Lev Borisovich Psakhis (b. November 29, 1958 in Krasnoyarsk) is a renowned naturalised Israeli chess grandmaster, trainer and author. Born in Siberia, he is also a two times former champion of the Soviet Union.

He gained the International Master and International Grandmaster titles in 1980 and 1982 respectively, either side of two momentous Soviet Championship victories in 1980 (Vilnius - shared with Alexander Beliavsky) and 1981 (Frunze - shared with Garry Kasparov, whom he defeated in round 2).

In international tournaments, he has had many fine results, including a tie for first at Sarajevo in 1981, first at Cienfuegos in 1983, first at Szirak in 1986, a tie for second at Trnava in 1988, and most recently, first at Andorra in 2002. In 1982, he finished tied for second at the (World Championship preliminary) zonal tournament in Yerevan, but failed to make headway at the subsequent Interzonal. It is the suggestion of his fellow professionals that his physical condition and occasional low energy levels were the only barrier to an even brighter career. Boris Gelfand (an Elo rated 2700 grandmaster) remarks that he has never beaten Psakhis at normal speed chess. Psakhis himself is more modest about his abilities, claiming that he can offer good advice on defensive technique due to the many dreadful positions he has had to play his way out of.

He was champion of Israel in 1997 and shared the title in 1999. He has competed for Israel at the Chess Olympiad seven times between 1990-2002. At the European Team Championship, he first of all represented the USSR in 1983 and won individual and team gold medals. Representing Israel thereafter, he took the board 1 individual gold in 1999.

Over the years, he has assisted in many training programmes, dating back to the late eighties when he worked with Garry Kasparov and Artur Yusupov. Other students and/or chess stars that he has been a second to, include Susan Polgar, Judit Polgar and Emil Sutovsky.

In terms of chess style, he was in his youth a player of sharp, complex positions, but nowadays prefers to play in a positional sense. Consequently, he has developed a love for the French Defence and is a noted expert on it, beginning with writing The Complete French (and The Complete Benoni) for B.T. Batsford in the early nineties. His latest Batsford effort is a mammoth four Volume treatise on the French in 2003/4, titled Vol.1 French Defence: 3. Nd2 (Tarrasch), Vol.2 French Defence: Advance and Anti-French Variations, Vol.3 French Defence: 3. Nc3 Bb4 (Winawer) and Vol.4 French Defence: Steinitz, Classical and Other Variations.