| Yuri Balashov | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Юрий Сергеевич Балашов |
| Country | Russia |
| Born | 12 March 1949 Shadrinsk, Russia |
| Title | Grandmaster |
| FIDE rating | 2381 (November 2009) |
Yuri Sergeyevich Balashov (Russian: Юрий Сергеевич Балашов, born 12 March 1949, Shadrinsk) is a Russian chess grandmaster.
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He was awarded the grandmaster title in 1973. Balashov was Moscow Champion in 1970 and 2nd to Anatoly Karpov in the 1976 USSR Chess Championship. In 1977 he won Lithuanian Chess Championship.[1] He finished 1st= at Lone Pine 1977 and 1st= at Wijk aan Zee 1982.
Balashov represented the USSR in several team events. He played second board for the USSR team at the 1971, 1972, and 1974 World Student Team Championships, winning the second board individual gold in 1971 when he was an IM with 6.5/8. Balashov played in four European Team Chess Championships, 1970, 1973, 1977, and 1980, winning the fifth board individual gold in 1977. At the 24th Chess Olympiad in 1980, he scored 7.5/10 as the first board reserve to help the USSR team win the gold medal.[2]
In 1970s and in early 1980s he was one of the top 25 chess players in the world. According to Chessmetrics, at his peak in July 1977 Balashov's play was equivalent to a rating of 2715, and he was ranked number 11 in the world. His best single performance was at Moscow (URS Championship), 1976, where he scored 10.5/16 possible points (66%) against 2688-rated opposition, for a performance rating of 2773.[3]
On the November 2009 FIDE list his Elo rating is 2381.
In 1992, he was Boris Spassky’s second in Yugoslavia during the "Revenge Match of the 20th century" against Bobby Fischer. In 2005 Balashov was awarded the title of FIDE Senior Trainer.