Yuri Sakharov


Yuri Nikolaevich Sakharov was a Ukrainian Chess Master, International Correspondence Chess Master, Merited Coach of the Ukrainian SSR.

Biography

Yuri Sakharov was born on September 18, 1922 in Yuzovka . His father was an official in the Donbass mining industry. In 1937 during the Great Purge he was arrested and executed. Yuri Sakharov became a "son of an enemy of the people." During the Great Patriotic War the Nazis sent him to work in a Belgian coal mine. When Allied Forces entered Belgium, Yuri Sakharov joined the US Army and fought against the Nazis. He earned a Purple Heart Medal. When his unit reached the Elbe in 1945, he was repatriated.
Back home in Ukraine, he got a job as an Inspector in Kiev.
In 1951 he brilliantly won the Semi Final USSR Chess Championship in Lvov and was qualified together with Lev Aronin and Vladimir Simagin who tied up up the second and third places to participate in the in Moscow. Also, he fulfilled the norm requirement of Chess Master. But very soon he was arrested by denunciation and his Chess Master Title was revoked. Lev Aronin, Vladimir Simagin, and Salomon Flohr were qualified from Lvov and went to Moscow.
Sakharov faced a closed-door trial, and he was given 25 years of jail in Vladimir Central Prison.
After Stalin's death in 1953, mass amnesty of the victims of Stalin's repressions started. In 1955 Yuri Sakharov was offered amnesty too, but he refused insisting on full rehabilitation. In 1956 he eventually was freed on full rehabilitation. His father was rehabilitated, too.
Sakharov rebuilt his chess career. When he was 46, he became .
He tragically died in 1981 in Kiev. The circumstances of his death remains unknown.

Chess career

Sakharov was the champion of Kiev in 1948 and in , and shared 1-2 place with in and with V.Shianovsky in 1961 .
Sakharov was twice the Ukrainian Champion in 1966 and 1968. He participated in 19 Ukrainian Championships, tying for 4-6th in 1946, tying for 3rd-4th in 1947, tying for 6-9th in 1949, taking 5th in 1951, taking 2nd, behind Efim Geller, in 1958, tying for 4-5th in 1959, sharing 1st with Leonid Stein but lost to him a match for the title in 1960, tying for 3rd-4th in 1961, taking 3rd in 1962, and tying for 2nd-3rd in 1964.
YearCityNamePointsPlaceFeatured Game
1940Kiev12 Championship of Ukraine6.5/17vs I. Boleslavsky
1946Kiev15 Championship of Ukraine11.5/17
1947Kiev16 Championship of Ukraine10.5/16
1948Kiev17 Championship of Ukraine7.5/18vs E. Geller
1949Odessa18 Championship of Ukraine11.5/19vs E. Geller
1950Kiev19 Championship of Ukraine8.5/17vs I. Lipnitsky
1951Kiev20 Championship of Ukraine10.5/17
1957Kiev26 Championship of Ukraine11/17
1958Kiev27 Championship of Ukraine10.5/16
1959Kiev28 Championship of Ukraine13/21
1960Kiev29 Championship of Ukraine12/17vs L. Stein
1961Kiev30 Championship of Ukraine9/15
1962Kiev31 Championship of Ukraine11.5/17
1963Kiev32 Championship of Ukraine10/17
1964Kiev33 Championship of Ukraine13/19
1966Kiev35 Championship of Ukraine13/17
1967Kiev36 Championship of Ukraine8/13
1968Kiev37 Championship of Ukraine12.5/17
1970Kiev39 Championship of Ukraine4.5/17

Yuri Sakharov played in the Ukrainian team during Soviet Team Chess Championships.
YearCityNameBoardResultFeatured Game
1948Leningrad1st Soviet Team Chess Championship9
1958Vilnius5th Soviet Team Chess Championship3vs GM Averbakh
1959Moscow6th Soviet Team Chess Championship4
1960Moscow7th Soviet Team Chess Championship3
1967Moscow10th Soviet Team Chess Championship4
1968Grozny11th Soviet Team Chess ChampionshipReservevs GM Furman

Twice Sakharov became the Champion of the Ukrainian Voluntary Sports Society "Avangard" in and .
He played for the "Avangard" Team during Soviet Team Chess Cup Tournaments.
YearCityNameBoardResultFeatured Game
1961Moscow3rd Soviet Team Chess Cup4vs GM Boleslavsky
1964Moscow4th Soviet Team Chess Cup2
1966Moscow5th Soviet Team Chess Cup2
1968Riga6th Soviet Team Chess Cup2
1971Rostov-on-Don7th Soviet Team Chess CupReserve

He participated in the USSR Chess Championships 5 times.
YearCityChampionshipPointsPlaceFeatured Game
1960Leningrad6/1918-20
1964/65Kiev7.5/1917
1965Tallinn10.5/197
1967Kharkov9/13vs Polugaevsky
1968/69Alma-Ata9/1914

He was a winner of and made the first norm for a title of International Master.
Yuri Sakharov successfully played in friendly international matches both for the USSR and Ukraine.
MatchYearLocationScoreGames
1966Sukhumi3 out 5
1968Sochi3.5 out 4
1970Kiev2 out 4

Yuri Sakharov was part of the Soviet Team that won gold in Chess Correspondence Olympiad VI of 1968-72 and VII of 1972-76.
YearNameBoardPointsTeam PlaceFeatured Game
1968-19726th Correspondence Chess Olympiad47/8 1
1972-19777th Correspondence Chess Olympiad45/91

He earned the title of International Correspondence Chess Master in .
YearNamePointsPlaceFeatured Game
1973-19771st CC World Cup Final7/14
1977-19839th Correspondence World Championship Final7.5/16

Honors

As a chess player