Polugaevsky, Lev Abramovich

CHESS PLAYER (SOVIET UNION)
BORN 20 Nov 1934, Mogilev, Belarus - DIED 30 Aug 1995, Paris
CAUSE OF DEATH brain tumour
GRAVE LOCATION Paris: Cimetière du Montparnasse, 3 Boulevard Edgar Quinet

Lev Polugaevsky came from Mogilev, now Mahilyov in Belarus. His start with chess was slow and he was an adult before he received the Soviet master title. I nthe late 60s his chess career accelerated and he participated in the match of the USSR versus the rest of the world in 1970. On board four he lost one game to Vlastimil Hort and he drew the other three ones.

In 1962 and in 1972 he won the tournament of Mar del Plata. His peaked during the late 70s and early 80s, when he defeated Mecking and Tal in quarterfinal candidates matches for the world championship. Both times he lost to Korchnoi in the next round.

He was best known as a chess theoretician and he wrote several influential books on chess. To celebrate his 60th birthday a tournament in Buenos Aires was organised in his honour in 1994. He health prevented him to participate and he died in 1995 of a brain tumour.

Images

The grave of Lev Polugaevsky at Montparnasse Cimetière, Paris.
Picture by Androom (18 May 2005)

 

Sources
• Crowther, M.D., The Week In Chess
Lev Polugaevsky - Wikipedia (EN)


Ponchard, Antoine

Published: 17 Jun 2017
Last update: 01 Jun 2020