Vassily Ivanchuk
Ukrainian chess player From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Vassily Ivanchuk,[1] born 18 March 1969, is a Ukrainian chess grandmaster.
Chucky, as he is affectionately known, has been a leading player in the world since 1988, at times reaching the second spot on the FIDE list,[2] but has never won the World Chess Championship. Ivanchuk has often had erratic results. Since 2007 his world ranking has ranged from twelfth[3] to second,[4] before dropping to 30th in July 2009.
He was the 2007–2008 World Blitz Chess champion.[5] He won Amber blindfold and rapid chess championship in 1992 and 2010.
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Character
Chucky has been described by Viswanathan Anand as the most eccentric player in the chess world. Anand gave his view on Ivanchuk like this:[6]
- "He's someone who is very intelligent ... but you never know which mood he is going to be in. Some days he will treat you like his long-lost brother. The next day he ignores you completely.
- The players have a word for him. They say he lives on 'Planet Ivanchuk'. (Laughs) ... I have seen him totally drunk and singing Ukrainian poetry and then the next day I have seen him give an impressive talk.
- For a while he was trying to learn Turkish. Don’t ask me why ... Every day is a surprise with him".
When he plays, Ivanchuk rarely looks at the board. Instead he stares at the ceiling and at the walls with a blank stare (although this is not uncommon with top players who calculate without looking at the board). His playing style is unpredictable and highly original, making him a threat to any chess player, although it sometimes also leads to quick losses.
After a string of unsuccessful games culminated in his elimination at the early stages of the 2009 Chess World Cup, Ivanchuk announced, in a highly emotional interview, his retirement from professional chess.[7] However, he soon recanted this decision.[8]
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References
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