Members · Prefs · Laboratory · Collections · Openings · Endgames · Sacrifices · History · Search Kibitzing · Kibitzer's Café · Chessforums · Tournament Index · Players · Kibitzing

Leonid Stein

LEONID STEIN (born Nov-12-1934, died Jul-04-1973, 38 years old) Ukraine (federation/nationality Russia) PRONUNCIATION: [what is this?] Leonid Zakharovich Stein was born in (the) Ukraine. He became a master at the age of twenty-four--unusually late for one who goes on to become a player of his caliber. Three years later, Stein qualified for the Soviet Championship for the first time, placing third and gaining the International Grandmaster title (1962). He played board one for the Soviet team at the Helsinki 1961 Student Olympiad, scoring a strong +8, =3, -1, and helping his team to the overall gold medals. He also represented the USSR at the Tel Aviv Olympiad (1964) scoring a fine 10/13, and winning an individual gold medal on the first reserve board. Again, he was in the Soviet side at the Havana Olympiad 1966, scoring 9/12, winning an individual silver medal on board four. Both times, the Soviet Union won the team gold medals. In the 1960s, he accumulated a string of strong tournament victories, including three U.S.S.R. Championships 1963 [rusbase-1], 1965 [rusbase-2] and 1966/7 [rusbase-3]. Although Stein never qualified for the Candidates, he came extremely close in 1962 and 1964 (when he would have qualified if not for a rule restricting the number of candidates from one country) and again in 1967 (where he was eliminated after drawing a tie-break playoff with Vlastimil Hort and Samuel Reshevsky due to the latter's better tiebreaks). Two outstanding international tournament victories were attained at Moscow 1967 (commemorating the 50th anniversary of the 1917 October Revolution), and Moscow 1971 (Alekhine Memorial, equal with Anatoly Karpov). Both of the Moscow tournaments were considered to be among the strongest tournaments in chess history up to that time. Further international tournament victories were scored at Sarajevo (Bosna) 1967, equal with Borislav Ivkov, Hastings 1967/68 shared, Kecskemet 1968, Tallinn 1969, Parnu 1971, and Las Palmas 1973, equal with Tigran Petrosian. As Stein was preparing to leave for Bath, England (1973) for the European Team Championship, he collapsed and died of an apparent heart attack in the Rossiya Hotel in Moscow, aged 38. Stein defeated many of the top players of his era. He was one of the few players who had an even score against Vasily Smyslov, Tigran Petrosian, and Mikhail Botvinnik. He had plus records against Mikhail Tal, Boris Spassky, and Paul Keres. Garry Kasparov wrote that Stein "went beyond the bounds of Botvinnik-Smyslov harmony, expanding the limits of our understanding of the game, changing our impressions of the correlation of material and quality of position, of situations with disrupted material and strategic balance, and created the grounds for the emergence of modern, ultra-dynamic chess". (My Great Predecessors Vol. 3, p. 231) Wikipedia article: Leonid Stein Last updated: 2024-05-27 17:29:59

Try our new games table.

page 1 of 41; games 1-25 of 1,022  Game   Result Moves Year Event/Locale Opening 1. V Golembo vs Stein 1-0 21 1948 Category IV Tt C34 King's Gambit Accepted 2. Stein vs V Golembo   ½-½ 34 1950 Lvov A15 English 3. V Shiyanovsky vs Stein   1-0 27 1950 UKR-chT B03 Alekhine's Defense 4. Stein vs V Golembo   1-0 49 1950 Lvov E40 Nimzo-Indian, 4.e3 5. Stein vs V Golembo   ½-½ 53 1951 Lvov E26 Nimzo-Indian, Samisch 6. E Lazarev vs Stein 0-1 34 1951 Ukrainian Junior Championship C05 French, Tarrasch 7. O Yurasov vs Stein   ½-½ 29 1951 Ukrainian Junior Championship B88 Sicilian, Fischer-Sozin Attack 8. V Golembo vs Stein   ½-½ 36 1952 Lvov B65 Sicilian, Richter-Rauzer Attack, 7...Be7 Defense, 9...Nxd4 9. Stein vs V Golembo   1-0 43 1952 Lvov Region Championship C19 French, Winawer, Advance 10. B Vorobets vs Stein   1-0 24 1953 Lvov B95 Sicilian, Najdorf, 6...e6 11. Stein vs Lutikov   0-1 32 1955 Soviet Army Championship C77 Ruy Lopez 12. L Goltsov vs Stein 0-1 33 1955 RSFSR Young Candidates E69 King's Indian, Fianchetto, Classical Main line 13. G Kanayan vs Stein   0-1 35 1955 15th Ch RSFSR (sf) E62 King's Indian, Fianchetto 14. V Lyublinsky vs Stein 0-1 34 1955 Soviet Army Championship C63 Ruy Lopez, Schliemann Defense 15. E Bakhmatov vs Stein   1-0 24 1955 RSFSR Young Candidates C59 Two Knights 16. E Poltoranov vs Stein 0-1 25 1955 Soviet Army Championship A49 King's Indian, Fianchetto without c4 17. Stein vs N Golovko   0-1 35 1955 Soviet Army Championship C45 Scotch Game 18. Stein vs Y Shaposhnikov   0-1 28 1955 Soviet Army Championship C45 Scotch Game 19. D Rovner vs Stein   ½-½ 37 1955 Soviet Army Championship B32 Sicilian 20. Stein vs V Zheliandinov   0-1 51 1956 Soviet Army Championship B98 Sicilian, Najdorf 21. A Volovich vs Stein   1-0 47 1956 Moscow Championship semifinal E12 Queen's Indian 22. E Zagoryansky vs Stein 0-1 50 1956 Moscow Championship semifinal E70 King's Indian 23. Stein vs G Goldberg   ½-½ 47 1956 Moscow Championship semifinal C61 Ruy Lopez, Bird's Defense 24. A Lukin vs Stein   0-1 40 1956 Moscow Championship semifinal D11 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav 25. Stein vs V Soloviev   1-0 36 1956 Soviet Army Championship B51 Sicilian, Canal-Sokolsky (Rossolimo) Attack  page 1 of 41; games 1-25 of 1,022

REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2) | Stein wins | Stein loses

< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 16 OF 18 ·  Later Kibitzing> Mar-12-13    IndigoViolet: Let's just be grateful his parents didn't call him Semyon. Jul-30-13    jerseybob: Cemoblanca: That Fischer-Stein photo appears in the Stein game collection, mis-labelled, and you've passed on the mistake. There's no way that's from Havana '66; they both look too young. Interzonal '62 is more like it. Jul-31-13    TheFocus: <jerseybob> You will notice that country flags are next to Stein. They did not use flags like that at the 1962 Interzonal. The picture is from the Havana Olympiad 1966. Jul-31-13    TheFocus: Here is a photo of Bobby and Spassky at the 1966 Olympiad. http://www.echecs-photos.be/BobbyFi... Jul-31-13    jerseybob: Focus:The second photo is correctly labelled as 1966; in the earlier one Bobby is using "Greasy Kid's Stuff" in his hair, while Stein's face is younger and his hair different. Chess Life has a slew of shots from the '62 I.Z., and the earlier shot is clearly from that. Jul-31-13    TheFocus: <jerseybob> <Chess Life has a slew of shots from the '62 I.Z., and the earlier shot is clearly from that.> OK, thank you. Must have been wrong about the flags at the Interzonal. Aug-28-13    ColdSong: One think in memory of this great player,who may have obviously changed the Chess History in the post-Fischer era. Aug-28-13    Ron: A Fisher-Stein match would have been awesome, a real slug fest. Imagine every game either a Sicilian or KID. Oct-02-13    RedShield: <The Sublime Soviet> by Dominic Lawson <Perhaps he was never likely to become world champion and not just because he came to the game so late. His love of chess as a form of art was wonderfully evident in his best games, which have a geometric beauty that touches on the sublime. But his defensive skills were not of the highest — and it is impossible to become world champion without that.> http://www.standpointmag.co.uk/node... Nov-12-13    Kikoman: <Player of the Day> R.I.P. Sir Leonid Stein. Nov-12-13    Penguincw: R.I.P. <POTD>: IM Leonid Stein. Nov-12-13    FSR: The story I heard almost 40 years ago was that Stein was having sex with a "teenybopper" when he suffered a fatal heart attack. Nov-12-13    Petrosianic: Did you have any reason to believe it? Nov-12-13    Everett: < Ron: A Fisher-Stein match would have been awesome, a real slug fest. Imagine every game either a Sicilian or KID.> Funny, since their famous game is a Ruy. Nov-12-13    FSR: <Petrosianic> I dunno. If you've looked at the prior posts on this page, it's a widely disseminated (no pun intended) story. I remember reading an article by Gufeld, I think, where he didn't discuss the allegation but seemed to be at pains to emphasize what a devoted family man Stein was. Nov-13-13    Everett: <FSR: <Petrosianic> I dunno. If you've looked at the prior posts on this page, it's a widely disseminated (no pun intended) story. I remember reading an article by Gufeld, I think, where he didn't discuss the allegation but seemed to be at pains to emphasize what a devoted family man Stein was.> I seem to remember Keene taking great pains to keep his mouth shut on the matter, out of respect. Who knows... Nov-13-13    FSR: <Everett> That seems suggestive in itself. If one hadn't heard anything untoward, I would think one would either say, "The guy had a heart attack. It happens." or "I don't know anything about the circumstances of his death." I don't know if you remember when Nelson Rockefeller died. The story came out in a very strange way, with a lot of vagueness about what had happened. The guy was the Vice President of the United States at the time; his death would normally be a big story, the circumstances would be widely reported, everyone would be paying tribute to him and saying what a tragedy it was, flags would be flown at half mast, yadda yadda. None of that happened, at least that I noticed. It was only a couple of years ago that I heard the Megan Marshack story. http://nymag.com/news/features/scan... Nov-13-13    FSR: An interesting article about the stories of women who've had abortions. Those of you who just think that women who have abortions are murderous sluts might find it enlightening: http://nymag.com/news/features/abor... Nov-13-13    Everyone: What a tragedy it was! Nov-13-13    FSR: Sorry, my previous comment was intended for the Rogoff page. <Everyone> I was expecting that back in 1979, but better late than never. Thanks. Jan-26-14    offramp: I gave up smoking years ago but I really don't believe I could play professional chess without having a fag at some point or another. The nervous tension is huge, after 6 hours I'd be climbing up the walls for a cigarette. Jan-26-14    offramp: <FSR: <Everett>...I don't know if you remember when Nelson Rockefeller died...> Orson Welles hated Rockefeller and the least likeable character in <The Lady From Shanghai> is played by Glen Anders who is a Nelson Rockefeller lookalike. Welles hated Rockefeller because the veep asked OW to go on a goodwill tour of South America and Welles missed out on the editing of <The Magnificent Ambersons>. Which is a pretty hard-to-watch fillum and wouldn't be much better even in a 4-hour version LOL! Jan-26-14    thegoodanarchist: <FSR: <Everett> ... I don't know if you remember when Nelson Rockefeller died. The story came out in a very strange way, with a lot of vagueness about what had happened... It was only a couple of years ago that I heard the Megan Marshack story. http://nymag.com/news/features/scan>... Heh! I never know WHAT I am going to learn when I come to chessgames.com! Jan-26-14    parisattack: Rocky's adventures with Ms Marshack covered here a couple years back. "Hi ya, fella!" Jan-26-14    FSR: From Kevin Spraggett 's blog: <In the summer of 1973, shortly before the Petropolis Interzonal that he had qualified for, Stein died of a heart attack at the Rossiva Hotel in the center of Moscow . (I remember reading this in the Montreal newspapers at the time!) He was just 38 years old and in his prime. Even the reclusive Bobby Fischer expressed his saddness at this loss. The newspaper accounts of the day pointed to Stein’s excessive smoking and drinking as contributing factors to his early passing… The story that I have been told (from reasonably reliable sources) is that it was not smoking and drinking that contributed to Stein’s demise as much as it was the stunning beauty of the 18 year old daughter of grandmaster Yuri Averbakh–Nadya Averbakh! As the story goes, she once confided that her secret ambition was to seduce each and every Soviet grandmaster…and that she succeeded! Alas, poor Stein died of a heart attack in bed. La femme fatale: check and mate!> http://kevinspraggettonchess.wordpr... Spraggett has a picture of Ms. Averbakh with her husband (GM Mark Taimanov) in 1997. As he says, she is quite the babe. Jump to page #   (enter # from 1 to 18) search thread:    < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 16 OF 18 ·  Later Kibitzing>

NOTE: Create an account today to post replies and access other powerful features which are available only to registered users. Becoming a member is free, anonymous, and takes less than 1 minute! If you already have a username, then simply login login under your username now to join the discussion.

Please observe our posting guidelines: No obscene, racist, sexist, or profane language. No spamming, advertising, duplicate, or gibberish posts. No vitriolic or systematic personal attacks against other members. Nothing in violation of United States law. No cyberstalking or malicious posting of negative or private information (doxing/doxxing) of members. No trolling. The use of "sock puppet" accounts to circumvent disciplinary action taken by moderators, create a false impression of consensus or support, or stage conversations, is prohibited. Do not degrade Chessgames or any of it's staff/volunteers. Please try to maintain a semblance of civility at all times. See something that violates our rules? Blow the whistle and inform a moderator. NOTE: Please keep all discussion on-topic. This forum is for this specific player only. To discuss chess or this site in general, visit the Kibitzer's Café.

Messages posted by Chessgames members do not necessarily represent the views of Chessgames.com, its employees, or sponsors. All moderator actions taken are ultimately at the sole discretion of the administration.

Copyright 2001-2025, Chessgames Services LLC