Person of day   -  9 DECEMBER 2023

MARK DVORETSKY

MARK DVORETSKY

Mark Dvoretsky was born in Moscow. He graduated from the famous mathematical School 444. After studying at Moscow State University as an economist-mathematician, he chose the career of a professional chess player. He achieved his greatest success in the first half of the 1970s: in 1973, he became the champion of Moscow and in 1974 he split 5th-7th places in the USSR championship. His victories abroad came at this time too, at tournaments in Polanica-Zdrój and Wijk aan Zee.

It seemed that the title of grandmaster was not far away, but Mark suddenly changed his profession and became a trainer. Soon, his achievements in this sphere surpassed his achievements as a trainer, and he became one of the most respected and professional trainers in the world.

Across the years, Mark Dvoretsky worked with Nana Alexandria, Artur Jussupow, Sergey Dolmatov, Alexey Dreev, Vladim Zvjaginsev, Viorel Bologan, Ernesto Inarkiev, Vladimir Potkin, Alexander Motylev, Ivan Popov and other chess players. His students won the World Junior Championships, became national champions and European and battled for the highest of chess titles. For his many years of work, he was awarded the titles of “Recognised Trainer of the USSR”, “Recognised Trainer of RSFSR”, “Recognised Trainer of GSSR” and “Recognised Trainer of FIDE”. Mark Dvoretsky worked not only with individual players, but with national teams- Russian and foreign.   

Mark Dvoretsky is the author of several books about chess theory and practice. Among them is the famous series of “School of Future Champions” and “Mark Dvoretsky’s Endgame Manual”, “Tragicomedy in the Endgame”, the two-volume “For Friends and Colleagues”, “Maneuvering: The Art of Piece Play”, “Secrets of Chess Training” and others. These books are well-known to professionals and amateurs and they are popular across the whole world. Among the stated theories of Dvoretsky which have taken root in the chess world are the so-called “Sofia Rules”, which were first suggested in one of his articles.

Mark Izrailovich Dvoretsky died on 26th September 2016 in Moscow

 “For me he was not only a trainer and second, but the most important Teacher in my chess life. To him I owe all my greatest successes…naturally, I am not very objective, but in my opinion, he is the best trainer in the world and he remains an example for me as a trainer. In the autumn of 1975, I began to train with Mark Izrailevich. Almost every week, I came to his little apartment in Lefortovo, where we worked for hours. Every training session was a valuable experience for me, and the rigorous sessions soon led to a rise in my chess ability. However, I did not just learn chess from Mark Izrailovich, but also adopted many human and cultural values, thus expanding my horizons.” (A. Jussupow)

 “When we met, I was just nine years old and I began to regularly attend sessions in Botvinnik’s school, where Dvoretsky worked as assistant to the ex-world champion. He was a brilliant Methodist: both the lessons at school and extremely thoughtful homework assignments have a lot to the players. We owed out basic knowledge of the endgame and increased playing technique to him. I remember, I once felt very proud about one of my victories with an effective checkmate, but was justly lambasted by Botvinnik and Dvoretsky for my “monstrous play” in the debut and earlier middlegame…the world of chess is changing before our eyes as the Guardians of knowledge and comprehension of the game leave us- Razuvaev, now Dvoretsky…these people are, alas, irreplaceable.” (G.Kasparov)