Hall of Fame #35: Vasyl Ivanchuk (Chuckie)
Garry Kasparov said that Ivanchuk belonged in the same category as the world chess champions. Business Insider, 24 May 2017
[A note for my regular readers: The intro has not changed (except for a new image and accompanying caption). Feel free to jump to the Table of Contents or even to the Biography.]
[A note for my new readers: I believe it is useful to read the full introduction your first time. Cheers!]
This blog is a celebration that leverages an outstanding concept of GMs Nielsen and Gustafsson (both of whom are also popular chessable.com authors) but offers my unique take. The two GMs produced videos and multiple lessons regarding their top 50 chess players of all time. Although I provide a link to their work below, my focus is different, though I freely accept their rankings.
How does my work differ? Well, first off, I'm not a titled player. Second, I wrote brief biographies for each player and offer limited discussion and pictures of some of their works (if they wrote). Third, if they were eminently quotable, I'll throw in a few of those! I may have found occasion to add quotes from other famous (or even unknown) chess names regarding the Hall of Famer. Fourth, I'll toss in the occasional caricature😏.
Fifth, and most difficult, I will include at least two games analyzed by the individual, if such games exist. After all, the greatest of the great should be able to explain what they were thinking during a game, shouldn't they? (Spoiler alert: perhaps, except when there is no evidence that they ever had analyses published. Also, many of them analyzed games, but the ones available to me only offer some alternative lines, with symbolic indications but no textual explanations.)
Plus, I attempt to provide links to other relevant materials regarding these grandmasters of the game.
We've reached #35!
Table of ContentsBack to Top
Vasyl Mykhailovych Ivanchuk (Ukrainian: Василь Михайлович Іванчук; born March 18, 1969) is a Ukrainian GM and former World Blitz CC and World Rapid CC. With a peak rating of 2787 in October 2007, he reached #2 globally in 1991, 1992, and 2007. February 2019 was the last time he was a member of the super-GM club, rated 2713 that month. He was rated 2605 in February 2026, having lost two rating points in December 2025.
He has played in fourteen Olympiads (twice for the USSR, twelve times for Ukraine) and snared thirteen team medals including four team golds, one team silver, and three team bronzes. Individually he won a board gold, silver, two bronzes, and one performance bronze (the third-highest performance rating of all Olympiad participants).
You can find him on chess.com @viviania where he sported a 2902 rating as of August 2025 (the last games I found for him).
On a sidenote, Chucky began playing checkers in 2016 and reached #1,089 in the World Draughts Federation’s DV in 2021.
Let's look at one data source to see how Chucky performed against his peers. I put this together from my ChessBase DB one lazy afternoon. Kasparov clearly had his number, despite Vasyl's stunning 1991 victory in Linares (more on that later)...or perhaps because of it! Meanwhile, Ivanchuk was crushing Kortschnoj, Timman, and Seirawan.
Vasyl is always an object of attention in the chess world. On the plus side, his chess peers consider Ivanchuk a genius because of his imaginative play. On the negative side, his inability to win the World CC is attributed by many observers to his poor nerves at the most critical moments.
Still, it's not every player who has stamps incorporating their visage.
I found one book to which Ivanchuk contributed. It's a publication that features multiple chess players. Former FIDE World CC Ponomariov coordinated the book and players contributed games with their original annotations. Their goal was to gain support for the war against Russia. At the same time, Ivanchuk was hosting online simuls to collect funds and garner support for Ukraine.
I seriously considered purchasing this book for several reasons, not the least of which was that I was unable to find any DB games annotated by Chuckie and could have given his games as examples of how he annotates. You'll encounter my eventual solution to that concern in Annotated Games.
Apparently, Shhovy novely Vasyla Ivanchuka (Шахові новели Василя Іванчука), was published in Lutsk in 2006 and contains some games and annotations by Chucky. My source for that particular factoid was GM @Mikhail_Golubev.
Though he may not have published any books, there are several books out there about this chess genius. Think Like Ivanchuk is written by his training partner and occasional second, GM Moskalenko. The two have known each other since they were kids.
I found some quotes...a few sounded like lines that had been attributed to many others, so I dropped those. That left me with the following small selection.
I simply like to play chess. - 2024 Olympiad, FIDE interview, 12 September 2024
When I start to play a game I try to forget about previous games and try to concentrate on this game. This game is now the most important to me. But of course I am not a computer and you cannot simply press a button, delete, and everything you want to forget disappears automatically. But if you want to play well, it's important to concentrate on the now. QUOTES BY VASSILY IVANCHUK | A-Z Quotes
Sometimes it happens that the computer's assessment is very abstract. It's correct, but it's not useful for a practical game. You have to prove the assessment with very strong moves and if you don't find all of these strong moves you may lose very quickly. For a computer this is not a problem, but for humans it is not so easy. QUOTES BY VASSILY IVANCHUK | A-Z Quotes
What's the good of setting goals when their achievement is never in one's own hands? Oxford Companion to Chess, p.184 (1992)
Here is what others had to say about Chucky.
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. Anand (2004)
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. - Ibid
His playing style is unpredictable and highly original, making him more dangerous but sometimes leading to quick losses as well. - Ibid
Although blessed with great energy and ability, Ivanchuk is also moody and emotional. Losing his temper, he has been known to sweep the pieces from the board during a tournament. Oxford Companion to Chess, p. 184 (1992)
When asked to name the chess players she considered geniuses, Judit Polgár named only Ivanchuk, Carlsen, and Anand. Crestbook.com, 12 January 2012
If he were able to make the most of his talent, he would surely be a real contender for World No. 1 spot, but he is a highly emotional player, who takes losses badly, tends to rush critical decisions when under pressure and sometimes lacks motivation. The Mammoth Book of the World's Greatest Chess Games, p.475 (1998)
The kind of overly deep analysis that often suits my desires. It's not useful for all. Not even for me at times.
Given these are fifty of the greatest players of all time, how were they as annotators? Well, for those who wrote books we could truly explore that question in depth. But to keep the playing field even, I had been including only games taken from a DB.
Why that limitation? Well, I didn't want to burden myself with transcribing comments from a book into a pgn file. Or increase my debt burden by buying books of those who did not yet offer free access to books released to the public domain. Besides, far easier and faster to look for annotated games in an online database. However, I changed my position on that with Hall of Fame #41: Jan Timman (The Best of the West!) and added books because he had no games in my DB, but I did have access to other sources.
Roll the tape and fast forward to this post! Okay, I had to get very creative with Chuckie. Maybe you'll like this, maybe you won't. However, I found no games he analyzed in print or in a DB, and wasn't inclined to buy a book. So, videos! I'm providing links to the videos, along with my attempt to offer a reasonably accurate transcript of his discussion.
Jonas Buhl Bjerre (2655) - Vasyl Ivanchuk (2623) FIDE Grand Swiss Tournament, 14.09.2025
Jonas Buhl Bjerre (26 June 2004) is a Danish GM, one-time Nordic U10 CC, one-time European U14 CC, and the youngest ever Dane to reach GM. He tied for the Danish CC in 2019, but lost the playoff match. His peak rating was 2655 in July 2025, peaking at #67 globally the next month. He is rated 2629 (#94) entering February 2026.
Don't feel duty bound to listen to the video below. It's only here so you can check my transcript that follows, if such an exercise interests you. It's only about fifteen minutes. The moves and Chucky's analysis are provided in the game box below for more leisurely viewing. In the video it goes by very quickly, imo...particularly if you're trying to convert it into text and moves on a board.
This was a game where slight imbalances offered both sides some hopes, and it's easy to miss the point where the game slipped strongly in Chucky's favor. I felt some of the comments as the game approached the time control were particularly insightful with respect to the quality of play and how decisions change.
Fun stuff, and I loved Bjerre's attempt to swindle a half point with his 56th move!
Vasyl Ivanchuk (2690) - Ekaterina Atalik (2450) Gibraltar Masters 18th, 30.01.2020
Ekaterina Atalik (née Polovnikova; 14 November 1982) is a Russian-Turkish IM/WGM, one-time European Women’s CC, two-time Turkish Women’s CC, one-time European U16 Girls CC, and placed second in the 2006 Mediterranean CC in the open section. For that championship she placed second behind her husband (GM Suat Atalik) and was declared the Mediterranean Women’s CC. Her peak rating was 2481 in September 2011. She lost one rating point in January 2026 to slip to 2348 Elo.
I transcribed Ivanchuk's discussion to the best of my meagre abilities in the game below. I found his insights were great, but it was difficult to keep up with pieces moving around the board and the free-flowing discussion with the interviewer, Tania Sachdev (IM/WGM). Still, I'd suggest that you can get as much or more out of the transcribed game below because the game pauses with every click, while a video just keeps on rollin'! BTW, it's a 40-minute clip, although for the last six minutes he analyzes other player's games. I didn't jot those down.
Ivanchuk mentions that he went into the game with the idea of having some fun since he was out of the running for prizes. That meant less pressure and less ambition since a draw would be as meaningless as a victory. I inferred that a defeat would not have been on his list of desired outcomes.😜
For the would-be experts and masters out there, pay attention to Ivanchuk's discussion after his sixth and tenth moves. These are some of the nuances that top players consider when they decide how to play an opening. Also noteworthy is that he felt ambitious after his eleventh move, even though objectively he felt the position was "equal." My interpretation is that he felt there were chances for three results and an interesting game...and I think he was focused on the aspect of playing an interesting game. There are more keen insights he offers, but I'll leave that to the interested student of chess to find in the annotations.
This was a fascinating game, I hope you enjoyed the game and his analysis.
Care for a journey down memory lane? Just pick your path!The whole purpose of this section is to address some obvious questions that might pop into your head. How come Kevin didn't talk about this? Or that? Not to mention the other thing! Well, just call me lazy! Or you could appreciate the fact I'm limiting the word count that is imposed on you😏.
Nonetheless, in the series I'll be using this little section to provide links to more fulsome discussions that revolve around some well-known and lesser-known facets of the featured chess giant. That will range from videos to links to other chess.com blogs, usually by Top Bloggers. Enjoy or skip, it's your call, as always.
- GM @Mikhail_Golubev The Old Tricks #4: Ivanchuk vs Alekhine's This includes a GREAT puzzle. Try it!!
- GM @Malev212 (aka, Jaan Ehlvest) Ivanchuk in a bad mood or how he won the Latvian Railway Open 2014--Chucky takes out his anger at not making the Candidates. This is a fun article and includes plenty of analyzed games.
- GM @LuckyTiger (aka, Valeriy Aveskulov) Ivanchuk is a genius!!! Ukraine is a champion!!! Ivanchuk went 6 for 6 in the 2010 Olympiad and Ukraine won the team title.
- @willowcat423 Ivanchuk Vasyl: The Artist of the 64 Squares A member of BlogChamps and The Blogger Awards v2.0.
- Top Blogger @kamalakanta Ivanchuk: A Genius of Imaginative, Exciting Chess!
- Top Blogger @kamalakanta Ivanchuk-Kramnik.....Genius vs. Genius!
- Top Blogger @simaginfan My Favorite Game Of. Number 18. Vassily Ivanchuk
- Top Blogger @UAArtur Vasyl Ivanchuk - 50 years! And a big tournament about it
- CM @juniortay Aggressive Defence - Ivanchuk's technique and a local example by IM Kevin Goh Defense by counterpunch!
- chess.com staff @Tarje Ivanchuk Triumphs At Menorca With Stunning 2833 Performance, Returns To World's Top 100
- Vasyl Ivanchuk - Wikipedia
- The Best Chess Games of Vasyl Ivanchuk - Chess.com
- 35: Vasyl Ivanchuk | Chess Lessons - Chess.com
Let's hear from Ben Finegold regarding one of Ivanchuk's best tournaments. This includes a sparkling gem by the 21-year-old in which he beat the reigning World CC, Garry Kasparov.
In case you don't want to watch Ben's entertaining video, here's Chuckie's game against Kasparov with notes by various annotators, prominently featuring Anand.
That's it for the sixteenth installment of my own take on chess.com's 50 greatest players of all time. Hope you enjoyed the blog. The good GMs below have a full selection of videos and puzzles dedicated to each of the fifty.
Cheers!
If you enjoy reading "greatest of" lists then you might also enjoy chess.com's Every Chess 'Player Of The Decade' (From Morphy To Magnus).
Sources for this information included chess.com, wikipedia.com, ChessBase, FIDE, individuals' websites, YouTube.com, news articles, books, and other sources. Plus, my faulty memories. I mixed, matched, cut, and pasted so much that separation is implausible, and I apologize for misattributions. Particularly with quotes which are found in a thousand repositories, not to mention book covers, t-shirts, and the rantings of chess coaches of whom I've had more than a few thanks to Chess University and @AttilaTurzo (my primary instructor and co-author of three books, for different chess strengths, we are writing on how to analyze during a game and after.)
HoF #49: Karjakin–"The Minister of Defense"
HoF #48: Portisch–"The Hungarian Botvinnik"
HoF #47: Polugaevsky–"The Great Poluga"
HoF #46: Kamsky–"London's King"
HoF #44: Leko–"The Cement Meister"
HoF #43: Winawer (The French King)
HoF #42: Najdorf–"Happy-Go-Lucky"
HoF #41: Jan Timman (The Best of the West!)
HoF #40: Mikhail Chigorin (Father of the Russian School of Chess)
HoF #39: Boris Gelfand (The Piece Twirler)
HoF #38: Efim Geller (The Giant Killer)
