This post will be a humble attempt to do justice to Vladimir Simagin (1919-1968).

Vladimir Simagin

Vladimir Simagin (June 21, 1919 in Moscow – September 25, 1968 in Kislovodsk) was a Russian Grandmaster of chess. He was three times Moscow champion (1947, 1956, and 1959), helped to train Vasily Smyslov to the World Championship, and made many significant contributions to chess openings. He died of a heart attack while playing in the Kislovodsk tournament.

Biography

Vladimir Pavlovich Simagin was a much-admired Soviet player and teacher. He was a late bloomer by chess standards, although much of this can be put down to the timing of World War II, which stopped most chess competition in the Soviet Union for several years. He received the International Master title in 1950- the year F.I.D.E. implemented the title- and earned the Grandmaster title in 1962. He also earned the International Master title in Correspondence chess in 1965, and was Soviet correspondence champion in 1964.

He scored 8.5/17 in the 1945 Moscow Championship, for a tied 7th-8th places, well behind champion Vasily Smyslov. Simagin's first important high-class result was second place in the 1946 Moscow Championship, with 11/15, behind winner David Bronstein. In the 1946 Baltic Championship at Vilnius, he scored 13/19 while playing 'hors concours', and this was good for fourth place, behind the top placed Yuri Averbakh (also h.c.). In the 1947 Moscow Championship, he tied for top place with Bronstein and Georgy Rivinsky, with 9/14, and then won the playoff match-tournament. Also in 1947, he tied for 1st-2nd with Semyon Furman in the Championship of the Spartak Club, with 15/19, and also won that playoff match.

It took him some time to qualify for his first Soviet final. He was unsuccessful in the semi-final at Leningrad 1945 (URSchsf-14) with 5.5/15 for a tied 14th-15th place. He improved the next year, also at Leningrad (URSchsf-15) with 9.5/18, but this was not good enough to advance. In the semi-final at Vilnius 1949 (URSchsf-17), he again failed to move on with a tied 7th-8th place, at 9/17, with the winners being Furman, Vladas Mikėnas, and Alexey Sokolsky. He improved at Tula 1950 (URSchsf-18) with 8/15 for a tied 5th-7th place, but still fell short, as the winners were Averbakh and Georgi Boriskenko.

At Pärnu 1947, he struggled with 4/13, far behind winner Paul Keres. Being Moscow champion helped earn him a place on the Moscow side for the home-and-home match series with Budapest in 1949. This was one of the very best results of his career, as he scored a powerful 12/16, good for a 2732 performance, according to chessmetrics.com. Chessmetrics ranks Simagin as #21 in the world from December 1946 to February 1947, and calculates his peak rating at 2650 in October 1949. However, this data seems to be missing several of his tournament results. In the Moscow Championship of 1949, he made 8.5/15 for 4th place, behind winner Averbakh. In the Moscow Championship of 1950, he scored 8/15 for 5th place, behind winners Averbakh and Alexander Chistiakov.

Simagin, along with Vladimir Makogonov, trained Vasily Smyslov for several years, leading to his World Championship title in 1957. His best results were a tied second place at Sarajevo 1963, and a tied first place at Sochi 1967.

Playing style and contributions to chess theory

Simagin had a bold and imaginative playing style, and he was an expert tactician.^{[citation needed]} His style has been compared to both Richard Réti and Bent Larsen.^{[citation needed]} He was a profound originator in the openings.^{[citation needed]} Examples of his contributions include the Accelerated Dragon variation in the Sicilian Defence, the Grünfeld Defence, the Simagin variation of the Nimzo-Indian Defence (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 0-0 5.Nge2 d5 6.a3 Bd6), and Simagin's Defence (1.e4 d6 2.d4 c6 3.Nf3 Bg4). In the King's Indian Defence, the variation 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6.3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 O-O 5.Nf3 d6 6.Nc3 Nc6 7.O-O Bg4 is known as the Simagin Variation. Simagin also experimented in the position after White's seventh move with 7...Bf5, which is known as the Lesser Simagin, while the rarer 7...Bd7 is known as the Least Simagin. While these variants of the Fianchetto Variation of the KID can lead to unique, independent positions, more often they transpose to positions similar to the more popular and flexible Panno Variation (7...a6), named after Oscar Panno.

Simagin was most highly regarded by his peers.^{[citation needed]} Bronstein had some very complimentary words in his book The Sorcerer's Apprentice (co-author Tom Furstenberg). Mikhail Botvinnik, who devoted many pioneering years to computer chess research, relied on Simagin's assistance in 1966 to publish a preview article from his forthcoming book Algorithm of Chess in the Bulletin of the Central Chess Club, of which Simagin was editor. The article's publication had first met with resistance, so Botvinnik was grateful, and the article was a success.

The Russian chess writer and master Lev Khariton wrote a touching tribute to Simagin on his chesscircle.net site. Khariton had met Simagin when he was still a young junior player, and trained in a group setting with him. Khariton quotes Simagin as saying: "In chess, as in life, all the time you have to overcome obstacles. When you play a game, your opponent with each move sets up barriers before you, the barriers you have to overcome. It seems that you have overcome one barrier, but at his next move you encounter another obstacle to overcome. And it goes on all the time."

Khariton wrote that Simagin was "modest and humble, never asking anything for himself in this life, he could stand by another man when the truth was at stake. Now Simagin's name is almost forgotten, and that makes me very sad. But when I see his games, I enjoy chess as an art; I understand that Simagin was a real chess artist whose name is forever engraved in the chess annals."

   Vladimir Simagin
    (1919-1968)

About Simagin, Bronstein writes:

"Simagin, a player with a highly original, imaginative and unique style of play, lived all his life in Moscow and played for the famous club Spartak. He was a chess philosopher and a very educated personality with a great love for literature. He never gave his brain time to rest.

"Simagin died suddenly of a heart attack during the tournament at Kislovodsk on the 25th of September 1968. A few days before this tragic event we had a long and friendly talk and Vladimir Pavlovich told me: 'David, you cannot even imagine how many chess activities I am involved in for my chess club Spartak Moscow: especially for chess amateurs. Not only playing for them but I am also giving lectures, simultaneous exhibitions, answering many questions, holding consultations, etc etc. But now I am very tired and don't feel well at all.'

"A few years ago the Spartak Moscow Chess Club received a gift from their Sports Society: space in a building right in the centre of the city! Unfortunately they missed a unique opportunity to honour their illustrious former member. I sincerely hope that, one day, they will change their name to the V.P. Imagin Chess Club!"

                                 Simagin (standing, 3rd from left) with the Spartak Team      

We start with a spectacular game against Liublinsky from 1939....featuring a positional exchange sacrifice in the Sicilian Dragon, which Simagin played with the Black pieces....

The next game, against Panov in 1943, features also an exchange sacrifice in the Dragon...

In the next game, Simagin produces a glorious tactic...check out his 51st move!

 Each time I look at one of Simagin's games, I am in awe at his imagination!

In the following game, he lets his opponent attack, and exploits the weaknesses left behind....

In the following game (which I do not fully understand) against Stein, Simagin outplays Stein in a super-sharp Poisoned Pawn Variation (Fischer's Favorite).

The next game is spectacular! Watch!

The following game is significant to me....Simagin beats Averbakh in an endgame, which at first glance is not much....but it was played in 1952! I mean, Averbakh played in 1953 in the Candidates' Tournament!

Secondly, the game features a positional sacrifice of the Queen, goind into an endgame where Simagin has Knight and Rook against a Queen....but he has the better pawn structure, and this leads to victory! Check it out!

In the following game, played in a match for the Moscow Championship in 1956 (the year I was born!), Simagin outplays Petrosian's Caro Kann! Petrosian was alaready a Candidate for the World Championship, having played in the 1953 Zurich Candidates' Tournament!

The following game between Simagin and Razuvaev was played in 1967, one year before Simagin's death (heart-attack). Simagin was 48, Razuvaev was 22, and the young GM got a lesson from the Black side....Simagin, playing White, played a Pillsbury-like attack to perfection!