Mark Taimanov

Inducted 2019 1926 - 2016

Russia

Biography

Mark Taimanov was ranked among the top 20 players in the world for over a quarter of a century and is one of the few players to have defeated six world chess champions (Botvinnik, Smyslov, Tal, Petrosian, Spassky, and Karpov). He played in 23 Soviet Chess Championships, a record equaled only by Efim Geller, tying for first in 1952 and 1956. Twice a candidate for the World Chess Championship (1953 and 1971), Taimanov was also a member of the gold medal-winning 1956 Soviet Olympiad team. A prolific and well-respected writer on the game, he was an excellent theoretician best known for the variation of the Sicilian which bears his name (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6).

Notable Games

Mark Taimanov vs. Lev Polugaevsky

Radio photo by Wide World Photos | 1955 USA vs USSR Chess Match Photo from the July 4th Garden Party at the U.S. Embassy in the Soviet Union (July 4, 1955) | Collection of the World Chess Hall of Fame, gift of Richard Kashdan | Pictured: Herman Steiner, Alexander Katev, Isaac Kashdan, Mark Taimanov, Al Bisno, Nikita Khrushchev, Sammy Reshevsky, Nikolai Bulganin, G. Reiner, and Larry Evans

Eric Koch | Hoogovens Beverwijk Tournament, GM Mark Taimanov vs. GM Pal Benko (January 19, 1970) | Collection of the National Archive of the Netherlands