Georgy Agzamov

Career[edit]

In 1966, at the age of 12, he was the chess champion of his town of Almalyk (Olmaliq) in the province of Tashkent of central Uzbekistan.
In 1971, he took 2nd place in the USSR Junior Chess Championship, held in Riga.
In 1973, he played in his first Uzbekistani chess championship. He won the event in 1976 and 1981.
He was the first Grandmaster from Uzbekistan in 1984.
He was a philologist.
Best results include first place at Belgrade 1982; 1st at Vršac 1983; 1st at Sochi 1984; 1st at Tashkent 1984; 1st at Bogotá 1984; 2nd at Potsdam 1985; 1st at Calcutta 1986.
In 1986, after finishing a chess tournament in Sevastopol in Crimea, he was accidentally killed when he went hiking and fell off a cliff and became trapped between two rocks. Passers-by heard his cries for help, but he was too deep down, and by the time rescue crews got to him, it was too late.
His highest Elo chess rating was 2590 on the January 1, 1985, FIDE rating list.
Since 2007, an annual open chess tournament has been held in Tashkent in his memory.[

On 27th August 1986 the life of the very strong grandmaster from Soviet Central Asia, Georgiy Azgamov, was tragically cut short in an accident in the Crimean peninsula. Agzamov had been participating in one of the ‘Otborochnii’ (qualifying) tournaments for the 54th USSR Championship First Leagues, where he finished a 1⁄2-point behind the winners, but took one of the coveted qualifying spots thanks to a strong finish. The event had taken place in the city of Sevastopol. Details of how he met his death are not clear but he seems to have suffered a fall while walking on the rocky coastline near the Crimean capital – one report that I have seen states that he was taking a shortcut to go swimming- and died before he could be rescued. He was just a few days short of his 32nd birthday.
As a result, the world of chess lost one of its strongest and most tenacious grandmasters. Here is what Vladimir Tukmakov has to say about him:

I should mention that Georgy Agzamov was a difficult opponent... He usually played a fairly unassuming opening, as if he was trying to lull his opponent. But in the middlegame, Agzamov was incredibly persistent and tenacious, keeping his cool in the most complex situations. He could especially well recognise the elusive moments when the opponent continued to play for a win by inertia after his initiative had evaporated – in the counter-attack Agzamov was very dangerous, and his technique rarely let it abate. Ambitious and fine sporting qualities complemented a portrait of this original chessplayer. Out of the modern grandmasters, Kamsky and Ponomariov somewhat resemble him. Georgy entered ‘big chess’ rather late, but quickly occupied a prominent place. Unfortunately, he died tragically, in the prime of his career.

Advertisements
REPORT THIS AD

In the far-off pre-computer days of the 1980s it was still normal to obtain games via tournament bulletins, and I recall being struck by how Agzamov’s games often seemed to feature among the longest in any tournament in which he participated. In general, he was reluctant to agree a draw in any position until absolutely all of the winning possibilities had been exhausted.
Writing in the magazine ’64’ on the final of the 52nd USSR Championship in Riga, ex-World Champion Mikhail Tal drew attention to the extreme tenacity of Agzamov, stating that at times, his ‘axiomatic’ stubbornness did him a disservice. Tal had in mind in particular the following positions, from the games Agzamov-Eingorn, and Agzamov-A. Petrosian played in the first and penultimate rounds respectively:
Agzamov-EingornAgzamon-Petrosian
Tal writes:

I think that, without prejudice to the story, in both these positions the struggle ought to have been ended. However, against Eingorn 50 moves still had to be played, and against Petrosian – 35. If in the first case it was possible to understand this as a wish to ‘warm up at the start’... then the four hours spent before the decisive, final round – this is profligacy. Is it worth stating that both encounters ended in a draw?

Indeed, in the final round of that event, Agzamov lost a decisive game to the eventual winner of the tournament (on a tie-break), Mikhail Gurevich, when a win would have allowed him to tie for first.
An obituary in Shakhmatny Byulleten states that

The chess style of Agzamov was interesting and peculiar. The first grandmaster of Central Asia did not only defend excellently, but was also always ready to enter into sharp tactical skirmishes.

Chigorin Memorial, Sochi 1984

He had a very clear preference for queen’s pawn openings with White; with Black, his repertoire included classical systems such as the Open Spanish and the Slav Defence, but also openings such as Alekhine’s Defence and the Modern Benoni.
Biography and Sporting Results
Georgiy Tadzhievich Agzamov was born into a family of surgeons in Almalyk (today known as Olmaliq), Tashkent Province, in what was then Soviet Uzbekistan, on 6th September 1954.
George's father, Tadzhikhon (an Honoured Physician of the Uzbek Republic) was the first champion of Uzbekistan in correspondence chess and a Candidate Master in over-the-board play. By the summer of 1960, the young Georgiy was already attending the Tashkent Pioneers’ Palace. By the age of 11, he was admitted to the adult championship of his home city, winning 16 out of 17 games and creating a local sensation. He became a Candidate Master at age 12 and a Soviet Master of Sport aged 19. (Soon his two older brothers Vyacheslav and Valery also achieved the master title – a remarkable achievement for the chess-playing family.)
Young Agzamov bioYoung Agzamov

Advertisements
REPORT THIS AD

Already by the age of 15, Agzamov was attracting attention at a national level. A biographical article entitled ‘Agzamov Junior – the Hope of Uzbek Chess’ appeared in ‘Chess in the USSR’ (No. 5, 1970).
After completing his studies in English and Literature, Georgy was able to devote time to serious chess study. He soon became established as one of the strongest players in Uzbekistan (sharing 1st place in the championship of the republic in 1976 and winning it outright in 1981) and by the early 1980s, he was breaking into the top echelons of Soviet chess.
In May of 1981, he played top board for the Uzbek team in the USSR Team Championship, where he crossed swords with 3 ex-World Champions (Tal, Spassky and Petrosian), as well as the likes of Taimanov and Polugaevsky, though it should be said, with somewhat disappointing results. However, a few months later he took clear 1st place in the ‘Otborochnii’ tournament at Cheliabinsk and qualified for the 51st USSR Championship final at Frunze, in which he finished in 6th-7th place, recording draws with both the co-winners, Kasparov and Psakhis. At Telavi the following year he qualified for the 50th USSR Championship final (Moscow, 1983), a star-studded event in which he finished mid-table, drawing his individual encounter with World Champion Karpov.
A few months later he scored 61⁄2/8 on board 1 in the 8th All-Union Spartakiad in Moscow, winning games against Polugaevsky and Taimanov – a marked improvement from his performance two years previously. In 1984 he underlined his place in the Soviet elite by sharing 1st-3rd places in the 52nd USSR Championship Semi-final in Tashkent, thereby qualifying for the final in Riga, where he shared 7th-8th places after losing the decisive game in the final round, in the circumstances described above.
During 1982-84 he won a series of strong international tournaments in Europe and South America (Belgrade 1982, Vršac 1983, Tunja & Bogota 1984 and, most impressively, the 1984 Chigorin Memorial Tournament at Sochi, defeating the likes of Tal and Geller on the way to 1st place). He gained the International Master title in 1982 and was awarded the title of International Grandmaster by the FIDE Congress at Thessaloniki in 1984, having recorded no fewer than 5 grandmaster norms.
Chigorin Memorial, Sochi 1984

In the FIDE rating list of 1985, his rating reached a career-high of 2590, putting him at world number 14 (http://www.olimpbase.org/Elo/Elo198501e.html). He continued to represent the USSR in international competitions until his death. His final tournament victory was at Calcutta (1986), in which he defeated the young Viswanathan Anand in their individual encounter (see below).
An Azgamov Memorial tournament is now held every year in Tashkent.
I have translated annotations to some of Agzamov’s games from ‘Chess in the USSR’ and ’64’; these annotations are by Agzamov himself, with the exception of the final game, from Agzamov’s last tournament, which is annotated by his opponent in that encounter, Andrei Kharitonov.
G. Agzamov-Gligoric, Kostic Memorial, Vrsac 1983
G. Agzamov-Tringov, Stara Pazova 1983
Malaniuk-G. Agzamov, 50th USSR-ch, Moscow 1983
Tal-G. Agzamov, Chigorin Memorial, Sochi 1984
G. Agzamov-Pribyl, Chigorin Memorial, Sochi 1984
G. Agzamov-Geller, Chigorin Memorial, Sochi 1984
G. Agzamov-Soltis, Calcutta 1986
G. Agzamov-Anand, Calcutta 1986
Kharitonov-G. Agzamov, 54th USSR-ch Otborochnii, Sevastopol 1986
Addendum (September, 2020).
Shakhmatnyi Byulleten’ (No 1, 1986) features a theoretical article on the Classical System in the King’s Indian Defence, written by Agzamov and the Moscow master Aleksei Kuzmin. It features annotations to four of Agzamov’s games. A translation of the article can be downloaded at the link below:
‘Four Games in the King’s Indian Defence’
SOURCES
Vladimir Tukmakov, ‘Profession: Chessplayer’ (Russell Enterprises, 2012), pp. 87-88.

Advertisements
REPORT THIS AD

Mikhail Tal writes on Agzamov’s games in the 52nd USSR Championship (Riga, 1985) in ’64’ (No 8, 1985), p.10.
Russian Wikipedia page on Agzamov: http://tinyurl.com/zpqnekd.
Pamyati Georgiya Agzamova, published in Shakhmatnyi Byulleten’ (No 12, 1986), pp. 43-46), and a further article by the same name in Shakhmaty v SSSR (No 12, 1986), p. 48.
Agzamov Mladshiy, biographical article by M. Mukhutdinov, published in ‘Shakhmaty v SSSR’ (No 5, 1970), p. 11.
‘In Memoriam’, Chess Informant, vol. 42, p. 418, by R. Ziatdinov