Happened Today in the Chess World - July 11, 2024

KING OF BRATTO

Grenke Chess Open 2017. GM Vladimir Epishin - Photo: grenkechessopen.de

Today is the birthday of Grandmaster Vladimir Epishin, born in Leningrad on July 11, 1965.
He reached the peak of his strength in the 1990s, when he climbed to the tenth spot in the world rankings with a rating of 2675 elo points in January 1994, his personal best.
Throughout his career, Epishin defeated three world champions: Smyslov, Tal, and Carlsen (when Carlsen was 14 years old, in a blitz game), as well as Timman, Leko, Polugaevsky, Jussupow, Adams, Vaganian, Ljubojevic, Judit Polgar, Andersson, Beliavsky, and many others.
As one of Anatoly Karpov's seconds from 1987 to 1996, Epishin participated in numerous Italian tournaments, winning in Reggio Emilia and especially at the Bratto Festival. He holds the record of five victories, achieved between 1999 and 2005.
Epishin is also associated with a variation of the Benko Gambit.

Vladimir Epishin (2628)-Pavel Eljanov (2567), Marseille 2003
White to move

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