Artur Yusupov
by Bill Wall
Artur Mayakovich Yusupov (Jussupow in German) was born on February 13, 1960 in Moscow.
He learned the game of chess in 1966 at the age of 6 and trained at the Moscow Young Pioneers’ Palace.
In September 1977, at the age of 17, he won the World Junior Chess Championship, held in Innsbruck, Austria. He was then awarded the International Master title. Yusupov was an Economics student at Moscow University at the time. During the tournament, Yusupov’s trainer and second was Mark Dvoretsky.
In November-December1979, at the age of 19, playing in his first USSR championship, he took 2nd place in the 47th USSR chess championship, held in Minsk, behind Efim Geller and ahead of Kasparov. He was rated 2490.
In 1980, at the age of 20, he was awarded the International Grandmaster title.
In 1985, he took 1st place at the Tunis Interzonal without a loss. His Elo rating was 2590.
In 1985, he took equal first place with Rafael Vaganian and Andrei Sokolov at the Montpellier Candidates Tournament.
In 1986, he won the Canadian Open.
In September-October 1986, he reached the Candidates Matches semi-final, losing to Andrei Sokolov in Riga.
From 1986 to 1992, he was ranked number 3 in the world, just behind Kasparov and Karpov.
In 1989, he reached the Candidates Tournament semi-final, losing to Anatoly Karpov in London, 3.5 to 4.5 (1 win, 2 losses, 5 draws). Karpov defeated Hjartarson, Yusupov, and Timman before losing to Kasparov for the world championship.
In 1990, along with Mark Dvoretsky, he opened a chess school for gifted young chess players. The school lasted for 3 years. 8 of their students became grandmasters, including Peter Svidler.
Yusupov represented the USSR with which he won five Olympic titles, two European team championships, and one world team championship.
On August 4, 1991, his daughter, Ekaterina, was born. She became a Woman FIDE Master.
In 1992, he reached the Candidates Tournament semi-final, losing to Jan Timman at Linares.
In late 1992, he was in his Moscow apartment when some burglars broke into his apartment. Artur was shot in the stomach, was rushed to the hospital in critical condition, but survived. Soon after that, he decided to move to Germany.
In 1994, he authored a Chess Informant book on the Petroff’s (Russian) Defense. He is a world leading expert on the opening.
In 1995, he served as second to Vishy Anand in the World Championship Finals in New York against Kasparov.
In July 1995, he reached his peak Elo rating of 2680.
In 1996, he wrote Positional Play with Mark Dvoretsky.
In 1998, he served as second to Vishy Anand in the World Championship Finals in Lausanne against Karpov.
Between 1999 and 2002, he produced and published a series of ten training booklets, each covering a particular chess theme.
In 2000, he represented Germany, which took 2nd place at the Istanbul Chess Olympiad.
In 2002, he took 1st place at the World Open in Philadelphia.
In 2005, he won the 76th German championship, scoring 7 out of 9 and a performance rating of 2750.
In 2007, he wrote Build Up Your Chess with Artur Yusupov, The Fundamentals.
In 2008, he wrote Build Up Your Chess, Beyond the Basics.
In 2009, he won the Boleslavsky Medal for the best instructional book (Build Up Your Chess).
In 2010-2011, he wrote the Boost Your Chess series.
Yusupov – Timman, Tilburg 1986
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Bc4 b6 8.Qf3 O-O 9.e5 Ba6 10.Bd5 c6 11.Bb3 Qc7 12.h4 c5 13.h5 cxd4 14.cxd4 gxh5 15.Rxh5 Bb7 16.Qd3 Rd8 17.Qxh7+ Kf8 18.Ne2 Rxd4 19.Bh6 1-0