An impressive miniature of the prime Balashov at the Zonal in Vilnius скачать в хорошем качестве

An impressive miniature of the prime Balashov at the Zonal in Vilnius

Although the chess players of the 1970s were largely lost and faded into insignificance compared to Karpov, there were still other world-class Soviet chess players in that decade. Yuri Balashov was one of these leaders of Soviet chess in the "post-Fischer" and "pre-Kasparov" period. In his youth, he was considered perhaps more talented than Karpov. However, over time, Balashov became simply a very good world-class grandmaster, but not a contender for the world championship title. Karpov, however, quickly rose to the very top. In 1975, a strong Zonal Tournament was held in Vilnius, the USSR. The strongest Soviet chess players of the time gathered: Savon, Gulko, Gufeld, Tseshkovsky, Beliavsky, Vaganian. Leaders of the previous generation were also present: Bronstein, Taimanov, Kholmov... Here, Balashov was in his prime and showed a remarkable result, qualifying for the Interzonal from 1st to 4th place. The most interesting game was Balashov's against Vladimir Tukmakov. The result was a vivid and instructive miniature.