Stepan Levitsky

Stepan (Stefan) Levitsky (Levitski, Lewitzki) (25 April 1876, Serpukhov – 21 March 1924, Glubokaya) was a Russian chess Grandmaster and Russian chess champion.

In 1899 he took third place in Moscow (All Russian Masters’ Tournament, first Russian Championship, Mikhail Chigorin won).[1] In 1903 he took eighth in Kiev (third Russian Championship, Chigorin won).[2] In 1905/06 he tied for 8–11th in St Petersburg (fourth Russian Championship, Gersz Salwe won).[3] In 1907 he took second, behind Eugene Znosko-Borovsky, in St Petersburg.[4] He lost a match to Simon Alapin 0–5 at St Petersburg 1907.[5]

Levitsky won at St Petersburg 1911 (All-Russian Amateur Tournament),[6] thus becoming Russian national chess champion for one year.[7] In July–August 1912, he tied for 13–14th in Breslau (18th DBS–Congress, Akiba Rubinstein and Oldřich Duras won).[8] In August–September 1912, he took third in Vilna (eighth RUS-ch, Rubinstein won).[9] In 1913 he lost a match to Alexander Alekhine 3–7 in St Petersburg. In 1913/14, he took 13th in St Petersburg (ninth Russian Championship, Alekhine and Aron Nimzowitsch won).[10]

Legacy

Levitsky introduced the Queen's Bishop Attack, known as the Levitsky Attack (1.d4 d5 2.Bg5) in the Queen's Pawn Game (ECO code D00). But he is perhaps best remembered by chess players today as the loser in a famous game against Frank Marshall at Breslau 1912 (see Levitsky versus Marshall). Marshall (with the black pieces) concluded with the stunning 23...Qg3!!, which would have forced White to capture Black's queen to prevent immediate checkmate. Unfortunately for Levitsky, this would have left Marshall with at least an extra piece (in one line) or a forced mate (in the other two lines). Levitsky resigned. According to legend, the beauty of Marshall's final combination so moved the spectators that they showered the board with gold pieces.[11][12]

gollark: At least, it seems to go back to the original call anyway.
gollark: Or, er, should work?
gollark: And maybe "nasal demons will kill all my friends", but it works.
gollark: Sure, it might be "undefined behavior", but it works.
gollark: I can and I will.

See also

References
  1. mosca
  2. kiev
  3. sanpet
  4. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 4, 2007. Retrieved July 4, 2007.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) Name Index to Jeremy Gaige's Chess Tournament Crosstables, An Electronic Edition, Anders Thulin, Malmö, 2004-09-01
  5. Welcome to the Chessmetrics site Archived April 14, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  6. Litmanowicz, Władysław & Giżycki, Jerzy (1986, 1987). Szachy od A do Z. Wydawnictwo Sport i Turystyka Warszawa. ISBN 83-217-2481-7 (1. A-M), ISBN 83-217-2745-X (2. N-Z).
  7. http://www.chessgames.com/player/stefan_levitsky.html
  8. breslau
  9. "Russian Chess History by Bill Wall". Archived from the original on October 28, 2009. Retrieved October 25, 2009.CS1 maint: unfit url (link)
  10. "Chess Tournaments: Russian masters 1913/14". Archived from the original on 2011-09-03. Retrieved 2007-07-18.
  11. Frank J. Marshall, Frank J. Marshall's Best Games of Chess, Dover Publications, 1960, pp. 138–39. ISBN 0-486-20604-1.
  12. Levitsky-Marshall, DSB Kongress 1912. Retrieved on 2009-03-27.
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