Efim Geller
Efim Petrovich Geller (Ефим Петрович Ð"еллер) (
March 8 1925 –
November 17 1998) was a
Soviet chess player.
He is reckoned to have been among the best ten players in the world for around twenty years. He was awarded the
International Master title in 1951, and the
International Grandmaster title the following year.
Geller played in 23
USSR Chess Championships, a record equalled by
Mark Taimanov, achieving good results in many and winning in 1979 and 1955 when, despite losing five games, he finished with 12/19 and then defeated
Vassily Smyslov in a playoff match. Among his best results in other tournaments were equal first with
Mikhail Botvinnik at Wijk aan Zee 1969 (ahead of
Paul Keres), first at Moscow 1975 (ahead of
Boris Spassky,
Viktor Korchnoi and
Tigran Petrosian) and equal first with
Vassily Smyslov at Wijk aan Zee 1977.
He reached the later stages of the
World Championship several times, most notably finishing just half a point short of playing in the final match when he scored 17/27 at the 1962 Candidates Tournament in
Curaçao. That tournament was won by
Tigran Petrosian who went on to win the title.
According to Jeff Sonas' Chessmetrics rating system, Geller was ranked #3 in the world from 1962-3, and was in the world's top 10 for much of the 50s and 60s, and broke back into the top 10 in 1973, 1975–7 and 1979–80.[
1] Geller also had an overall plus score against world champions, +40 -32 =123, comprising
Max Euwe +1 -1 =0,
Mikhail Botvinnik +4 -1 =5,
Vasily Smyslov +11 -7 =31,
Mikhail Tal +6 -6 =22,
Tigran Petrosian +6 -2 =33,
Boris Spassky +6 -9 =22,
Bobby Fischer +5 -3 =2,
Anatoly Karpov +1 -2 =5,
Gary Kasparov +0 -1 =3.
Geller is best remembered today for the tactical ability and original attacking style which characterised the earlier part of his career. In later years he became a more rounded player. He was noted as an
openings expert, and acted as second (assistant) to
Boris Spassky in the
World Championship match of 1972 against
Bobby Fischer, later seconding
Anatoly Karpov. His books included an autobiography, translated by
Bernard Cafferty as
Grandmaster Geller at the Chessboard (1969).
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Yefim Geller download 1555 of his games in pgn format.
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50 crucial positions from his games
