Efim Petrovich Geller (, ; March 8, 1925 – November 17, 1998) was a Soviet chess player, a Grandmaster of world class at his peak. He won the Soviet Championship twice, in 1955 and 1979. Geller was a Candidate for the World Championship on six occasions (1953, 1956, 1962, 1965, 1968, and 1971). He won four Ukrainian Championship titles, in 1950, 1957, 1958, and 1959. He shared first in the 1991 World Seniors' Championship, and won the title outright in 1992. Geller was also a coach to World Champions Boris Spassky and Anatoly Karpov, and an author.
He grew up in Odessa, USSR. He was a fine basketball player, and earned his Doctorate in Physical Education, before specialising in chess. His development as a top chess player was delayed by the timing of World War II.Geller's first notable result was sixth place in the 1947 Ukrainian Chess Championship at Kiev with 9.5/15; the winner was Alexei Sokolsky. He shared 3rd-5th places at Baku 1948 with 9/15, an event won by Jüri Randviir. Geller scored 11/18 in the 1948 Ukrainian Championship at Kiev for a shared 5th-8th place; the winners were Alexei Sokolsky and Poliak.
He began to make his mark in the late 1940s. He won the USSR Championship semi-final qualifier at Tbilisi 1949 with 11.5/16, advancing to the final later that year. His finals debut was sensational at URS-ch17 at Moscow 1949, since as a virtual unknown he tied for 3rd-4th places with 12.5/19, behind only winners David Bronstein and Vasily Smyslov. Geller defeated such established stars as Semyon Furman, Isaac Boleslavsky, Alexander Kotov, Salo Flohr, fellow finals debutant Tigran Petrosian, Viacheslav Ragozin, and Grigory Levenfish. Despite this showing, he was obliged to return to the semi-final level the next year, but advanced successfully with a third-place finish in the 1950 qualifier at Kiev with 9/15. At URS-ch18 at Moscow 1950, Geller made 9/17 for a shared 7th-10th place; the winner was Paul Keres. Also in 1950, Geller won the Ukrainian Championship at Kiev, the first of his four titles in that event; he repeated from 1957 to 1959, with all three events at Kiev. Geller in 1950 made a successful international debut at the Przepiorka Memorial at Iwonicz Zdroj with 11.5/19 for seventh place in a powerful field; Keres won again.
Geller 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. He won in 1955 at Moscow (URS-ch22) when, despite losing five games, he finished with 12/19, then defeated Smyslov in the playoff match by the score of +1 =6. He won his second title in 1979 at Minsk (URS-ch47) in his 54th year, making him the oldest Soviet champion.
Among his best results in other important tournaments were: clear first at Iwonicz Zdroj 1957, equal first with Taimanov at Dresden 1959, equal first with Lajos Portisch at Beverwijk 1965, clear first at Kislovodsk 1966, clear first at Gothenburg 1967, clear first at Kislovodsk 1968, equal first with Mikhail Botvinnik at Wijk aan Zee 1969 (ahead of Keres), equal first at Havana 1971 with Vlastimil Hort, equal first at Hilversum 1973 with Laszlo Szabo, clear first at Budapest 1973 ahead of Anatoly Karpov, clear first at Teesside 1975, clear first at Moscow 1975 (ahead of Boris Spassky, Viktor Korchnoi, and Tigran Petrosian), clear first at Las Palmas 1976, equal first with Gennadi Sosonko at Wijk aan Zee 1977, clear first at Bogotá 1978, equal first at Bern 1987 with Daniel Campora, clear first at Dortmund 'A' 1989, and equal first at New York Manhattan 1990 with Gregory Kaidanov, at age 65.
In Seniors' competition, Geller further distinguished himself in the early 1990s. At the World Seniors' Championship, Bad Woerishofen 1991, he tied for first with Smyslov at 8.5/11. Then, in the next year's Championship at the same site, Geller claimed clear first with the same score. Geller remained active in high-level competitive chess until age 70; his last event was the 1995 Russian Championship at Elista.
Geller reached the later stages of the World Championship several times. He was a Candidate at Zurich 1953 and Amsterdam 1956. His best result was in the 1962 cycle. He finished second to Bobby Fischer at the Stockholm Interzonal. Then in the Candidates', he ended up just half a point short of playing for the title by scoring 17/27 at Curaçao, tieing for second place with Keres. That tournament was won by Tigran Petrosian, who went on to win the title the next year. Geller lost a playoff match to Keres at Moscow 1962 by 4.5/3.5, but was able to enter the 1965 Candidates' matches when Botvinnik (defeated World Champion) declined to take part. He defeated Smyslov by 5.5-2.5 at Moscow in the first round, but lost to Spassky by 5.5-2.5 at Riga in the semi-finals. In a 1966 Copenhagen playoff match against Bent Larsen, the two players split eight games with two wins each, and Larsen won the first tiebreak game to secure Candidates' exemption in case of a withdrawal by a qualified player in the next cycle. (Eventually, this turned out not to matter, since none withdrew.) In the 1968 cycle, Geller again lost to Spassky, at Sukhumi by 5.5-2.5, in a Candidates' first-round match. He had to return to the Interzonal stage in 1970 at Palma de Mallorca, but qualified as a Candidate again, losing his first match to Korchnoi at Moscow by 5.5-2.5. In 1973, he tied with Lajos Portisch and Lev Polugaevsky for second place at the Petropolis Interzonal, but lost out in the three-way playoff match tournament at Portoro?, with two qualifying spots at stake, so did not advance.
Geller represented the USSR seven times in Chess Olympiads, over an impressive 28-year span from 1952 to 1980, and contributed well each time to the team gold medal victories. He won three gold medals and three silver medals on his board. His overall score in Olympiad play is: (+46 =23 -7), for 75.7 per cent.Chess Olympiads#Best individual results in men's Olympiads
La Valletta 1980, board 4, 6.5/9 (+4 =5 -0), board silver medal.
Geller was also selected on six occasions for the USSR team to the European Team Championships.His team won gold each time, and he won four gold medals on his board. According to olimpbase.org, his overall score in Euroteams events is: (+17 =19 -1), for 71.6 per cent.
According to Jeff Sonas' Chessmetrics rating system, Geller was ranked #3 in the world from 1962-3, and was in the world's top ten for much of the 1950s and 60s, and broke back into the top ten 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, and Garry 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 was one of the pioneers in developing the King's Indian Defence to prominence, along with fellow Ukrainians Isaac Boleslavsky and David Bronstein. Geller also greatly advanced the knowledge in several variations of the Sicilian Defence, such as the quiet line with 6.Be2 against the Najdorf Variation 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6, which he used to defeat Bobby Fischer. He introduced the sharp Geller Gambit (1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.e4) against the Slav Defence. He acted as second (assistant) to World Champion Boris Spassky in the World Championship match of 1972 against Bobby Fischer, and later seconded World Champion Anatoly Karpov, as well as his lifelong close friend Tigran Petrosian. His books included an autobiography, translated by Bernard Cafferty as Grandmaster Geller at the Chessboard (1969). This was later updated and reissued in 1983 under the title The Application of Chess Theory, and contains 100 well-annotated games. Former champion Botvinnik stated that, in his opinion, Geller was the best player in the world in the late 1960s. Geller seemed to be stronger in tournament play than in matches.
Alexander Kotov vs Efim Geller, USSR Championship, Moscow 1949, King's Indian Defence, Fianchetto Variation (E68), 0-1 Geller makes his debut at the top Soviet event, and makes sure he's noticed with wins like this.
Tigran Petrosian vs Efim Geller, USSR Championship, Moscow 1949, King's Indian Defence, Petrosian Variation (E93), 0-1 Petrosian's new system gets a rough ride in one of its first games.
Efim Geller vs Alexei Sokolsky, USSR Championship, Moscow 1950, French Defence, Winawer Variation (C18), 1-0 A drastic victory spurred by a new opening idea on White's eighth move.
Mikhail Botvinnik vs Efim Geller, Budapest 1952, King's Indian Defence, Fianchetto Variation (E68), 0-1 Geller wins a crucial game over the World Champion.
Efim Geller vs Paul Keres, USSR Championship, Tbilisi 1959, Nimzo-Indian Defence, Rubinstein Variation (E45), 1-0 Keres had a big edge in wins over Geller early on, but Geller started to close the gap.
Efim Geller vs Bobby Fischer, Curacao Candidates 1962, Sicilian Defence, Najdorf Variation, Opocensky Variation (B92), 1-0 Rising American star Bobby Fischer gets overrun by Geller's queenside advance.
Efim Geller vs Boris Spassky, USSR Spartakiad 1964, Sicilian Defence, Scheveningen Variation (B83), 1-0 Geller had the edge over Spassky in tournament play, but the younger Spassky dominated in their two matches.
Efim Geller vs Vasily Smyslov, Candidates' Match, Moscow 1965, game 5, Grunfeld Defence, Exchange Variation (D87), 1-0 A fabulous tactical masterpiece involving repeated Queen sacrifices, exploiting Black's weak back rank.
Efim Geller vs Bent Larsen, Playoff Match, Copenhagen 1966, game 2, Sicilian Defence, Richter-Rauzer Variation (B69), 1-0 Larsen is a tactical wizard who gets outplayed in this encounter.
Leonid Stein vs Efim Geller, USSR Team Championship, Moscow 1966, King's Indian Defence, Averbakh Variation (E70), 0-1 Two King's Indian maestros go toe-to-toe, and Geller comes out on top.
Bobby Fischer vs Efim Geller, Skopje 1967, Sicilian Defence, Velimirovic Attack (B89), 0-1 During a stretch when Fischer was beating virtually everybody else, Geller was dominating Fischer. Here Fischer miscalculates and is drastically punished.
Efim Geller vs David Bronstein, Kislovodsk 1968, Sicilian Defence, de la Bourdonnais Variation (B32), 1-0 Bronstein was another player who dominated Geller at first, but Geller persevered and started winning.
Efim Geller vs Viktor Korchnoi, Candidates' Match, Moscow 1971, game 4, Sicilian Defence, Dragon Variation (B78), 1-0 When it came to a theoretical duel, Geller could certainly hold his own with anyone.
Efim Geller vs Mikhail Tal, Moscow 1975, Pirc Defence (B08), 1-0 A tactical melee between two attacking geniuses.
Efim Geller vs Anatoly Karpov, USSR Championship, Moscow 1976, French Defence, Winawer Variation (C16), 1-0 Geller crosses up World Champion Karpov, whom he was coaching, with a surprise in the opening, to counter Karpov's own unusual defensive choice.
