Player Profile: Mikhail Golubev
It has been quite a while since our last profile, but I'm happy to report a new addition to our series. Ukranian grandmaster Mikhail Golubev is a fine player, obviously, but an outstanding author as well. His books on the Sicilian Dragon, 6.Bc4 Sicilian, and the King's Indian Defense have all received very strong reviews, and I have only good things to say about his work with Chess Today. You'll have the chance to enjoy his annotations for yourself...but first, the interview.
1. Name:
Mikhail Golubev
2. Age:
As far as I know I was born on May 30, 1970.
3. Title:
IGM since 1996.
4. Where you live, where you're from:
Odessa, Ukraine. (Wikipedia has a good article about this place.)
5. Family:
I can say that I have a daughter Anna, born in 1998. One of many my other relatives is grandmother Zinaida Suranova (born 1911), the chemist. One of her students in the Odessa University was a future grandmaster Efim Geller.
6. Other interests:
Unfortunately, lately it is, first of all, politics, which disturbs me a lot.
7. Favorite book/author (not chess):
My opinion on this topic is universally unimportant. But in different years I liked, for example, some books by Stanislaw Lem, Robert Sheckley, Iris Murdoch, Tatyana Tolstaya.
8. When (and how/from whom) you learned to play:
I learned to play at 6 - in family, many members of which tried to teach me after I was 5. At some point, they succeeded. To be fair, my family tried, with more moderate success, to develop my interests in other directions too.
9. Favorite/most influential chess book (if any):
Polugaevsky's 'Rozhdenie Varianta'. [DM: This book has been translated into English. Originally it was called The Birth of a Variation, and it's currently named and available as Grandmaster Preparation.] Speaking about my first chess books, 'Puteshestvie v shahmatnoe korolevstvo' by Averbakh & Beilin and, well, 'Prikliucheniya peshki' (the latter was just the chess poem with big pictures as I remember).
10. Favorite player (other than yourself):
Mihail Tal, first of all.
11. A game (not your own) that made a big impact on you:
I guess that 'Puteshestvie v shahmatnoe korolevstvo' has many such games. Many (or virtually all?) Russian-speaking players of our generation, including top stars, have read this book.
12. Your best game:
Possibly the game versus Renzo Mantovani in Biel, 1992. (Actually, this was the only tournament I played in where smoking in the tournament room was allowed).
13. Your greatest moment in chess so far:
I had some local achievements in chess (and those whom I supported had their achievements too), but I do not consider these moments as 'greatest'. Indeed, achievements are needed from time to time to keep your balance, to confirm that you are doing more or less the right things. Life itself (and life with chess for those who wish it) is the only great thing in my view. Well, maybe in the past I would have answered to this question somewhat differently.
14. The most valuable thing you did to become the player you are:
I do not think that I did anything special. Since I was 7 and at least until I made a final GM norm, playing chess clearly was the main occupation in my life. Even when odds were against this. I played chess and tried to improve my play. Maybe not sufficiently, but perhaps only the world champion can say with a full confidence that he tried sufficiently. So, it is relative. From some point it became hard for me to improve. Essentially, I like chess where both sides have visible chances: a guy who manages to create some miracle, wins. Such play requires a lot of energy. Still, throughout my career I learned a bit to play many other types of positions. In the subjective sense, it was valuable.
15. What you value most about the game:
Chess can be attractive in many different ways. That is why it survived for so long and that is why we can survive for so long with chess. (What to say, sometimes I like even the endings). The game joins people from different countries, creating horizontal links in the world, which is politically divided.
16. Your chess credo:
I am not sure that I ever had a chess credo. My life outside of chess needs such things more.
17. Three tips for amateurs:
I remember how at the Open in Poland in 1992 a tournament guest, former world champion Boris Spassky had a speech before the 1st round, and told the participants: "Dear friends. Please, be afraid of forks, of pins, and of discovered checks!". If something similarly deep is required, I propose: "Learn rules, find partners, play chess". Or, more advanced, "Do not touch pieces without saying j'adoube, do not forget to push the chess clock after you move, do not forget your pen at home". Well, to have interest in chess is hardly a problem or disease. No tips are really needed.
18. A tip for ambitious players:
Accept that you have to suffer at least a bit for achieving better results: to sometimes make moves you don't like making, to learn things which you prefer not to learn, and so on.
19. A game you'd like to present:
I have presented the game I mentioned above, with IM Renzo Mantovani.
20. Any of your work/services you'd like to plug:
I have a page to write about various chess projects in which I am involved. Additionally, as an experiment, I created a blog devoted to the latest book, which I wrote. Those readers who had not had enough with my answers, may take a look at these sites.
His game with Mantovani can be - and most certainly ought to be - replayed here. (Originally published in Chess Today in 2003.)
1. Name:
Mikhail Golubev
2. Age:
As far as I know I was born on May 30, 1970.
3. Title:
IGM since 1996.
4. Where you live, where you're from:
Odessa, Ukraine. (Wikipedia has a good article about this place.)
5. Family:
I can say that I have a daughter Anna, born in 1998. One of many my other relatives is grandmother Zinaida Suranova (born 1911), the chemist. One of her students in the Odessa University was a future grandmaster Efim Geller.
6. Other interests:
Unfortunately, lately it is, first of all, politics, which disturbs me a lot.
7. Favorite book/author (not chess):
My opinion on this topic is universally unimportant. But in different years I liked, for example, some books by Stanislaw Lem, Robert Sheckley, Iris Murdoch, Tatyana Tolstaya.
8. When (and how/from whom) you learned to play:
I learned to play at 6 - in family, many members of which tried to teach me after I was 5. At some point, they succeeded. To be fair, my family tried, with more moderate success, to develop my interests in other directions too.
9. Favorite/most influential chess book (if any):
Polugaevsky's 'Rozhdenie Varianta'. [DM: This book has been translated into English. Originally it was called The Birth of a Variation, and it's currently named and available as Grandmaster Preparation.] Speaking about my first chess books, 'Puteshestvie v shahmatnoe korolevstvo' by Averbakh & Beilin and, well, 'Prikliucheniya peshki' (the latter was just the chess poem with big pictures as I remember).
10. Favorite player (other than yourself):
Mihail Tal, first of all.
11. A game (not your own) that made a big impact on you:
I guess that 'Puteshestvie v shahmatnoe korolevstvo' has many such games. Many (or virtually all?) Russian-speaking players of our generation, including top stars, have read this book.
12. Your best game:
Possibly the game versus Renzo Mantovani in Biel, 1992. (Actually, this was the only tournament I played in where smoking in the tournament room was allowed).
13. Your greatest moment in chess so far:
I had some local achievements in chess (and those whom I supported had their achievements too), but I do not consider these moments as 'greatest'. Indeed, achievements are needed from time to time to keep your balance, to confirm that you are doing more or less the right things. Life itself (and life with chess for those who wish it) is the only great thing in my view. Well, maybe in the past I would have answered to this question somewhat differently.
14. The most valuable thing you did to become the player you are:
I do not think that I did anything special. Since I was 7 and at least until I made a final GM norm, playing chess clearly was the main occupation in my life. Even when odds were against this. I played chess and tried to improve my play. Maybe not sufficiently, but perhaps only the world champion can say with a full confidence that he tried sufficiently. So, it is relative. From some point it became hard for me to improve. Essentially, I like chess where both sides have visible chances: a guy who manages to create some miracle, wins. Such play requires a lot of energy. Still, throughout my career I learned a bit to play many other types of positions. In the subjective sense, it was valuable.
15. What you value most about the game:
Chess can be attractive in many different ways. That is why it survived for so long and that is why we can survive for so long with chess. (What to say, sometimes I like even the endings). The game joins people from different countries, creating horizontal links in the world, which is politically divided.
16. Your chess credo:
I am not sure that I ever had a chess credo. My life outside of chess needs such things more.
17. Three tips for amateurs:
I remember how at the Open in Poland in 1992 a tournament guest, former world champion Boris Spassky had a speech before the 1st round, and told the participants: "Dear friends. Please, be afraid of forks, of pins, and of discovered checks!". If something similarly deep is required, I propose: "Learn rules, find partners, play chess". Or, more advanced, "Do not touch pieces without saying j'adoube, do not forget to push the chess clock after you move, do not forget your pen at home". Well, to have interest in chess is hardly a problem or disease. No tips are really needed.
18. A tip for ambitious players:
Accept that you have to suffer at least a bit for achieving better results: to sometimes make moves you don't like making, to learn things which you prefer not to learn, and so on.
19. A game you'd like to present:
I have presented the game I mentioned above, with IM Renzo Mantovani.
20. Any of your work/services you'd like to plug:
I have a page to write about various chess projects in which I am involved. Additionally, as an experiment, I created a blog devoted to the latest book, which I wrote. Those readers who had not had enough with my answers, may take a look at these sites.
His game with Mantovani can be - and most certainly ought to be - replayed here. (Originally published in Chess Today in 2003.)
Posted by Dennis Monokroussos on
Tuesday July 24, 2007 at 2:15am