Daniel Yanofsky
Daniel Abraham Yanofsky, OC, QC (March 25, 1925 – March 5, 2000), commonly known as Daniel Yanofsky or Abe Yanofsky, was a Canadian chess player, chess writer, chess arbiter, and lawyer. He was Canada's first Grandmaster and an eight-time Canadian Chess Champion.
| Daniel Yanofsky | |
|---|---|
Yanofsky in 1947 | |
| Full name | Daniel Abraham Yanofsky |
| Country | Canada |
| Born | March 25, 1925 Brody, Poland (now western Ukraine) |
| Died | March 5, 2000 (aged 74) Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada |
| Title | Grandmaster International Arbiter |
| Peak rating | 2460 (July 1971) |
Early life
Yanofsky was born to a Jewish family in Brody, Poland (now western Ukraine), and moved to Canada when he was eight months old, settling with his family in Winnipeg.
Life in chess
Early successes
He learned to play chess at the age of eight. Yanofsky won his first Manitoba provincial championship at age 12 in 1937, also making his debut in the Closed Canadian Chess Championship that same year in Toronto. In 1939, just 14 years old, he played for Canada at the Buenos Aires Olympiad. Yanofsky was the sensation of the tournament, making the highest score on second board. He won his first Canadian Chess Championship in 1941 at age 16, at home in Winnipeg. He won at Ventnor City 1942 with 6.5/9, and tied 1st-2nd with Herman Steiner on 16/17 in the 1942 U.S. Open at Dallas.
First Commonwealth GM
In 1946, at age 21, Yanofsky entered the first top-class post-war tournament, at Groningen, and defeated Soviet champion and tournament winner Mikhail Botvinnik, winning the brilliancy prize. During the next two years, he played several more European events, where his best result was second place behind Miguel Najdorf at Barcelona 1946. Yanofsky represented Canada at the Interzonals held in Saltsjöbaden 1948 and Stockholm 1962. He won the British Championship in 1953. At Dallas 1957 chess tournament, Yanofsky achieved his first grandmaster norm with wins over Samuel Reshevsky, Friðrik Ólafsson and Larry Evans. His performance at the Tel Aviv 1964 Olympiad earned him his second grandmaster norm, and the title, thereby becoming the first grandmaster raised in the British Commonwealth.
Eight-time Canadian champion
Yanofsky, winner in 1941, repeated as Canadian Champion in 1943, 1945, 1947, 1953, 1959, 1963, and 1965; his eight titles is a Canadian record (tied with Maurice Fox).
Eleven Olympiad appearances
He represented Canada at eleven Olympiads: (Buenos Aires 1939, 2nd board, {13.5/16}, Amsterdam 1954 1st board, {9/17}, Munich 1958, 1st board, {5.5/11}, Tel Aviv 1964, 1st board, {10/16}, Havana 1966, 1st board, {3.5/5}, Lugano 1968, 1st board, {6/14}, Siegen 1970, 1st board, {7/14}, Skopje 1972, 2nd board, {6/13}, Nice 1974, 3rd board, {7/14}, Haifa 1976, 3rd board, {3.5/10}, and La Valletta 1980), 3rd board, {6/11}). His Olympiad totals are: (+50 =54 -37), for 54.6 per cent.[1] His eleven Olympiad appearances is surpassed among Canadians only by IM Lawrence Day (thirteen). His total of 141 games played in Olympiads is the Canadian record among men, second only to Nava Starr's 147.
Further tournament successes
Further tournament titles included Arbon 1946 (tied with Karel Opocensky and Ludek Pachman), Reykjavík 1947, Hastings 1952-53 (tied with Harry Golombek, Jonathan Penrose, and Antonio Medina), and the Canadian Open Chess Championship 1979 (Edmonton). Yanofsky placed second at Hastings 1951-52 behind Svetozar Gligorić, and second at Netanya 1968 behind Robert Fischer.
Later years
Yanofsky had the lead organizer role for Canada's first supergrandmaster tournament at Winnipeg 1967, to mark Canada's Centennial, and also played in the tournament, winning the Brilliancy Prize for his victory over László Szabó. The Winnipeg tournament was jointly won by Bent Larsen and Klaus Darga.
Yanofsky earned the FIDE International Arbiter title in 1977. He played in his final Canadian Championship in 1986 at age 61 at home in Winnipeg, and qualified for another Interzonal appearance, placing tied 3rd-5th with 9.5/15, but generously ceded that opportunity in favour of a younger player. He returned to Groningen in 1996 for the 50th anniversary reunion tournament among the 1946 event's surviving players. Following Yanofsky's death in 2000,[2] an annual Memorial Tournament has been held in Winnipeg to honor his wide-ranging contributions to Canadian chess.
Except for a short period, from 1946 to 1948, Yanofsky never concentrated full-time on chess. He entered the University of Manitoba in 1941, earning a degree in science in 1944.
He served in the Royal Canadian Navy during World War II (1944-1946).
He graduated with a law degree from the University of Manitoba in 1951. He won several scholarships, which allowed him to pursue legal studies at Oxford University (1951–1953).
Following graduation, he practised law in Winnipeg, with his brother Harry, who was also a chess master. Daniel Yanofsky argued several cases before the Supreme Court of Canada.[3]
Political career
He was mayor of the Winnipeg suburb of West Kildonan, and served on the Winnipeg City Council from 1970 to 1986, chairing the Finance Committee. Yanofsky campaigned for the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba in the 1959 provincial election as a candidate of the Liberal-Progressive Party. He finished third against Co-operative Commonwealth Federation candidate David Orlikow in the St. Johns constituency. He was also a contributor to the development of the Seven Oaks General Hospital and the Wellness Institute.[4]
Honours
In 1972, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.[5] In 1980, he was appointed a Queen's Counsel.[6] In 2000, he was inducted as a charter member of the Canadian Chess Hall of Fame.
Major writings
- Chess The Hard Way (1st and 2nd editions)
- How to Win End-games
- 100 Years of Chess in Canada (1967)
- served as Editor of the magazine Canadian Chess Chat for many years
- wrote a weekly chess column for the newspaper Winnipeg Free Press
- wrote the tournament book for the First Canadian Open, Montreal 1956.
- edited the tournament book for the Winnipeg 1967 Grandmasters' tournament.
Notable chess games
- Daniel Yanofsky vs Alberto Ismodes, Buenos Aires Olympiad 1939, French, Classical (C11), 1-0 14-year-old Yanofsky unleashes a pretty rook sacrifice against Alberto Ismodes Dulanto to win the game, which was highly praised by World Champion Alexander Alekhine.
- Daniel Yanofsky vs Mikhail Botvinnik, Groningen 1946, Ruy Lopez, Closed, Chigorin (C99), 1-0 In a Brilliancy Prize game, the young Canadian stuns the Soviet champion and Groningen event winner.
- Viacheslav Ragozin vs Daniel Yanofsky, Saltsjobaden Interzonal 1948, French, Classical (C13), 0-1 Yanofsky coolly gives up his queen to forestall the experienced Soviet GM's dangerous attacking chances.
- Samuel Reshevsky vs Daniel Yanofsky, Tel Aviv Olympiad 1964, Grunfeld (D93), 0-1 Yanofsky sacrifices a piece to entomb White's bishop and ruin his pawn structure, leading to a strategical masterpiece.
- Laszlo Szabo vs Daniel Yanofsky, Winnipeg 1967, King's Indian (E70), 0-1 A lovely thematic dark-square King's Indian game which won the Brilliancy Prize.
References
- ^ olimpbase.org, the Yanofsky results file
- ^ "Yanofsky obituary". The New York Times. 2000-03-10. Retrieved 2009-07-16.
- ^ Chess The Hard Way, second edition, by Daniel Yanofsky, 2000, Chess Federation of Canada publishers.
- ^ "The Seven Oaks General Hospital Incorporation Act". Province of Manitoba. Retrieved 16 January 2015.
- ^ Order of Canada citation
- ^ "Eleven appointed Queen's Counsel" (PDF). Province of Manitoba. Retrieved 16 January 2015.
External links
- Abe Yanofsky rating and tournament record at Chess Federation of Canada
- Daniel A. Yanofsky FIDE rating history at OlimpBase.org
- Daniel Abraham Yanofsky Chess Olympiad record at OlimpBase.org
- Daniel Abraham Yanofsky player profile and games at Chessgames.com
- Daniel Abraham Yanofsky at CanadianChess.info
- at the Wayback Machine (archived September 12, 2015)
- Daniel Abraham Yanofsky at WebCite (archived 2009-10-25)
- at the Wayback Machine (archived June 13, 2006)