Emil Sutovsky facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Emil Sutovsky |
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Emil Sutovsky in 2023
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| Born | September 19, 1977 Baku, Azerbaijan SSR, Soviet Union |
| Title | Grandmaster (1996) |
| FIDE rating | 2640 (July 2025) |
| Peak rating | 2703 (January 2012) |
| Peak ranking | No. 17 (October 2004) |
Emil Sutovsky was born on September 19, 1977. He is a famous chess player from Israel. In 1996, he earned the special title of Grandmaster from FIDE. FIDE is the world organization for chess.
Emil Sutovsky is now the CEO (Chief Executive Officer) of FIDE since 2022. Before that, he was the Director-General of FIDE from 2018 to 2022. He also led the Association of Chess Professionals as its president from 2012 to 2019.
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Winning Chess Tournaments
Emil Sutovsky started playing chess when he was only four years old. He won many important chess events.
- In 1996, he won the World Junior Chess Championship in Medellín. This is a big tournament for young chess players.
- In 1997, he came in first at the VAM Hoogeveen Tournament. He beat other strong players like Judit Polgár.
- In 2000, he won the Hastings tournament.
In 2001, Sutovsky won the European Individual Chess Championship. He won after playing quick tie-break games against Ruslan Ponomariov.
In 2003, he shared first place with Alexander Beliavsky at the Vidmar Memorial. In 2007, he finished second at the 8th European Chess Championship in Dresden.
Big Wins in 2005
In 2005, Emil Sutovsky tied for first place in two major open tournaments:
- At the Gibraltar Chess Festival, he scored 7.5 points out of 10.
- At the Aeroflot Open in Moscow, he scored 6.5 points out of 9. He won this tournament because of a better tie-break score. This win gave him an invitation to the important Dortmund tournament. There, he even beat the world champion at the time, Vladimir Kramnik.
World Championship Events
Sutovsky played in several FIDE Knock-out World Championships. In these events, players are eliminated if they lose a match.
- In 1997, he lost in the first round.
- In 2000, he also lost in the first round.
- In 2001, he made it to the third round before being eliminated.
He did not play in the FIDE World Chess Championship 2004. This was because he was worried about how Israeli players would be treated in Libya, where the event was held.
He also played in the Chess World Cup 2005, Chess World Cup 2007, Chess World Cup 2009, and Chess World Cup 2011. In 2007, he helped US Grandmaster Gata Kamsky as his "second." A "second" is like a coach who helps a player prepare for games. Kamsky then won the Chess World Cup 2007.
Recent Successes
In September 2009, Sutovsky won the Inventi Chess Tournament in Antwerp. In 2011, he tied for second place at the Baku Open.
After becoming the ACP President, he played less often. But he still won some big tournaments:
- In 2015, he won the famous Biel Masters Open Tournament.
- In 2016, he won the Nona 75 – ACP Open in Tbilisi.
- In April 2017, Sutovsky won the Karpov Tournament in Poikovsky. His performance in this tournament was one of the best in his career.
Playing for His Country
Emil Sutovsky played for Israel in nine Chess Olympiads between 1996 and 2014. The Chess Olympiad is a team chess tournament where countries compete against each other.
In the 2010 Chess Olympiad, he won a gold medal. This was for having the best individual performance on board two. He also had the highest Tournament Performance Rating (TPR) of 2895 among all players in the Olympiad. A Performance Rating shows how well a player performed in a specific tournament.
His Chess Style
| This section uses algebraic notation to describe chess moves. |
Emil Sutovsky is known for his exciting and aggressive chess style. He often makes sacrifices, which means giving up a piece to gain a strong attack. His win against Ilya Smirin in 2002 was voted the best game in a chess magazine. His game against Daniel Gormally in 2005 also won a prize for best game. Even former World Champion Viswanathan Anand said it was the best chess game he had ever seen.
Since 2006, Sutovsky has written a column called "Jeu créateur" (which means "Creative chess") in a major French chess magazine.
Openings He Plays
When Emil Sutovsky plays with the White pieces, he almost always starts with 1.e4. This is a common opening move. Sometimes, he tries older or less common openings like the Two Knights Defence, the King's Gambit, and the Scotch Game.
When he plays with the Black pieces against 1.d4, he usually uses the Grünfeld Defence or King's Indian Defence. Against 1.e4, he often plays the Sicilian Defence or Ruy Lopez. These are all well-known ways to start a chess game.
Emil Sutovsky can speak five different languages. He also enjoys taking part in trivia contests.
See also
In Spanish: Emil Sutovsky para niños
- List of Jewish chess players
