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 (August 2025) |
| Peak rating | 2703 (January 2012) |
| Peak ranking | No. 17 (October 2004) |
Emil Sutovsky (Hebrew: אמיל סוטובסקי) is a famous Israeli chess player. He was born on September 19, 1977. In 1996, FIDE (the International Chess Federation) gave him the top title of Grandmaster. Since 2022, Emil Sutovsky has been the CEO of FIDE. Before that, he was the Director-General of FIDE from 2018 to 2022. He also led the Association of Chess Professionals from 2012 to 2019.
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Emil's Amazing Chess Wins
Emil Sutovsky started playing chess when he was just four years old. He quickly became very good and won many important tournaments.
Early Victories
In 1996, he won the World Junior Chess Championship in Medellín. This was a big achievement for a young player. In 1997, he finished first at the VAM Hoogeveen Tournament. He beat strong players like Judit Polgár and Vasily Smyslov. He also won the Hastings tournament in 2000.
European Champion
One of his biggest wins came in 2001. Emil Sutovsky won the European Individual Chess Championship. He won after playing special tie-break games against Ruslan Ponomariov.
More Top Finishes
In 2003, he shared first place with Alexander Beliavsky at the Vidmar Memorial. In 2007, he came in second at the 8th European Chess Championship in Dresden. He played well in many other big events too.
Open Tournament Successes
Emil Sutovsky tied for first place in two major open tournaments in 2005. He did well at the Gibraltar Chess Festival. He also tied for first at the Aeroflot Open in Moscow. His strong performance in Moscow earned him an invitation to the important Dortmund tournament. There, he even beat the classical world champion, Vladimir Kramnik.
World Championship Events
Emil Sutovsky played in several FIDE World Championships that used a knockout format. He participated in 1997, 2000, and 2001. In 2001, he reached the third round before being knocked out by Vasyl Ivanchuk. He also took part in the Chess World Cup 2005, Chess World Cup 2007, Chess World Cup 2009, and Chess World Cup 2011.
In 2007, Sutovsky helped US Grandmaster Gata Kamsky as his "second." A second is someone who helps a player prepare for games. Kamsky went on to win the Chess World Cup 2007 with Sutovsky's help.
Recent Wins
In September 2009, Sutovsky won the Inventi Chess Tournament in Antwerp. In 2011, he tied for second place at the Baku Open. Even though he started playing less often after becoming the ACP President, he still won 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 traditional Karpov Tournament in Poikovsky. He played incredibly well there, showing one of the best performances of his career.
Playing for His Country
Emil Sutovsky has proudly represented Israel in many Chess Olympiads. These are team chess tournaments where countries compete against each other.
Olympiad Highlights
He played in nine Chess Olympiads from 1996 to 2014. At 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) among all players in the Olympiad, which was 2895. This shows how incredibly well he played.
Emil's Unique Style
| This section uses algebraic notation to describe chess moves. |
Emil Sutovsky is known for his exciting and "uncompromising" style of play. This means he often takes risks and makes bold moves to win.
Exciting Games
His win against Ilya Smirin in the 2002 Israeli Chess Championship was voted the best game in a chess magazine called Chess Informant. His victory over Daniel Gormally at Gibraltar in 2005 also won a "best game" prize. The famous FIDE World Champion Viswanathan Anand even said this game was the best chess game he had ever seen! Since 2006, Sutovsky has written his own column called "Jeu créateur" (which means "Creative chess") in a major French chess magazine, Europe Échecs.
Opening Choices
When Emil plays with the white pieces, he almost always starts with the move 1.e4. He sometimes tries less common or older openings like the Two Knights Defence, the King's Gambit, and the Scotch Game. When he plays with the black pieces, he often uses the Grünfeld Defence or King's Indian Defence against 1.d4. Against 1.e4, he usually plays the Sicilian Defence or Ruy Lopez.
Emil Sutovsky is also very smart outside of chess. He can speak five different languages and sometimes takes part in trivia contests.
See also
In Spanish: Emil Sutovsky para niños
- List of Jewish chess players
