Vladimir Savon facts for kids

Vladimir Savon playing chess in 1972.

Vladimir Andreyevich Savon (Ukrainian: Володи́мир Андрійович Саво́н; born September 26, 1940 – died June 1, 2005) was a talented Ukrainian chess player. He earned the important title of Grandmaster from FIDE (the world chess organization) in 1973.

Savon shared the win at the Ukrainian Chess Championship in 1969. He then won the top prize at the USSR Championship in 1971. He also played for his country in the 1972 Chess Olympiad, which is like the Olympics for chess.

Life and Chess Career

Vladimir Savon was born in Chernihiv. He started learning how to play chess when he was 13 years old.

He played in the Soviet championship eleven times. His first time was in 1961 when he was 21. His best result was winning the 1971 championship. He played 21 games and didn't lose any of them, scoring 15 points!

At that time, he was only an international master. He finished 1.5 points ahead of famous former world champions like Mikhail Tal and Vasily Smyslov. Even Anatoly Karpov, who would later become a world champion, finished behind him. Chess experts Taimanov and Bernard Cafferty called his win "the least plausible result for decades" because it was so unexpected and impressive.

The next year, Savon did well again in the Soviet championship. He tied for 3rd to 5th place. This result helped him qualify for the Interzonal tournament, which is a big step towards playing for the World Championship.

Vladimir Savon also had many other good results in international chess tournaments:

• In Debrecen in 1970, he tied for first place with István Bilek.
• At Sukhumi in 1972, he finished second, just after Mikhail Tal.
• In Vilnius in 1975, he tied for first place.
• At Portorož in 1977, he tied for second place with Vlastimil Hort, after Bent Larsen.
• In Kyiv in 1978, he tied for second place.

FIDE gave Savon the International Master title in 1967. Six years later, in 1973, he received the highest title in chess: International Grandmaster. In that same year, he played in the Petropolis Interzonal tournament. He finished eighth out of 18 players. He also shared the title of Ukrainian Champion with Gennady Kuzmin in 1969.

Vladimir Savon passed away in Kharkiv when he was 65 years old.

Images for kids

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  Vladimir Savon playing chess in 1972.