26 Facts About Efim Geller

Efim Petrovich Geller was a Soviet chess player and world-class grandmaster at his peak.

Efim Geller won the Soviet Championship twice and was a Candidate for the World Championship on six occasions.

Efim Geller won four Ukrainian SSR Championship titles and shared first in the 1991 World Seniors' Championship, winning the title outright in 1992.

Efim Geller was a fine basketball player, and earned his doctorate in physical education before specialising in chess.

Efim Geller defeated such established players as Semyon Furman, Isaac Boleslavsky, Alexander Kotov, Salo Flohr, fellow finals debutant Tigran Petrosian, Viacheslav Ragozin, and Grigory Levenfish.

Also in 1950, Efim Geller won the Ukrainian SSR Championship in Kyiv, the first of his four titles in that event; he repeated from 1957 to 1959, with all three events in Kyiv.

Efim Geller is reckoned to have been among the best ten players in the world for around twenty years.

Efim Geller was awarded the International Master title in 1951, and the International Grandmaster title the following year.

Efim Geller played in 23 USSR Chess Championships, a record equalled by Mark Taimanov, achieving good results in many.

Efim Geller won his second title in 1979 at Minsk at the age of 54, making him the oldest Soviet champion.

In Seniors' competition, Efim Geller further distinguished himself in the early 1990s.

Efim Geller remained active in high-level competitive chess until age 70; his last event was the 1995 Russian Championship at Elista.

Efim Geller reached the later stages of the World Championship several times.

Efim Geller was a Candidate at Zurich 1953 and Amsterdam 1956.

Efim Geller represented the USSR seven times in the Chess Olympiad, over a 28-year span from 1952 to 1980, and contributed well each time to the team gold medal victories.

Efim Geller won three gold medals and three silver on his board.

Efim Geller was selected on six occasions for the USSR team to the European Team Championships.

Efim Geller's team won gold each time, and he won four gold medals on his board.

Efim Geller did rather badly against Korchnoi and Polugaevsky.

Efim Geller is best remembered today for the tactical ability and original attacking style which characterised the earlier part of his career.

Efim Geller was noted as an openings expert, and was one of the pioneers in developing the King's Indian Defence to prominence, along with fellow Ukrainians Isaac Boleslavsky and David Bronstein.

Efim Geller acted as second to World Champion Boris Spassky in the World Championship match of 1972 against Bobby Fischer, and later seconded World Champion Anatoly Karpov, as well as his lifelong close friend Tigran Petrosian.

Efim Geller's books included an autobiography, translated by Bernard Cafferty as Grandmaster Geller at the Chessboard.

Former champion Botvinnik stated that, in his opinion, Efim Geller was the best player in the world in the late 1960s.

Efim Geller seemed to be stronger in tournament play than in matches.

Efim Geller was featured in the 2014 Bobby Fischer biopic Pawn Sacrifice, portrayed by Edward Zinoviev.