Mark Dvoretsky (1947-2016), R.I.P.
The famed trainer and author Mark Dvoretsky unexpectedly passed away earlier this week at the age of 68. He had been actively engaged in his usual occupations with no clear signs that anything was too terribly wrong, having published a book earlier this year and recording a couple of video series for Chess24 in the last couple of months.
I've mentioned Mark Dvoretsky many times on this blog, generally and maybe invariably praising him for his work as a trainer of serious students. Many of his students reached a very high level, including Artur Yusupov, Sergei Dolmatov, and Alexei Dreev, all of whom reached the Candidates on one or more occasions. He worked with many other great players on a more occasional basis, including Peter Svidler, Viswanathan Anand, and even Garry Kasparov.
His publication legacy is also quite impressive. His books were never derivative, but covered new topics with fresh examples, always very carefully examined. Where some authors barely review their work before sending it out into the world, Dvoretsky always analyzed it carefully and then checked it in training sessions as well. Even then, after it was published, he would engage in further revisions and produce new editions of his books. His magnus opus, Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual, was dubbed the best book of all time by Jacob Aagaard. Certainly it is the most influential book in this century, at least among professional players.
While not what he's going to be remembered for, he was a fine player as well, at one point in the top 50 in the world (and apparently ranked as high as #20 on the ChessMetrics scale). He never got the GM title, but that wasn't due to either a lack of strength or rating. During the period when Dvoretsky was an active player, there weren't many opportunities for Soviet players to get the grandmaster title, and by the time there was more access he had essentially retired from play.
The original posting of the bad news was here, and there are some nice tributes to Dvoretsky collected on this page.
Reader Comments (1)
Rest in peace. The list of Dvoretsky's students, structural or occasional, seems "unlimited", each individual source gives different names - an unlikely one (by current standards, but it wasn't always like this) is Veselin Topalov.
As obvious from comments under various articles, Dvoretsky's influence/legacy goes well beyond those who met him face-to-face as he also wrote books and recently produced videos. Untitled amateurs and top players alike, see e.g. Aronian's tweet: "A legendary chess writer and coach Mark Dvoretsky passed away today. His books made me the player i am. A very sad day for the chess world." Of course Dvoretsky was aiming at an (already) advanced audience, a 1600ish clubmate of mine wrote just three weeks ago "I have three of Dvoretsky's books, but for me it is always too rambling and unfocused. I don't learn much from it, probably far above my level." (He, now retired, wants to work on his chess but likes to keep things relatively simple and also likes to be entertained.) .
The chess.com tribute has further, apparently exclusive GM quotes, including a very personal one by Jussupow that starts with "I knew that Mark was very seriously ill. It became much worse in the last few weeks. It was rather sudden." Dvoretsky talked about his health problems, to my knowledge without ever giving details (of course he wasn't obliged at all), it seems that things went downhill quickly at the end.