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Roman Dzindzichashvili

Full name Roman Dzindzichashvili
Country Israel
United States
Born May 5, 1944
Tbilisi, Georgian SSR
Title Grandmaster
Peak rating 2595 (October 1978)

Roman Yakovlevich Dzindzichashvili (Georgian: რომან იაკობის-ძე ჯინჯიხაშვილი; Hebrew: רומן יעקובלביץ' ג'ינג'יחשווילי‎; pronounced jin-jee-khash-VEE-lee; born May 5, 1944) is a chess Grandmaster (GM).

Life and career

Born in Tbilisi, Georgian SSR into a family of Georgian Jews, he won the Junior Championship of the Soviet Union in 1962 and the University Championships in 1966 and 1968. In 1970, he earned the title of International Master. He left the U.S.S.R. in 1976 for Israel, and earned the GM title in 1977. In 1979, Dzindzichashvili settled in the United States, and he won the Lone Pine tournament the next year. He led the U.S. Olympiad team in 1984. One of his best career performances was first place at The 53rd Hastings Chess Festival in 1977/1978. He scored 10½ out of 14 points, a full point ahead of former World Champion Tigran Petrosian. He won the U.S. Chess Championship twice, in 1983 and again in 1989, sharing the title with two other players each time. He briefly took up residence in Washington Square Park in New York City, and hustled chess during the 1980s, making a living playing blitz for stakes, as is popular there. He had a cameo in the 1993 film Searching For Bobby Fischer.

He is a well-known theoretician and a chess coach. Among his students are 3-time US Chess Champion, GM Gata Kamsky, and GM Eugene Perelshteyn.

He is also the author and star of multiple chess instructional DVDs entitled "Roman's Lab".

He is one of the founders of Chess.net internet chess server project, started in 1993.

He played third board for the "GGGg" team that won the Amateur Team East tournament in February 2008.

Dzindzichashvili currently produces instructional videos for Chess.com. Topics include openings, middlegames, endgames, famous players, and interesting games.

Dzindzichashvili vs. computer programs

Dzindzichashvili played a series of rapid games against the computer program Fritz in 1991 and 1993. In the following game he checkmated the program in only 28 moves.

Dzindzichashvili vs. Fritz, 1991
1.d4 e6 2.e4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.Nf3 Nc6 5.Bd3 cxd4 6.0-0 Bc5 7.Re1 Nge7 8.Nbd2 0-0 9.Bxh7+ Kxh7 10.Ng5+ Kg6 11.Qg4 Nxe5 12.Rxe5 f5 13.Qg3 Rf7 14.Ndf3 Qh8 15.Nh4+ Qxh4 16.Qxh4 Rf8 17.Qh7+ Kf6 18.Nf3 Ng6 19.Bg5+ Kf7 20.Qh5 Rh8 21.Rxf5+ Kg8 22.Qxg6 exf5 23.Bf6 Rh7 24.Re1 d3 25.Re8+ Bf8 26.Ng5 Rh6 27.Rxf8+ Kxf8 28.Qf7#

In a match held on March 3-7, 2008, Dzindzichashvili played a series of eight games against the computer program Rybka, with Rybka giving odds of pawn and move. The series ended in a 4-4 tie. A rubber match, at the same odds, was played on July 28, 2008, at the faster than tournament time control (30'+20"). Rybka 3, running on eight CPUs, won by the score 2½-1½.

Further reading

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