Kiril Georgiev is a Chess Grandmaster from North Macedonia with Elo ratings exceeding 2500 from FIDE, making him one of the best Macedonian chess players in the world.
Full Name: Kiril Georgiev
Title: Grandmaster (1985)
International Master (1983)
Place of birth: Petrich, Bulgaria
Born: November 28, 1965
Federation: North Macedonia
Ratings
World ranking: 454
Rapid: 2650
Blitz: 2539
Classical: 2538
Peak rating: 2695 – Reached in July 2001
Profiles
Most Frequently Played Openings
With The White Pieces
- Nimzo Indian
- Queen’s Pawn Game
- Slav
With The Black Pieces
- Sicilian Defense
- Sicilian Najdorf
- Ruy Lopez
Biography
Kiril Georgiev is a Bulgarian and Macedonian chess grandmaster born on November 28, 1965, in Petrich, Bulgaria. Georgiev was awarded the title of Grandmaster in 1985 and the FIDE Master title. As of October 2022, his FIDE rating was 2538 while his Peak rating was 2695 as of July 2001.
The Beginning
The chess community first took notice of Georgiev in 1983, when he won the title of World Junior Champion with a remarkable score of 11.5 points out of 13 games. Georgiev received the title of International Master as a result of this outcome. Georgiev was given the Grandmaster title by FIDE two years later.
Georgiev quickly overtook Ivan Radulov as the greatest player in Bulgaria while achieving the titles of Bulgarian Champion in 1984 (split), 1986, and 1989 before finally losing out to Veselin Topalov. Georgiev has frequently competed on his nation’s first or second board at the Chess Olympiad. Unusually, Georgiev represented Macedonia in 2002 when he was a resident there.
Kiril Georgiev eliminated global title holder Garry Kasparov (3 – 1) in the quarterfinals of the 1988 World Blitz Tournament in Saint John, Canada, and went on to come third. Rafael Vaganian defeated Georgiev in the semifinals (3.5 – 4.5). Mikhail Tal ultimately took first place in the competition.
Given that Georgiev hasn’t fully attained the super grandmaster level, his performance in international tournaments has been impressive (Elo 2700 or above).
Georgiev won at Sarajevo in 1986, where he would recur 15 years later to face board kid Ivan Sokolov, San Bernardino in 1988, Elenite in Bulgaria in 1992, beating Sokolov, Topalov, Josif Dorfman, Yuri Razuvayev, and Vassilios Kotronias, and Budapest Zonal in 1993 beating Judit Polgár and ubomr Ftánik.
Notable Achievements
Georgiev won at Belgrade in 2000 and repeated his Elenite victory in 1995 with Topalov, beating out Nigel Short, Boris Gulko, and Sergey Dolmatov.
In 2013, 2014, and 2015, Georgiev won the Bulgarian championship three more times in a row. Georgiev has been a frequent participant in Swansea’s Tuesday Chess Night since July 2021. Thanks to such worldwide weekly tournaments, Georgiev became well-known among the most accomplished Welsh chess winners, Victor Ciobanu and Karol Zandal.
In 2009, Georgiev managed to play 360 chess tournaments in just over 14 hours, shattering the previous record for the most simultaneous tournaments contested. With 284 wins, 70 draws, and 6 losses, Georgiev earned 88% overall. The record had to receive at least 80% to be approved.
Notable Games
Garry Kasparov vs Kiril Georgiev – Wch-blitz, Round 3 – Saint John, Canada – February 20, 1988
Kiril Georgiev vs Alexey Shirov – Biel, Round 12 – Biel, Switzerland – January 01, 1992
Kiril Georgiev vs Roberto Carlos Sanchez Alvarez – Batumi Olympiad, Round 3 – Batumi, Georgia – September 26, 2018
Did you enjoy reading about Kiril Georgiev? If you did, you might also be interested in reading about other players such as Hikaru Nakamura, Emanuel Lasker, and Paul Morphy.
Sources
- https://www.365chess.com/tournaments/Wch-blitz_1988/20847
- https://web.archive.org/web/20110930232433/http://www.chess.co.uk/twic/chessnews/events/19th-pamplona-international
- https://archive.today/20120802051157/https://theweekinchess.com/html/twic535.html%233
- http://reports.chessdom.com/news-2010/krasenkow-world-chess-open-2010
- https://archive.today/20120801193857/http://www.chess.co.uk/twic/chessnews/events/29th-andorra-open
- http://en.chessbase.com/post/georgiev-breaks-guinne-simul-record/5