Alexander Zaitsev (chess player)
Alexander Nikolayevich Zaitsev was a leading Soviet chess grandmaster. He was born in Vladivostok, Russia.
Perhaps his finest achievement was a share of first place at the 1968/69 USSR Chess Championship of Alma Ata. He eventually took the silver medal after losing the play-off to co-winner Lev Polugaevsky. The Chessmetrics website, which provides estimated ratings for older players, places him as 21st in the world in 1969. Zaitsev died at a young age in a pathetic manner. He had been born with a clubfoot. In 1971, he had an operation to correct the problem. Details are hard to come by, but Zaitsev died of complications from the surgery.Legacy
His name is attached to the Zaitsev Gambit of the Grünfeld Defence.
