Gennady Kuzmin


Gennady Pavlovich Kuzmin was a Ukrainian chess player and trainer. He reached his peak strength in the early to mid-1970s and in 1973, was awarded the title of International Grandmaster by FIDE, the governing body.

Career

Kuzmin competed in the Soviet Chess Championship eleven times between 1965 and 1991. His best results occurred in 1972 in Baku and 1973 in Moscow. The Baku final was also a qualifier for the 1973 Leningrad Interzonal, in which he placed seventh of eighteen players.
He was invited to compete at the Biel Interzonal in 1976, but withdrew. A second Interzonal appearance occurred at Riga 1979, when he again finished in the top half of the table.
In other competition, he achieved outright or shared first place at Hastings 1973/74, Baku 1977, Tallinn 1979, Kladovo 1980, Dortmund 1981 and Bangalore 1981. Other notable results included Lvov 1978 and Tallinn 1985. In 1990, he was the Moscow Blitz Champion.
He had three times been the Ukraine national champion in a period spanning thirty years; 1969 at Ivano-Frankivsk, 1989 at Kherson and 1999, when the title was shared several ways at Alushta.
In team chess, representing the USSR, he was awarded a team gold and individual bronze medal at the 21st Chess Olympiad, held 1974 in Nice, with a performance of +10 =5 -0, despite being selected only as a reserve.
Gennady Kuzmin was a chess trainer in Ukraine and along with Yuri Kruppa, had helped rising star Kateryna Lahno become the world's youngest Woman Grandmaster. He was also a trainer to Ruslan Ponomariov when he became the youngest world champion in history, at 18 years and 104 days. He ran a chess school on the official website of the Ukraine Chess Federation, where players are invited to join group and individual study sessions.
Kuzmin died on 28 February 2020.

Notable games