Dvoretsky was born in Moscow in 1947. He learnt chess when he was around 5 or 6 years old. However, he started to study chess seriously and participate in tournaments only when he was in the fifth grade. Before that he had a different interest – mathematics. One day his math teacher was changed, and a boring one was the replacement. He lost his interest in math and moved towards chess. He was 11–12 years old when he enrolled in a chess club in Moscow. He was awarded the International Master title in 1975, and for a time he was widely regarded as the strongest IM in the world. This was due to a number of excellent results: he was Moscow Champion in 1973, finished equal fifth in a strong Soviet Championship in 1974, and won the Wijk aan Zee Masters tournament of 1975 by a clear point and a half. Along with another creditable finish at the USSR Championship of 1975, the results were an indication that he was already of grandmaster strength. However, for personal reasons he opted not to remain an active player and instead followed his urge to become a chess trainer. This was something he had tried out and enjoyed while studying at Moscow University, and he quickly gained a reputation for transforming serious, hard-working 2200 players into grandmasters. Similarly, it was said that established grandmasters could become champions under his tutelage, and his student register began to read like a 'who's who' of chess greats. Garry Kasparov, Viswanathan Anand, Veselin Topalov, Evgeny Bareev, Joël Lautier and Loek van Wely are among the players who benefited from his coaching. Almost all players in top 100 currently have received training from him. Aleksey Dreev, Nana Alexandria, Viorel Bologan, Ernesto Inarkiev, Alexander Motylev were some of his other great students. Valery Chekhov, Artur Yusupov, Sergei Dolmatov and Maxim Dlugy went on to become Junior World Champions after receiving training from him. Equally noteworthy has been his long-time collaboration with fellow Muscovite Artur Yusupov. Yusupov attributes much of his chess success to Dvoretsky's training methods and at his peak became number three in the world and reached the semi-final of the World ChampionshipCandidates Tournament on no fewer than three occasions. They have published books together and even established a chess school in the 1990s, turning out many of today's top-flight grandmasters. Dvoretsky and Yusupov's students have included Peter Svidler, Sergei Movsesian, Alexey Alexandrov, Vasily Yemelin, Inna Gaponenko, Ilakha Kadymova, Ela Pitem, Vadim Zviagintsev, Vladimir Baklan, and Peter Kiriakov. Dvoretsky wrote a series of chess training books. The series commenced with Secrets of Chess Training which won the BCF book of the year award in 1991. Secrets of Chess Tactics, Opening Preparation, Technique for the Tournament Player and Attack and Defence followed along. Some time later came his 'School of Chess Excellence' books, which were recently revised and re-issued by Edition Olms, a Swiss publishing house. Numbered 1 through 4, they are Endgame Analysis, Tactical Play, Strategic Play and Opening Developments, in order. The books are sometimes co-authored by star pupil Yusupov and many contain contributions from a host of other grandmasters. He wrote Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual, published in 2003, a manual on the endgame that is highly regarded by leading professional players. The fourth edition of this book was published in 2014. Dvoretsky's Analytical Manual was published in 2008. He died on September 26, 2016, at the age of 68.
Books
Original series
The Dvoretsky School series was first published in English in these editions:
Reprints and further works
Mark Dvoretsky. Recognizing your Opponents Resources. Russell Enterprises..
Mark Dvoretsky. Maneuvering The Art of Piece Play. Russell Enterprises.
