Ukrainian chess Grandmaster Vassily Ivanchuk is widely considered to be the greatest chess player to have never won the world championships. For a man who has dominated the world of chess for nearly 3 decades, Ivanchuk’s durability at the top rates him among the top sportspersons in the world. At the age of 22, Ivanchuk got his first bit of recognition in the chess world when he won the Linares tournament, widely known as the ‘Wimbledon of Chess’ in 1991. In that particular event, the Ukrainian beat then-reigning world champion and one of chess’ greatest of all time, Garry Kasparov.According to the chess fraternity, the biggest reason for Ivanchuk not winning a single world championship match in his career was because of his ‘poor nerves’ and unstable behaviour. 5-time world champion Viswanathan Anand even went on to describe Ivanchuk as the most eccentric player in the chess world. Yet, despite his not-so-normal mindset, he received widespread appreciation for his brilliance on the 64-squares and was even described by some as the most talented chess player to have ever lived. The 46-year old has won more than 44 tournaments around the world, in his illustrious career. Luck too had a major role to play in his career. The chess genius who lost in the only world championships final he played, to his young compatriot Ruslan Ponomariov in 2001, had earlier narrowly lost out in the World Junior Chess Championship as well, in early 1988. At the end of the day, his temperament too affected his performance at the topmost level. In the Chess World Cup in 2009, Ivanchuk lost to the then 16-year old Wesley So of Philippines in one of the rounds. The defeat did not go down well on him. He immediately announced his retirement from professional chess, in a very emotional interview, describing his loss as ‘chess suicide’. Soon enough, much to the delight of his fans, he announced that he would be returning to play chess. His form hasn't shown much improvement since, but he continues to beat top GMs in every major tournament. In all, he has beaten more than 10 world champions(past and present) in various tournaments. Some of his most notable victories are the 2004 European Championships, Olympiad Championships(4 times), a three-time winner of the Linares (considered the Wimbledon of chess), 1st place in the 2001 World Team Championships, 2007 World Blitz Championships winner. Despite his tremendous wins world over, Ivanchuk surprisingly doesn’t regret not winning the world championships yet but remains confident that he could win it some day. For such an extraordinary figure in the world of chess, ‘Chucky’, as he is fondly known, continues to enthrall his fans worldwide with his unique antics, even at the ripe age of 46. And the tag of ‘the greatest of all time’ will remain Chucky's, irrespective of whether he becomes a world champion or not.
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