GM Konstantin Landa has handed away on the age of fifty, after a protracted wrestle with most cancers. The information was confirmed by the Russian Chess Federation.

Landa was born May 22, 1972 in Omsk, a metropolis in southwestern Siberia. He bought his first chess classes when he was 5 and a half years previous. On his private web site, he wrote: “First, my dad swiftly taught me draughts. He stated that it was too early for chess. And three weeks later, after getting back from a enterprise journey, he misplaced the primary [chess] recreation to me.”

As a younger participant, he was coached by GM Alexander Goldin and GM Evgeny Sveshnikov and took part within the coaching classes of GM Mikhail Botvinnik‘s well-known faculty. At the age of 13, he defeated GM Garry Kasparov in a simultaneous exhibition over six boards. The different gamers on this exhibition have been future GMs Vladimir Akopian, Boris Alterman, Alexei Shirov, Vladimir Kramnik, and Peter Svidler.

Landa was a runner-up within the Soviet Youth Championship in 1989 and a runner-up on the Russian Championship in 1992. He turned an worldwide grasp in 1991 and a grandmaster in 1995, however even after that achievement, he hesitated to commit himself to a full-time skilled profession in chess.

During the Nineties, he graduated from college with a diploma in pc science and labored as an IT skilled in a financial institution and different corporations. He turned a Microsoft Certified Engineer in community communication in 2001, however his ardour for chess prevailed.

Landa’s chess profession bought a brand new begin in 1999 when he moved to Germany. After that, he may take part in dozens of open tournaments and nationwide group championships annually. At his ranking peak in October 2008, on the age of 35 Landa ranked quantity 32 on the earth with a ranking of 2678 Elo.

Tournament victories for Landa embrace Oberwart (1994), Noyabrsk (1995), Ubeda (1999), Deizisau (2001), Furte (2002), Bad Wiesse (2002), Trieste (2005), Reggio Emilia (2006), Hamburg (2007), Vlissingen (2011), Senden (2011), and Hamburg (2014).

Landa did attain the elite stage in his profession, however as a coach reasonably than as a participant. In three years, he introduced GM Arkadij Naiditch from an aspiring IM to the primary participant in Germany and an elite participant.

Landa himself referred to as his most profitable scholar GM Alexandra Kosteniuk as a result of he was her coach in 2008 when she turned the twelfth Women’s World Champion. 11 years later, in 2019, he coached GM Aleksandra Goryachkina in her world championship match towards GM Ju Wenjun. Landa additionally labored with e.g. GMs Evgeny Alekseev and Daniele Vocaturo.

He labored as head coach of Iran, the UAE, the Kazakhstan ladies’s group, the Indian juniors, and plenty of different groups. In 2011, he earned the FIDE Senior Trainer title for his achievements.

As a journalist, Landa wrote match information and journey notes for the Russian chess press and his personal web site. In 2021 he co-authored with GM Konstantin Sakaev a two-volume handbook on chess, translated into English as The Complete Manual of Positional Chess.

As an IT skilled, Landa was among the many first chess professionals involved with the issue of dishonest. He ready a undertaking for anti-cheating match guidelines in 2012 and have become a member of the FIDE Fair Play Commission.

The chess group is shocked by Landa’s passing. One of his college students referred to as him “a really sincere, and only a good man.” Anand Ananthanarayanan, the daddy of GM-elect Pranav Anand, described him as “a superb pal” and “a down-to-earth gentleman, extraordinarily soft-spoken and caring.”

Yuri Garrett, a long-time pal and co-member of the FIDE Fair Play Commission, wrote: “I’ll cherish all the great moments we had collectively, on the chessboard, at my place, and in our frequent struggle towards dishonest, however most of all I’ll perpetually preserve in my coronary heart and thoughts the teachings in preventing spirit which he taught me in so some ways—the final time earlier than moving into his closing, inconceivable battle.”

Very unhappy information 🙁 Since our youthful days, He was all the time very sort, so pleasant and principally…smiling… RIP Kostya 😢 https://t.co/XWNd1X8lZY

— ARTHUR KOGAN (@KoganArt) October 12, 2022

Very saddened to listen to of the passing of Konstantin Landa. We have been teammates at Vandoeuvre for various years, and on high of being a fantastically sturdy participant he was an extremely sort and enjoyable particular person to be round. I’ll all the time cherish these reminiscences. RIP pic.twitter.com/xUhAViugP3

— Fiona Steil-Antoni (@fionchetta) October 12, 2022

Extremely unhappy to listen to that Konstantin Landa handed away in the present day. A gentleman, soft-spoken and an excellent pal. A improbable positional participant and a terrific chess coach. Have learnt lots from you. Will miss you, pricey pal. Om Shanthi. 🙏

— Ramesh RB (@Rameshchess) October 12, 2022

Peter Doggers contributed to this story.