Isaac Liptnisky, A Short, Tragic Career

     Early in 1949 Botvinnik was looking through a chess magazine and was attracted to the annotations of a game because of their bold conclusions and upon checking and rechecking the variations he couldn’t refute any of them. The game and annotations were by a young Candidate Master from Kiev named Isaac Liptnisky. 
     Less than two years later Lipnitsky’s name was among the leaders in 1950 USSR Championship and when the tournament was over, he was tied for second place with Alexander Tolush and Lev Aronin a half point behind Paul Keres.
     Lipnitsky (born June 25, 1923) was a two-time Ukrainian champion (1949, 1956), and was among Ukraine's top half-dozen players from 1948 to 1956. He was a theoretician and professional teacher. 
     He learned to play chess while a schoolboy and sharpened his skills in the Palace of Young Pioneers in Kiev. From 1942 to 1947, Lipnitsky served in the Soviet Army and saw action from Stalingrad to Berlin and received several medals for valor. After demobilization in 1947, he began serious study and together with another young player from Kiev named Boris Ratner he published a collection of games by top Ukrainian players. 
     Lipnitsky authored one other book, Questions of Modern Chess Theory, which was published in 1956. This lost masterpiece of Soviet chess literature was called one of the most influential books ever written by by former Soviet player GM Greg Serper who wrote that it played a large part in his early development. When Quality Chess published this book in English, probably because the publishers thought the theory no longer relevant, Lipnitsky’s highly detailed analysis of the Ragozin System and his analysis of several key games in its development were not included. In its place are 10 of Lipnitsky's games against such players as Keres, Tolush, Geller and Suetin extensively analyzed by Lipnitsky himself. 
     Lipnitsky’s first big success was in the 1949 when he won the Ukrainian championship ahead of six masters. That, coupled with a some major successes the following year, earned him the Soviet Master title. 
     In the early to mid-1950s his successes began to decline and when Kotov and Yudovich published The Soviet School of Chess in Moscow in 1958, they falsely accused him of complacency and laziness. 
     But, Lipnitsky was neither complacent nor lazy. He died in Kiev on March 25, 1959, two months short of his 36th birthday. The cause of death was polycythemia, a slow-growing blood cancer in which the bone marrow makes too many red blood cells. These excess cells thicken the blood, slowing its flow. The disease also causes complications, such as blood clots, which can lead to a heart attack or stroke. There is no cure. 
     He never got the chance to compete internationally but was certainly of at least IM, if not GM, strength. He had a wide opening repertoire and his style was positional and tactics were rare. In his short career he defeated, among others, Keres, Smyslov, Petrosian, Kotov, Averbakh, Bondarevsky, Taimanov, Geller, Furman, Aronin, Suetin, Kan, and Vasiukov. 

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[Event "USSR Championship Moscow"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1950.12.5"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Isaac Lipnitsky"]
[Black "Vasily Smyslov"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteELO "?"]
[BlackELO "?"]

%Created by Caissa's Web PGN Editor
{Slav Defense: Exchange Variation} 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. c4 c6 4. cxd5 {In
spite of the apparent simplicity of this move it is far from harmless. White
usually succeeds in placing his pieces in key positions and creating serious
threats in the center and on the K-side. For his part, black's defense must
be precise and well timed.} 4... cxd5 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Bf4 {Now black usually
plays 6.. .Bf5 or occasionally 6...a6} 6... e6 7. e3 Be7 {Even today,
Botvinnik's 7...Bd6 is usually favored in order to try and control e5.} 8.
Bd3 {Now black almost always castles, but Smyslov's tournament standing
compelled him to seek complications. Unfortunately the line he chooses only
worsens his position.} 8... Nb4 {As far as I could determine this is the only
game in which this move has been played.} 9. Bb1 O-O 10. a3 Nc6 11. Qd3
{Planning a bold and direct attack on black's K. In doing so he leaves his
own K in the center and immediately begins a P assault.} 11... Bd7 12. h4 Qb6
{It has been suggested that he might have tried 12...Qa5 intending ...Ne4, but
12...Qa5 is effectively met by the same 13th move as in the game.} 13. Ne5
Rfd8 14. Ra2 {Kotov and Yudovich described this as a "master move in every
sense of the word." The point is that this move protects his Q-side and
hinders any counterplay by black against the b-Pawn.} 14... Kf8 {Smyslov
smells danger and tries to get his K ready to escape, but this move only
results in making his position even more difficult. His best defense was
simply 14...Rac8 and meeting 15.Bg5 with 15...g6.} 15. g4 Nxe5 16. dxe5 Ne4
17. f3 {Best. White wins the h-Pawn. True, his own position is left with some
weaknesses, but he can easily defend them.} 17... Nxc3 18. Qxh7 Ke8 19. bxc3
{Keres should now have made an escape route for his K to flee by playing
19...Bc6 but even then his position would remain very difficult.} 19... Rdc8
{A step closer to defeat.} 20. Kf2 Bf8 21. g5 Rc4 22. Kg3 Kd8 23. Qg8 Kc7 24.
Qxf7 {The combined material advantage and initiative assure white of a rather
easy win.} 24... Bc5 25. Bd3 Rxc3 26. Rb1 Rb3 27. Rc1 Qa5 28. Rac2 b6 29. Qe7
Rxd3 30. Rxc5+ bxc5 31. Rxc5+ Qxc5 32. Qxc5+ Bc6 33. Qd6+ Kb6 34. a4 Re8 35.
g6 a5 36. Bg5 Rc8 37. Bd8+ Kb7 38. Qe7+ Kb8 39. Bxa5 Rb3 40. Bb4 d4 41. Bd6+
Ka8 42. Qxe6 1-0