Lev Alburt

• Name — Lev Alburt • Birth Name — Lev Osipovich Alburt • Country — Soviet Union (until 1979) United States (since 1979) • Born — 21 August 1945 • Birthplace — Orenburg, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union • Title — Grandmaster (1977) • Peak Ranking — No. 22 (January 1981) • Peak Rating — 2580 (July 1981) • Fide Id — 2000156

Alburt won the Ukrainian Chess Championship in 1972, 1973 and 1974. He earned the International Master title in 1976, and became a Grandmaster in 1977. He defected to the United States in 1979, while on a chess team trip (European Champions' Cup) to Germany and upon his arrival to the U.S., staying for several months with his former coach and fellow Ukrainian chess player and chess journalist Michael Faynberg. In 1980, Alburt led the U.S. Chess Olympiad team at Malta. Alburt won the U.S. Chess Championship in 1984, 1985 and 1990, and the U.S. Open Chess Championship in 1987 and 1989. In 1986, he drew an eight-game match with the British Chess Champion, Jonathan Speelman.

In a 1977 tournament in Czechoslovakia, Alburt defeated Vlastimil Hort, who was rated No. 6 in the world at the time, with the black pieces using the Benko Gambit: In the 1990 U.S. Championship en route to winning the championship a third time, Alburt defeated four-time U.S. champion Yasser Seirawan with the black pieces:

Lev Alburt is recorded as chess player, writer and coach.

Alburt is the author of numerous best-selling chess books. He served on the Board of Directors of the United States Chess Federation from 1985 to 1988. At the conclusion of his term, he stated that not once did he ever hear any discussion by the board of how to promote chess or bring new players into the game. Alburt has worked as a chess coach for many years. In 2004, he was awarded the title of FIDE Senior Trainer. In New York City, where he lives, several Wall Street figures and other prominent people have taken chess classes from him, including Carl Icahn, Stephen Friedman, Doug Hirsch, Eliot Spitzer and Ted Field. Alburt was the highest-rated American player on the January 1981 FIDE rating list.