Name- Birthplace- Age- Title- USCF Rating- FIDE Rating- NY Masters Win%- Money Won - White Opening- Opening vs e4- Opening vs d4-

Igor Novikov Ukraine 41 GM 2697 2604 78% (93/120) $3,875 d4 Najdorf Sicilian Semi Slav

GM Igor Novikov

Igor Novikov is the consummate chess professional. He is EXTREMELY strong technician and positional player. He knows his openings extremely well and is content to grind down the inexperienced player in a slow and painful fashion. Igor plays 1.d4 and the Najdorf exclusively. The Najdorf is of course the most popular defense to e4 and combined with Igor’s knowledge of this variation makes it very difficult to beat him with 1.e4. He plays the Semi Slav against 1.d4 and is also well aware of how to gain equality in these lines. His practical playing style and strong theoretical preparation is what has made him into the biggest money winner of the Tuesday Night Masters. The way to the top of the NY Masters is through Igor, as if you keep winning your games you will probably have to face him at some point. As of August 2002, Igor is ranked number 3 in the USA.

For some examples of Novikovs Najdorf click below for his series of Najdorf's with IM Greg Shahade