Alexander Ilyin-Genevsky

Alexander Fyodorovich Ilyin (

Ilyin-Zhenevsky promoted chess as an educational vehicle for developing tactical and strategical comprehension during military training, and, within the Soviet Union, he was the main person responsible for the spreading of the idea of chess as a way to teach the basics of scientific and rational thought. The All-Russian Chess Olympiad (retroactively recognized as the first Soviet Championship) in 1920 and the 1933 match Mikhail Botvinnik – Salo Flohr were organized by him. He was three times chess champion of Leningrad, in 1925 (jointly), 1926, and 1929. In 1925, he won a game against José Raúl Capablanca, one of only a few players to have ever beaten Capablanca in a tournament game.

A variation of the Dutch Defence, characterized by the moves 1.d4 f5 2.c4 Nf6 3.g3 e6 4.Bg2 Be7 5.Nf3 0-0 6.0-0 d6 7.Nc3, is named after him.^{[1][2][unreliable source?]}

Now for the black is possible to play three different moves peculiar for this system:

7...a5; 7...Qe8; 7...Ne4

Being personally associated with many oppositionists since

Ilyin died during the Second World War during the evacuation of Leningrad amidst a German air raid.^[4]

Political works

• From February to the Conquest of Power
• The Bolsheviks in Power - Reminiscences of the Year 1918, New Park,
  ISBN 0-86151-011-9