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{{Short description|Canadian chess grandmaster (born 1988)}}
{{BLP sources|date=December 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2022}}
{{Infobox chess biography
| name        = Mark Bluvshtein
| image       = Bluvshtein Mark Barcelona 2010.jpg
| caption     = Bluvshtein in [[Barcelona]], 2010
| full_name   = <!-- if different -->
| country     = Israel (until 1999)<br>Canada (since 1999)
| birth_date  = {{Birth date and age|1988|4|20|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Yaroslavl]], [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|RSFSR]], Soviet Union
| title       = [[Grandmaster (chess)|Grandmaster]] (2004)
| rating      = <!-- automatically displayed via FideID parameter for ratings of 2400+ -->
| peakrating  = 2611 (July 2011)
| FideID      = 2603608
}}

'''Mark Bluvshtein''' (born 20 April 1988) is a Soviet-born Canadian [[chess]] player. He became the youngest Canadian ever to achieve the title of [[Grandmaster (chess)|Grandmaster]] in 2004, at the age of 16. He previously achieved the title [[International Master]] at the age of 13.

== Early life ==
Mark's father Ilia Bluvshtein is a Canadian National Master player himself, and taught his son how to play chess, playing countless games where Mark had [[handicap (chess)|material odds]].<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.ichess.net/2011/12/05/shirov-interview-grandmaster-mark-bluvshtein/ |title=Interview With Grandmaster Mark Bluvshtein |date=2011-12-05 |work=Chess Videos, Chess DVDs, Chess Software and more. |access-date=2017-11-27 |language=en-US |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201035256/https://www.ichess.net/2011/12/05/shirov-interview-grandmaster-mark-bluvshtein/ |archive-date=2017-12-01 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The Bluvshtein family moved from Russia to [[Israel]] when Mark was five years old. They moved again, to [[Toronto]], Ontario, Canada, six years later, where he attended [[Newtonbrook Secondary School]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.chesscafe.com/text/scholastic02.pdf |title=Player Profile of the Month |publisher=chesscafe.com |accessdate=2008-11-11}}{{subscription required}}</ref> Bluvshtein graduated from Newtonbrook in 2006.

== Chess career ==
Bluvshtein was Israel under-10 champion (1998) and under-12 champion (1999).

Upon arriving in Canada, he earned a National Master ranking within a few months at age 11, making him the youngest Canadian to achieve this level. He was training during this time with Yan Teplitsky, who had studied in the famed Russian school run by [[Mark Dvoretsky]] before moving to Canada.

Bluvshtein's first major Canadian success came in 2000, when he tied for 2nd-3rd places in the Toronto Closed Championship, with a score of 8/11 points, behind Eduardo Teodoro IV. His first full international event in Canada was the Toronto Summer International Open 2000, where he made a score of 4½/9. He claimed clear first place in the Toronto Thanksgiving Open 2000 with 5/6, ahead of several strong masters. In the Junior Canadian Championship, [[Montreal]] 2001, he placed clear second with 7/9, behind winner Yaacov Vaingorten. In 2001, he won the Canadian grade 7 championship and in the Canadian Youth Championship, held at [[Sackville, New Brunswick]], he took clear first place in the U14 group scoring 6½/7. Staying on for the [[Canadian Open Chess Championship]], also at Sackville, Bluvshtein tied for 3rd-7th places, with 7½/10, behind only winners [[Tony Miles]] (in his last tournament before his death a few weeks later) and [[Larry Christiansen]].

=== Youngest Canadian international master ===
A few weeks later, Bluvshtein became the youngest [[international master]] in Canadian history, at age 13, when he scored 6/9 at the [[Canadian Chess Championship|Zonal Closed Canadian Championship]] in Montreal. He tied for 3rd-4th places, behind only winners [[Kevin Spraggett]] and [[Alexandre Lesiège]]. He won the 2001 Toronto Christmas Open with 4½/5.

In 2002, Bluvshtein won the Canadian grade 8 championship and made a perfect score of 8/8 in the Canadian Youth Championship (U14 group). Then, in the Canadian Open Championship, Montreal 2002, he tied for 4th-10th places, with 7½/10, behind only winners 
[[Jean-Marc Degraeve]], [[Pascal Charbonneau]], and [[Jean Hébert]]. Bluvshtein's first grandmaster [[round-robin tournament]] was the 2002 Montreal International, where he tied for 10th-11th places scoring 4/11; the winner was Degraeve. Just a couple of weeks later, in the 2nd [[Chess'n Math Association]] Futurity in Toronto, he tied for 1st-4th places, with 6/9, along with [[Yuri Shulman]], [[Walter Arencibia]], and [[Dmitry Tyomkin]], missing a [[Norm (chess)|norm]] for the title of [[Grandmaster (chess)|Grandmaster]] by half a point. In the Toronto Labour Day Open 2002, he tied for first at 5/6 with Goran Milicevic.

=== Youngest Canadian grandmaster ===
In June 2003, Bluvshtein scored his first norm for the title of Grandmaster at a round-robin tournament in [[Balatonlelle]], Hungary, by winning his last three games and finishing with 6½/9. He scored solidly at the 2003 [[Guelph]] International, with 5/9, but he had a rough tournament at the Montreal International, as he could only score 3½/11 in a field which had nine grandmasters out of 12 competitors.

Bluvshtein switched trainers, working with Grandmaster [[Dmitry Tyomkin]] for a time, with success. With funding assistance from chess patron and businessman [[Sid Belzberg]], Bluvshtein was able to work with Israeli Grandmaster [[Alexander Huzman]], and this provided the impetus for his next qualitative advance.

Bluvshtein made a Grandmaster norm at the 2004 Canadian Open Championship in [[Kapuskasing]], where he played eight grandmasters in ten rounds, while scoring 6½/10 to tie for 13th-26th places; he beat [[Vladimir Epishin]] and Arencibia, and lost only one game.

The next month, at the 2004 Montreal International, he made his third and final qualifying grandmaster result with 6½/11 to place fourth; the winner was [[Zahar Efimenko]]. Then he placed third, following a tie-break playoff, at the Zonal Canadian Championship in Toronto, with 6½/9, behind co-winners Charbonneau and [[Eric Lawson (chess player)|Eric Lawson]]. A couple of months later, Bluvshtein raised his international rating above 2500, completing the requirements for the title of Grandmaster. He was awarded the title by [[FIDE]] at age 16, during the [[36th Chess Olympiad]], held in [[Calvià]], where he made a further grandmaster norm. Chess'n Math awarded Bluvshtein $7,000 for becoming a grandmaster.<ref>Toronto Star, October 12, 2004, pg b3</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.icanj.net/chess_class_in_nj/chess_news/64/index.phtml |title=Canada's chess king is just 16 |last=Grossman |first=David |date=2004-10-12 |website=www.icanj.net |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=2019-10-27}}</ref>

Bluvshtein won the Canadian Youth Championship (Under 18 group) in 2005, and tied for first at the Canadian Open Championship at [[Edmonton]] 2005, with a score of 8/10. He defeated [[Alexei Shirov]] among others.

In 2006, Bluvshtein tied for 2nd-5th places at the Zonal Canadian Championship in Toronto, with 6½/9, behind champion [[Igor Zugic]]. Bluvshtein shared the title at the [[First Saturday]] tournament in [[Budapest]] in June 2007, scoring 8/11. He scored 7/10, unbeaten, in the 2007 Canadian Open Championship in Ottawa. At [[Montreal]] 2007, he defeated former world championship finalist [[Nigel Short]].

In June 2008 Bluvshtein won the Budapest First Saturday tournament scoring 10 points put of 13, a full point ahead of the second place. At 2008 Montreal International, he tied for second with [[Hikaru Nakamura]] and [[Varuzhan Akobian]] with 5½ of 9, behind the winner [[Yuri Shulman]]. In the 2009 Quebec Invitational, Bluvshtein took second place with 7 of 9, half a point behind the winner [[Anton Kovalyov]]. That same year he tied for first with 7½ of 9 in the Canadian Open at Edmonton, ahead of Alexei Shirov and [[Michael Adams (chess player)|Michael Adams]]. Right after this Bluvshtein took second place on Canadian Zonal with 6½ of 9, undefeated. Proceeding to the strong 2009 Montreal International, he scored 5½ points out of 11, beating [[Alexander Onischuk]] and [[Alexander Moiseenko]].

In 2010 Bluvshtein graduated from university and engaged in chess for a full year professionally. He played in 13 tournaments and matches around the world over the year. Bluvshtein tied for second in [[Nuremberg]] with 5½ of 7. He then played on the first board for team Canada at the [[2010 Chess Olympiad]], beating former world champion and world number two [[Veselin Topalov]]. At 2010 [[Groningen]] Bluvshtein tied for first place with 6½/9. His next success came in the 2011 [[Pan American Chess Championship|American Continental Championship]], where he tied for first with 7½/9 to qualify for the 2011 [[FIDE World Cup]]. Right after this he played in the Premier group of the [[Capablanca Memorial]] tournament in [[Havana]], Cuba and tied for first again, scoring 6 of 9. At the [[Chess World Cup 2011|World Cup]] Bluvshtein was eliminated in the first round by [[Alexander Riazantsev (chess player)|Alexander Riazantsev]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.theweekinchess.com/chessnews/events/fide-world-cup-khanty-mansiysk-2011 |title=The Week in Chess: FIDE World Cup Khanty-Mansiysk 2011 |last=Crowther |first=Mark |date=2011-09-21 |publisher=London Chess Center |accessdate=14 November 2011}}</ref>

Bluvshtein was selected as the Canadian Chess Player of the Year in 2004, 2005, 2008 and 2011.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://web.ncf.ca/bw998/canchess.html#BLUVSHTEIN |title=Canadian Chess - Biographies |website=web.ncf.ca |access-date=2019-10-27 |archive-date=17 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180717121106/http://web.ncf.ca/bw998/canchess.html#BLUVSHTEIN |url-status=dead }}</ref>

=== Youngest Canadian Olympian ===
Bluvshtein was first selected to play for the Canadian [[Chess Olympiad|Olympiad]] team at age 14 in 2002; this tied the record for the youngest Canadian male chess Olympian, first set by [[Daniel Yanofsky]] in 1939. Bluvshtein was also selected in 2004, 2006, 2008 and 2010, gradually moving up the boards and playing on board one in his last two Olympiads. His results in this Olympiad are: 

* [[35th Chess Olympiad|Bled 2002]]: 1st reserve: 8/11, +7 =2 -2; 2553 performance<ref>[http://chess-results.com/tnr1081.aspx?lan=1&art=20&snr=44&turdet=YES&flag=30&wi=984 35th Chess Olympiad 2002 Open Men], chess-results.com</ref>
* [[36th Chess Olympiad|Calvià 2004]]: 3rd board: 8.5/12, +7 =3 -2; 2638 performance<ref>[http://chess-results.com/tnr1881.aspx?lan=1&art=20&fed=CAN&flag=30&wi=821 36th Chess Olympiad 2004 Open Men"s section], chess-results.com</ref>
* [[37th Chess Olympiad|Turin 2006]]: 2nd board: 7.5/11, +5 =5 -1; 2576 performance<ref>[http://chess-results.com/tnr3410.aspx?lan=1&art=20&snr=47&flag=30&wi=821 37th Chess Olympiad 2006 Open], chess-results.com</ref>
* [[38th Chess Olympiad|Dresden 2008]]: 1st board: 5/9, +4 =2 -3; 2429 performance<ref>[http://chess-results.com/tnr16314.aspx?lan=1&art=20&fed=CAN&flag=30&wi=821 38th Olympiad Dresden 2008 Open], chess-results.com</ref>
* [[39th Chess Olympiad|Khanty-Mansiysk 2010]]: 1st board: 6/11, +4 =4 -3; 2576 performance<ref>[http://chess-results.com/tnr36795.aspx?lan=1&art=20&fed=CAN&flag=30&wi=821 39th Olympiad Khanty-Mansiysk 2010 Open], chess-results.com</ref>

His totals for Canada in Olympiad play are: 54 games, +27 =16 -11, for a score of 64.8%.

== Personal life ==
In September 2011 Bluvshtein retired from chess and is pursuing other career opportunities. Bluvshtein graduated from [[York University]] in Toronto in 2010, majoring in Science and Technology Studies. He received an MBA from the [[Rotman School of Management]] at the [[University of Toronto]] in 2016. As of August 2017, Mark was working at [[Wave Accounting|Wave]] in Toronto as a Manager, Financial Services. At the same company, Bluvshtein later became Director, Business Operations.<ref>[https://www.waveapps.com/blog/news/wave-spotlight-mark-bluvshtein Wave Spotlight: Mark Bluvshtein], www.waveapps.com, Sept. 12th 2019</ref>

== Notable chess games ==
*[http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1214659, Dmitri Tyomkin vs Mark Bluvshtein, Oakham 2001, Bogo-Indian Defence (E11), 0-1] Young Mark downs a Grandmaster at just age 13.
*[http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1262133, Mark Bluvshtein vs Irina Krush, New York Generation Chess International 2003, Sicilian Defence, Richter-Rauzer Variation (B66), 1-0] Bluvshtein defeats one of the world's best young woman players.
*[http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1311975, Mark Bluvshtein vs Dmitri Tyomkin, Canadian Zonal Championship, Toronto 2004, Sicilian Defence, Kan / Taimanov Variation (B42), 1-0] Crafty maneuvering eventually explodes into tactical fireworks.
*[http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1314613, Mark Bluvshtein vs Ognjen Cvitan, Calvia Olympiad 2004, King's Indian Defence, Classical Variation (E91), 1-0] Impressive positional performance against a strong GM.
*[http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1316243, Mark Bluvshtein vs Viacheslav Dydyshko, Calvia Olympiad 2004, Nimzo-Indian Defence (E20), 1-0] Bluvshtein has played some important original games in this variation.
*[http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1315976, Mark Bluvshtein vs Normunds Meizis, Calvia Olympiad 2004], [[Budapest Gambit|Budapest Defence]], Rubinstein Variation (A52), 1-0 Bluvshtein defeats Black's sharp offbeat opening in precise positional style.
*[http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1355683, Mark Bluvshtein vs Ildar Khairullin, World Youth Championship, Boys' Under 18 Group, Belfort 2005, Benko Gambit, Fianchetto Variation (A58), 1-0] Another sharp opening is dealt with in fine fashion.
*[http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1349033, Alexei Shirov vs Mark Bluvshtein, Canadian Open, Edmonton 2005, Petroff Defence (C42), 0-1] Bluvshtein's biggest scalp to date, as Shirov is humbled when Black sacrifices two pieces.
*[http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1468060, Nigel Short vs Mark Bluvshtein, Montreal International 2007, King's Gambit Accepted (C34), 0-1] Former World Finalist Short sacrifices his Queen for strong attacking chances, but Bluvshtein defends perfectly and scores with his counterattack.
* [http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1594970 Mark Bluvshtein vs Veselin Topalov, Khanty-Mansiysk Olympiad 2010, King’s Indian Defence (E90), 1-0] Bluvshtein's biggest scalp as he beats former World Champion and current FIDE rating #2.

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{FIDE}}
* {{CFC|125709}}
* {{OlimpBase player|jnbnpzpg}}
* {{365Chess.com player|Mark_Bluvshtein}}
* {{Chessgames player|52035}}
* [http://www.canadianchess.info/canadianchesshistory/CanadianChessBiographiesB.html#BLUVSHTEIN Canadian Chess bio]
{{Canadian grandmasters}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bluvshtein, Mark}}
[[Category:1988 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Canadian chess players]]
[[Category:Jewish chess players]]
[[Category:Chess Grandmasters]]
[[Category:21st-century Israeli Jews]]
[[Category:Russian Jews]]
[[Category:Jewish Canadian sportspeople]]
[[Category:Canadian people of Russian-Jewish descent]]
[[Category:Israeli emigrants to Canada]]
[[Category:Russian emigrants to Canada]]
[[Category:Russian emigrants to Israel]]
[[Category:York University alumni]]
[[Category:Sportspeople from Yaroslavl]]
[[Category:Chess players from Toronto]]