Gennadi Sosonko

{{Short description|Dutch chess grandmaster}} {{use dmy|date=May 2024}} {{family name hatnote|Borisovich|Sosonko|lang=Eastern Slavic}} {{One source|date=May 2024}} {{Infobox chess player |name = Gennadi Sosonko |image = Sosonko.jpg |imagesize = |caption = |birthname = Gennadi Borisovich Sosonko |country = Soviet Union (before 1972)<br>Netherlands (after 1972) |birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=y|1943|5|18}} |birth_place = Troitsk, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union |death_date = |death_place = |title = Grandmaster (1976) |peakranking = No. 16 (January 1981) |peakrating = 2595 (January 1981) |FideID = 1000039 }} '''Gennadi "Genna" Borisovich Sosonko''' ({{langx|ru|Геннадий Борисович Сосонко}}, ''Gennady Borisovich Sosonko''; born 18 May 1943) is a Russian-born Dutch chess grandmaster and writer. He has been awarded the title Grandmaster (GM) by FIDE and has twice been Dutch champion.

==Career== Born in Troitsk, Russia, Sosonko won the Leningrad juniors' championship in 1958.

He legally emigrated from the Soviet Union to the Netherlands via Israel in 1972. This move was instrumental in enabling him to focus on playing chess professionally and improving his chess results dramatically. He quickly earned IM and then the GM title.

Sosonko won the Dutch Championship in 1973 and 1978 (jointly). His tournament record includes 1st at Wijk aan Zee 1977, 1st at Nijmegen 1978, 3rd at Amsterdam 1980, 1st at Wijk aan Zee 1981, 3rd at Tilburg 1982 and 4th at Haninge 1988. He also drew a match with Jan Timman (+1 =0 −1) in 1984.

Sosonko played for the Dutch team at the Chess Olympiad eleven times, in 1974–84, and 1988–96. He won two individual medals: gold at Haifa 1976, bronze at Nice 1974, and two team medals: silver at Haifa 1976, and bronze at Thessaloniki 1988.

FIDE, the World Chess Federation, awarded Sosonko the International Master (IM) title in 1974, the GM title in 1976 and the FIDE Senior Trainer title in 2004.<ref>[http://www.fide.com/info/arbiters-trainers?task=arbiter&aid=1814 Arbiters / Trainers] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606155923/http://www.fide.com/info/arbiters-trainers?task=arbiter&aid=1814 |date=2011-06-06 }}</ref>

==Books==

Sosonko has authored six non-technical chess books centering heavily on his chess life in the Soviet Union and his relationships with and memories of both leading Soviet players and lesser-known characters in chess history.

*{{cite book | title=Russian Silhouettes | author=Sosonko, Genna | year=2001 | publisher=New in Chess | isbn=90-5691-078-7}} *{{cite book | title=The Reliable Past | author=Sosonko, Genna | year=2003 | publisher=New in Chess | isbn=90-5691-114-7}} *{{cite book | title=Smart Chip from St. Petersburg: And Other Tales of a Bygone Chess Era | author=Sosonko, Genna | year=2006 | publisher=New in Chess | isbn=90-5691-169-4}} *{{cite book | title=The World Champions I Knew | author=Sosonko, Genna | year=2013 | publisher=New in Chess | isbn=978-90-5691-418-9}} *{{cite book | title=The Rise and Fall of David Bronstein | author=Sosonko, Genna | year=2017 | publisher=Elk and Ruby Publishing House | isbn=978-59-5004-331-4}} *{{cite book | title=Evil-Doer: Half a Century with Viktor Korchnoi | author=Sosonko, Genna | year=2018 | publisher=Elk and Ruby Publishing House | isbn=978-59-5004-338-3}} *{{Cite book | title=Genna Remembers | author=Sosonko, Genna | year=2021 | publisher=Thinkers Publishing | isbn=9789464201178}} *{{Cite book |title=The Essential Sosonko: Collected Portraits and Tales of a Bygone Chess Era |last=Sosonko |first=Gennadi |publisher=New In Chess |year=2023 |isbn=9789083311289}}

==References== {{reflist}}

==Further reading== *{{Cite book |author=Kirillov, Valentin |year=2017 |title=Team Tal: An Inside Story |location=Moscow |publisher=Elk and Ruby Publishing House |isbn=978-5-950-04330-7 }}

==External links== * {{Commonscat-inline}} {{Commons category}} * {{365Chess.com player|Gennadi_Sosonko}} * {{Chessgames player|23985}} * {{OlimpBase player|66emk4mg}} {{Dutch GMs}} {{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sosonko, Gennadi}} Category:1943 births Category:Living people Category:Soviet chess players Category:Dutch chess players Category:Dutch chess writers Category:Chess Grandmasters Category:Chess Olympiad competitors Category:Chess coaches Category:Jewish chess players Category:Jewish Dutch sportspeople Category:Russian Jews Category:Soviet emigrants to the Netherlands Category:People from Troitsk, Chelyabinsk Oblast