Igor played in several small tournaments in Moab, across Southern Utah from St. George, and won all but one. With a must-win situation as black against IM Odendahl in 1995, he overextended his attack and lost. Of course the game was brilliant on both sides and subsequently published in the Moab Times Independent as the "match of the titans," the most monumental chess game in the history of Southern Utah to that date.

I claim partial responsibility for Igor's loss that day, having kept him up to about 3am the night before arguing about politics and religion. At the time Igor was a confirmed atheist. My other guest was Doug Taffinder, a born-again Christian, chess master and student of Igor's who had held him to a fascinating draw that Saturday afternoon, creating the must-win situation for Igor on Sunday. Seeing the two of them go at it about religion was as interesting and complex as watching a great chess game. With an academic background in comparative religion, I ventured into the fray, taking a middle road, sometimes moderating and mediating, and sometimes being attacked equally from both sides. MORE...

Though the details are gone, my fondness for that conversation endures, mostly because of Igor's alternating bombastic tirades about the political ignorance and intellectual impoverishment of Americans, followed by sweetly sheepish grins when confronted with logical dilemmas contained in his own philosophy. Igor was a great spirit with a heart equal to his prodigious brain, somehow maintaining a robust appreciation for, and amusement with, us lesser mortals. Moab was blessed by his regular appearances at our little chess tournaments, and he will be missed.

Damian Nash
12/5/05