Career
A resident of Moscow and a mechanical engineer by profession, he became an International Master in 1961 and a Grandmaster in 1965. His philosophy was always that "mastery is not enough. You must dare, take risks".
lieutenant was an axiom that fashioned him into a tough and fiercely competitive player and appeared to bring him his fair share of success.
Third place finishes at Debrecen 1961 and Berlin (Lasker Memorial) 1968 were also noteworthy. Suetin participated in seven Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics Championships from 1958 to 1966, his best finishes being 4th–6th in 1963 (behind Stein, Spassky and Kholmov) and 4th-6th in 1965 (behind Stein, Polugaevsky and Taimanov).
Until 1971, he served as a second and trainer to Tigran Petrosian for many of his most important matches, including his world championship victory in 1963. He was for many years Moscow"s senior coach, overseeing the development of promising new talents, including Vassily Ivanchuk and Andrei Sokolov.
Though less distinguished than before, his playing career stretched into the 1990s and beyond.
A renowned commentator on the game, he was from 1965 the correspondent for Pravda and his voice was often heard on Moscow radio and television during the 1970s and 1980s. He authored many chess books Principally those concerned with the middlegame or opening.
These include: Modern Chess Opening Theory, Three Steps To Chess Mastery (a treatise which combines his earlier works, The Chess Player"s Laboratory and The Path To Mastery), Plan Like A Grandmaster, A Contemporary Approach To The Middle-game, French Defence, The Complete Grunfeld and The Complete Spanish.
His last book, Chess through the prism of time, was published in Moscow in 1998. Alexey Suetin was married to Woman Grandmaster Kira Zvorykina and together they had a son Aleksandr, born 1951.
They lived in Belarus for some years and frequently competed in the national championship. He died aged 74 of a heart attack shortly after returning home from the Russian Senior Championship.
Suetin vs Tseshkovsky, English Opening A27, Kislovodsk 1972, 1-0
White builds pressure on Black"s over-extended kingside, culminating in a deadly attack (33Rxg7 34Nf8+ and 35Rxh6+).
