Semyon Alapin

Semyon Zinovyevich Alapin
Drawing of Alapin
Born	(1856-11-19)November 19, 1856 Saint Petersburg
Died	July 15, 1923(1923-07-15) (aged 66) Heidelberg
Occupation(s)	railway engineer, grain commodities merchant
Known for	Analyzing chess openings

Semyon Zinovyevich Alapin (Russian: Семён Зиновьевич Алапин; 19 November [O.S. 7 November] 1856 – 15 July 1923) was a Russian chess player, openings analyst, and puzzle composer. He was also a linguist, railway engineer and a grain commodities merchant.

Biography

Born in Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire, into a Jewish family on 19 November [O.S. 7 November] 1856,^[1] nephew of the Jewish memoirist Pauline Wengeroff. He was one of the strongest chess players in the Russian Empire in the late 19th century. Due to the 1917 Revolution in Russia, he had to spend his final years in exile. He died in Heidelberg, Germany, on 15 July 1923.

Legacy

Today he is best known for his creation of opening systems in almost all major openings. Most of these are of little significance today, but Alapin's Variation of the Sicilian Defence is an important opening line that is often played by leading grandmasters.

List of openings named after Alapin

This section uses algebraic notation to describe chess moves.

Alapin's Variation of the Sicilian Defence: 1. e4 c5 2. c3
Alapin's Opening in the Open Game: 1. e4 e5 2. Ne2!?
Alapin's Gambit of the French Defence: 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Be3!?
Alapin's Defence of the Ruy Lopez: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Bb4
Alapin's Variation of the Caro-Kann Defence: 1. e4 c6 2. c3
Alapin's Variation of the Dutch Defence (also known as the "Manhattan Variation"): 1. d4 f5 2. Qd3
Alapin's Variation of the Queen's Gambit: 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 b6
Alapin–Steinitz Variation of the Evans Gambit: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4 Bxb4 5. c3 Ba5 6. 0-0 d6 7. d4 Bg4
Sanders–Alapin Variation of the Evans Gambit: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4 Bxb4 5. c3 Ba5 6. 0-0 d6 7. d4 Bd7