The road to Volgograd
When you travel to Elista, you usually fly to the city of Volgograd and then
take a four-hour journey to the Kalmykian capital. We did this, in the opposite
direction, just a few weeks ago, at the end of the Candidates
Finals: at six a.m. a driver picked us up from our cottage in the City Chess
and drove us to Volgograd, where we caught our flight to Moscow, Riga and Hamburg.
For the trip from Elista to Volgograd you have a two-hour journey on the M-6,
and then spend two hours navigating the city to get to the airport. In our case
the first part was calm and relaxed, the second somewhat harrowing, due to the
traffic and lack of signs in Volgograd (our driver stopped a number of times
to ask for directions). We do not know where the accident occurred, whether
on the M-6 to Volgograd or in the city itself.
The road from Elista to Volgograd traverses the southern Volga steppe
During the Candidates Finals we often saw Max Sorokin, mainly in the City Chess
restaurant, where he took breakfast, lunch and dinner with his charge, Sergei
Rublevsky. In the above picture they share a table with the Bareev team.
Max Sorokin in the last picture I have of him (taken on June 9th, 2007 in Elista)
GM Maxim Sorokin has passed away
FIDE President expresses condolences
On behalf of the leadership of the World Chess Federation and people of the
Republic of Kalmykia, and on my personal behalf, let me express my deepest condolences
on the tragic death of the head of the Elista Grandmaster School, International
Grandmaster Maxim Sorokin.
Maxim was famous for his amazing hard working feature and natural modesty.
His huge pedagogical experience is known not only to the members of the Russian
Women's team, but also to the chess players of Kalmykia and to one of the strongest
chess players, Sergey Rublevsky.
He had great plans for the future and clear vision of the path to go in order
to achieve high goals.
I express my sincere condolences to his family and friends, to those who had
a chance to know this outstanding person.
With deep sorrow,
Kirsan Ilyumzhinov
FIDE President
Head of the Republic of Kalmykia
The following articles appeared in the Internet chess magazine Chess
Today. We reproduce these eulogies, which appeared in CT-2428 on
July 2nd, 2007, with the kind permission of the editor, GM Alexander Baburin.
Remembering Maxim Sorokin (1968 – 2007)
By GM Ruslan Scherbakov
I still can't believe what happened – yesterday I learnt that Max Sorokin
died in hospital, a week after a car accident in Kalmykia. Though he got serious
injuries in the crash, according to reports they were not life threatening and
he was recovering. But then some complications happened...
Max Sorokin, in 2006 at the Cappelle la Grande Open
Almost all my life I knew Max – we met at the Russian boys' chess championship
in 1980. Then we both studied at the chess school of GM Panchenko. Later we
both became professional players and coaches and often played for the same team.
For years we worked together in India. Last January Max and I worked at the
session of the Spassky Chess School near Cheliabinsk. I invited him to come
there in June as well, but he said that students were already waiting for him
in Elista.
Two years earlier, at the same Open
Max's erudition was almost legendary among his friends – it seemed that
he knew everything, be it mathematics, medicine or foreign languages. He was
a very generous person, who was ready to help any moment. And it seemed that
he did not get tired. Sergey Rublevsky, whom Max seconded for many years, once
told me: "I get up in the morning – Max is already analysing something.
Either he always got up earlier than I – or he never went to bed!".
I am sure members of Russia's ladies' team, which Max coached for many years,
appreciated his readiness to help. Many Indian and Argentinean (Max lived there
in the 1990s for a few years) will surely fondly remember working with Max too.
His friends will always remember him!
Player of My Generation
By GM Alex Baburin
It is always a shock when somebody dies tragically. I knew Maxim Sorokin since
the early 1980s, if not before – we often played in the same junior tournaments
and attended Grandmaster school run by Alexander Panchenko. We were not close
friends, but I followed Max's career – when he went to Argentina, then
to India, etc. I always thought that he was one of the most talented players
of our generation – and that to some extent he did not realise himself
fully as a player. Of course, not many players can reach a rating of 2599 (as
Max did in 2005), but I felt that he could do even better. Maybe one reason
was that working as a coach suited his character better. I remember meeting
him at chess Olympiads – he was always talking about his team, its individual
members and how they played.
Photos provided by Pascal Villalba of Nozai
