Kevin Spraggett is a Canadian chess grandmaster. He was the fourth Canadian to earn the grandmaster title, after Abe Yanofsky, Duncan Suttles and Peter Biyiasas. Spraggett is the only Canadian to have qualified for the Candidates' level, having done so in 1985 and 1988. He has won a total of eight Canadian Open Chess Championships, seven Closed Canadian Chess Championships, and has represented Canada eight times in Olympiad play. Spraggett has also written for Canadian chess publications.
Chess career
Kevin Spraggett was raised in Montreal, he is one of seven children and began playing chess at age ten. He tied for first in the 1973-74 Junior Canadian Chess Championship, but lost the playoff match to John MacPhail. One of his key early tournament victories came in the 1974 Montreal Championship, where he scored 5½/6. He had reached national master strength by this time, just before his twentieth birthday. He attended McGill University, studying engineering, and was an excellent student; however, he left McGill before completing his degree, in favour of becoming a chess professional. Spraggett spent his early years developing his game in minor Canadian and American Swiss system open events, where the prizes were often low. His younger brother Grant is also a strong player, having earned the FIDE Master title. He was awarded the IM title in 1975, following a second-place finish at the Zonal Canadian Chess Championship in Calgary; Peter Biyiasas won. Spraggett raised his game to meet the challenge of the powerful Soviet defector Igor V. Ivanov, who had settled in Montreal in the early 1980s. Those years saw Spraggett attain success in several strong tournaments, with victories in the 1983 World Open, 1984 Commonwealth Championship, 1984 New York Open, and 1985 Commonwealth Championship. He did not play an international-standard grandmaster round-robin tournament until Wijk aan Zee early in 1985, just after his thirtieth birthday, at which time he was the highest-rated IM in the world. Spraggett won his first of seven Canadian titles in 1984, which qualified him into the TaxcoInterzonal the next year. His fourth-place result at Taxco 1985, where he topped many more famous players, automatically earned the International Grandmaster title, and seeded him to the Candidates event, the first Canadian to achieve this. He came in last at Montpellier Candidates 1985, but qualified again for the next Candidates. In his first-round match at Saint John, 1988, Spraggett defeated world No. 3 Andrei Sokolov in a blitz playoff. He then lost in extra games in the 1989 Candidates' quarterfinal round to Soviet Grand MasterArtur Yusupov at Quebec City. Spraggett has followed up with mostly superb performances in eight Chess Olympiads, eight victories in the Canadian Open Championship, and a host of tournament victories in Europe. Spraggett is widely considered to be the strongest chess player in Canadian history. His FIDE rating peaked at 2633, in January 2007, at age 52, and in the late 1980s he was ranked consistently amongst the top 100 players in the world. Spraggett has lived in Portugal since the late 1980s, and plays most of his tournaments in Europe, although he visits North America every year or two on average, to compete there. His best recent finishes include a victory at the Figueira da FozInternational Chess Festival and a clear second place at the Calvià Open.
Represented Canada at World Championship Candidates' tournament 1985, Montpellier;
Represented Canada at World Championship Candidates' matches ; he beat Andrei Sokolov in 1988 at Saint John, but was then eliminated by Artur Yusupov in 1989 at Quebec City;
Represented Canada at World Championship Knockout ;
Ex-Soviet GM gets beaten up quite badly in his favourite defence; Spraggett goes on to win the tournament.
Astonishing sacrifices by the unknown Robert Fradet who forces the draw; surprised at that performance, Spraggett refuses to rematch.
A complicated positional battle eventually sees the veteran Hungarian GM conceding an upset defeat.
Spraggett shows he will be a contender to qualify with this tactical win over one of England's best.
A bizarre opening sees Spraggett sacrifice a piece on move nine, and the experienced Dutch GM struggles to find his bearings for the rest of the game.
A former world champion can't handle Spraggett's patient strategical buildup, which explodes into a virulent attack as the time control approaches.
After a fashionable sharp opening, Sokolov, the world's #3-ranked player, can't hold the slightly inferior endgame in the face of Spraggett's precision.
Spraggett maneuvers carefully before unleashing a nasty exchange sacrifice, which crowns his positional pressure.
A possible opening surprise puts Gelfand on the defensive, and Spraggett never lets up.
A quiet opening leads into middlegame risks by Spraggett, culminating in a lovely finish.
Spraggett sacrifices his queen on move five and goes on to win.
