Photos of Suetin

Think of a Soviet GM -- any GM from the Soviet era. I bet you didn't think of GM Alexey Suetin (Aleksei; 1926-2001), seen just a few days ago in June 1965 'On the Cover'. I realized he was one of the least known Soviet GMs when I looked for a photo of him on the web and found next to nothing. Such is the fate of Soviet GMs who never advanced to the Interzonal stage of a World Championship. I searched my archive of eBay images and found three photos, one of which is shown below.

The auction's description said,

Original vintage 5" x 7" (approx) promotional photo... Spanish chess champion Arturo Pomar and Russian champion Alexei Suetin in "VII Capablanca in Memoriam" La Havana Cuba 1969... In good condition, considering its age. This photo and items in this auction come from the state of Rodolfo Santovenia, a Cuban journalist and chess lover... Worked in "Bohemia", leading Cuban magazine from 1950's to 1970's... Some of thee photos have been in storage about 40 to 50 years, but all are in mint condition. Some notation on verso by the owner with date.

Other posts on this blog where Suetin played a role:-

• Fizkultura i Sport Black Books
• Fizkultura i Sport Black Books Revisited
• D.J. Richards, Russian Lecturer
• Averbakh's 'Index of Names'

The Fizkultura i Sport black book has a dozen photos of Suetin, including another shot from the tournament in Havana. Back to the photo shown above, that looks like J.H.Donner leaning on the table. For a crosstable of the tournament, where Suetin shared first, see Havana 1969 [thechesslibrary.com].