Tolush Alexander Kazimirovich (01.05.1910 – 02.03.1969)

Soviet Grandmaster (1953), born in St. Petersburg, International Correspondence Master in 1965. Being an Honoured Coach of Russia, he trained P. Keres in the period 1947-55, L. Rudenko in 1949-53. In 1951-61, was the coach of B. Spassky. He was a chess journalist and radio commentator. Participated ten times in the USSR Championships, and his best performances were the shared second-fourth places with Aronin and Lipnitsky after Keres in 1950, 1947, in 1948 was the fifth. As a member of the USSR Team, was the winner in the European Championships of 1957 and 1961. Was the first or equal first in the Leningrad Championships in 1938, 1946, 1947, 1954. He played in many international tournaments and scored the first place in Leningrad 1946 and Bucharest 1953, ahead of Petrosian, Smyslov, Boleslavsky and Spassky, equal fourth in Hastings 1953/54, the second in Keszthely 1958 behind Portisch, the third in Riga 1959, the first in Warsaw 1961. As a correspondence player, he won the semifinals of the fourth World Correspondence Championship in 1959-62; in the finals of 1962-65, was equal sixth.