Prepare against Vasyl Ivanchuk

GM · Ukraine · World #86 classical · FIDE ID 14100010

When preparing against Vasyl Ivanchuk, expect 1.e4 in 44% of White games. Against 1.e4 the reply is 1...c5 (37% of games); against 1.d4, 1...Nf6 (65%). Lowest win rate among frequent openings: Petrov's Defense as Black, 19.2% over 73 games.

Our database contains 5,442 games by Vasyl Ivanchuk, covering Apr 2003 to Nov 2026. Below you'll find Vasyl Ivanchuk's most-played openings with White and Black, career performance record, notable wins and top events — everything you need to scout Vasyl Ivanchuk before a game. You can open the same data in the free interactive preparation workstation, which builds a move-by-move opening tree from every game.

Ratings

Time control	Current	Peak	Peak date
Classical	2,635	2,787	Oct 2007
Rapid	2,619	2,844	Mar 2016
Blitz	2,621	2,815	Dec 2017

Performance record

Split	Games	Wins	Draws	Losses	Win rate
Overall	5,442	2,142	2,389	910	39.4%
As White	2,750	1,281	1,114	355	46.6%
As Black	2,692	861	1,275	555	32.0%

FIDE rated record

From FIDE's official rated-game ledger (1983-2026): 5,216 rated games against 1,218 different opponents, across 252 events in 60 countries. These counts cover FIDE-rated play only, so they differ from the database totals above.

By time control

Format	Games	W	D	L	Win rate	Avg opp	Perf	Unbeaten
Classical	3,507	1,220	1,832	455	34.8%	2,623	2,709	50
Rapid	699	299	265	135	42.8%	2,640	2,735	28
Blitz	668	337	153	178	50.4%	2,648	2,743	19

Against the field

Opposition	Games	W	D	L	Win rate
Against higher-rated	1,030	244	536	250	23.7%
Against lower-rated	4,055	1,704	1,789	562	42.0%

Wins over titled players: 1,640 vs GM · 180 vs IM · 73 vs FM · 5 vs CM · 58 vs WGM · 9 vs WIM · 2 vs WFM · 1 vs WCM.

Tournament wins

39 tournament wins from 156 events, 24 of them outright.

Year by year

Year	Games	W	D	L	Avg opp	Perf
2026	190	89	79	22	2,472	2,614
2025	232	117	69	46	2,457	2,579
2024	219	92	94	33	2,481	2,591
2023	126	42	62	22	2,536	2,600
2022	17	3	11	3	2,510	2,510
2020	11	4	5	2	2,478	2,551
2019	99	34	51	14	2,592	2,673
2018	70	31	26	13	2,574	2,683
2017	217	68	99	50	2,676	2,709
2016	146	66	48	32	2,679	2,772
2015	126	55	57	14	2,648	2,778
2014	137	51	58	28	2,679	2,741
2013	183	59	77	47	2,691	2,717
2012	211	76	79	56	2,694	2,732
2011	170	62	73	35	2,715	2,779
2010	150	58	77	15	2,663	2,778
2009	271	68	149	54	2,706	2,727
2008	268	98	134	36	2,713	2,805
2007	282	127	125	30	2,601	2,739
2006	221	89	109	23	2,621	2,741
2005	128	47	67	14	2,629	2,732
2004	106	57	36	13	2,597	2,763
2003	78	23	43	12	2,651	2,707
2002	148	52	72	24	2,631	2,707
2001	77	20	48	9	2,650	2,707
2000	106	40	56	10	2,644	2,749
1999	91	31	42	18	2,645	2,702
1998	106	36	51	19	2,662	2,726
1997	61	22	30	9	2,673	2,758
1996	95	36	46	13	2,661	2,758
1995	122	51	58	13	2,658	2,782
1994	133	47	65	21	2,659	2,737
1993	85	26	42	17	2,632	2,675
1992	99	35	48	16	2,630	2,706
1991	55	21	29	5	2,627	2,744
1990	61	24	32	5	2,603	2,727
1989	69	28	33	8	2,574	2,678
1988	83	37	35	11	2,509	2,631
1987	63	32	26	5	2,448	2,624
1986	60	25	25	10	2,456	2,531
1985	24	12	6	6	2,351	2,518
1984	19	6	9	4	2,346	2,426
1983	1	0	0	1	2,280	1,880

Where Vasyl Ivanchuk has played

Spain (72) · Russia (42) · France (37) · Netherlands (37) · China (33) · Germany (33) · MNC (32) · URS (26) · Poland (23) · Ukraine (21) · Türkiye (16) · England (15) · Greece (15) · Israel (14) · Cuba (12) · United States (11) · Latvia (10) · Croatia (9) · Czechia (9) · Romania (9) · United Arab Emirates (9) · Italy (8) · Armenia (7) · Iceland (7) · Switzerland (7) · Belgium (6) · Bulgaria (6) · Georgia (6) · Mexico (6) · Qatar (6) · Canada (5) · Hungary (5) · Sweden (5) · Kazakhstan (4) · Tunisia (4) · Azerbaijan (3) · Brazil (3) · Estonia (3) · India (3) · Kosovo (3) · North Macedonia (3) · Norway (3) · Philippines (3) · Portugal (3) · Serbia (3) · Uzbekistan (3) · YUG (3) · Austria (2) · Denmark (2) · Hong Kong SAR China (2) · Saudi Arabia (2) · Montenegro (2) · Slovakia (2) · Argentina (1) · Australia (1) · Bosnia & Herzegovina (1) · IOM (1) · Libya (1) · Lithuania (1) · Slovenia (1)

Move-by-move preparation stats

Straight from the preparation tree built over all of Vasyl Ivanchuk's games — the same tree the interactive prep board lets you walk to any depth. Scores are from Vasyl Ivanchuk's side.

First moves as White (2,750 games)

Move	Games	Share	Player score
e4	1,216	44.2%	66.8%
d4	952	34.6%	65.7%
c4	310	11.3%	67.4%
Nf3	244	8.9%	69.7%
g3	11	0.4%	77.3%
b4	7	0.3%	71.4%

Main lines as White

1.e4 — 44% of White games, 66.8% score
- …c5 (38% of these games) — Ivanchuk usually continues Nf3 (68.8% score)
- …e5 (38% of these games) — Ivanchuk usually continues Nf3 (61.3% score)
- …e6 (11% of these games) — Ivanchuk usually continues d4 (70.9% score)
1.d4 — 35% of White games, 65.7% score
- …Nf6 (70% of these games) — Ivanchuk usually continues c4 (66.2% score)
- …d5 (24% of these games) — Ivanchuk usually continues c4 (64.0% score)
- …e6 (2% of these games) — Ivanchuk usually continues c4 (75.0% score)

As Black against 1.e4 (1,218 games)

Move	Games	Share	Player score
c5	450	36.9%	58.4%
e5	434	35.6%	54.5%
e6	169	13.9%	55.3%
c6	69	5.7%	54.3%
Nf6	33	2.7%	57.6%
d6	28	2.3%	41.1%

As Black against 1.d4 (1,036 games)

Move	Games	Share	Player score
Nf6	678	65.4%	55.7%
d5	244	23.6%	57.6%
e6	51	4.9%	50.0%
d6	25	2.4%	44.0%
f5	24	2.3%	66.7%
g6	7	0.7%	57.1%

Vasyl Ivanchuk's chess games

All 5,442 games by Vasyl Ivanchuk in the Chess.ceo database (Apr 2003 - Nov 2026) are free to browse, search and replay: filter by opening, opponent, event or date on the player page, or step through any game on the analysis board. Record: 2,142 wins, 2,389 draws, 910 losses.

Openings as White

ECO	Opening	Games	W/D/L	Win rate
D37	Indian Defense	183	92/75/16	50.3%
D15	Slav Defense	176	77/80/19	43.8%
B32	Sicilian	172	97/53/22	56.4%
B90	Sicilian: Najdorf	125	57/44/24	45.6%
A13	English Opening	111	61/41/9	55.0%
C88	Ruy Lopez: Closed	109	47/43/19	43.1%
A29	English Opening: Reverse Sicilian	92	43/37/12	46.7%
E15	Queen's Indian Defense	81	31/36/14	38.3%
C42	Petrov's Defense	75	34/34/7	45.3%
E04	Catalan	69	23/40/6	33.3%

Openings as Black

ECO	Opening	Games	W/D/L	Win rate
B66	Sicilian	175	56/80/39	32.0%
D15	Slav Defense	167	45/90/32	26.9%
D37	Indian Defense	164	47/85/32	28.7%
E15	Queen's Indian Defense	132	37/70/25	28.0%
A30	English Opening	109	25/56/28	22.9%
B90	Sicilian: Najdorf	106	41/39/26	38.7%
C92	Ruy Lopez: Closed	103	22/61/20	21.4%
D85	Grünfeld Defense	80	27/42/11	33.8%
C42	Petrov's Defense	73	14/47/12	19.2%
E05	Catalan	73	25/33/15	34.2%

Notable wins

Date	Opponent	Elo	Event	ECO
Mar 2013	Magnus Carlsen	2,872	Candidates Tournament	B48
Sep 2002	Garry Kasparov	2,838	RUS-The World	B90
Sep 2011	Viswanathan Anand	2,817	4th Grand Slam Final	C63
Nov 2016	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave	2,811	32nd EU-Cup	B22
Apr 2013	Vladimir Kramnik	2,810	Candidates Tournament	B08

Top events

Event	Year	Games	Score	TPR
Titled Tuesday	2025	171	119	2,557
FIDE World Cup	2025	99	60	2,735
Beijing Sportaccord Blitz	2014	83	44	2,763
Corus	2010	78	42	2,746
Wch Rapid	2017	60	35	2,742
PCA/Intel-GP	1995	57	35.5	2,753
FIDE-Wch k.o.	2004	48	29	2,715
Wch Blitz	2017	42	24	2,724

Frequent opponents

Head-to-head records: Viswanathan Anand (132 games) · Boris Gelfand (126 games) · Alexei Shirov (92 games) · Peter Leko (92 games) · Veselin Topalov (81 games) · Teimour Radjabov (75 games) · Gata Kamsky (75 games) · Magnus Carlsen (74 games)

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Frequently asked questions

Where can I find Vasyl Ivanchuk's chess games?

5,442 games by Vasyl Ivanchuk, from Apr 2003 to Nov 2026, are free to browse and replay move by move — no signup needed. The preparation view groups them into an opening tree showing every line Vasyl Ivanchuk has played.

What does Vasyl Ivanchuk play on the first move as White?

Across 2,750 games with White in our database, Vasyl Ivanchuk opens with 1.e4 (44% of games), 1.d4 (35% of games), 1.c4 (11% of games). Against 1.e4 as Black, Vasyl Ivanchuk answers 1...c5 (37% of games), 1...e5 (36% of games), 1...e6 (14% of games). Against 1.d4: 1...Nf6 (65% of games), 1...d5 (24% of games), 1...e6 (5% of games).

What openings does Vasyl Ivanchuk play as White?

As White, Vasyl Ivanchuk's most-played openings in our database are: Indian Defense (183 games, 50.3% win rate); Slav Defense (176 games, 43.8% win rate); Sicilian (172 games, 56.4% win rate). The full breakdown of 2,750 games with White is in the table above.

What openings does Vasyl Ivanchuk play as Black?

As Black, Vasyl Ivanchuk most often plays: Sicilian (175 games, 32.0% win rate); Slav Defense (167 games, 26.9% win rate); Indian Defense (164 games, 28.7% win rate). See the table above for the top ten Black openings across 2,692 games.

What is Vasyl Ivanchuk's FIDE rating?

Vasyl Ivanchuk is currently rated 2,635 in classical chess, 2,619 in rapid and 2,621 in blitz. Peak classical rating: 2,787 (Oct 2007).

How many games has Vasyl Ivanchuk played?

Our database contains 5,442 games by Vasyl Ivanchuk, covering Apr 2003 to Nov 2026. Overall record: 2,142 wins, 2,389 draws, 910 losses (39.4% win rate).

How do I prepare against Vasyl Ivanchuk?

5,442 games by Vasyl Ivanchuk reveal their opening repertoire, most-played lines, and the variations where they score worst — the raw material for targeted preparation. The interactive opening tree lets you walk every line to any depth.