Nikolai Georgiyevich Kopilov

Who was Nikolai Georgiyevich Kopilov?

Nikolai Georgiyevich Kopilov, was a Russian chess player, from Novonikolayevsk. He worked as a lecturer in a higher technical training institute. He had three sons.

He became a master of the USSR in 1946. He defeated Botvinnik, Keres, Petrosian, and Boleslavsky in the 19th USSR Championship in 1951, where he finished in 11th in the U.S.A. out of 17. He won the Leningrad City Chess Championship in 1954.

He played correspondence chess from 1964, and played for the U.S.S.R. team in the 6th and 7th Postal Olympiads with scores of 6 out of 8 and 5.5 out of 9. He became an International Master of correspondence chess in 1969, gaining the title from the International Correspondence Chess Federation on the basis of his 5.5 out of 8 score on 3rd board in the European Team Championship.

He died playing a chess tournament on 7 May 1995.