Evgeni Andreyevich Vasiukov (, March 5, 1933 – May 10, 2018) was a Russian chess player, one of the strongest in the world during his peak. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 1961. During his career, he won the Moscow Championship on six occasions (1955, 1958, 1960, 1962, 1972, and 1978) and scored numerous victories in international tournaments, such as Belgrade Open 1961, Moscow International 1961, East Berlin 1962, Reykjavik 1968, and Manila 1974. He was rarely at his best in Soviet Championship Finals, which were among the very toughest events in the world, and never made the Soviet team for an Olympiad or a European Team Championship. Vasiukov won the World Senior Chess Championship in 1995. Early years Vasiukov was born on March 5, 1933 in Moscow. His family was evacuated to Tula during World War II, and his father died in the Battle of Kursk. He learned to play chess at the age of 15, a very late age even for that time. In 1954, he was awarded the title Master of Sports of the USSR in Chess (ru). That same year, Vasiukov represented Moscow in the Soviet Team Championship finals in Riga. He scored his first important chess success in 1955 by winning the Moscow City Championship with a score of 10½/15 points, ahead of Salo Flohr, who was second. He played in the Soviet Championship semi-final at Yerevan 1955 and finished in the middle of a powerful field. Vasiukov represented the Soviet Union twice in Student Olympiads. In 1955 at Lyon, he was first reserve, and scored 5½/6 (+5 =1 −0). Then at Uppsala 1956, he made exactly the same score as first reserve, this time winning a board gold medal. Both times, the Soviet Union won team gold medals. Although scoring respectably in his first two attempts at qualifying for the Soviet Final (10/18 at Kharkov 1956 and 10½/19 at Kiev 1957), he failed to advance, but was gathering experience and strength at high levels. International Master Vasiukov got his first international chance at Gotha 1957, where he placed third with 10/15; the winner was David Bronstein. This earned him the title of International Master in 1958; he won the Moscow Championship again later that same year. At the Moscow International of 1959 (Alexander Alekhine memorial), Vasiukov tied for 4th-6th places with 6/11, behind only winners Vasily Smyslov, Boris Spassky, and