Ukrainian grandmaster Vadim Malakhatko, two-time Kyiv champion, winner of Olympic bronze and world championship gold medals, open tournament warrior, and passionate organizer of chess tournaments in Ukraine, suddenly died on Monday of a heart attack, aged 46.

Vadim Volodymyrovych Malakhatko was born on March 22, 1977 in Kyiv, Ukraine, then the Soviet Union. As a child, he worked with the well-known trainer Alexei Kosikov. Malakhatko’s first big success was his victory at the Ukrainian U20 championship in 1997. He became a grandmaster in 1999, the same year that he won his first Kyiv city championship. Meanwhile, he graduated from the Kyiv Institute of Physical Education.

As an up-and-coming Ukrainian player, he was included in the national team for the 2000 Chess Olympiad in Istanbul. He scored 3.5/7 and added to the team’s score that was good for a bronze medal, behind Russia and Germany.

A year later, Ukraine won the World Team Championship in Yerevan, Armenia. Also there, Malakhatko played second reserve board, this time scoring 2.5/3, including an important draw with the black pieces in the match won against the Hungarian team. Malakhatko also played for Ukraine in the 2001 European Team Championship in Leon (Spain), after which he was awarded the commemorative medal “10 Years of Independence of Ukraine.”

Malakhatko won the Kyiv championship a second time in 2004, which was a very successful year: he was also victorious at the 2004 Pic d’Anie, the La Fère Open, the Condom Open (all France), and the FE tournament in Bergamo (Italy). He would continue to play, and win, many open tournaments on the European continent, including the prestigious Politiken Cup in Høje-Taastrup (Denmark) in 2006 and a shared first place at Hastings 2007-2008. He also clinched a silver medal at the European Blitz Championship in Warsaw (Poland) in 2006.

His friend Oleksandr Prokhorov estimates that Malakhatko won over 90 classical tournaments, while visiting 93 countries in his career. In October of 2008, Malakhatko reached his highest published FIDE rating: 2633.

Malakhatko has played in the national club competitions of Ukraine, France and Spain. In the German Bundesliga he represented SV Mülheim-Nord from 2007 to 2012. Disappointed about the lack of support and gratitude from the Ukrainian Chess Federation, he switched chess federations to Belgium in 2007. He won the Belgian national league in 2008 with his club Bredene.

A selection of games provided by Oleksandr Prokhorov. 

During the pandemic, on his own initiative, Malachatko started to organize many chess tournaments in Kyiv. Among them were the well-known Kyiv Spring Festivals in 2021 and 2023, and also grandmaster norm tournaments. It was mainly thanks to him that chess life in the capital did not stop, not even while the country came under siege by Russia. 

While mostly known as a player and organizer, Malakhatko also did some private coaching. Two weeks before he died, his pupil Yan Domin won the Ukrainian U14 Championship—in a way, also the last victory for Malakhatko. Last Sunday, a day before his passing, he played in a one-day rapid tournament in Kiyv, where he came fifth, remaining undefeated.

Malakhatko was buried on Wednesday in Kyiv. The funeral was attended by about 30 people, mostly from the capital, where the situation has calmed down a bit after the dangerous missile and drone attacks by Russia last week. He is survived by his mother Nadezhda, his father Volodimir, his ex-wife IM Anna Zozulia, and his children Anna (21) and Volodimir (11).