Remembering Yuri Zinovev: Chess Master, Poker Player, and Adventurer

Yuri Zinovev, known as smallballspoker, passed away in 2021. He was a strong chess master and poker player who moved to Vienna at the age of 12. Many Russian poker players knew him personally, and others followed his blog on Gipsyteam.

Yuri Zinovev played in the Austrian national chess team and was friends with Austrian chess players Pepe Klinger and Ivo Donev. He started playing poker in the early 90s and was one of the first foreigners to play poker in Russia. He had an accident in the Siberian taiga, where he survived 11 days with no food.

Yuri Zinovev was also a guide in Vienna, knowing all the best wine taverns in the city. He was fluent in Russian and German and was survived by his wife and two children.