FIDE awarded him the International Master title for his second-place finish behind Viktor Korchnoi at Bucharest 1954, the only time he was able to compete outside of the Soviet Union.[1] Despite his extraordinary talent, he never was able to obtain the grandmaster title. Grandmaster Yuri Averbakh, a strong positional and endgame player, suggested a possible reason for this in his interview by Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam in The Day Kasparov Quit: