Eduard Gufeld

Eduard Gufeld

Eduard Jefimowitsch Gufeld ( Russian Эдуард Ефимович Гуфельд , scientific transliteration Ėduard Efimovič Gufel'd ; born March 19, 1936 in Kiev ; † September 23, 2002 in Los Angeles ) was a Soviet chess player .

Life

Eduard Gufeld lost his father at an early age and grew up in Kiev under the care of his mother Ewa Juliewna. He had a sister Lidia. During the Second World War the family was evacuated to Samarkand . Later he lived in Tbilisi for many years . Gufeld was a good football player in his youth , but then turned to chess. He played his first tournament in 1953.

Between 1959 and 1972 he qualified eight times for the national championships of the Soviet Union , which were one of the most popular tournaments in the world at the time. His best placement at these championships was a 7th place in Leningrad in 1963. He won the title of International Master in 1964, and became a Grandmaster in 1967. Even if he was unable to reach the top of the Soviet players because of his changeable performances, he occasionally achieved it Victories against world class players like Vasily Smyslow , Michail Tal , Boris Spasski and Viktor Korchnoi . As a member of the Soviet Army , he played in numerous army championships. He also worked as a chess journalist and trainer. Among other things, he was the supervisor of the world chess champion Maia Chiburdanidze and the women's national team at several chess Olympiads . In the world chess federation FIDE he campaigned for the establishment of a committee for the art of chess.

Gufeld made many trips abroad to chess tournaments. Since travel permits for Soviet chess players were usually handled very restrictively by the authorities, this led to the assumption, which has not yet been clarified, that he was a KGB agent. In 1995 he emigrated to the USA , where he took part in numerous open tournaments in the last years of his life, most recently in March 2002 in Las Vegas .

Gufeld was involved as the author of over fifty chess books , which, however, were not particularly valued in specialist circles, as they often turned out to be superficially researched. He liked to tell anecdotes , whether they were true or not. Nevertheless, he inspired many people to play chess. The Russian grandmaster Gennadi Sosonko called him a "chess salesman" (traveling salesman in matters of chess).

Gufeld was a recognized expert in the defense of the King's Indian and described the fianchetted black runner as his favorite figure, which is why he is often jokingly called the “Gufeld runner”.

He died of a stroke at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

Gufeld's last Elo rating was 2434, his highest rating of 2570 he reached in 1977. His best historical Elo rating before the introduction of the Elo ratings was 2642, he reached them in October 1968 and January 1969.

Lot

Bagirow – Gufeld

	a	b	c	d	e	f	G	H
8th									8th
7th									7th
6th									6th
5									5
4th									4th
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	G	H

End position after 32 ... Qb2 – b5 +

Gufeld's "calling card" was the following winning game against Vladimir Bagirov , which he presented at every opportunity and referred to as his Mona Lisa . Years later, the loser said that Gufeld had published this game so often that he could finance his entire home furnishings with the fees.

Bagirow – Gufeld 0: 1

Kirovabad , June 1973

King's Indian Defense , E84

1. d2-d4 g6 g7 2. c2-c4 Bf8-g7 3. Sb1-c3 d6 d7-fourth e2-e4 Ng8-f6 5. f2-f3 0-0 6. L c1-e3 (against Jonathan Mestel won he after 6. Bc1-g5 Nb8 – c6 7. Ng1 – e2 a7 – a6 8. Qd1 – d2 Ra8 – b8 9. h2 – h4 h7 – h5 10. 0-0-0 b7-b5 11. Be3 – h6 e7 -E5 12. Bh6xg7 Kg8xg7 13. d4xe5 d6xe5 14. Qd2-g5 Qd8-e7 15. Nc3-d5 Nf6xd5 16. e4xd5 f7-f6 17. Qg5-d2 Rf8-d8 18. g2-g4 b5xc4 19. Ne2-c3 hxg4 20. Lf1xc4 Nc6-d4 21 fxg4 Lc8xg4 22 Td1-f1 Rb8-b4 23. h4 h5-Tb4xc4 24 h5xg6 Tc4xc3 + 25 Dd2xc3 Sd4-e2 + 26 Kc 1-c2 Se2xc3 27 Th1 h7 + Kg7xg6 as a black man in Hastings 1986/87) Nb8 – c6 7. Ng1 – e2 Ra8 – b8 8. Qd1 – d2 a7 – a6 9. Be3 – h6 b7 – b5 10. h2 – h4 e7 – e5 11. Lh6xg7 Kg8xg7 12. h4 – h5 Kg7– h8 13. Nc3 – d5 b5xc4 14. h5xg6 f7xg6 15. Qd2 – h6 Nf6 – h5 16. g2 – g4 Rb8xb2 17. g4xh5 g6 – g5 18. Rh1 – g1 g5 – g4 19. 0–0–0 Rb2xa2 20. Ne2 –F4 e5xf4 21. Nd5xf4 Rf8xf4 22. Qh6xf4 c4 – c3 23. Bf1 – c4 Ta2 – a3 24. f3xg4 Sc6 – b4 25. Kc1 – b1 Bc8 – e6 26. Bc4xe6 Nb4 – d3 27. Qf4 – f7 Qd8 – b8 + 28 Be6 – b3 Ta3xb3 + 29. Kb1 – c2 Nd3 – b4 + 30. Kc2xb3 Nb4 – d5 + 31. Kb3 – c2 Qb8 – b2 + 32. Kc2 – d3 Db2 – b5 + 0: 1

The Matt would be after 33 Kc 2 + De2 34. Td2 Dxd2 + 35. Kb3 Db2 + 36. Kc4 Db5 perfect.

literature

• Gennadi Sosonko: The reliable past . New in Chess, Alkmaar 2003, ISBN 90-5691-114-7 , pp. 173-190.

Web links

• Literature by and about Eduard Gufeld in the catalog of the German National Library
• Johannes Fischer: Obituary
• Replayable chess games by Eduard Gufeld on chessgames.com (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Willy Iclicki: FIDE Golden book 1924-2002 . Euroadria, Slovenia, 2002, p. 75.
2. ↑ Gufeld's Mona Lisa to replay