Semyon Abramovich Furman

Semjon Furman at the 1961 European Team Championship
Association	Soviet Union
Born	December 1, 1920 Pinsk , Poland
Died	March 16, 1978 Leningrad
title	International Master (1954) Grand Master (1966)
Best Elo rating	2560 (May 1974 to January 1975)

Semjon Abramowitsch Furman ( Russian Семён Абрамович Фурман ; born December 1, 1920 in Pinsk , † March 16, 1978 in Leningrad ) was a Soviet chess player , coach and theorist.

Chess career

In 1931 the Semyon Furmans family moved from the province to Leningrad. There you became aware of his chess talent. He was trained by the Soviet chess school, his teacher was the master Ilya Rabinovich . Furman's chess career was halted by the Second World War and he only received the national championship title at the age of 25.

In 1953 Furman became the Leningrad champion, and in 1954 and 1957 shared winner of this competition. As a steady participant in USSR championships , he finished third in 1948, shared fifth in 1949 and shared fourth in 1965. He received the title of international master in 1954 and that of grand master in 1966.

At international tournaments he won in Harrachov in 1966 and Polanica-Zdrój in 1967 as well as third places in Madrid in 1973 behind Karpow and Tukmakow and in 1977 in Bad Lauterberg behind Karpow and Timman . With the Soviet team Furman won the European team championship in 1961 in Oberhausen . Since he was not a member of the CPSU , he was only rarely allowed to travel to western countries.

His best historical Elo rating before the Elo rating was introduced was 2708 in April 1948, making it 11th in the world at that time.

Trainer and theorist

He was best known as a chess teacher and second . For many years he worked with Mark Taimanow . From 1969, until his untimely death in 1978, Furman coached Karpov, who was born in 1951 and who became world champion in 1975 . After Furman was named a deserved coach of the Soviet Union in 1973 because of his extraordinary success with young players, he coached the Soviet Union team at the 1974 Chess Olympiad in Nice and at the European team championship in 1977.

Furman enriched opening theory , e.g. B. in the Grünfeld-Indian Defense , the Nimzowitsch-Indian Defense , the Spanish Game and the Queen's Gambit . However, he did not publish any books, only occasional articles in Russian chess magazines , and otherwise mostly passed on his analyzes , which he recorded in handwritten notebooks, to his students.

Private

He was married to Alla Furman. In addition to chess, he also played cards enthusiastically, especially bridge . In 1966 he got stomach cancer. At the request of the Soviet Chess Federation, he was treated by the best doctors in the country. However, eleven years later the disease returned and resulted in his death.

literature

• Gennadi Sosonko : Russian silhouettes . New in Chess, Alkmaar 2001. ISBN 90-5691-078-7 . Pp. 121-135

Individual evidence

1. ^ Willy Iclicki: FIDE Golden book 1924-2002 . Euroadria, Slovenia, 2002, p. 75.
2. ↑ German individual chess championship 1977 in Bad Lauterberg on TeleSchach (cross table and games)
3. ↑ Semjen Furmans historical Elo rating at chessmetrics.com (English)

Web links

• Replayable chess games by Semjon Abramowitsch Furman on chessgames.com (English)