Semen Furman
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Semen Abramovich Furman (December 1, 1920, Pinsk – March 16, 1978) also known as Semyon Furman or Simeon Furman was a Soviet chess grandmaster and chess theorist. He wrote many articles on chess and was named Honoured Trainer of USSR in 1973 for his outstanding work with young players.
He was champion of Leningrad in 1953 and co-holder of the title in 1954 and 1957. A regular and consistent performer in the USSR Chess Championship, he finished third in 1948, equal fifth in 1949 and equal fourth in 1965. The International Master and International Grandmaster titles were awarded to him in 1954 and 1966, respectively.
In international tournament play, his most memorable achievements occurred at Harrachov 1966 (1st - ahead of Taimanov and Hort), Madrid 1973 (3rd - behind former star pupil Karpov and Tukmakov) and Bad Lauterburg 1977 (3rd - after Karpov and Timman).
Furman was known for his insistence on using the white pieces, earning him the nickname "World Champion playing white".
Perhaps most notably, he was the trainer of Anatoly Karpov from 1969 to 1978 and of the combined USSR team at the 1974 Chess Olympiad and the 1977 European Team Championship.
He made valuable contributions to the development of chess opening theory in, for example, the Grünfeld Defence, the Nimzo-Indian Defence, the Spanish Opening and the Queen's Gambit.
Semen Furman died in Leningrad in 1978 after recurrent gastric cancer.
[edit] References
- Hooper, David and Kenneth Whyld (1996). The Oxford Companion To Chess. Oxford University. ISBN 0-19-280049-3.
- Cafferty, Bernard and Mark Taimanov (1998). The Soviet Championships. Cadogan Chess. ISBN 1-85744-201-6.
