Semion Furman
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Semyon Abramovich Furman (born December 1, 1920 in Pinsk, died March 17, 1978 in Leningrad) was a Soviet chess International Grandmaster and trainer. He is best known for developing Anatoly Karpov into a World Chess Champion, but was a formidable player himself, as well as a successful coach for several other world-class players.
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[edit] Early life
Semyon Furman was a factory worker who developed his chess skills in his spare time, not reaching even National Master strength until he was well into adulthood. He was a late bloomer by chess standards, and qualified for the Soviet Chess Championship for the first time in 1948 at age 28. But he performed exceptionally well, placing third, only half a point behind the joint winners David Bronstein and Alexander Kotov. Furman gradually proved he belonged in the upper ranges of the extraordinarily deep Soviet chess elite, with many victories over top players. He made his home in Leningrad. He was equal fifth in the 1949 Soviet Championship, and equal fourth in the 1965 Championship. Furman was awarded the International Master (IM) title in 1954. He won the Leningrad Championship in 1953, 1954, and 1957 (jointly).
[edit] Grandmaster, and coach to the stars
Furman did not become a Grandmaster until 1966, at age 46, after his fine first place result at Harrachov. It was difficult in those years for all but the very top Soviet players to travel abroad to international tournaments, where titles could be earned, and Furman didn't get many opportunities. He did play for the USSR in the 1961 European Team Championship at Oberhausen on board ten, scoring 4/7, and contributing to the overall gold medal team victory.
Bronstein faced Furman in the 1948 Soviet Championship, won the game, but was impressed with Furman's skill. Bronstein wrote, in his acclaimed book The Sorcerer's Apprentice (page 102): "Later, when I recognised the logical play of Furman, I invited him to be my assistant during preparation for the match [against World Champion Mikhail Botvinnik] in 1951. Also, I took him abroad as my second to the Interzonal Tournament in Gothenburg in 1955 and the Candidates' Tournament in Amsterdam 1956."
Furman had been one of the assistants to Botvinnik in his 1963 world title match against Tigran Petrosian, according to Anatoly Karpov, writing in his autobiography Karpov on Karpov. Botvinnik played many training games with Furman, to prepare for Botvinnik's 1960 and 1961 World Championship matches; these matches only became public many years afterwards, when Botvinnik published the games, which are now available on various databases, including chessgames.com. Furman and Botvinnik at that time were both members of the Trud (Trade Unions) Club. Later Furman switched to the Army Sports Club. Furman also assisted world-class players such as Viktor Korchnoi (according to both Bronstein and Karpov) and Efim Geller (according to Karpov).
The site www.chessmetrics.com, the chess site which endeavors to provide historical ratings for players while correcting for different methods of calculation, puts Furman's peak rating at 2708 in April, 1948, #11 in the world at that time. That is certain Grandmaster level, but, because of lack of international chances, Furman did not formally receive the title until 18 years later. According to chessmetrics, his best tournament from a performance rating standpoint was Gorky 1954 (5.5/6, for a 2755 performance).
[edit] Trains the World Champion
It was in a training role that Furman first met the young Anatoly Karpov, who at age 17 was representing the Army Sports club on the junior board at the 1968 Soviet Team Championships, held in Riga. In training, the two got along well, and Karpov made a monster result of 10/11. Furman was assigned to prepare Karpov (who gave his whole-hearted approval) for further competitions, such as the Soviet Junior qualifying match-tournament, Leningrad 1969, which Karpov won. This win earned Karpov the Soviet berth in the 1969 World Junior Chess Championship, held in Stockholm. Karpov also won this tournament with a dominant score; it was the first Soviet win at that level since Boris Spassky in 1955.
From this stage on, Furman worked ever more closely with Karpov, who moved from Moscow to Leningrad, switching universities as well, from Moscow State University to Leningrad State University, to be nearer to Furman. The two also became close friends, with Karpov actually assisting Furman, upon his request, for the 1969 Soviet Chess Championship, held in Moscow; Karpov had not qualified to play in it. Karpov earned the Grandmaster title at Caracas 1970. He qualified for the Soviet Championship for the first time in 1970, scoring well. Karpov drew a 1971 secret training match with Korchnoi, a world title Candidate. His rise continued, with wins at the very strong Moscow 1971, Hastings 1971-72, and San Antonio 1972 tournaments. Karpov made the Soviet national team for the 1972 Skopje Chess Olympiad as first reserve, and scored 13.5/16, winning gold on his board, and helping the USSR to win the team gold.
Because Furman had earlier worked with Korchnoi, Karpov was able to utilize this situation to good effect to win his vital 1974 World Chess Championship Candidates final match against Korchnoi, who had earlier fallen out with Furman over a dispute around a 1971 match against Geller. Korchnoi, a difficult character, had wanted Furman to assist him against Geller, but Furman and Geller were teammates at the Army Club, so Furman withdrew his training services on principle; as Furman had also helped to train Geller. This made Korchnoi bitter against Furman, and their connection ended, even though Korchnoi went on to defeat Geller. So, a full-time training spot opened up with Furman, which Karpov took. Karpov wrote that Korchnoi did not realize at the time the strength of Karpov's potential challenge to him.
As Karpov built further successes, and was earning favour in the Soviet sports bureaucracy, he was able to arrange for Furman to compete with him sometimes in the same international tournaments, such as Madrid 1973, Ljubljana / Portoroz 1975, and Bad Lauterberg 1977, all of which Karpov won. Furman also performed well, taking or tying for third place at all three of Madrid, Ljubljana / Portoroz, and Bad Lauterberg.
Furman was awarded the Honoured Trainer of the USSR in 1973 for his work with young players. He served as trainer to the combined Soviet teams to the 1974 Nice Olympiad and the 1977 European Team Championship in Moscow.
In his autobiographical book, Karpov on Karpov, published in 1991, Karpov credits Furman very extensively and deservedly with helping him scale the heights of grandmaster chess, culminating in his World Championship in 1975 and superb play for the next decade, as he dominated the game. This fine book is perhaps the most detailed work ever published on the relationship between a top chess player and his coach. The two also played a great deal of bridge together; this game became for a time something of an obsession with Furman.
Bronstein, who had worked with Furman earlier, wrote "When Furman started to work with Anatoly Karpov, I was not surprised by the young grandmaster's success, showing a brilliant understanding of grandmaster strategy. It was obvious that Furman had passed on to him a lot of the knowledge acquired during his earlier years. It should also be said that Furman had very good analytical powers and was able to look deeply into the games of other grandmasters, disclosing the secrets of their success."
Furman's health had not been good since the mid 1960s, however. He had survived one operation for stomach cancer, but the cancer returned, and he died in 1978, just before Karpov's match with Korchnoi for the World Championship. Karpov wrote that he missed Furman's help greatly during that match, which he won only narrowly.
[edit] Chess's most successful coach!?
It is not an exaggeration to state that Furman may have been the most successful coach in the history of chess. Chess culture has traditionally and typically credited the player for chess success, with the coach recognized in a much lesser fashion, or not at all. Chess coaches were not commonly seen for top players until the post-WWII period, when competition became much stiffer. They were first developed in the Soviet Union and in other Eastern European countries; it is no coincidence that top players from these nations have dominated chess for the past 60 years. Furman, with a very significant role in Karpov's development from his late teens, building upon earlier roles with World Champion Botvinnik and world-class players such as Bronstein, Korchnoi, and Geller, may have done more than any other coach, from the early 1950s until the late 1970s, to help ensure Soviet dominance.
[edit] Legacy
Furman was an exceptional openings specialist, and was respected as being of virtually world-class strength with the White pieces, with which he scored most of his wins over the top players, as the game selection shows. He was sometimes referred to as "the world champion when playing White." He could not score anywhere near as well as Black, and this held back his success. While best remembered today as Karpov's trainer, Furman also made many important contributions to the success of other top players, such as Bronstein, Botvinnik, Korchnoi, and Geller. He developed several significant improvements to opening theory. He favoured the closed openings (1.d4, 1.c4, 1.Nf3) as White, and in many of his wins over top-class rivals, his opponents were simply unable to generate counterplay, and were slowly strangled by Furman's precise yet punchy strategy. Karpov noted that a book on Furman's career and best games would be well-received and valuable; but no one has yet taken up this challenge.
[edit] Notable chess games
- Semyon Furman vs Efim Geller, Leningrad 1947, Queen's Gambit, Semi-Slav Defence (D46), 1-0 Furman shows the rising star Geller a few things about precise positional play, and catches him in a nifty tactic to win a piece.
- Semyon Furman vs Paul Keres, USSR Championship, Moscow 1948, Queen's Indian Defence (E15), 1-0 Keres was one of the world's top three players, and for Furman, the humble factory worker, wins like these meant that he had arrived near the top.
- Semyon Furman vs Vasily Smyslov, USSR Championship, Moscow 1949, Grunfeld Defence, Exchange Variation (D88), 1-0 Smyslov had finished second in the World Championship the year before, and would become the joint Soviet champion for 1949.
- Semyon Furman vs Tigran Petrosian, USSR Championship, Moscow 1949, King's Indian Defence, Fianchetto Variation (E68), 1-0 Petrosian was just making his debut at top level; he would go on to become world champion.
- Semyon Furman vs Viktor Korchnoi, Leningrad 1953, English Opening (A16), 1-0 Furman would later become a coach for Korchnoi.
- Semyon Furman vs Ratmir Kholmov, USSR Championship, Kiev 1954, Queen's Gambit, Tarrasch Defence (D30), 1-0 Rising star Kholmov became almost unbeatable a few years later.
- Semyon Furman vs Boris Spassky, USSR Championship, Moscow 1955, Nimzo-Indian Defence, Rubinstein Variation (E59), 1-0 Another future World Champion learns to respect Furman's talent.
- Duncan Suttles vs Semyon Furman, Polanica Zdroj 1967, Van Geet Opening (A00), 0-1 Suttles was known for his unconventional opening play, but he can't disorient the veteran Furman.
- Semyon Furman vs David Bronstein, Leningrad vs Moscow match 1967, Queen's Gambit Declined (D50), 1-0 Furman takes care of business against one of his former charges.
- Semyon Furman vs Mikhail Tal, USSR Championship, Moscow 1969, Queen's Pawn Game (A40), 1-0 Former World Champion Tal sacrifices the exchange, but doesn't get enough for it.
- Semyon Furman vs Lev Polugaevsky, Moscow 1969, Queen's Indian Defence (E14), 1-0 The reigning Soviet champion takes one on the chin.
- Semyon Furman vs Leonid Stein, USSR 1971, English Opening, Symmetrical (A39), 1-0 Stein was a three-time Soviet champion, but couldn't handle Furman in this game.
- Ulf Andersson vs Semyon Furman, Madrid 1973, English Opening (A15), 0-1 One of the new generation of young stars gets taken care of quite expeditiously.
- Semyon Furman vs Svetozar Gligoric, Bad Lauterberg 1977, King's Indian Defence, Saemisch Variation (E88), 1-0 Gligoric is a world authority on the King's Indian, but his learning process is extended a bit further by Furman.
- Anthony Miles vs Semyon Furman, Bad Lauterberg 1977, English Opening (A16), 0-1 Furman was ill and spotting Miles 35 years, but wins anyway as Miles gets simply outclassed.
[edit] Further reading
- The Complete Games of World Champion Anatoly Karpov, by K.J. O'Connell, D.N.L. Levy, and J.B. Adams, London, Batsford 1976, ISBN 978-0-7134-3141-4
- Chess is My Life, by Anatoly Karpov (translated from the Russian by Ken Neat), London, Pergamon 1980, ISBN ..........
- Karpov on Karpov: Memoirs of a Chess World Champion, by Anatoly Karpov (translated from the Russian by Todd Bludeau), New York, Atheneum (McMillan) 1991, ISBN 978-0-689-12060-2
- The Sorcerer's Apprentice, by David Bronstein and Tom Furstenberg, London, Cadogan 1995, ISBN 978-0-689-12060-2
