Content deleted Content added
No edit summary |
Erapples73! (talk | contribs) m Inserting a new source for the article. |
||
| (20 intermediate revisions by 12 users not shown) | |||
Line 1:
{{Short description|Czech chess player, arbiter, theoretician, organiser and writer}}
{{more citations needed|date=December 2012}}
{{family name hatnote|Mikhailovich|Flohr|lang=Eastern Slavic}}
Line 14 ⟶ 15:
|peakrating=2460 (July 1972)
}}
'''Salomon Mikhailovich Flohr''' (November 21, 1908 – July 18, 1983) was a [[Czechoslovakia|Czechoslovak]] and Soviet [[chess]] player and writer. He was among the first recipients of the title [[Grandmaster (chess)|International Grandmaster]] from [[FIDE]] in 1950. Flohr dominated many tournaments of the pre-World War II years, and by the late 1930s was considered a contender for the [[World Chess Championship|World Championship]]. However, his patient, positional style was overtaken by the sharper, more tactical methods of the younger Soviet echelon after World War II.
== Early life ==
Flohr had a troubled childhood beset by personal crises. He was born in a Jewish family in [[Horodenka]] in what was then [[Galicia (Central Europe)|Galicia]], [[Austria-Hungary]] (now in [[Ukraine]]). He and his brother were orphaned during World War I
Flohr settled in [[Prague]], gradually acquiring a reputation as a skilled chess player by playing for stakes in the city's many cafés. During 1924, he participated in [[simultaneous exhibition]]s by [[Richard Réti]] and [[Rudolf Spielmann]], and he was still giving displays well into his seventies.
Line 28 ⟶ 29:
Flohr's playing ability peaked in the mid-1930s, when he became one of the world's strongest players and a leading contender for the World Championship. He became [[Czechoslovak Chess Championship|champion of Czechoslovakia]] in 1933 and 1936 and played in many tournaments throughout Europe, generally finishing amongst the top three. Notable victories were at [[Sliač|Bad Sliač]] in 1932, where he shared first place with [[Milan Vidmar]]; [[Scheveningen]] in 1933; [[Bad Liebenwerda]] in 1934 with 9½/11; [[Barcelona, Spain|Barcelona]] in 1935 where he tied for first with [[George Koltanowski]]; [[Moscow 1935 chess tournament|Moscow 1935]] where he tied for first place with future World Champion [[Mikhail Botvinnik]]; [[Poděbrady]] in 1936 with the score of +10 −1 =6; and [[Kemeri]] in 1937 where he shared the top spot with [[Vladimirs Petrovs|Vladimir Petrov]] and [[Samuel Reshevsky]]. During this period, he had several other notable high finishes, such as [[Bern]] 1932 (tied for second with 11½/15, after World Champion [[Alexander Alekhine]]); [[Zürich 1934 chess tournament|Zürich 1934]] (tied for second with 12/15, again trailing Alekhine); and [[Pärnu]] 1937 (second behind [[Paul Felix Schmidt]]).
Flohr also frequently visited England, regularly playing in the [[Hastings International Chess Congress|Hastings tournaments]] of the 1930s. He finished first in 1931/32, 1932/33 and 1933/34, he finished in a tie for first place with [[Max Euwe]] and [[George Alan Thomas|Sir George Thomas]] in 1934/35, and he was second behind
Flohr became a national hero in Czechoslovakia during the 1930s. His name was used to sell many of the luxury products of the time, including Salo Flohr cigarettes, slippers and eau-de-cologne.{{
==Excels in Chess Olympiads==
His form for his adopted country in the [[Chess Olympiad]]s was equally impressive, according to the comprehensive Olympiad site olimpbase.org. He made his debut at [[3rd Chess Olympiad|Hamburg 1930]] on board one, scoring 14½/17 for the silver medal. On home soil at [[4th Chess Olympiad|Prague 1931]], again on board one, he scored 11/18, and led Czechoslovakia to a team bronze medal. At [[5th Chess Olympiad|Folkestone 1933]], he again played board one, scored 9/14, helped Czechoslovakia win the team silver medal, and earned a bronze medal for himself. At [[6th Chess Olympiad|Warsaw 1935]], on board one he scored an undefeated 13/17 for another individual gold medal, and Czechoslovakia finished fifth. Then at [[7th Chess Olympiad|Stockholm 1937]], once again on board one, he scored 12½/16 for a third individual gold medal. In five Olympiads, he won two individual gold medals, a silver and a bronze. His aggregate was 60/82, for a 73% score against the top players in the world.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.olimpbase.org/ |title=Home |website=olimpbase.org}}</ref>
==Match results==
Flohr enjoyed a fair amount of success in match play. He played matches with two of his main rivals for the right to challenge reigning champion [[Alexander Alekhine]]. He tied a 16-game match against Euwe in 1932 (+3 −3 =10), and he tied a match against Botvinnik in 1933 (+2 −2 =8). Flohr beat [[Gösta Stoltz]] by 5½–2½ in 1931, and a year later he beat [[Mir Sultan Khan]], the 1932 and 1933 [[British Chess Championship|British Champion]], by 3½–2½. Flohr also defeated Johannes van den Bosch at [[The Hague]] in 1932 by 6–2. In 1933, he won two matches in Switzerland, first over [[Oskar Naegeli]] by 4–2 at Bern, and then by 4½–1½ over [[Henri Grob]] at [[Arosa]].
== Official challenger,
Flohr had married in 1935. By 1937, [[FIDE]] had nominated him as the official candidate to play Alekhine for the World Championship. However, with World War II looming, it proved impossible for Flohr to raise the stake money in Czechoslovakia, so the plans were dropped. The next year, Flohr was one of the eight elite players invited to the great [[AVRO tournament]] of November 1938. He finished last, and this put an end to his chances of a World Championship match with Alekhine. AVRO may have been the only time in chess history when the top eight players in the world contested an important tournament.
While AVRO was a strong tournament and Flohr's last-placed finish was no disgrace, his result may also be explained by his difficult personal circumstances at the time.{{Original research inline|date=November 2021}} The German invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1938 had left Flohr, as a Polish-Ukrainian Jew, in grave personal danger. Flohr remained in the Netherlands in early 1939, playing in several small events. He tied for first place in [[Amsterdam]] KNSB with [[Max Euwe]] and [[László Szabó (chess player)|László Szabó]] at 3½/5. He tied third/fourth place in Amsterdam VARA with 3/5, as Euwe and [[Salo Landau]] won. He won [[Baarn]] I with 2½/3. Then, he and his family fled, first to Sweden, and then to Moscow with the help of his friend Botvinnik. While in Sweden, he tied for first place at [[Gothenburg]] with [[Rudolf Spielmann]] with 10 points out of 11.
== Soviet citizen, recovers form ==
[[File:Opdracht Elseviers weekblad. Schaaksimultaan Botwinnik, Bestanddeelnr 915-8813.jpg|thumb|Flohr (1963)]]
Flohr was able to recover his form after reaching safety in Moscow. He won Kemeri 1939 with a score of 12/15. He also
Flohr did not play in any official strong Soviet events from 1940–42
After the
== Achievements and legacy ==
{{chess notation|pos=secright}}
Flohr was one of Czechoslovakia's greatest chess players ever and proved virtually invincible at the Olympiads of the 1930s. His tournament record was impressive, with his tactical skill and excellent [[endgame (chess)|endgame]] technique securing him many famous victories. [[FIDE]] awarded him the [[International Grandmaster]] title on its inaugural list in 1950. He made
Flohr was primarily a strategist who excelled in the endgame.<ref>Steve Giddens, ''The Greatest Ever Chess Endgames'', 2012, {{ISBN|978-1-85744-694-4}}, p. 108</ref> He favoured the [[glossary of chess#Closed game|closed game]] with White, and during the prime of his career, he was especially deadly with the [[Queen's Gambit]], as the game selection shows. Flohr almost never opened with 1.e4. He was one of the main developers of the Caro–Kann, which was an obscure and poorly regarded line as late as the 1920s when Flohr
The Second World War killed
Flohr was never able to defeat Alekhine head-to-head, losing five games and drawing seven in their 12 encounters. Alekhine had a sharp, tactical style, and he could also play outstanding positional chess.
Line 76 ⟶ 77:
*[http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1106146, Salo Flohr vs Tigran Petrosian, USSR Championship, Moscow 1949, Old Indian Defence (A54), 1–0] The 20-year-old Petrosian was making his debut at the top Soviet level, and learns a positional lesson.
*[http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1045117, Salo Flohr vs Efim Geller, USSR Championship, Moscow 1950, Reti Opening (A05), 1–0] Another young Master learns that the veteran Flohr still packs a punch.
*[http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1045223, Leonid Stein vs Salo Flohr, Ukrainian Championship,
*[http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1318167, Salo Flohr vs Bent Larsen, Noordwijk 1965, Sicilian Defence, Accelerated Dragon Variation (B39), 1–0] Flohr takes off one of the Candidates of that time in his last great victory.
Line 84 ⟶ 85:
*''Grandmaster Flohr'', by Viktor D. Baturinsky (Hg), Moscow, Fiskultura i Sport, 1985 (Russian).
*''Salo Flohr und das Schachleben in der Tschechoslawakei'', by Helmut Wieteck, Hamburg, Neu-Jung Verlag, 2005, {{ISBN|3-933648-26-2}} (German).
*''Schackmästare utan hemland'', by Henrik Malm Lindberg, Stockholm, Personhistorisk Tidskrift, 2020, (Swedish).
==See also==
Line 102 ⟶ 104:
[[Category:People from Horodenka]]
[[Category:Ukrainian Jews]]
[[Category:
[[Category:Chess
[[Category:Chess Olympiad competitors]]
[[Category:Czech chess players]]
Line 111 ⟶ 113:
[[Category:Czechoslovak refugees]]
[[Category:Chess theoreticians]]
[[Category:
[[Category:Jews from Galicia (Eastern Europe)]]
[[Category:Jewish chess players]]
| |||