Semyon Furman - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Semyon Abramovich Furman (December 1, 1920 – March 17, 1978) was a Soviet chess International Grandmaster and trainer. He is best known for developing Anatoly Karpov

Anatoly Karpov

Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov is a Russian chess grandmaster and former World Champion. He was the official world champion from 1975 to 1985 when he was defeated by Garry Kasparov. He played three matches against Kasparov for the title from 1986 to 1990, before becoming FIDE World Champion once...

into a World Chess Champion, but was a formidable player himself, as well as a successful coach

Coach (sport)

In sports, a coach is an individual involved in the direction, instruction and training of the operations of a sports team or of individual sportspeople.-Staff:...

for several other world-class players. His name is sometimes written as Semen or Semion Furman.

Early life

Born in Pinsk

Pinsk

Pinsk , a town in Belarus, in the Polesia region, traversed by the river Pripyat, at the confluence of the Strumen and Pina rivers. The region was known as the Marsh of Pinsk. It is a fertile agricultural center. It lies south-west of Minsk. The population is about 130,000...

, Furman was a factory worker in Leningrad

Leningrad

Leningrad is the former name of Saint Petersburg, Russia.Leningrad may also refer to:- Places :* Leningrad Oblast, a federal subject of Russia, around Saint Petersburg* Leningrad, Tajikistan, capital of Muminobod district in Khatlon Province...

, who developed his chess skills in his spare time, and was a late bloomer by chess standards, not reaching even National Master strength until he was well into adulthood. For example, he made only an even score of 6½/13 in the All-Union Candidates-to-Masters tournament, Group 1, at Rostov-on-Don

Rostov-on-Don

-History:The mouth of the Don River has been of great commercial and cultural importance since the ancient times. It was the site of the Greek colony Tanais, of the Genoese fort Tana, and of the Turkish fortress Azak...

1939. In the same event at Kalinin

Kalinin

Kalinin , or Kalinina , is a Russian surname, derived from the word kalina , and may refer to:People with the surname...

1940, group 3, he was only able to score 5/11, and in the Leningrad Championship

Leningrad City Chess Championship

The Leningrad City Chess Championship is a chess tournament held officially in the city of Leningrad, Russia starting from 1920. The city was called Petrograd from 1914 to 1924, then Leningrad until 1991, and Saint Petersburg afterwards...

of 1940, he scored just 6½/16. His chess development was on hold during the next few years of World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, as Leningrad

Leningrad

was placed under siege by the Nazis, beginning in 1941.

Organized chess started up again as the Second World War ended. In an All-Union Tournament of First Category players at Gorky

Nizhny Novgorod

Nizhny Novgorod , colloquially shortened to Nizhny, is, with the population of 1,250,615, the fifth largest city in Russia, ranking after Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, and Yekaterinburg...

1945, Furman posted his first noteworthy result when he tied for first with Konstantin Klaman, at 11/15. At Tula

Tula, Russia

Tula is an industrial city and the administrative center of Tula Oblast, Russia. It is located south of Moscow, on the Upa River. Population: -History:...

1945, Furman placed second with 10½/14, behind only V. Lyublinsky. In the Leningrad

Leningrad

Championship of 1946, Furman tied for 8th-9th places, with 8½/17. In the USSR Championship semi-final (URS-ch15 sf), Leningrad

Leningrad

1946, Furman was unsuccessful in advancing, but made a highly respectable score of 9/18, to tie for 9th-10th places. He was moving up slowly through the incredibly deep Soviet vanguard.

The year 1947 brought some rewards for Furman. He tied for first place in the All-Union Championship of the Spartak Club, with Vladimir Simagin, at 15/19, but lost the playoff match. Then, in the Leningrad

Leningrad

Championship, he tied for 3rd-4th places, with 11/17. At the Saratov

Saratov

-Modern Saratov:The Saratov region is highly industrialized, due in part to the rich in natural and industrial resources of the area. The region is also one of the more important and largest cultural and scientific centres in Russia...

1947 National Tournament, he scored 7/11 for a tied 2nd-3rd place.

Qualifies for Soviet Championships

Furman qualified from the semi-final at Sverdlovsk

Sverdlovsk Oblast

Sverdlovsk Oblast is a federal subject of Russia located in the Urals Federal District. Its administrative center is the city of Yekaterinburg formerly known as Sverdlovsk. Population: -Geography:...

1947, for his first Soviet Chess Championship at age 27. In the final, he performed exceptionally well, placing third, only half a point behind joint winners David Bronstein

David Bronstein

David Ionovich Bronstein was a Soviet chess grandmaster, who narrowly missed becoming World Chess Champion in 1951. Bronstein was described by his peers as a creative genius and master of tactics...

and Alexander Kotov

Alexander Kotov

Alexander Alexandrovich Kotov was a Soviet chess grandmaster and author. He was a Soviet champion, a two-time world title Candidate, and a prolific chess author. Kotov served in high posts in the Soviet Chess Federation and most of his books were written during the period of Cold War between the...

, with a fine score of 11/18 (URS-ch16, Moscow

Moscow

Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

1948). In the Leningrad

Leningrad

Championship of 1948, he tied for 7th-10th places, with 9½/17. He tied for first-third places at Vilnius

Vilnius

Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania, and its largest city, with a population of 560,190 as of 2010. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality. It is also the capital of Vilnius County...

1949, the semi-final for URS-ch17, with 11½/17, qualifying again for the Soviet final. In the Leningrad

Leningrad

Championship of 1949, he was off form with 8½/18 to tie for 11th-13th places. Then, in the Soviet final later in 1949, again in Moscow

Moscow

(URS-ch17), he tied for 5th-7th places with 11½/19. In the 1950 Championship of the Spartak Club, he tied for 4th-5th places, with 6/11. Then at Gorky

Nizhny Novgorod

Nizhny Novgorod , colloquially shortened to Nizhny, is, with the population of 1,250,615, the fifth largest city in Russia, ranking after Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, and Yekaterinburg...

1950, he was unsuccessful in qualifying for the next Soviet Championship final, as he could only score 9½/15, for fourth place.

In the URS-ch21 at Kiev

Kiev

Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....

1954, Furman scored 10/19 to tie for 7th-9th places. He earned his first international tournament opportunity for Bucharest

Bucharest

Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....

1954, where he tied for 6th-7th places with a fine 10/17. He was in the middle of the field in URS-ch22 at Moscow

Moscow

1955, with 10/19, in a tie for 10th-11th places. It was a similar story for URS-ch24, Moscow

Moscow

1957, where he scored 10/21 for 12th place. He had a good tournament at Kiev 1957, scoring 11½/19 to tie for 2nd-5th places, behind only Tigran Petrosian

Tigran Petrosian

Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian was a Soviet-Armenian grandmaster, and World Chess Champion from 1963 to 1969. He was nicknamed "Iron Tigran" due to his playing style because of his almost impenetrable defence, which emphasised safety above all else...

. His form dropped for URS-ch25, Riga

Riga

Riga is the capital and largest city of Latvia. With 702,891 inhabitants Riga is the largest city of the Baltic states, one of the largest cities in Northern Europe and home to more than one third of Latvia's population. The city is an important seaport and a major industrial, commercial,...

1958, as he could only make 6/18 for 17th place. At URS-ch26, Tbilisi

Tbilisi

Tbilisi is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Mt'k'vari River. The name is derived from an early Georgian form T'pilisi and it was officially known as Tiflis until 1936...

1959, he was again below 50 per cent with 8/19 for 15th place.

Furman gradually proved he belonged in the upper echelon of the extraordinarily deep Soviet chess elite, with many victories over top players. He placed equal fourth in the 1965 Soviet Championship. Furman was awarded the International Master (IM) title in 1954. He won the Leningrad

Leningrad

Championship in 1953, 1954, and 1957 (jointly).

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

Harrachov

Harrachov is a town on the Mumlava river in the northern Czech Republic, 300 m from the border with Poland. It is within the Krkonoše mountain range, about above sea level.-History:...

. 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 had few opportunities. He did play for the USSR in the 1961 European Team Championship at Oberhausen

Oberhausen

Oberhausen is a city on the river Emscher in the Ruhr Area, Germany, located between Duisburg and Essen . The city hosts the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen and its Gasometer Oberhausen is an anchor point of the European Route of Industrial Heritage. It is also well known for the...

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

Mikhail Botvinnik

Mikhail Moiseyevich Botvinnik, Ph.D. was a Soviet and Russian International Grandmaster and three-time World Chess Champion. Working as an electrical engineer and computer scientist at the same time, he was one of the very few famous chess players who achieved distinction in another career while...

] in 1951. Also, I took him abroad as my second to the Interzonal

Interzonal

Interzonal chess tournaments were tournaments organized by FIDE, the World Chess Federation, and were a stage in the triennial World Chess Championship cycle.- Zonal tournaments :...

Tournament in Gothenburg

Gothenburg

Gothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated on the west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 519,399, with 549,839 in the urban area and total of 937,015 inhabitants in the metropolitan area...

in 1955 and the Candidates' Tournament in Amsterdam

Amsterdam

Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...

1956."

Furman had been one of the assistants to Botvinnik in his 1963 world title match against Tigran Petrosian

Tigran Petrosian

, according to Anatoly Karpov

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

Viktor Korchnoi

Viktor Lvovich Korchnoi ; pronounced in the original Russian as "karch NOY"; Ви́ктор Льво́вич Корчно́й, born March 23, 1931 is a professional chess player, author and currently the oldest active grandmaster on the tournament circuit...

(according to both Bronstein and Karpov) and Efim Geller

Efim Geller

Efim Petrovich Geller was a Soviet chess player and world-class grandmaster at his peak. He won the Soviet Championship twice and was a Candidate for the World Championship on six occasions...

(according to Karpov).

The site www.chessmetrics

Chessmetrics

Chessmetrics is a system for rating chess players devised by Jeff Sonas. It is intended as an improvement over the Elo rating system.-Implementation:...

.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 opportunities, Furman did not formally receive the title until eighteen years later. According to chessmetrics, his best tournament from a performance rating standpoint was Gorky

Nizhny Novgorod

Nizhny Novgorod , colloquially shortened to Nizhny, is, with the population of 1,250,615, the fifth largest city in Russia, ranking after Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, and Yekaterinburg...

1954 (5½/6, for a 2755 performance).

Trains the World Champion

It was in a training role that Furman first met the young Anatoly Karpov

Anatoly Karpov

, who at age seventeen was representing the Army Sports club on the junior board at the 1968 Soviet Team Championships, held in Riga

Riga

. In training, the two got along well, and Karpov made the outstanding score 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

World Junior Chess Championship

The World Junior Chess Championship is an under-20 chess tournament organized by the World Chess Federation ....

, held in Stockholm

Stockholm

Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...

. Karpov also won this tournament with a dominating performance; it was the first Soviet win at that level since Boris Spassky

Boris Spassky

Boris Vasilievich Spassky is a Soviet-French chess grandmaster. He was the tenth World Chess Champion, holding the title from late 1969 to 1972...

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

Moscow State University

Lomonosov Moscow State University , previously known as Lomonosov University or MSU , is the largest university in Russia. Founded in 1755, it also claims to be one of the oldest university in Russia and to have the tallest educational building in the world. Its current rector is Viktor Sadovnichiy...

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

Caracas

Caracas , officially Santiago de León de Caracas, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela; natives or residents are known as Caraquenians in English . It is located in the northern part of the country, following the contours of the narrow Caracas Valley on the Venezuelan coastal mountain range...

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

Moscow

1971, Hastings

Hastings

Hastings is a town and borough in the county of East Sussex on the south coast of England. The town is located east of the county town of Lewes and south east of London, and has an estimated population of 86,900....

1971-72, and San Antonio 1972 tournaments. Karpov made the Soviet national team for the 1972 Skopje

Skopje

Skopje is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Macedonia with about a third of the total population. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre...

Chess Olympiad

The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams from all over the world compete against each other. The event is organised by FIDE, which selects the host nation.-Birth of the Olympiad:The first Olympiad was unofficial...

as first reserve, and scored 13½/16, 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

World Chess Championship

The World Chess Championship is played to determine the World Champion in the board game chess. Men and women of any age are eligible to contest this title....

Candidates final match against Korchnoi, who had earlier fallen out with Furman over a dispute around a 1971 match against Geller. Korchnoi 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 towards 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

Madrid

Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...

1973, Ljubljana

Ljubljana

Ljubljana is the capital of Slovenia and its largest city. It is the centre of the City Municipality of Ljubljana. It is located in the centre of the country in the Ljubljana Basin, and is a mid-sized city of some 270,000 inhabitants...

/Portorož

Portorož

- External links :**...

1975, and Bad Lauterberg

Bad Lauterberg

Bad Lauterberg is a town in the district of Osterode, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated in the southern Harz, approx. 15 km southwest of Braunlage, and 20 km southeast of Osterode am Harz....

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

Nice

Nice is the fifth most populous city in France, after Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse, with a population of 348,721 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Nice extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of more than 955,000 on an area of...

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

Stomach cancer

Gastric cancer, commonly referred to as stomach cancer, can develop in any part of the stomach and may spread throughout the stomach and to other organs; particularly the esophagus, lungs, lymph nodes, and the liver...

, but the cancer returned, and he died at Leningrad 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.

Success as coach

Furman may have been the most successful coach in the history of chessě, although some would give that title to Mark Dvoretsky

Mark Dvoretsky

Mark Izrailovich Dvoretsky is a world-renowned Russian chess trainer, writer and International Master.He was awarded the International Master title in 1975 and for a while, was widely regarded as the strongest IM in the world...

. 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 sixty 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.

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 amorphous 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.

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.

External links

Statistics at ChessWorld.net

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Early life

Qualifies for Soviet Championships

Grandmaster, and coach to the stars

Trains the World Champion

Success as coach

Legacy

Notable chess games

Further reading

External links