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Arturo Pomar

January 01, 1970

Arturo Pomar Salamanca (1 September 1931 – 26 May 2016) was a Spanish chess player. He was the first Spanish player to be awarded the title of grandmaster (GM), and was a seven-time national champion.[1][2]

Arturo Pomar
Pomar in 1972
Full nameArturo Pomar Salamanca
CountrySpain
Born(1931-09-01)1 September 1931
Palma de Mallorca, Spain
Died26 May 2016(2016-05-26) (aged 84)
Barcelona, Spain
TitleGrandmaster

Biography edit

The prodigy edit

 
Arturo Pomar (Baarn, 1947)

Pomar was born in Palma de Mallorca and was known in his youth as Arturito.[3][4] Hailed as a chess prodigy,[5] he was runner-up at the Championship of the Balearic Isles when he was 10 years old, and won the title the following year.[6] World Champion Alexander Alekhine spent time in Spain and Portugal after World War II and took an interest in the young Pomar, even giving him a series of special chess lessons.[7] A part of Alekhine's 1946 book ‘’Legado!’’ was devoted to him.[8]

Pomar played his first international tournament at Madrid in October 1943. Narrowly avoiding last place, he defeated Friedrich Saemisch, who was of grandmaster strength.[5] Then, at just 13 years of age, he was able to draw a game against his esteemed teacher at a tournament in Gijón (1944).[9] The game was an exciting "back and forth" affair, with Pomar outplaying the World Champion in the endgame and reaching a theoretically won position. However, inexact play allowed Alekhine to draw in a game that lasted over 70 moves. Alekhine won the event and Pomar finished fifth.

Pomar's precocity invited comparison with previous prodigies like Paul Morphy, José Raúl Capablanca and Sammy Reshevsky.[3][10][11] In his home country, he became quite famous, appearing in radio interviews and on film.,[6] but as his career progressed, he never quite fulfilled his early promise.[5][11][12]

Spain's first grandmaster edit

Pomar's best results in international competition probably occurred at the Madrid Zonal of 1960, where he shared first place with Svetozar Gligorić, Jan Hein Donner and Lajos Portisch; at Torremolinos 1961 (first with Gligoric); Malaga 1964 (first, ahead of Portisch); Palma de Mallorca 1966 (second, after Mikhail Tal, ahead of Portisch); and at Malaga 1971 (first).[5] His success in 1960 qualified him for a place at the Stockholm Interzonal tournament of 1962, where he finished 11th= (Fischer won). This was as close as he got to mounting a challenge for the world title.[6]

He was awarded the International Master title in 1950 and became Spain's first Grandmaster in 1962.[1][2]

Pomar was Spanish champion seven times (1946, 1950, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1962, and 1966),[1] and Sub-Champion four times (1951, 1956, 1964, and 1969), a record not surpassed until 2010, by Miguel Illescas.[13]

A prolific tournament player edit

Close to the end of the war, he tied for fourth/fifth place at Madrid 1945 (Alekhine won); took fourth place at Gijón 1945 (Antonio Rico won); and shared third place at Almería 1945 (F. López Núñez and Alekhine won).

There followed many international appearances. His further results included sixth place at London 1946 (Herman Steiner won) and victory in a short match against Jacques Mieses (1½–½, also held in London). He tied for 12–13th at Barcelona 1946 (Miguel Najdorf won); tied for 15–16th at Mar del Plata 1949 (Héctor Rossetto won); won at Santa Fe 1949; tied for second/third place, behind Paul Michel, at Rosario 1949; shared first at Paris 1949; tied for second/third at Gijón 1950; took 15th at Madrid 1951 (Lodewijk Prins won); took 14th at Bad Pyrmont 1951 (zonal); took 2nd at Hollywood 1952; tied for first/second at New Orleans 1954 (US Open); won at Gijón 1955;[14] tied for second/third at Madrid 1957; won at Santander 1958; shared first with Francisco José Pérez at Madrid 1959.

Pomar finished in fifth place at the Enschede Zonal 1963 (Gligorić won); he took fourth at Málaga 1965 (Antonio Medina won); shared first with Alberic O'Kelly de Galway and Klaus Darga at Palma de Mallorca 1965; took second, behind Mikhail Botvinnik, at Amsterdam 1966 (IBM tournament); tied for 10–12th at Beverwijk 1967 (Boris Spassky won); took eighth at Palma de Mallorca 1968 (Viktor Korchnoi won); took 13th at Palma de Mallorca (Bent Larsen won); won at Málaga 1971, tied for 12–14th at Madrid 1973 (Anatoly Karpov won). He won at Alicante 1975 and ceased playing in serious events around 1985.

A team player edit

He played for Spain at twelve consecutive Chess Olympiads, and won the individual bronze medal at Leipzig.[15]

Full results:

A career setback edit

Pomar suffered at least two nervous breakdowns while attending tournaments.[12] At Marianske Lazne in 1965, he completed nine of his fifteen games to finish with a share of last place.[16] At Dundee 1967, he withdrew with fewer than half of his games completed, and his score was cancelled.[17][18] Although he made a good recovery, his later play and results were affected by the experience.[11][12]

Later life edit

In later life, he was many times a guest of honour, especially at the Chess Olympiad of Calvia, held in 2004 on his birth island. In 2016, FIDE recognized his contribution to chess history with a special prize, following a proposal of the ACP[4]

He died in Barcelona, on 26 May 2016, after a long illness.[2]

Bibliography edit

Pomar wrote several instructional books in Spanish.

  • Mis cincuenta partidas con maestros (1945)
  • Temas de ajedrez (1956)
  • Las pequeñas ventajas en el final (1958)
  • Ajedrez (1962)
  • El arte de ver la ventaja (1968)
  • Ajedrez elemental (with Vasily Panov) (1971)

Notable chess games edit

  • Arturo Pomar vs Efim Geller, Interzonal Tournament, Stockholm 1962, King's Indian Defense: Four Pawns Attack. Exchange Variation (E79), 1-0 Geller is a tactical wizard who gets outplayed in this encounter.
  • Alexander Alekhine vs Arturo Pomar, Gijon 1944, Spanish Game: Morphy Defense. Steinitz Deferred (C79), 1/2-1/2 Arturo Pomar drew a game with Alexander Alekhine at the age of thirteen, becoming the youngest player ever to draw with a reigning World Champion at a normal time control. His record still stands.

References edit

  1. ^ a b c . Archived from the original on 2011-07-26. Retrieved 2007-08-14.. ajedrez.pastranec.net
  2. ^ a b c Leontxo Garcỉa,Muere Arturo Pomar - El legendario ajedrecista, heptacampeón de España, tenía 84 años El Pais, May 27, 2016 (in Spanish)
  3. ^ a b Schonberg, Harold C. (1974). Grandmasters of Chess. Davis-Poynter. pp. 26, 27. ISBN 978-0-7067-0135-7.
  4. ^ a b . FIDE. Archived from the original on 2016-10-11. Retrieved 2016-06-01.
  5. ^ a b c d Whyld, Kenneth; Hooper, David (1984). The Oxford Companion to Chess. Oxford University Press. p. 259. ISBN 0-19-217540-8.
  6. ^ a b c Sunnucks, Anne (1976). The Encyclopaedia of Chess (2nd Ed.). Hale. pp. 372, 373. ISBN 0709146973.
  7. ^ Kotov, Alexander (1974). Alexander Alekhine. Batsford. p. 196. ISBN 978-0-7134-2963-3.
  8. ^ Divinsky, Nathan (1990). The Batsford Chess Encyclopedia. Batsford. p. 165. ISBN 0-7134-6214-0.
  9. ^ Mendez,Pedro, Mendez, Luis. The Gijón International Chess Tournaments. Mcfarland.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  10. ^ Saidy, Anthony; Lessing, Norman (1974). The World of Chess. William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. p. 13. ISBN 0-394-48777-X.
  11. ^ a b c Finkenzeller, Roswin; Ziehr, Wilhelm; Bührer, Emil M. (1990). Chess: A Celebration of 2000 Years. Mackenzie. pp. 48, 49. ISBN 978-0-9516-3550-6.
  12. ^ a b c Golombek, Harry, ed. (1981). The Penguin Encyclopedia of Chess. Penguin. p. 349. ISBN 978-0-1404-6452-8.
  13. ^ "Report of Illescas' achievement". Chessbase. 13 September 2010. Retrieved 2016-06-01.
  14. ^ Torneo Cerrado Internacional October 9, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. Ajedrezastur.com. Retrieved on 2012-11-07.
  15. ^ Encyclopedia of Team Chess. OlimpBase (2011-01-01). Retrieved on 2012-11-07.
  16. ^ Di Felice, Gino (2013). Chess Results 1964-1967. McFarland & Co. p. 163. ISBN 978-0-7864-7573-5.
  17. ^ The Times, July 17, 1967 p. 3
  18. ^ Di Felice, p. 375

External links edit

  • Arturo Pomar player profile and games at Chessgames.com
  • "Arturo Pomar (1931-2016)" by Edward Winter

January 01, 1970
arturo, pomar, salamanca, september, 1931, 2016, spanish, chess, player, first, spanish, player, awarded, title, grandmaster, seven, time, national, champion, pomar, 1972full, name, salamancacountryspainborn, 1931, september, 1931palma, mallorca, spaindied26, . Arturo Pomar Salamanca 1 September 1931 26 May 2016 was a Spanish chess player He was the first Spanish player to be awarded the title of grandmaster GM and was a seven time national champion 1 2 Arturo PomarPomar in 1972Full nameArturo Pomar SalamancaCountrySpainBorn 1931 09 01 1 September 1931Palma de Mallorca SpainDied26 May 2016 2016 05 26 aged 84 Barcelona SpainTitleGrandmaster Contents 1 Biography 1 1 The prodigy 1 2 Spain s first grandmaster 1 3 A prolific tournament player 1 4 A team player 1 5 A career setback 1 6 Later life 2 Bibliography 3 Notable chess games 4 References 5 External linksBiography editThe prodigy edit nbsp Arturo Pomar Baarn 1947 Pomar was born in Palma de Mallorca and was known in his youth as Arturito 3 4 Hailed as a chess prodigy 5 he was runner up at the Championship of the Balearic Isles when he was 10 years old and won the title the following year 6 World Champion Alexander Alekhine spent time in Spain and Portugal after World War II and took an interest in the young Pomar even giving him a series of special chess lessons 7 A part of Alekhine s 1946 book Legado was devoted to him 8 Pomar played his first international tournament at Madrid in October 1943 Narrowly avoiding last place he defeated Friedrich Saemisch who was of grandmaster strength 5 Then at just 13 years of age he was able to draw a game against his esteemed teacher at a tournament in Gijon 1944 9 The game was an exciting back and forth affair with Pomar outplaying the World Champion in the endgame and reaching a theoretically won position However inexact play allowed Alekhine to draw in a game that lasted over 70 moves Alekhine won the event and Pomar finished fifth Pomar s precocity invited comparison with previous prodigies like Paul Morphy Jose Raul Capablanca and Sammy Reshevsky 3 10 11 In his home country he became quite famous appearing in radio interviews and on film 6 but as his career progressed he never quite fulfilled his early promise 5 11 12 Spain s first grandmaster edit Pomar s best results in international competition probably occurred at the Madrid Zonal of 1960 where he shared first place with Svetozar Gligoric Jan Hein Donner and Lajos Portisch at Torremolinos 1961 first with Gligoric Malaga 1964 first ahead of Portisch Palma de Mallorca 1966 second after Mikhail Tal ahead of Portisch and at Malaga 1971 first 5 His success in 1960 qualified him for a place at the Stockholm Interzonal tournament of 1962 where he finished 11th Fischer won This was as close as he got to mounting a challenge for the world title 6 He was awarded the International Master title in 1950 and became Spain s first Grandmaster in 1962 1 2 Pomar was Spanish champion seven times 1946 1950 1957 1958 1959 1962 and 1966 1 and Sub Champion four times 1951 1956 1964 and 1969 a record not surpassed until 2010 by Miguel Illescas 13 A prolific tournament player edit Close to the end of the war he tied for fourth fifth place at Madrid 1945 Alekhine won took fourth place at Gijon 1945 Antonio Rico won and shared third place at Almeria 1945 F Lopez Nunez and Alekhine won There followed many international appearances His further results included sixth place at London 1946 Herman Steiner won and victory in a short match against Jacques Mieses 1 also held in London He tied for 12 13th at Barcelona 1946 Miguel Najdorf won tied for 15 16th at Mar del Plata 1949 Hector Rossetto won won at Santa Fe 1949 tied for second third place behind Paul Michel at Rosario 1949 shared first at Paris 1949 tied for second third at Gijon 1950 took 15th at Madrid 1951 Lodewijk Prins won took 14th at Bad Pyrmont 1951 zonal took 2nd at Hollywood 1952 tied for first second at New Orleans 1954 US Open won at Gijon 1955 14 tied for second third at Madrid 1957 won at Santander 1958 shared first with Francisco Jose Perez at Madrid 1959 Pomar finished in fifth place at the Enschede Zonal 1963 Gligoric won he took fourth at Malaga 1965 Antonio Medina won shared first with Alberic O Kelly de Galway and Klaus Darga at Palma de Mallorca 1965 took second behind Mikhail Botvinnik at Amsterdam 1966 IBM tournament tied for 10 12th at Beverwijk 1967 Boris Spassky won took eighth at Palma de Mallorca 1968 Viktor Korchnoi won took 13th at Palma de Mallorca Bent Larsen won won at Malaga 1971 tied for 12 14th at Madrid 1973 Anatoly Karpov won He won at Alicante 1975 and ceased playing in serious events around 1985 A team player edit He played for Spain at twelve consecutive Chess Olympiads and won the individual bronze medal at Leipzig 15 Full results In 1958 at first board in 13th Chess Olympiad in Munich 5 4 8 In 1960 at second board in 14th Chess Olympiad in Leipzig 5 0 7 In 1962 at first board in 15th Chess Olympiad in Varna 6 2 8 In 1964 at first board in 16th Chess Olympiad in Tel Aviv 5 2 9 In 1966 at first board in 17th Chess Olympiad in Havana 5 4 7 In 1968 at first board in 18th Chess Olympiad in Lugano 4 1 10 In 1970 at first board in 19th Chess Olympiad in Siegen 3 2 11 In 1972 at first board in 20th Chess Olympiad in Skopje 5 5 7 In 1974 at first board in 21st Chess Olympiad in Nice 3 6 8 In 1976 at first board in 22nd Chess Olympiad in Haifa 2 1 8 In 1978 at second board in 23rd Chess Olympiad in Buenos Aires 4 3 4 In 1980 at third board in 24th Chess Olympiad in La Valletta 2 2 6 A career setback edit Pomar suffered at least two nervous breakdowns while attending tournaments 12 At Marianske Lazne in 1965 he completed nine of his fifteen games to finish with a share of last place 16 At Dundee 1967 he withdrew with fewer than half of his games completed and his score was cancelled 17 18 Although he made a good recovery his later play and results were affected by the experience 11 12 Later life edit In later life he was many times a guest of honour especially at the Chess Olympiad of Calvia held in 2004 on his birth island In 2016 FIDE recognized his contribution to chess history with a special prize following a proposal of the ACP 4 He died in Barcelona on 26 May 2016 after a long illness 2 Bibliography editPomar wrote several instructional books in Spanish Mis cincuenta partidas con maestros 1945 Temas de ajedrez 1956 Las pequenas ventajas en el final 1958 Ajedrez 1962 El arte de ver la ventaja 1968 Ajedrez elemental with Vasily Panov 1971 Notable chess games editArturo Pomar vs Efim Geller Interzonal Tournament Stockholm 1962 King s Indian Defense Four Pawns Attack Exchange Variation E79 1 0 Geller is a tactical wizard who gets outplayed in this encounter Alexander Alekhine vs Arturo Pomar Gijon 1944 Spanish Game Morphy Defense Steinitz Deferred C79 1 2 1 2 Arturo Pomar drew a game with Alexander Alekhine at the age of thirteen becoming the youngest player ever to draw with a reigning World Champion at a normal time control His record still stands References edit a b c Arturo Pomar Salamanca 1931 Archived from the original on 2011 07 26 Retrieved 2007 08 14 ajedrez pastranec net a b c Leontxo Garcỉa Muere Arturo Pomar El legendario ajedrecista heptacampeon de Espana tenia 84 anos El Pais May 27 2016 in Spanish a b Schonberg Harold C 1974 Grandmasters of Chess Davis Poynter pp 26 27 ISBN 978 0 7067 0135 7 a b Pomar obituary FIDE Archived from the original on 2016 10 11 Retrieved 2016 06 01 a b c d Whyld Kenneth Hooper David 1984 The Oxford Companion to Chess Oxford University Press p 259 ISBN 0 19 217540 8 a b c Sunnucks Anne 1976 The Encyclopaedia of Chess 2nd Ed Hale pp 372 373 ISBN 0709146973 Kotov Alexander 1974 Alexander Alekhine Batsford p 196 ISBN 978 0 7134 2963 3 Divinsky Nathan 1990 The Batsford Chess Encyclopedia Batsford p 165 ISBN 0 7134 6214 0 Mendez Pedro Mendez Luis The Gijon International Chess Tournaments Mcfarland a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint multiple names authors list link Saidy Anthony Lessing Norman 1974 The World of Chess William Collins Sons amp Co Ltd p 13 ISBN 0 394 48777 X a b c Finkenzeller Roswin Ziehr Wilhelm Buhrer Emil M 1990 Chess A Celebration of 2000 Years Mackenzie pp 48 49 ISBN 978 0 9516 3550 6 a b c Golombek Harry ed 1981 The Penguin Encyclopedia of Chess Penguin p 349 ISBN 978 0 1404 6452 8 Report of Illescas achievement Chessbase 13 September 2010 Retrieved 2016 06 01 Torneo Cerrado Internacional Archived October 9 2007 at the Wayback Machine Ajedrezastur com Retrieved on 2012 11 07 Encyclopedia of Team Chess OlimpBase 2011 01 01 Retrieved on 2012 11 07 Di Felice Gino 2013 Chess Results 1964 1967 McFarland amp Co p 163 ISBN 978 0 7864 7573 5 The Times July 17 1967 p 3 Di Felice p 375External links editArturo Pomar player profile and games at Chessgames com Arturo Pomar 1931 2016 by Edward Winter Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Arturo Pomar amp oldid 1212218604, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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