Arturo Pomar (1931 – 2016)

[Wayne Komer]

Arturo Pomar (1931 – 2016)

May 26, 2016

From:

http://www.abc.es/deportes/abci-muer...5_noticia.html

The great master Arturo Pomar Salamanca , chess prodigy and Spanish chess legend, died in Barcelona at age 84. The news was given on Twitter by the president of the Spanish Chess Federation, Javier Ochoa.

Born in Palma de Mallorca on September 1, 1931 and known for decades as Arturito Pomar, he won his first championship of Spain before age 15, a title achieved on six other occasions. In 1962 he reached the rank of grandmaster, the highest award of the International Federation.

The young prodigy moved to Madrid in 1944 and studied at the College of Areneros, run by the Jesuits. At 12 years of age Pomar became famous by drawing in the international tournament at Gijon with the world champion Alexander Alekhine , who praised his play. Another grandmaster, Alexander Kotov , said of him in a much - quoted phrase: "If he had been born in the Soviet Union he would be a serious contender for the World Title.”

In January 1946, Arturito Pomar traveled to London to participate in the international tournament organized by the "Sunday Chronicle", according to Efe, which also interviewed Antonio Medina , another of our great champions. His brilliant performance had great impact in the Spanish press.

At that time, Pomar used to give simultaneous sessions, which aroused great admiration. So much talent did not go unnoticed and soon began to be used by the regime. Franco came to meet him at his residence of El Pardo, while the press, radio and especially the No-Do (Notes and Documentaries newsreels) made him an early star.

On July 9, 1946 in Santander he won the first of his seven titles of national champion with 11 points out of 14, beating Medina, his principal rival in those years, by half a point and getting 1.5 from their two games against each other. Only Miguel Illescas won more than his seven national titles. In international tournaments, he achieved his bronze medal in the Olympics in Leipzig (1960), one of the twelve in which he participated, and his triumph at the US Open in 1953.

Over the years, however, he was losing social relevance and was neglected by those who had supported him . As a postal official, he had to ask leave of absence without pay to attend international tournaments, which he attended without financial or technical assistance. Therefore, he never received the coaching necessary. In an interview in 1951, he said that chess was taken "with sufficient moderation". Nevertheless, he played high-level games, and won against some of the best and achieved a draw against Bobby Fischer in Stockholm. Exhausted by continuous trips, games and exhibitions, he began to suffer from a degenerative disease, with memory loss and confusion.

His highest rating dates from 1967, when it appeared in the FIDE list of ranked 40 in the world . He retired from competition in 1977. He was the author of three books on chess: "Chess Subjects" (1956), "Small Advantages in the Endgame" (1958) and "The Art of Seeing the Advantage" (1968).

His biography came in 2009 with "Arturo Pomar: A Life Devoted to Chess , " written by Antonio Lopez Manzano and Joan Vila Segura . She became a widow in 2001 by Carmen Perez, with whom he had married in 1958 and had seven children.

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Arturo Pomar (1931 – 2016)

Arturo Pomar (1931 - 2016)

May 29, 2016

Some comments gleaned from chessgames.com:

http://www.chessgames.com/player/art...salamanca.html

- At first I thought Pomar didn't develop further simply because he was isolated in Spain. But Pomar's results in Chessmetrics and Wikipedia show a different career path. By his mid teens he is already among the world's 100 best, and seems to be improving rapidly up through his victory in the 1946 Spanish championship. Most top players of course see great improvement from the ages of 16-26. But during that time not only does Pomar not get better, he goes backward, with several disastrous international results and only one Spanish championship. It is not until about 1957 that he starts improving again.

The problem wasn't lack of competition at home, since Pomar wasn't even the best player in Spain during that time. Either he lost interest (unlikely, since he kept playing) or there was some kind of problem--physical, emotional, or economic--that kept him from playing his best. Whatever it was, my guess is that that was what the "maltratado por el Franquismo" line was referring to.

- Pomar wasn´t supported by Franco's regime. For example, he didn't received any financial aid when he travelled to Stockholm to play the interzonal tournament in 1962. He paid all expenses (travel, accommodation, food, etc.)from his own pocket. He was a mailman and had little earnings. He had to ask in his post office for a free month without receiving his wage in order to play that tournament! When the interzonal tournament finished, Bobby Fischer was quoted to say "Poor Spanish mailman, now you'll have to put stamps on envelopes again".

Pomar has been far away the best Spanish chess player. His parents were said to be republican (opposite to Franco). Pomar wasn't indeed the kind of person that always says "yes, sir" to authorities, and this is probably the reason for such a mistreatment to a wunderkind like him. Moreover he always suffered from a chronic bad health. A real pity and a tragedy for Spanish chess.

- Alekhine was paid by Franco's regime to be the personal trainer of the wunderkind. He was a friend of the Nazis, and world champion. For Pomar, he wrote the book published after his death as 107 Great Chess Battles: 1939-1945

- I remember a strange interview on TV that shook me, some years ago. While his wife talked to the journalist, he was silent, as absent, looking at the floor. She was complaining about their situation, something like "He has been a national glory and today he's poor and forgotten".

- I've looked in Skinner & Verhoeven and they list 4 Alekhine - Pomar encounters. Pomar failed to win any of them.

The first game listed was a clock simultaneous display in Madrid on the 23rd October 1943. It was a Danish Gambit and Pomar playing Black resigned on move 33.

Their next encounter was at the Gijon International tournament 14 - 23 July 1944. Pomar was Black and drew a Spanish Opening in 71 moves.

The third game was played in Madrid in a training tournament 24th February - 6th March 1945. Pomar was White in a French Defence and resigned at move 49.

Their fourth game was played in the International tournament at Gijon 12 - 21 July 1945. Pomar was on the Black side of a Catalan Opening and resigned on the 40th move.

[Frank Dixon]

Re: Arturo Pomar (1931 – 2016)

A nice tribute and career summary for the late Spanish GM Arturo Pomar Salamanca. Rest In Peace.

It must have been tough for Pomar after Alekhine died in 1946. The two were close, with Alekhine tutoring and mentoring the young phenom. GM Mikhail Tal wrote in his autobiography that he had read a lot about Pomar, as 'almost the only pupil of Alekhine' [Life and Games of Mikhail Tal, 1975]. Tal played and defeated Pomar in 1966, at Palma de Majorca, also winning the tournament, when the first Soviet players were allowed to play in Spanish tournaments. Soviet secret agents, supporting Franco's enemies, had stolen virtually the entire Spanish gold reserve during the revolutionary war, and relations were cool for a long time afterwards.

Pomar was from an isolated part of Spain, the Balearic Islands. Alekhine was under control of the Nazis for much of the Second World War, and Spanish Phallangist (Fascist) dictator Francisco Franco, who took power in 1939, was trying to stay neutral, while quietly favouring the Nazis and Italian Fascists. Spain had been through a very nasty civil war from 1936 to 1939, and it was a hotbed of espionage activity in WWII. There was not a lot of extra money around Spain's coffers following the war, during Pomar's formative years.

With respect to the book '107 Great Chess Battles 1939-1945', this book was in fact together by Edward Winter in the early 1980s, using games that Alekhine had annotated from that period. Some of these were Alekhine's own games, most were games involving other masters. It was not dedicated to Pomar; however, several of Pomar's games are included.