Miron Sher
Miron Sher | |
---|---|
Full name | Miron Naumovich Sher |
Country | Soviet Union → Russia United States |
Born | International Correspondence Chess Master (1987) | June 29, 1952
Peak rating | 2535 (July 1993) |
Miron Naumovich Sher (
Career
Sher was born in
Sher's tournament successes include a shared 1st place at the 1981 USSR Armed Forces Championship (ru) for chess in Mykolaiv[8] and a shared 3rd place at the semifinals of the Soviet Championship that same year. In that tournament, Arkady Novopashin (1932–2014) (ru) was 2nd and WGM Maia Chiburdanidze, age 20 at the time, tied GM Vladimir Tukmakov for 1st.
GM Adrian Mikhalchishin, also from the Ukraine who had known Sher since childhood, stated that Sher had been a student of Anatoly Gurevich and that he never got to play on the Ukrainian youth team despite his talent because he was competing for spots with future GMs Alexander Beliavsky, Oleg Romanishin, and others.[9]
In 1981, Sher became a chess coach for the Russian national team, a role he held until 1985. According to Mikhalchishin, "Miron was known for his great opening knowledge, which helped him to become great trainer."
In 1986, at the Belavenets Memorial, held annually in Smolensk since 1984 in honor of Sergey Belavenets, Sher shared 1st in a four-way tie with Alexander Baburin (born 1967), Anatoly Donchenko (de) (born 1940), and Viktor Kuporosov (born 1961), each with 8-1⁄2 points.[10]
Beginning 1987, when the USSR began relaxing international travel restrictions for Soviet citizens, Sher began to achieve international success. That year, in
Sher became an international master in 1988[11] and a grandmaster in 1992.[12] Beginning 1990, after several visits to Scandinavia, Sher began coaching Peter Heine Nielsen in Copenhagen, which was 45 minutes by plane from Kaliningrad. Every three months, for four years, Sher traveled there to spend a week with Nielsen. According to Sher, they finished in 1994, after Nielsen became a grandmaster, but their relationship endured. In 2013, Nielsen joined the team of assistants who helped Magnus Carlsen prepare for the 2013 Candidates Tournament World Championship. Before that, Nielsen was on Viswanathan Anand's team. While working with Magnus, Nielsen turned to Sher for coaching advice. [2] As of 2020, Nielsen is second in the world behind World Champion GM Magnus Carlsen.[9]
In New York, Sher coached in several scholastic chess programs, including, for many years, the Dalton School, whose chess director, David MacEnulty, is portrayed in the 2005 film, Knights of the South Bronx. Other scholastic programs included IS 318, subject of the 2012 film, Brooklyn Castle, and Stuyvesant High School.
Sher coached GM Fabiano Caruana from age 8 to 12 – 2000 to 2004. According to a 2002 article in the Lincoln Journal Star, Caruana's weekly regimen – with no mention of school – consisted of roughly 28 hours training, 5 one-hour lessons with Sher, 4 hours playing on the Internet Chess Club site, 15 hours of tournament competition, and 4 hours of solving chess problems. Caruana, as a dual citizen of the U.S. and Italy, holds many distinctions in chess. Notably, at age 14, he became the youngest U.S. and Italian citizen to become a grandmaster. But before that, while Sher was coaching him, he became the youngest U.S. player to defeat a grandmaster. On September 30, 2002, at the Marshall Chess Club, Caruana, at age 10, defeated GM Aleksander Wojtkiewicz, who then was 39 and ranked eighth in the U.S.[13]
In 2005, Caruana, with his family, moved to Madrid where he trained with Boris Zlotnik (ru) until 2015. Zlotnik had worked 16 years in the Chess Department of Sher's alma mater, the State Central Order of Lenin Institute of Physical Education. Grigory Goldberg (ru) (1908–1976) founding Director of the Chess Department had hired Zlotnik as a Senior Lecturer in 1975; and from 1985 to 1991, Zlotnik served as Director of the department. In 1992, Zlotnik emigrated to Spain and settled in The Pyrenees and Madrid and became a Spanish citizen.
Beginning around 1999, while living in New York, Sher began training Keaton Kiewra, a 12-year-old from Lincoln, Nebraska. Sher had been highly recommended by David MacEnulty and Bruce Pandolfini. Sher mentored Kiewra through high school, in chess camps and by phone – two hours a week.[14] At age 23 – January 8, 2011 – Kiewra qualified as an international master at the Berkeley International, a tournament that marked a rare week for U.S. Chess, if ever, in which four Americans, Kiewra included, earned qualifying titles: Sam Shankland, 19, grandmaster; Daniel Naroditsky, 15, and Conrad Holt, 17, international masters. In that tournament, Kiewra defeated GM Robert Hess.[15]
Sher also coached
In 2009, the
Family
Sher and his wife, Alla Berkovna Grinfeld
Sher had stated that the impetus for emigrating from Russia in 1997 was out of concern that his son, Mikhail, would be drafted in the Russian military. Mikhail, who began his U.S. education in the 9th grade, has gone on to earn degrees at
Death
Sher died August 21, 2020, in New York City.
Selected videos of games and lectures
- Miron Sher vs. Viktor Bologan, 1993 via YouTube (re: Victor Bologan)
- John Nunn vs. Miron Sher, 1994 via YouTube
- Artur Kogan vs Miron Sher, 18th Politiken Cup, Copenhagen, 1996 via YouTube (re: Artur Kogan)
- "What Does It Take to Be a Chess Master?" (Miron Sher at IS 318, Williamsburg, Brooklyn), Teen Kids News, October 30, 2018, via YouTube
Extant published work
- Trends in the Czech and Schmid Benoni, Vol. 2 (pamphlet; 34 pages), by Miron Sher (Kaliningrad); London: Trends Publications, owned by IM ISBN 9781859320594
- Part 1: Black played by Czech Benoni
- Part 2: King's Indian Benoni
- Part 3: Schmid Benoni and Modern Benoni
- "I present you with the 100 most important games in these openings during the period 1992–95 inclusive."
- Includes games by Topalov, Lautier, Miles, Yermolinsky, Kaidanov, Alterman, Rogers, Chernin, Timoscenko, Wells, Norwood, Krasenkov, Atalik, Naumkin (it), J. Horvath, Adianto, Braga, Baburin, Urban, Schneider, and Skembris (de).
See also
- List of nationality transfers in chess(re: Miron Sher)
- List of chess families
Annotations, notes, and references
Annotations
- ^ Holders of the title "Master of Chess" are often referred to as "Soviet Chess Masters." In slang, a province (or what then was a province) is optionally added, such as "Soviet Ukrainian Chess Master" or in the post-Soviet era, simply the country such as "Russian Chess Master." It is a national rank and title. The Master of Chess designation was established nationally for men in 1934 – and for women in 1950. From 1934 through 1987, the USSR conferred 1,061 Master of Sport in Chess titles – 904 to men and 157 to women. Not to be confused with an academic degree, the Master of Chess program at Sher's alma mater was founded in 1966 as a chess specialization program under the direction of Grigory Abramovich Goldberg (ru). In 1974, the specialization program was upgraded to the Chess Department – the first chess grad school program in history. (Dvoretsky, 2012, p. 51)
Notes
- ^ "Sher, Miron Naumovich", Sport Strana.
- ^ a b c Макарычевы, Марина и Сергей, December 23 2011.
- ^ Debatin, Hopp, Vialle, Ziegler, 2015.
- ^ Roeder, Oliver, November 8, 2018.
- ^ Linovitsky, Evgeny Pavlovich, Russian State University, Moscow, 75th Anniversary Yearbook, 1993, pp. 309–316.
- ^ Karpov, Anatoly E. (ed.), Russian Chess Encyclopedia and Biographical Dictionary, 1990, pp. 235, col. 2, bottom (233–236).
- ^ Chess Programs at Russian State University in Moscow.
- ^ Russian Chess Federation, June 29, 2020.
- ^ a b Doggers, Peter, "GM Miron Sher, 1952–2020" (obituary), August 23, 2015.
- ^ Karpov, Anatoly E. (ed.), Russian Chess Encyclopedia and Biographical Dictionary, 1990, p. 31.
- ^ Karpov, Anatoly E. (ed.), Russian Chess Encyclopedia and Biographical Dictionary, 1990, pp. 616–617.
- ^ Di Felice, Gino, 2017, p. 299.
- ^ O'Connor-Kiewra, Lincoln Journal Star, October 21, 2002.
- ^ Root, Alexey, ChessBase, October 14, 2016.
- ^ McClain, Dylan Loeb, New York Times, January 9, 2011.
- ^ Shahade, Jennifer, U.S. Chess Federation, August 26, 2006.
- ^ Reynolds, Jessica, Chicago Tribune, July 20, 2014.
- ^ McClain, Dylan Loeb, New York Times, February 9, 2008.
- ^ Di Felice, Gino, 2017, p. 118.
- ^ "Grinfeld, Alla Berkovna", Sport Strana.
- ^ a b "GM Miron Sher (1952–2020)" (obituary), U.S. Chess Federation, August 21, 2020.
References
- New York Times. Vol. 131, no. 45, 140. p. 10E. Retrieved August 26, 2020.
- "Куда увел язык шахмат выпускников РГУФКСМиТ-ГЦОЛИФК: 6 историй к пятидесятилетию кафедры" [Where Did the International Language of Chess Take Them? Six Storys on the 50th Anniversary of the Program] (in Russian). Moscow: Russian State University of Physical Education, Sport, Youth and Tourism. n.d. Archived from the original on June 4, 2017.. Contributors:
- Alexander N. Kostiev, PhD (Александр Н. Костиев), Russia (1970 alumnus)
- Anvar Nazarov (Анвар Назаров), Tajikistan (1990 alumnus)
- Ruslan Sergeevich Mironov (Руслан Сергеевич Миронов), Estonia (1993 alumnus)
- Victor Antonovich Bologan (Виорел Антонович Бологан), Qatar(1993 alumnus)
- Asya Son (Russian: Ася Сон), Singapore (1993 alumna)
- Anastasia Sergeevna Savina (Анастасия Сергеевна Савина), France(2015 alumna)
- Debatin, Tobias; Hopp, Wilma; Vialle, Wilma; ProQuest 1670114001
- Di Felice, Gino (2017). Chess International Titleholders, 1950–2016. OCLC 1020637239.
- Doggers, Peter (August 23, 2020). "GM Miron Sher, 1952–2020". Chess.com. Retrieved August 24, 2020.
- OCLC 808348716. Retrieved September 3, 2020 – via 64ab.ru. Note: the author states that the Chess Department founded in 1966 by Grigory Goldberg at the State Central Institute of Physical Culture of the Order of Lenin was (inferring from a translation) the first comprehensive academic chess program in higher education in the world. (publisher link – Андрей Ельков)
- OCLC 606026618.
- Линовицкий, Евгений Павлович (1993). "КАФЕДРЕ ШАХМАТ – ДЕСЯТЬ ЛЕТ" [Chess Chair – Ten Years]. Труды Ученых ГЦОЛИФКа – 75 Лет: Ежегодник [Works of Scientist of the Russian State University of Physical Education, Sport, Youth and Tourism – 75th Anniversary: Yearbook] (digital online) (in Russian). Moscow. pp. 309–316.
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: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) Note: Linovitsky, the author, was head of the Chess Department from 1990 to 2010. - McClain, Dylan Loeb (March 18, 2007). "American Players Are on a Roll, Especially One 15-Year-Old". New York Times. Retrieved August 24, 2020.
- McClain, Dylan Loeb (February 9, 2008). "FIDE Unveils New Titles to Mixed Reactions". ProQuest 2222623844(U.S. Newsstream database).
- McClain, Dylan Loeb (January 9, 2011). "America Has a New Chess Grandmaster and Three New International Masters". New York Times. Retrieved August 24, 2020.
- Макарычевы, Марина; Макарычевы, Сергей (December 23, 2011). "Американские шахматные истории" [American Chess Stories]. Nezavisimaya Gazeta (in Russian). Moscow. Retrieved August 24, 2020.
- O'Connor, Tom; Kiewra, Kenneth Anthony (October 21, 2002). "Chess Wunderkind, 10, Beats Grand Master". .
- Reynolds, Jessica (July 20, 2014). "Remarkable Women – Darrian Robinson: Chess Is Only Part of the University of Chicago Student's Winning Approach to Life". ProQuest 1546082890.
- Roeder, Oliver (November 8, 2018). "The American Grandmaster Who Could Become World Champion". FiveThirtyEight. Retrieved August 24, 2020.
- Root, Alexey (October 14, 2018). "Researching Chess Prodigies: An Interview with Dr. Kenneth Kiewra". ChessBase. Retrieved August 26, 2020.
- "Персона Дня – Мирон Шер" [Person of the Day, June 29, 2020: Miron Sher] (in Russian). Russian Chess Federationwebsite. June 29, 2020. Retrieved August 24, 2020.
- US Chess Federation. Retrieved August 27, 2020.
- "Деятели Шахммат Спортсмены: Гринфельд Алла Берковна" [Chess Athlete Profiles: Grinfeld, Alla Berkovna] (in Russian). cпорт–cтрана.ру (sport-strana.ru). n.d. Retrieved August 27, 2020.
- "Деятели Шахммат Спортсмены: Шер Мирон Наумович" [Chess Athlete Profiles: Sher, Miron Naumovich] (in Russian). cпорт–cтрана.ру (sport-strana.ru). n.d. Retrieved August 27, 2020.
- "GM Miron Sher (1952-2020)". US Chess Federation. August 21, 2020. Retrieved August 25, 2020.
External links
- Miron Sher profile at FIDE at the Wayback Machine (archived 2021-01-03)
- Miron N. Sher FIDE rating history at OlimpBase.org
- Miron N. Sher player profile and games at Chessgames.com
- Miron N. Sher chess games at 365Chess.com
- Miron Naumovich Sher player details at ICCF