Nick de Firmian
| Nick de Firmian | |
|---|---|
Fresno, California, U.S. | |
| Title | Grandmaster (1985) |
| FIDE rating | 2445 (April 2024) |
| Peak rating | 2610 (January 1999) |
Nicholas Ernest de Firmian (born July 26, 1957) is an American
U.S. chess champion, winning in 1987 (with Joel Benjamin), 1995, and 1998. He also tied for first in 2002, but Larry Christiansen won the playoff. He is also a chess writer, most famous for his work in writing the 13th, 14th, and 15th editions of the important chess opening treatise Modern Chess Openings.[1] He was born in Fresno, California
.
He has represented the United States at several
International Master
title in 1979 and the GM title in 1985. Beginning in the 1990s, he lived for many years in Denmark. He currently resides in California.
He won the 1983
Swiss system tournament. De Firmian was a founding member of Prochess, a grandmaster advocacy group dedicated to promoting chess in the United States. He has a degree in physics from the University of California, Berkeley.[3]
De Firmian is a noted expert on
English. He also helped prepare the chess opening book for the IBM Deep Blue team for its successful 1997 match with Garry Kasparov.[3]
In 2006 he revised and expanded the classic 1921 book Chess Fundamentals, by
José Capablanca. The edition was harshly criticized by chess historian Edward Winter, who claimed that de Firmian "destroyed" the book by changing Capablanca's writing and removing games from previous editions to include new games not played by Capablanca.[4]
De Firmian also wrote the 15th edition of MCO, published in April 2008.
Ca. 2012, de Firmian began a scholastic chess program with the Mechanics Institute in San Francisco.[5]
Notable Game
de Firmian vs Nikolic, 1985
| a | b | c | d | e | f | g | h | ||
| 8 |              | 8 | |||||||
| 7 | 7 | ||||||||
| 6 | 6 | ||||||||
| 5 | 5 | ||||||||
| 4 | 4 | ||||||||
| 3 | 3 | ||||||||
| 2 | 2 | ||||||||
| 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| a | b | c | d | e | f | g | h | ||
Position after 26...Nb4.
Nick de Firmian vs Predrag Nikolic, Tunis Interzonal (1985). de Firmian conducts an attack which ends with a complex mating combination.
Publications
- Nick de Firmian; Korn, Walter (1990). Modern Chess Openings (13 ed.). A. & C. Black.
- Nick de Firmian (1999). ISBN 0-8129-3084-3.
- Nick de Firmian; ISBN 978-0-945806-14-1.
- ISBN 0-8129-3681-7.
- Nick de Firmian (2008). Modern Chess Openings (15 ed.). Random House.
References
- ^ "Nick E. de Firmian". World Chess Hall of Fame. March 23, 2017. Retrieved August 9, 2021.
- ^ Wojciech Bartelski. "OlimpBase Men's Chess Olympiads Nick De Firmian". Olimpbase.org. Retrieved March 12, 2012.
- ^ a b Penguin Random House, Nick De Firmian ABOUT THE AUTHOR
- ^ Winter, Edward "Capablanca Goes Algebraic" Chess Notes
- ^ Adisa Banjoko, US Chess Rising: Adisa Banjoko with de Firmian & Donaldson, May 19, 2017. Retrieved January 26, 2020.
External links
- Nick De Firmian rating card at FIDE
- Nick E. De Firmian rating and tournament record at US Chess Federation
- Nick E. De Firmian FIDE rating history at OlimpBase.org
- Nick de Firmian player profile and games at Chessgames.com
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |