Roman Shlemovich Pelts (August 11, 1937 – October 10, 2022) was a Ukrainian-Canadian

chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

master.

Biography

Pelts was born in

Odessa ODESSA is an American codename (from the German language, German: ''Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen'', meaning: Organization of Former SS Members) coined in 1946 to cover Ratlines (World War II aftermath), Nazi underground escape-pl ...

on August 11, 1937. In 1959, Pelts founded a chess school in Odessa. Seven of his early students became grandmasters:

Lev Alburt Lev Osipovich Alburt (born August 21, 1945) is an American chess Grandmaster, writer and coach. He was born in Orenburg, Russia, and became three-time Ukrainian Champion. After defecting to the United States in 1979, he became three-time U.S ...

, Sam Palatnik,

Vladimir Tukmakov Vladimir Borisovich Tukmakov (, born March 5, 1946, in Odesa) is a Ukrainian chess grandmaster. He gained the Grandmaster title in 1972. Career His career first blossomed when he helped and then led the USSR to consecutive wins of the World St ...

, Valeri Beim, Konstantin Lerner, Leonid Yurtaev, and Boris Kantsler. He was the official trainer for the 1971 USSR student team that included

Anatoly Karpov Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov (, ; born May 23, 1951) is a Russian and former Soviet Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster, former World Chess Championship, World Chess Champion, ⁣and politician. He was the 12th World Chess Champion from 1975 ...

and

Alexander Beliavsky Alexander Genrikhovich Beliavsky (, , ; also romanized ''Belyavsky''; born December 17, 1953) is a Soviet, Ukrainian and Slovenian chess player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 1975. He is also a chess coach and in 2004 wa ...

. At the beginning of his career, he took 15th at

Minsk Minsk (, ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the administra ...

1962 (

Anatoly Bannik Anatoly Alexandrovich Bannik (December 1921, in Kyiv – 19 January 2013) was a Ukrainian chess Master. He was a five-time Ukrainian champion, and qualified for the Soviet Chess Championship final seven times. He was among the top half-dozen Ukra ...

won), and played board one on the Soviet national team that won the 1964 Students' World Championship at

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

, Poland. Pelts came to Canada in 1978. After moving to

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, he established the first Canadian chess school in 1979. He later settled in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

and continued his school there. Pelts played for Canada in three

Chess Olympiad The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams representing nations of the world compete. FIDE organises the tournament and selects the host nation. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, FIDE held an Online Chess Olympiad in FIDE Onli ...

s: at

Lucerne Lucerne ( ) or Luzern ()Other languages: ; ; ; . is a city in central Switzerland, in the Languages of Switzerland, German-speaking portion of the country. Lucerne is the capital of the canton of Lucerne and part of the Lucerne (district), di ...

1982 and

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...

1984 and 1988. In 1981 Pelts earned the title of

FIDE Master FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...

. He was inducted into the Canadian Chess Hall of Fame in 2001. Pelts died in Toronto on October 10, 2022, at the age of 85.

Publications

* Roman Pelts &

, ''Comprehensive Chess Course - Volume I'', 126 pages * Roman Pelts &

, ''Comprehensive Chess Course - Volume II'', 304 pages * Roman Pelts &

, ''Cours complet d'échecs'', Éditions Fédération québécoise des échecs (https://fqechecs.qc.ca/),

Montréal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, 1989, (translation of the above 2 titles)

Biography

Publications

References

See also