Eduard Yefimovich Gufeld (russian: Эдуа́рд Ефи́мович Гу́фельд; 19 March 1936 – 23 September 2002) was a

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...

, and a chess author.

Chess career

Gufeld began participating in chess tournaments in 1953 and won the junior championship of Ukraine the following year. He became an International Master in 1964 and an International Grandmaster in 1967. In 1977, he ranked 16th in the world with an Elo rating of 2570. He moved to

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million p ...

, Republic of Georgia, where he coached

Maia Chiburdanidze Maia Chiburdanidze ( ka, მაია ჩიბურდანიძე; born 17 January 1961) is a Georgian chess Grandmaster. She is the sixth Women's World Chess Champion, a title she held from 1978 to 1991, and was the youngest one until 2 ...

, who became the youngest women's world chess champion in 1978. After the fall of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

, he emigrated to the United States. He started the FIDE Committee on Chess Art and Exhibition. Gufeld was one of the most prolific authors in all of chess, writing over 80 chess books. His proudest achievements, however, were his win with the

King's Indian Defence, Sämisch Variation The Sämisch Variation of the King's Indian Defence is a chess opening that begins with the moves: :1. d4 Nf6 :2. c4 g6 :3. Nc3 Bg7 :4. e4 d6 :5. f3 The Sämisch is a subtle blockading system and a critical challenge to the King's India ...

against Vladimir Bagirov, which he called his "

Mona Lisa The ''Mona Lisa'' ( ; it, Gioconda or ; french: Joconde ) is a Half length portrait, half-length portrait painting by Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci. Considered an archetypal masterpiece of the Italian Renaissance, it has been described ...

"; and his 1967 win over

Vasily Smyslov Vasily Vasilyevich Smyslov ( rus, Васи́лий Васи́льевич Смысло́в, Vasíliy Vasíl'yevich Smyslóv; 24 March 1921 – 27 March 2010) was a Soviet and Russian chess grandmaster, who was World Chess Champion from 1957 t ...

(see below). The first of these games made it into John Nunn's collection of the hundred greatest games of all time, ''Mammoth Book of the World's Greatest Chess Games'', and the 112-game collection that followed it. Gufeld beat Smyslov again in 1975. He used to say to those who laughed at his English: "I think that my English is better than your Russian!"

Death

In September 2002, Gufeld suffered a stroke and heart attack. Following a period of unconsciousness, he regained consciousness but was unable to speak or walk. He died two weeks later at the age of 66 in the

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is a nonprofit, tertiary, 886-bed teaching hospital and multi-specialty academic health science center located in Los Angeles, California. Part of the Cedars-Sinai Health System, the hospital employs a staff of over 2 ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

. He is interred in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Hollywood, California.

Notable games

Here is Gufeld's 1967 win over Smyslov: :Vasily Smyslov vs. Gufeld; Spartakiade, Moscow 1967
1.c4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.b4 Bg7 4.Bb2 0-0 5.e3 b6 6.d4 c5 7.dxc5 bxc5 8.b5 a6 9.a4 Ne4 10.Bxg7 Kxg7 11.Qd5 Qa5+ 12.Ke2 Bb7 13.Qxb7 Nc6 14.Nfd2 Ra7 15.bxc6 Rxb7 16.cxb7 Qb4 17.Nxe4 Qb2+ 18.Nbd2 Qxa1 19.Nxc5 Rb8 20.g3 Qa3 21.Nxd7 Rxb7 22.Bh3 Qd6 23.c5 Qd5 24.f3 Rb2 25.Rd1 e6 26.c6 Qc4+ 27.Ke1 Qd3 28.Bf1 Qxe3+ 29.Be2 a5 30.f4 f6 31.c7 Rc2 32.Kf1 Rxc7 33.Nc4 Rxc4 34.Bxc4 Qf3+ 35.Ke1 Qc3+

Books

* ''Beating the Sicilian'', Batsford, 1984. . * ''Exploiting Small Advantages'', Batsford, 1985. 2003 reprint: . * ''The Sicilian for the Tournament Player'', Batsford, 1989. . * ''My Life in Chess'', Intl Chess Enterprises, 1993. . * * ''An Opening Repertoire For The Attacking Player'', Batsford, 1996. . * ''The Modern French Tarrasch'', Cadogan, 1996. . * with Oleg Stesko: ''The Giuoco Piano'', Batsford, 1996. . * with Eric Schiller: ''Secrets Of The Sicilian Dragon'', Cardoza, 1998. . * ''Leonid Stein: Master of Risk Strategy'', Thinkers Press, 2000. . * with Eric Schiller: ''Secrets Of The King's Indian'' (Cardoza Publishing's Essential Opening Repertoire Series), Cardoza, 2000. . * ''Chess: The Search for Mona Lisa'', Batsford, 2001. . * ''Bobby Fischer: From Chess Genius to Legend'', Thinkers Press, 2003. . * ''Chess Strategy'', Batsford, 2003. . * ''The Art of the King's Indian'', Batsford, 2003. .

References

External links