Sylvain Burstein (1932 – unknown), was a French chess master,

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 2020 and ...

individual medalist ( 1954).

Biography

In the 1950s Sylvain Burstein was one of the most promising young chess players in France, but finished his chess career very quickly. In 1950 he participated in the International Junior Chess Tournament in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...

, but one year later he represented France in the first

World Junior Chess Championship The World Junior Chess Championship is an under-20 chess tournament (players must have been under 20 years old on 1 January in the year of competition) organized by the World Chess Federation (FIDE). The idea was the brainchild of William Rits ...

, where he played drawn with tournament winner

Borislav Ivkov Borislav Ivkov (12 November 1933 – 14 February 2022) was a Serbian chess Grandmaster. He was a World championship candidate in 1965, and played in four more Interzonal tournaments, in 1967, 1970, 1973, and 1979. Ivkov was a three-time Yugos ...

. In 1951, he made his debut in the

French Chess Championship The French Chess Championship is the annual, national chess tournament of France. It was officially first played in 1923 after the formation of the ''Fédération Française des Echecs'' in 1921. The first unofficial national tournament was played i ...

final where he ranked 8th place. In recent years, Sylvain Burstein regularly participated in French Chess Championships, achieving the best result in 1955 in

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger Regions of France, region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania. The city is on t ...

, where he shared 3rd-4th place. In 1952 he was the second in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

City Chess Championship. Sylvain Burstein played for France in the

s: * In 1954, at second reserve board in the

11th Chess Olympiad The 11th Chess Olympiad ( nl, De 11e Schaakolympiade), organized by the FIDE and comprising an openAlthough commonly referred to as the ''men's division'', this section is open to both male and female players. team tournament, as well as several o ...

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

(+6, =5, -0), * In 1956, at third board in the

12th Chess Olympiad The 12th Chess Olympiad (, ''12-ya Shakhmatnaya olimpiada''), organized by the FIDE and comprising an openAlthough commonly referred to as the ''men's division'', this section is open to both male and female players. team tournament, as well as se ...

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

(+4, =6, -3). In 1953–1954 Sylvain Burstein participated in

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west a ...

traditional Christmas Chess festival, which he played in a ''Premier reserves'' tournament. The last known tournament with Burstein's participation was in the

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

cities

Haifa Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropoli ...

and

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

in which won

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

grandmaster

Samuel Reshevsky Samuel Herman Reshevsky (born Szmul Rzeszewski; November 26, 1911 – April 4, 1992) was a Polish chess prodigy and later a leading American chess grandmaster. He was a contender for the World Chess Championship from the mid-1930s to the mid-196 ...

, but Burstein stayed at the bottom of the table. There is no reliable information about Burstein's end of life.

References

External links

*
Sylvain Burstein
chess games at 365chess.com 1932 births Year of death missing French chess players Chess Olympiad competitors {{France-chess-bio-stub