Semen Furman
Notable Games

Semen Furman

18 celebrated games · 312 in the full archive
Player Index ◈ Biography 312 CURATED GAMES

Notable Games

  • 1947.10 Furman, Semen Abramovich vsGeller, Efim P 1-0 Slav Defense: Quiet Variation 41 moves URS-ch16 Semifinal USSR Championship semifinal 1947 against Efim Geller, later a six-time Candidate. Furman pushes a pawn all the way through — 28.cxd6, 30.d7, 31.Re8 Rxe8 32.dxe8=Q — and then wins the resulting bishop ending by walking his king up the board: 37.Kf2, 38.Ke3, 39.Kf4.
  • 1948.11.14 Furman, Semen Abramovich vsKholmov, Ratmir D 1-0 Nimzo-Indian Defense: Normal Variation 114 moves URS-ch16 Final USSR Championship final 1948 against Ratmir Kholmov, also a study player in this archive — 114 moves, the longest game here by a distance. Queen and knight against queen for the last thirty, and Furman finds the winning net: 109.Ne2 Ke5 110.Qc3+ d4 111.Qc7+ Kf5 112.Qh7+ Ke5 113.Qg7+ Kd5 114.Qg5+.
  • 1948.11.21 Furman, Semen Abramovich vsKeres, Paul 1-0 Queen's Indian Defense: Fianchetto Variation 56 moves URS-ch16 Final The same 1948 championship, against Paul Keres — and the finish is one of the rarest things in chess. 43.exf7+ Kh7 44.f8=N+ underpromotes to a knight with check rather than making a queen, and 45.Be6+ Qxe6 46.Qxe6+ Kxf8 47.Qxd5 wins outright.
  • 1949.10.30 Furman, Semen Abramovich vsSmyslov, Vasily V 1-0 Grünfeld Defense: Exchange Variation, Spassky Variation 55 moves URS-ch17 Final USSR Championship final 1949 against Vasily Smyslov, four years from his first World Championship match — the first of the five World Champions Furman beat in this archive. An Exchange Grünfeld ground down to a rook ending, where 47.f5, 48.h5, 50.h6 and 51.h7 leave Black one tempo short.
  • 1949.11.09 Furman, Semen Abramovich vsPetrosian, Tigran V 1-0 King's Indian Defense: Fianchetto Variation, Classical Variation 41 moves URS-ch17 Final Ten days later in the same championship, Tigran Petrosian — fourteen years from the world title. Furman gives back the exchange with 29.Rxd6 Qe1+ 30.Kh2 Qxe3, wins two minor pieces for it — 32.Nd7, 35.Nxf6+ Kf7 36.Nxe8 — and the rooks and passed e-pawn do the rest.
  • 1949.11.19 Boleslavsky, Isaak vsFurman, Semen Abramovich 0-1 Ruy Lopez: Closed, Chigorin Defense 42 moves URS-ch17 Final The 1949 final again, this time with Black against Isaak Boleslavsky, a Candidates finalist the following year. Furman meets a kingside pawn storm head-on: 27...exf4 hands back a piece to open the position, 31...Rd2 gets behind the pawns, and 35...f3, 36...g4 and 39...h4 give White three passers to worry about at once.
  • 1953.09.23 Furman, Semen Abramovich vsNezhmetdinov, Rashid 1-0 English Opening: Symmetrical Variation, Anti-Benoni Variation, Spielmann Defense 21 moves URS-chT Republics 03 Final Soviet team championship 1953 against Rashid Nezhmetdinov, the great attacking player and a study player here — beaten in twenty-one quiet moves. 19.Qg5 pins the position together, and 20.Nf4 exf4 21.Bxh3 wins the bishop that had been sitting on h3 since move sixteen.
  • 1955.02.18 Furman, Semen Abramovich vsKeres, Paul 1-0 Queen's Gambit Accepted: Classical Defense, Alekhine System 70 moves URS-ch22 Final USSR Championship final 1955, Keres for the third time and seventy moves long. Rook and knight against rook and bishop from move fifty: Furman queens nothing and wins anyway, marching the king from g3 to f7 — 64.Kf5, 68.Kf6, 70.Kf7 — while the knight covers every escape.
  • 1955.03.04 Furman, Semen Abramovich vsSpassky, Boris Vasilievich 1-0 Nimzo-Indian Defense: Normal Variation, Bernstein Defense 29 moves URS-ch22 Final Two weeks later in the same event, an eighteen-year-old Boris Spassky, fourteen years from the world title. Twenty-nine moves: Spassky sacrifices a knight for the attack with 25...Ng3+ 26.hxg3 Rh6+, and after 27.Kg1 Qxc3 28.Qxa7 fxe4 29.Qd4 there is simply nothing left to attack with.
  • 1956.11.24 Khalilbeili, Sultan vsFurman, Semen Abramovich 0-1 Tarrasch Defense: Rubinstein System 10 moves URS-ch24 Semifinal USSR Championship semifinal 1956 — ten moves, the shortest game in the archive, and a lesson in what happens when the opening goes wrong. 7.e4 dxe4 8.Ng5 Qxd4 takes the pawn on offer, and 9.Bf4 Bb4 10.Nxe4 Qxe4+ simply picks up the knight with check.
  • 1959.01.20 Furman, Semen Abramovich vsKorchnoi, Viktor Lvovich 1-0 English Opening: King's English Variation, Four Knights Variation, Fianchetto Line 36 moves URS-ch26 Final USSR Championship final 1959, the second of five wins over Viktor Korchnoi in this archive — Korchnoi being the man who would twice play for the world title. 25.Qxd4 Rxb5 26.Rxb5 Qxb5 27.Rxc7 Nxc7 28.Qxd8+ liquidates into a queen-against-knight ending, and the checks never stop: 33.Qc8+, 34.Qd7, 36.Qb8+.
  • 1961.02.02 Furman, Semen Abramovich vsStein, Leonid 1-0 English Opening: Symmetrical Variation, Anti-Benoni Variation, Spielmann Defense 51 moves URS-ch28 Final & Zonal USSR Championship final 1961 against Leonid Stein, soon a three-time Soviet champion. Stein grabs the h-pawn with 10...Bxh2+ and spends the rest of the game trying to extract the bishop; Furman wins the exchange back at 32.Rxh6 Rxc3 33.Bxc3, then converts a bishop-and-knight ending against a rook.
  • 1961.02.18 Furman, Semen Abramovich vsBotvinnik, Mikhail 1-0 Neo-Grünfeld Defense: Classical Variation, Original Defense 29 moves Match/Training Botvinnik-Furman From the 1961 training match with Mikhail Botvinnik, who had held the world title for most of the previous thirteen years — Furman beats him in twenty-nine moves with White. The bishop pair goes at 19.Bxe5 Bxe5 and 22.Bxe4 fxe4, 23.Nc5 lands the knight, and 24.Rxd5 wins the pawn that holds everything together.
  • 1965.12.02 Furman, Semen Abramovich vsSimagin, Vladimir Pavlovich 1-0 Benoni Defense: Old Benoni 17 moves URS-ch33 Final USSR Championship final 1965 against Vladimir Simagin — also a study player here — in seventeen moves. Furman buries a pawn on d6 at move twelve, opens the long diagonal with 15.h5 f6, and 16.Qd5+ Kh8 17.Qxa8 collects the rook in the corner.
  • 1969.10.05 Furman, Semen Abramovich vsTal, Mikhail 1-0 Queen's Pawn Game 76 moves URS-ch37 Final USSR Championship final 1969 against Mikhail Tal — the fifth World Champion in this archive, and by then a former title-holder. Seventy-six moves, two rooks against a queen for the last twenty, and Furman walks his king from f2 all the way to a8 through the checks: 71.Kc8, 73.Kb8, 75.Ka7, 76.Ka8.
  • 1971.03.04 Furman, Semen Abramovich vsTal, Mikhail 1-0 Benoni Defense 68 moves Tallinn Tallinn 1971, Tal again on his home ground and beaten again — sixty-eight moves. Furman trades into rook and bishop against rook and knight with 52.Rxh4 Nxd4 53.Rxd4, then spends fifteen moves manoeuvring the king from e2 to f5 while the black bishop shuffles between two squares.
  • 1973.04.25 Furman, Semen Abramovich vsKorchnoi, Viktor Lvovich 1-0 English Opening: Anglo-Grünfeld Defense, Korchnoi Variation 33 moves Moscow 3teams Moscow 1973 — Korchnoi with Black, in a line the record itself names the Korchnoi Variation. The queens come off at 27.Qxe3 Qxe3 28.fxe3, and Furman's central pawns beat the rook: 30.d5 cxd5 31.Rxd5 Rxd5 32.Bxd5 b6 33.e4, with the bishop and two connected passers unstoppable.
  • 1977.03.18 Furman, Semen Abramovich vsGligoric, Svetozar 1-0 King's Indian Defense: Sämisch Variation, Closed Variation 49 moves (GER-ch) International04 Bad Lauterberg 1977, one of the last tournaments Furman played — by then Anatoly Karpov's trainer, the role he held from 1969 until his death. This is Svetozar Gligorić, the great Yugoslav grandmaster, beaten in a Sämisch King's Indian: 45.Rxg8+ Kxg8 46.Qg3+ Kf8 47.Qb8+ Nd8 48.Qb4+ Kg8 49.Qg4+.
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