Arturo Pomar Salamanca (born 1 September 1931, Palma de Mallorca) is a Spanish chess Grandmaster.[1]
A chess prodigy (he won the championship of the Balearic Islands at the age of 11),[2] and a pupil of Alexander Alekhine, he became quite famous. He drew a game with his teacher at the age of thirteen, becoming the youngest player ever to draw with a reigning World Champion at a normal time control. His record still stands.[3]
In October 1943, he took 11th in Madrid (Paul Keres won). In 1944, he took 5th in Gijón (Alekhine won). In 1945, he tied for 4-5th in Madrid (Alekhine won); took 4th in Gijón (Antonio Rico won); and shared 3rd in Almeria (F. López Núñez and Alekhine won).[4]
After World War II, he shared sixth place at the 1946 London tournament (Herman Steiner won) and won a short match against Jacques Mieses (1.5 : 0.5) there. He tied for 12-13th at Barcelona 1946 (Miguel Najdorf won); tied for 15-16th at Mar del Plata 1949 (Hector Rossetto won); won at Santa Fe 1949; tied for 2nd-3rd, behind Paul Michel, at Rosario 1949; shared 1st at Paris 1949; tied for 2nd-3rd at Gijon 1950; took 15th at Madrid 1951 (Lodewijk Prins won); took 14th at Bad Pyrmont 1951 (zonal); took 2nd at Hollywood 1952; tied for 1st-2nd at New Orleans 1954 (US Open); won at Gijón 1955;[5] tied for 2nd-3rd at Madrid 1957; won at Santander 1958; shared 1st with Francisco José Pérez at Madrid 1959.
In 1960, he shared first with Svetozar Gligorić, Lajos Portisch and Jan Hein Donner in Madrid (zonal) and tied for 2nd-3rd in play-off there. He tied for 1st-2nd at Torremolinos 1961; tied for 11-12th in Stockholm 1962 (interzonal, Bobby Fischer won); took 5th at Enschede 1963 (zonal, Gligorić won); won at Malaga 1964; took 4th at Malaga 1965 (Antonio Medina won); shared 1st with Alberic O'Kelly de Galway and Klaus Darga at Palma de Mallorca 1965; took 2nd, behind Mikhail Botvinnik, at Amsterdam 1966 (IBM tournament); took 2nd, behind Mikhail Tal at Palma de Mallorca 1966; tied for 10-12th at Beverwijk 1967 (Boris Spassky won); took 8th at Palma de Mallorca 1968 (Viktor Korchnoi won); took 13th at Palma de Mallorca (Bent Larsen won); won at Malaga 1971, tied for 12-14th at Madrid 1973 (Anatoly Karpov won).[6]
He was seven times Spanish Champion (1946, 1950, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1962, and 1966), and four times Sub-Champion (1951, 1956, 1964, and 1969).[7]
Pomar played twelve times for Spain in Chess Olympiads:
- In 1958, at first board in 13th Chess Olympiad in Munich (+5 –4 =8);
- In 1960, at second board in 14th Chess Olympiad in Leipzig (+5 –0 =7);
- In 1962, at first board in 15th Chess Olympiad in Varna (+6 –2 =8);
- In 1964, at first board in 16th Chess Olympiad in Tel Aviv (+5 –2 =9);
- In 1966, at first board in 17th Chess Olympiad in Havana (+5 –4 =7);
- In 1968, at first board in 18th Chess Olympiad in Lugano (+4 –1 =10);
- In 1970, at first board in 19th Chess Olympiad in Siegen (+3 –2 =11);
- In 1972, at first board in 20th Chess Olympiad in Skopje (+5 –5 =7);
- In 1974, at first board in 21st Chess Olympiad in Nice (+3 –6 =8);
- In 1976, at first board in 22nd Chess Olympiad in Haifa (+2 –1 =8);
- In 1978, at second board in 23rd Chess Olympiad in Buenos Aires (+4 –3 =4);
- In 1980, at third board in 24th Chess Olympiad in La Valletta (+2 –2 =6).
He won individual bronze medal at Leipzig 1960.[8]
Awarded the IM title in 1950 and GM title in 1962.
References
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