Flohr Salomon Mikhailovich (21.11.1908 – 18.07.1983)
Soviet chess player awarded the title of Grandmaster (1950) and International Arbiter 1953.
Salo Flohr was born in Horodenka, Russia on November 21st, 1908. Orphaned during the First World War, the former citizen of the Russian Empire went to what was to become Czechoslovakia. He took up residence in Prague and spent his teens as a regular skittles player in the chess cafes. Flohr earned a steady income from this combined with chess journalism and the story goes that, when visiting international tournaments as a reporter, he found that he could beat the participating masters and relieve them of their tournament winnings. His international debut came in 1929 at Rogaska Slatina where he finished second to Akiba Rubinstein and he also impressed with his score of 14½ out of 17 on the top board for Czechs at the 1930 Hamburg Olympiad. In his early days he played some slashing attacks, but he soon learnt that more certain success came from patient technical accuracy. Mikhail Botvinnik noted this change in Flohr’s style when preparing for the 1933 Moscow/Leningrad match that marked the return to the fold of Russian chess. At the time, Flohr’s drawn match with Mikhail Botvinnik was thought a fluke, but the Czech reacted in the best possible way; he came all the way across Europe by train from Moscow to Hastings and proceeded to relegate Alexander Alekhine from first place. That he had been the Champion’s right since New York, 1927. Flohr’s first place at Hastings 1933-4 was his third successive victory at the Mecca of chess. His continued success led to the FIDE nomination of 1937 for a title match with Alekhine, but the cloud that reared its ugly head over Czechoslovakia meant that the Bata firm that had planned to finance the match could not proceed. It was in these circumstances that Flohr had his first failure at AVRO 1938 and he was soon forced to consider his future. Flohr sought refuge for a time in Scandinavia and then went to the Soviet Union where he was naturalized in 1942. Botvinnik had commented that Flohr’s accurate style was an ideal foil to the tactical approach of the younger Soviet masters and there is no doubt that the Soviet players of that time learnt a great deal from him. Botvinnik also recommended that a book of Flohr’s best games be published, but for some strange reason this never came to fruition.
Flohr took part in the World Championship qualifying events of the 1948-51 cycles, but his style of play had become too cautious to win tournaments. Instead, he devoted most of his time to journalism, where his ready wit was seen at its best, and to chess organization. He was the chief arbiter judge at many of the Soviet Championships of the last two decades and magazines in West Germany regularly published tournament reports and reminiscences from his fertile pen.
Other best results: London 1932, 2 London 1932, 2nd behind Alekhine; Bern 1932, 2nd with Euwe behind Alekhine; Zurich 1934, 2nd with Euwe behind Alekhine; Moscow 1935, 1st equal with Botvinnik ahead of Capablanca and Lasker; Margate 1936, 1stahead of Capablanca; Moscow 1936, 3rd behind Capablanca and Botvinnik, Podebrady 1936, 1st ahead of Alekhine; Kemeri 1937, 1st equal ahead of Alekhine and Keres; Ostende 1937, 1st equal with Keres and Grob; Moscow/Leningrad 1938-9, 1stahead of Reshevsky, Lilienthal, Smyslov and Keres; Kemeri 1939, 1st ahead of Szabo and Stahlberg and USSR Championships 1948, 4th ahead of Tolush, Bondarevsky and Keres. In matches, Flohr beat Gosta Stoltz in 1931 +4=3-1 and Sultan Kahn in 1932 +2=3-1, won to Henri Grob in 1932 +4=1-1 and drew matches with Max Euwe in 1932 +3=10 and Mikhail Botvinnik in 1933 +2=8. Flohr was seen at the Hastings 1961-2 tournament where he came third behind Botvinnik and Gligoric, but after 1956 he had devoted his time principally to chess journalism,
In matches, Flohr beat Gosta Stoltz in 1931 +4=3-1 and Sultan Kahn in 1932 +2=3-1, won to Henri Grob in 1932 +4=1-1 and drew matches with Max Euwe in 1932 +3=10 and Mikhail Botvinnik in 1933 +2=8.
Flohr was seen at the Hastings 1961-2 tournament where he came third behind Botvinnik and Gligoric, but after 1956 he had devoted his time principally to chess journalism, organization and propaganda. He was an indefatigable simultaneous player to the end of his days. A notable feature of Flohr’s play and the reason why so few people ever considered him a world title candidate was the low percentage of games won against his main rivals.
