Nick de Firmian

Last updated

Nick de Firmian
Nick de Firmian 1986 Dubai.jpg
De Firmian at the 27th Chess Olympiad, 1986
Full nameNicholas Ernest de Firmian
CountryUnited States
Born (1957-07-26) July 26, 1957 (age 67)
Fresno, California, U.S.
Title Grandmaster (1985)
FIDE   rating 2445 (January 2025)
Peak rating 2610 (January 1999)
Peak rankingNo. 25 (July 1989)

Nicholas Ernest de Firmian (born July 26, 1957) is an American chess player who received the FIDE title of Grandmaster (GM) in 1985. He is a three-time U.S. chess champion, winning in 1987 (with Joel Benjamin), 1995, and 1998. He also tied for first in 2002, but Larry Christiansen won the playoff. He is also a chess writer, most famous for his work in writing the 13th, 14th, and 15th editions of the important chess opening treatise Modern Chess Openings . [1] He was born in Fresno, California.

Contents

Chess career

De Firmian has represented the United States at several Interzonals and played on the United States Olympiad teams of 1980, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1996, 1998, and 2000. [2] De Firmian earned the International Master title in 1979 and the GM title in 1985. Beginning in the 1990s, he lived for many years in Denmark. He currently resides in California.

He won the 1983 Canadian Open Chess Championship. In 1986, he won the World Open and the first prize of $21,000, at that time a record for a Swiss system tournament. De Firmian was a founding member of Prochess, a grandmaster advocacy group dedicated to promoting chess in the United States. He has a degree in physics from the University of California, Berkeley. [3]

De Firmian is a noted expert on chess openings and in 1990 he revised Modern Chess Openings , 13th edition (MCO-13). In 1999 he wrote the 14th edition of Modern Chess Openings (MCO-14), which, along with Nunn's Chess Openings (NCO), is considered an outstanding single volume opening reference in English. He also helped prepare the chess opening book for the IBM Deep Blue team for its successful 1997 match with Garry Kasparov. [3]

In 2000, de Firmian tied for first place at the U.S. Masters Chess Championship.

In 2006 he revised and expanded the classic 1921 book Chess Fundamentals, by José Capablanca. The edition was harshly criticized by chess historian Edward Winter, who claimed that de Firmian "destroyed" the book by changing Capablanca's writing and removing games from previous editions to include new games not played by Capablanca. [4] De Firmian also wrote the 15th edition of MCO, published in April 2008.

c. 2012, de Firmian began a scholastic chess program with the Mechanics Institute in San Francisco. [5]

Publications

Notable games

de Firmian vs. Nikolic, 1985
abcdefgh
8
Chessboard480.svg
Chess qdt45.svg
Chess rdt45.svg
Chess kdt45.svg
Chess bdt45.svg
Chess nlt45.svg
Chess bdt45.svg
Chess pdt45.svg
Chess pdt45.svg
Chess pdt45.svg
Chess pdt45.svg
Chess ndt45.svg
Chess nlt45.svg
Chess qlt45.svg
Chess plt45.svg
Chess plt45.svg
Chess plt45.svg
Chess plt45.svg
Chess blt45.svg
Chess rlt45.svg
Chess klt45.svg
8
77
66
55
44
33
22
11
abcdefgh
Position after 26...Nb4

In de Firmian–Predrag Nikolić, 1985, de Firmian conducts an attack which ends with a complex mating combination. After 27.Nef6+! White gains an overwhelming material advantage even if Black avoids immediate checkmate with precise defense. [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henrique Mecking</span> Brazilian chess grandmaster (born 1952)

Henrique Costa Mecking, also known as Mequinho, is a Brazilian chess grandmaster who reached his zenith in the 1970s and is still one of the strongest players in Brazil. He was a chess prodigy, drawing comparisons to Bobby Fischer, although he did not achieve the International Grandmaster title until 1972. He won the Interzonals of Petropolis 1973 and Manila 1976. His highest FIDE rating is 2635, achieved in 1977, when he was ranked number four in the world. He became the third-best player in the world in 1977, behind only World Champion Anatoly Karpov and Viktor Korchnoi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joel Benjamin</span> American chess grandmaster (born 1964)

Joel Lawrence Benjamin is an American chess player who holds the FIDE title of Grandmaster (GM). In 1998, he was voted "Grandmaster of the Year" by the U.S. Chess Federation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antoaneta Stefanova</span> Bulgarian chess grandmaster (born 1979)

Antoaneta Stefanova is a Bulgarian chess grandmaster and Women's World Champion from 2004 to 2006. She has represented Bulgaria in the Chess Olympiad in 2000 and the Women's Chess Olympiad since 1992.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gideon Ståhlberg</span> Swedish chess grandmaster (1908–1967)

Anders Gideon Tom Ståhlberg was a Swedish chess player. He was among the inaugural recipients of the title International Grandmaster from FIDE in 1950.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harry Golombek</span> British chess player

Harold "Harry" Golombek OBE was a British chess player, chess author, and wartime codebreaker. He was three times British chess champion, in 1947, 1949, and 1955 and finished second in 1948.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pal Benko</span> Hungarian-American chess player (1928–2019)

Pal Charles Benko was a Hungarian and American chess player, author, and composer of endgame studies and chess problems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Fedorowicz</span> American chess grandmaster (born 1958)

John Peter Fedorowicz is an American chess player, coach, and writer from The Bronx, New York.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexander Ivanov (chess player)</span> Soviet-American chess grandmaster (born 1956)

Alexander Vladimirovich Ivanov is a Soviet-born American chess grandmaster. Born in Omsk, present-day Russia, he moved to the United States in 1988. FIDE awarded him his grandmaster title in 1991. He lives in Massachusetts with his wife, fellow chess player and Woman International Master Esther Epstein.

Walter Korn was an Austro-Hungarian writer of books and magazine articles about chess. Despite his status as a writer, there is no known record of him playing tournament chess, and few chess players ever met him. One of his few known games is a draw against a 13-year-old Gordon Crown, published in the April 1943 issue of Chess. Korn was a FIDE International Judge for chess compositions and contributed the entire topic of chess for the Encyclopædia Britannica (1972).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jan Smejkal</span> Czech chess grandmaster (born 1946)

Jan Smejkal is a Czech chess player and, since 1972, an International Grandmaster. In the 1970s he was among the world chess elite. He was champion of Czechoslovakia in 1973, 1979 and 1986, and won many international tournaments, including Polanica Zdrój in 1970 and 1972, Smederevska Palanka in 1971, Palma in 1972, Novi Sad in 1976, Vršac in 1977, Leipzig in 1977, Warsaw in 1979, Trenčianské Teplice in 1979, and Baden-Baden in 1985. At the 1973 Interzonal tournament in Leningrad he finished fourth, just missing out on qualification for the World Championship Candidates Tournament.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Predrag Nikolić</span> Bosnian chess grandmaster (born 1960)

Predrag Nikolić is a Bosnian Serb chess grandmaster.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liu Shilan</span> Chinese chess player

Liu Shilan is a Chinese chess player who holds the title Woman Grandmaster, which she received in 1982 from FIDE. She has been the national women's champion of China seven times.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roberto Cifuentes</span> Chilean chess grandmaster (born 1957)

Roberto Cifuentes Parada is a Chilean chess grandmaster.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Valeriy Neverov</span> Ukrainian chess grandmaster (born 1964)

Valeriy Neverov is a Ukrainian chess grandmaster (1991) and four-time Ukrainian Chess Champion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Margeir Pétursson</span> Icelandic banker and chess grandmaster (born 1960)

Margeir Pétursson is an Icelandic banker and chess grandmaster. He founded MP Bank in 1999, and has owned Bank Lviv since 2006. He was Icelandic Chess Champion in 1986 and 1987, and Nordic Chess Champion in 1987.

Zirka Frometa Castillo is a Cuban chess player who holds the FIDE title of Woman Grandmaster. She is a three-time winner of the Cuban Women's Chess Championship.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sanja Vuksanović</span> Serbian chess player (born 1967)

Sanja Vuksanović is a Serbian chess player. She earned the FIDE title of Woman Grandmaster (WGM) in 1998. She won FR Yugoslavia Women's Chess Championship in 1992. In July 1998, she reached FIDE Top 50 Women ranking list.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slavoljub Marjanović</span> Serbian chess grandmaster (born 1955)

Slavoljub Marjanović is a Serbian chess Grandmaster (GM) (1978), Yugoslav Chess Championship winner (1985), Chess Olympiad team bronze medal winner (1980), FIDE Senior Trainer (2004).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slim Bouaziz</span> Tunisian chess grandmaster (born 1950)

Slim Bouaziz is a Tunisian chess Grandmaster (1993).

Amador Rodríguez Céspedes is a Cuban chess Grandmaster (GM) (1978) who represented Spain since 2002.

References

  1. "Nick E. de Firmian". World Chess Hall of Fame. March 23, 2017. Retrieved August 9, 2021.
  2. Wojciech Bartelski. "OlimpBase Men's Chess Olympiads Nick De Firmian". Olimpbase.org. Retrieved March 12, 2012.
  3. 1 2 Penguin Random House, Nick de Firmian ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  4. Winter, Edward "Capablanca Goes Algebraic" Chess Notes
  5. Adisa Banjoko, US Chess Rising: Adisa Banjoko with de Firmian & Donaldson, May 19, 2017. Retrieved January 26, 2020.
  6. "Nick de Firmian vs. Predrag Nikolic, Tunis Interzonal (1985)". Chessgames.com .
Achievements
Preceded by United States Chess Champion
1987 (with Joel Benjamin)
Succeeded by
Preceded by United States Chess Champion
1995 (with Patrick Wolff and Alexander Ivanov)
Succeeded by
Preceded by United States Chess Champion
1998
Succeeded by