Salo Flohr (November 21, 1908 – July 18, 1983) was a leading Czech-Jewish chess master of the early 20th century. He became a national hero in Czechoslovakia during the 1930s and his name was used to sell many of the luxury products of the time, including Salo Flohr cigarettes, Salo Flohr slippers and Salo Flohr eau-de-cologne. He dominated many of the chess tournaments of the pre-war years and at one point looked to be a genuine contender for the World Chess Championship. November 21 is the 325th day of the year (326th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1908 is a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... July 18 is the 199th day (200th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 166 days remaining. ... 1983 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The word Jew (Hebrew: יהודי) is used in a wide number of ways, but generally refers to a follower of the Jewish faith, a child of a Jewish mother, or someone of Jewish descent with a connection to Jewish culture or ethnicity; and often a combination of these attributes. ... Many countries claim to have invented the chess game in some incipient form. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999 in the... // Events and trends The 1930s were spent struggling for a solution to the global depression. ... The 1984 World Chess Championship was between Anatoly Karpov (right) and Garry Kasparov (left). ...

Flohr had a troubled childhood beset by personal crises. He was born in Horodenka in what was then Poland, but is now in Ukraine. He and his brother were orphaned during World War 1 after his parents were killed in a massacre and they both had to flee to the newly-formed nation of Czechoslovakia. Ypres, 1917, in the vicinity of the Battle of Passchendaele. ...

Flohr settled in Prague and gradually acquired a reputation as a skilled chessplayer by playing for stakes in the city's many cafés. During 1924 he participated in simultaneous exhibitions by Richard Réti and Rudolf Spielmann and he was still enjoying simuls well into his seventies. Prague (Czech: Praha, see also other names) is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. ... A Simultaneous exhibition is an event where Chess Masters play multiple chess games at a time with selected players (usually below master strength). ... Richard Réti (1889 – 1929) was a Czechoslovakian chess player, although he was born in what was then Hungary. ... Rudolf Spielmann (5 May 1883 - 20 August 1942) was an Austrian-Jewish chess player of the romantic school. ...

Flohr won the Kautsky Memorial tournaments of 1928 and 1929 which were held in Prague and made his international debut at the Rogaška Slatina tournament in Slovenia. Here he performed very creditably, finishing second to Akiba Rubinstein. Flohr had also taken a job as a chess journalist and one of his first assignments had been to cover the 1928 Berlin tournament where he continued to win money on the side by playing chess. 1928 was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1929 was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Prague (Czech: Praha, see also other names) is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. ... Akiba Rubinstein (born 12 December 1882, died 15 March 1961 in Antwerp) was a brilliant Polish chess master and a famous grandmaster at the beginning of the 20th century. ...   Berlin? (pronounced: , German ) is the capital of Germany and its largest city, with 3,426,000 inhabitants (as of January 2005); down from 4. ...

The thirties saw Salo Flohr reach his peak, and, according to the chessmetrics website, he would have been rated around 2680 (ELO) in 1935. He became Champion of Czechoslovakia in 1933 and 1936 and played in many tournaments throughout Europe, generally finishing amongst the top three. Notable victories were at Bad Sliač in 1932 where he shared first place with Milan Vidmar; Moscow in 1935 where he came 1st= with Mikhail Botvinnik, a future World Champion; Poděbrady in 1936 with the outstanding score of +10 =6 and -1 and Kemeri in 1937 where he shared the top spot with Vladimir Petrov and Samuel Reshevsky. Milan Vidmar (June 22, 1885 - October 9, 1962) was a Slovene electrical engineer, chess player and chess theorist, born in Ljubljana, Austria-Hungary (now Slovenia). ... Saint Basils Cathedral and Spasskaya Tower of Moscow Kremlin at Red Square. ... Mikhail Moiseevich Botvinnik (Михаи́л Моисе́евич Ботви́нник) (August 17, 1911 - May 5, 1995) was a Russian International Grandmaster and long-time World Champion of chess. ... Vladimir Petrov (born June 30, 1947 in Krasnogorsk (30 km from Moscow), Soviet Union) is Soviet ice hockey player, two times Olympic Champion (1972-gold, 1976-gold, 1980-silver) , who is currently retired. ... Samuel Herman (Sammy) Reshevsky (born November 26, 1911, Ozorkow, Poland - died April 4, 1992, New York, USA) was a leading American chess Grandmaster. ...

Flohr was also a frequent visitor to England and he had a terrific run in the Hastings tournaments of the early 1930s - he was 1st in 1931/32, 1932/33 and 1933/34 and finished 1st= with Max Euwe and Sir George Thomas in 1934/35. In addition he won the Margate tournament of 1936 ahead of José Raúl Capablanca. Royal motto: Dieu et mon droit (French: God and my right) Englands location within the UK Official language English de facto Capital London de facto Largest city London Area  - Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 km² Population  - Total (2001)  - Density Ranked 1st UK 49,138,831 377/km² Ethnicity... Hastings is a town and local government district in South East England, in the county of East Sussex. ... Max Euwe Machgielis (Max) Euwe (last name is pronounced /ø:wə/) (May 20, 1901 – November 26, 1981) was a Dutch chess player. ... Sir George Alan Thomas (1881-1972) was a British chess, badminton and tennis player. ... José Raúl Capablanca y Graupera (November 19, 1888 - March 8, 1942) was a Cuban world-class chess master in the early to mid-twentieth century. ...

His form for his adopted country in the Chess Olympiads was equally impressive and on his debut in Hamburg (1930) Flohr scored 14½/17 on Board 1. He went on to win 2 individual gold medals, 1 silver and 1 bronze from five Olympiads and his country won bronze in 1931 and the silver in 1933. This article or section should include material from Chess tournament history The Chess Olympiad is a chess event which has been officially organised by FIDE since 1927 and takes place every second year. ... Position of Hamburg in Germany Hamburgs central broadway Jungfernstieg at the Alster lake, between 1900 and 1914 This article is about the city in Germany. ...

In addition Flohr enjoyed a fair amount of success in match play and he arranged two matches against his main rivals for the title of Challenger to the World Champion - Alexander Alekhine. He drew a 16 game match against Euwe in 1932 (+3 =10 -3) and also drew against Botvinnik a year later (+2 =8 -2). However, Flohr did manage to beat Gosta Stoltz by 5½-2½ in 1931 and, a year later, he narrowly beat Mir Sultan Khan, the British Champion of 1932 and 1933, by 3½-2½. Alexander Alekhine Alexander Alexandrovich Alekhine (sometimes spelled Aljechin) (in Russian, Александр Александрович Але́хин), (October 31 or November 1, 1892 – March 24, 1946) was a chess master and a former World Chess Champion. ... Mir Sultan Khan (1905 - 1966) was generally considered to have been the strongest chess master of his time from Asia. ... The British Chess Championship is organised by the British Chess Federation. ...

By 1937 he had been nominated by FIDE to be the official candidate to play Alekhine for the World Championship. However the Second World War intervened and it proved impossible for Flohr to raise the stake money in Czechoslovakia and the plans were dropped. By the time of the Nazi invasion of his country in 1938 Flohr, as a Polish Jew, was in serious personal danger and he and his family had to flee, first to Sweden, and then to Moscow with the help of his friend Botvinnik. Not surpringly, these problems affected Flohr's game and when he played in the great AVRO tournament of November 1938 his game had deteriorated to such an extent that he finished last. The Fédération Internationale des Échecs or World Chess Federation is an international organization that connects the various national chess federations around the world. ... World War II was a truly global conflict with many facets: immense human suffering, fierce indoctrinations, and the use of new, extremely devastating weapons like the atom bomb. ...

Flohr became a naturalized Soviet citizen in 1942 and developed his writing career in his new country, contributing articles to a number of Soviet newspapers and magazines including Ogonek. After the War he was still in contention for a possible World Championship match and finished 6th at the 1948 Interzonal in Saltsjobaden, thereby qualifying to play in the 1950 Candidates tournament in Budapest. However Flohr finished joint last with 7/18 and he never entered the World Championship cycle again, preferring to concentrate on journalism and a role as a chess organiser - he was awarded the title of International Arbiter in 1963. State motto: Пролетарии всех стран, соединяйтесь! (transliteration: Proletarii vsekh stran, soedinyaytes!) (Russian: Workers of the world, unite!) Official language None; Russian (de facto) Capital Moscow Area  - Total  - % water 1st before collapse 22,402,200 km²  ?% Population  - Total  - Density 3rd before collapse 293,047,571 (July 1991) 13. ... Budapest (pronounced ) is the capital city of Hungary and the countrys principal political, industrial, commercial and transportation centre. ... International Arbiter is a title awarded by the world governing body of chess, FIDE, to individuals deemed capable of acting as arbiter in important events (the arbiters are responsible for ensuring the rules and laws of chess are adhered to). ...

Salo Flohr died in Moscow on July 18, 1983. July 18 is the 199th day (200th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 166 days remaining. ... 1983 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Salomon Flohr was one of Czechoslovakia's greatest ever chessplayers and he proved virtually invincible at the Olympiads of the 1930s. His tournament record was impressive with his sheer tactical skill and excellent endgame technique securing him many famous victories. He was awarded the International Grandmaster title by FIDE in 1950 and he made a number of contributions to opening theory - a 'Flohr variation' can be found in no fewer than six major openings including the Caro-Kann Defence and the Grünfeld Defence. The title International Grandmaster is awarded to world-class chess masters by the world chess organization FIDE. Apart from World Champion, Grandmaster is the highest title a chess player can attain. ... The Caro-Kann Defense is a common chess opening characterized by the moves 1. ... The Grünfeld Defence is a chess opening characterised by the moves (in algebraic notation) 1. ...

Unfortunately the Second World War killed off any chance he had of winning the World title and the stress of becoming a refugee for the second time in his life affected his style of play. He became a much more cautious player in his post-war games and earned a drawish reputation.

External link

• 25 Crucial Positions from His Games