Arturo Pomar

Arturo Pomar Salamanca (1 September 1931 – 26 May 2016) was a Spanish chess player. He was the first Spanish player to be awarded the title of grandmaster (GM), and was a seven-time national champion.

Pomar was born in Palma de Mallorca and was known in his youth, as Arturito. Hailed as a chess prodigy, he was runner-up at the Championship of the Balearic Isles when he was 10 years old, and won the title the following year. World Champion Alexander Alekhine spent time in Spain and Portugal after World War II and took an interest in the young Pomar, even giving him a series of special chess lessons. A part of Alekhine’s 1946 book ‘’Legado!’’ was devoted to him.

He played his first international tournament at Madrid in October 1943. Narrowly avoiding last place, he defeated Friedrich Saemisch, who was of grandmaster strength. Then, at just 13 years of age, he was able to draw a game against his esteemed teacher at a tournament in Gijón (1944). The game itself was an exciting "back and forth" affair, with Pomar outplaying the World Champion in the endgame phase and reaching a theoretically won position. However, inexact play allowed Alekhine to draw, in a game that lasted over 70 moves. Alekhine won the event and Pomar finished fifth.

His precocious talent caused chess writers to speak of him in the same breath as celebrated child prodigies Paul Morphy, Jose Raul Capablanca, Sammy Reshevsky and Bobby Fischer. In his home country, he became quite famous, appearing in radio interviews and on film., but as his career progressed, he never quite fulfilled the early promise.

Pomar's best results in international competition probably occurred at the Madrid Zonal of 1960, where he shared first place with Svetozar Gligoric, Jan Hein Donner and Lajos Portisch; at Torremolinos 1961 (first with Gligoric); Malaga 1964 (first, ahead of Portisch); Palma de Mallorca 1966 (second, after Mikhail Tal, ahead of Portisch); and at Malaga 1971 (first). His success in 1960 qualified him for a place at the Stockholm Interzonal tournament of 1962, where he finished 11th= (Fischer won). This was as close as he got to mounting a challenge for the world title.

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