Eduard Gufeld
| Eduard Gufeld | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Full name | Eduard Gufeld |
| Country |
Soviet Union United States |
| Born |
March 19, 1936 Kiev, Soviet Union |
| Died | September 23, 2002 Los Angeles, United States |
| Title | Grandmaster |
| Peak rating | 2570 (January 1977) |
Eduard Yefimovich Gufeld (March 19, 1936, Kiev, Soviet Union – September 23, 2002) was a Soviet International Grandmaster of chess, and a chess author.
Gufeld began participating in chess tournaments in 1953 and won the junior championship of Ukraine the following year. He became an International Master in 1964, and became an International Grandmaster in 1967. In 1977 his Elo rating was 2570, and ranked 16th in the world.
He moved to Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia, where he coached Maia Chiburdanidze, who became the youngest women's world chess champion in 1978. After the fall of the Soviet Union, he emigrated to the United States.
He started the FIDE Committee on Chess Art and Exhibition.
He used to say to those who laughed at his English: "I think that my English is better than your Russian!"
Gufeld was one of the most prolific authors in all of chess, writing over 80 chess books.
His proudest achievements, however, were his win with the King's Indian Defence, Sämisch Variation against Vladimir Bagirov, which he called his "Mona Lisa," and his 1967 win over Vasily Smyslov (see below). The first of these games made it into John Nunn's collection of the hundred greatest games of all time, Mammoth Book of the World's Greatest Chess Games, and the 112-game collection that followed it. Gufeld beat Smyslov again in 1975.
In September 2002, Gufeld suffered a stroke and heart attack. Following a period of unconsciousness, he regained consciousness but was unable to speak or walk. He died two weeks later at the age of 66 in the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. He is interred in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Hollywood, CA.
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