Abraham Helman (10 December 1907 – 16 March 1952) was a Canadian

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...

player.

Biography

Abraham Helman was silver medalist of the

Canadian Chess Championship This is the list of all the winners of the Canadian Chess Championship, often referred to as the Canadian Closed Championship to distinguish it from the annual Canadian Open tournament. The winner of the Canadian Closed advances to the World Cup st ...

in 1933. Also he was

Manitoba Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...

Chess Champion in 1933 and 1944, and

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

Chess Champion in 1947 and 1948, and British Columbia Fast Chess Champion in 1948. Abraham Helman played for Canada in the

Chess Olympiad The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams representing nations of the world compete. FIDE organises the tournament and selects the host nation. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, FIDE held an Online Chess Olympiad in 2020 and ...

: * In 1939, at reserve board in the

8th Chess Olympiad The 8th Chess Olympiad ( es, La 8a Olimpíada de ajedrez, link=no), organised by the Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE), comprised an open tournament, as well as a Women's World Championship contest. The main team event took place betwe ...

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

(+1, =0, -2). Abraham Helman was born on the territory of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

. He came to Canada no later than 1926. Abraham Helman lived in Winnipeg. He was a member of the Winnipeg Jewish Chess Club. In 1945 he moved to Vancouver. Together with D. Creamer and F. Antikov, Abraham Helman founded the Vancouver Jewish Chess Club and became its first president. Abraham Helman was a businessman. During his stay in Vancouver, he was the owner of a furniture store ''Tip Top Furniture''. Abraham Helman was supposed to participate in the 1951 Canadian Chess Championship, which had the status of a World Chess Championship Zonal tournament, but declined the invitation, citing illness. He died suddenly of heart failure. In 1952, in memory of Abraham Helman, a memorial tournament in fast chess was held in Vancouver (won by J. Taylor and C. Millar). Also dedicated to Helman was a fast chess tournament organized in 1953, which took place in Winnipeg during the Canadian Chess Championship (tournament won by

Daniel Yanofsky Daniel Abraham Yanofsky, (March 25, 1925 – March 5, 2000), commonly known as Daniel Yanofsky or Abe Yanofsky, was a Canadian chess player, chess writer, chess arbiter, and lawyer. He was Canada's first Grandmaster and an eight-time Canadian ...

References

External links

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Abraham Helman
chess games at 365chess.com 1907 births 1952 deaths Canadian chess players Chess Olympiad competitors 20th-century chess players {{Canada-chess-bio-stub