Roman Shlemovich Pelts (August 11, 1937 – October 10, 2022) was a Ukrainian-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 ...
master.
Biography
Pelts was born in
Odessa
Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrativ ...
on August 11, 1937.
In 1959, Pelts founded a chess school in Odessa. Seven of his early students became grandmasters:
Lev Alburt
Lev Osipovich Alburt (born August 21, 1945) is a chess Grandmaster, writer and coach. He was born in Orenburg, Russia, and became three-time Ukrainian Champion. After defecting to the United States in 1979, he became three-time U.S. Champion ...
,
Sam Palatnik,
Vladimir Tukmakov
Vladimir Borisovich Tukmakov (, born March 5, 1946 in Odessa) is a Ukrainian chess grandmaster. He gained the Grandmaster title in 1972.
Career
His career first blossomed when he helped and then led the USSR to consecutive wins of the World St ...
,
Valeri Beim,
Konstantin Lerner
Konstantin Zaivelevich Lerner ( uk, Костантин Зайвелевич Лернер; 28 February 1950, Odessa, Ukraine, former USSR – 24 September 2011, Herzlia, Israel) was a Ukrainian chess grandmaster (GM). In 1978 and 1982, he w ...
,
Leonid Yurtaev, and
Boris Kantsler. He was the official trainer for the 1971 USSR student team on which
Anatoly Karpov
Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov ( rus, links=no, Анато́лий Евге́ньевич Ка́рпов, p=ɐnɐˈtolʲɪj jɪvˈɡʲenʲjɪvʲɪtɕ ˈkarpəf; born May 23, 1951) is a Russian and former Soviet chess grandmaster, former World Ches ...
and
Alexander Beliavsky
Alexander Genrikhovich Beliavsky (, ua, Олександр Генріхович Бєлявський, sl, Aleksander Henrikovič Beljavski; also romanized ''Belyavsky''; born December 17, 1953) is a Soviet, Ukrainian and Slovenian chess play ...
played.
At the beginning of his career, he took 15th at
Minsk
Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach and the now subterranean Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the admi ...
1962 (
Anatoly Bannik
Anatoly Alexandrovich Bannik (December 1921, in Kyiv – 19 January 2013) was a Ukrainians, Ukrainian chess Chess master, Master. He was a five-time Ukrainian champion, and qualified for the Soviet Chess Championship final seven times. He was among ...
won), and played board one on the Soviet national team that won the 1964 Students' World Championship at
Kraków
Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...
, Poland.
Pelts came to Canada in 1978. After moving to
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
, he established the first Canadian chess school in 1979. He later settled in
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
and continued his school there.
Pelts played for Canada in three
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 ...
s: at
Lucerne
Lucerne ( , ; High Alemannic German, High Alemannic: ''Lozärn'') or Luzern ()Other languages: gsw, Lozärn, label=Lucerne German; it, Lucerna ; rm, Lucerna . is a city in central Switzerland, in the Languages of Switzerland, German-speaking po ...
1982 and
Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area, and the capi ...
1984 and 1988.
In 1981 Pelts earned the title of
FIDE Master
FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating an ...
.
He was inducted into the Canadian Chess Hall of Fame in 2001.
Pelts died in Toronto on October 10, 2022, at the age of 85.
Publications
* Roman Pelts &
Lev Alburt
Lev Osipovich Alburt (born August 21, 1945) is a chess Grandmaster, writer and coach. He was born in Orenburg, Russia, and became three-time Ukrainian Champion. After defecting to the United States in 1979, he became three-time U.S. Champion ...
, ''Comprehensive Chess Course - Volume I'', 126 pages
* Roman Pelts &
Lev Alburt
Lev Osipovich Alburt (born August 21, 1945) is a chess Grandmaster, writer and coach. He was born in Orenburg, Russia, and became three-time Ukrainian Champion. After defecting to the United States in 1979, he became three-time U.S. Champion ...
, ''Comprehensive Chess Course - Volume II'', 304 pages
* Roman Pelts &
Lev Alburt
Lev Osipovich Alburt (born August 21, 1945) is a chess Grandmaster, writer and coach. He was born in Orenburg, Russia, and became three-time Ukrainian Champion. After defecting to the United States in 1979, he became three-time U.S. Champion ...
, ''Cours complet d'échecs'', Éditions Fédération québécoise des échecs (https://fqechecs.qc.ca/),
Montréal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-p ...
, 1989, (translation of the above 2 titles)
References
See also
Chess Academy of Canada Roman Pelts' Toronto-based chess school.
1937 births
2022 deaths
Ukrainian chess players
Canadian chess players
Jewish chess players
Jewish Canadian sportspeople
Ukrainian emigrants to Canada
Ukrainian Jews
Sportspeople from Odesa
Canadian people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent
Chess coaches
Chess FIDE Masters
Chess Olympiad competitors
{{Canada-chess-bio-stub