Salo Flohr Is Nimble Against the Nimzo
Salomon Flohr (1908-1983) was born in a part of Poland that later belonged to Ukraine. His parents were killed in a World War I massacre. He and his brother escaped to Czechoslovakia , which had become independent of Austria-Hungary. By the late twenties Flohr was a strong player and in the thirties he was world class. He drew matches with Euwe and Botvinnik. He was unable to perform up to his level in the AVRO tournament of 1938, which was to choose an opponent to play Alekhine for the world championship. Flohr was a Jew and had to escape from Czechoslovakia with his family when the Germans invaded in 1938, months before AVRO. He went to Sweden and then the USSR where he would become a citizen. He continued to play while past his peak. He became a grandmaster, chess writer and organizer. Aleksandrs Koblencs (1916-1993) was a Latvian international master. Databases may have some of his games under the spellings of Aleksander Koblenc and Alexander Koblenz. He was Latvia's champion four times. Mikhail Tal was coached by Koblencs from his early teens through Tals' two championship matches with Botvinnik. He also coached Soviet teams in two Olympiads. The following game was played at Rosas in Spain, where Flohr came in first and Koblencs fourth.
