Miron Sher

In that tournament, Arkady Novopashin (1932–2014) (ru) was 2nd and WGM Maia Chiburdanidze, age 20 at the time, tied GM Vladimir Tukmakov for 1st.

GM Adrian Mikhalchishin, also from the Ukraine who had known Sher since childhood, stated that Sher had been a student of Anatoly Gurevich and that he never got to play on the Ukrainian youth team despite his talent because he was competing for spots with future GMs Alexander Beliavsky, Oleg Romanishin, and others.

Over the prior nineteen years – from 1950, when the distinction was first conferred upon women, through 1973 – only 56 women had won the title.

Miron Naumovich Sher (Мирон Наумович Шер; June 29, 1952 – August 20, 2020) was a Soviet-born American chess player, who was awarded the title of Grandmaster (GM) by FIDE in 1992.

Towards the end of the Soviet era, he began winning the open sections at international tournaments.

She was one of three women, nationwide, to win the distinction in 1974.

He went on to grad school at the State Central Order of Lenin Institute of Physical Education in Moscow; and, in 1975, in addition to his academics, Sher met the norms and was awarded the national title and rank Master of Sports of the USSR in Chess (ru) – one of twenty-five nationwide to earn the distinction that year (not to be confused with an academic master's degree in sports).

Sher's wife, WGM Alla Grinfeld (see Family section below) won the title, Master of Sports of the USSR in Chess, a year earlier.

Sher's tournament successes include a shared 1st place at the 1981 USSR Armed Forces Championship (ru) for chess in Mykolaiv and a shared 3rd place at the semifinals of the Soviet Championship that same year.

In 1981, Sher became a chess coach for the Russian national team, a role he held until 1985.

According to Mikhalchishin, "Miron was known for his great opening knowledge, which helped him to become great trainer."

In 1986, at the Belavenets Memorial, held annually in Smolensk since 1984 in honor of Sergey Belavenets, Sher shared 1st in a four-way tie with Alexander Baburin (born 1967), Anatoly Donchenko (de) (born 1940), and Viktor Kuporosov (born 1961), each with 8-1⁄2 points.

Beginning 1987, when the USSR began relaxing international travel restrictions for Soviet citizens, Sher began to achieve international success.

That year, in Prague, Sher placed 2nd in a three-way tie.

In June 1988, at Novi Sad, Serbia, Sher placed in a seven-way tie for 3rd with Arshak Petrosian, Semen Dvoirys, Vladimir Petrienko, Nikolay Legky (ru), and Rajko Miranovic; behind Vereslav Eingorn and Ashot Anastasian (tied for 2nd), and Vladimir Bagirov (1st).

Sher became an international master in 1988 and a grandmaster in 1992.

In 1989, at Eforie Nord, Romania, he placed 2nd in a five-way tie.

In 1989, he won outright an international tournament at Balatonberény.

In June 1989, Sher placed third, behind GMs Evgeni Vasiukov and Gennadij Timoscenko in Budapest at the XIV Elekes Dezső Nemzetközi Sakk Emlékversenyt (14th Dezső Elekes International Chess Memorial Competition), an annual event inaugurated in 1976 in honor of the statistician and chess player, Dezső Elekes (hu) (1889–1965).

In 1990, in Belgorod, he shared 1st with Evgeni Vasiukov (see game with Ratmir Kholmov at www.chessgames.com).

Beginning 1990, after several visits to Scandinavia, Sher began coaching Peter Heine Nielsen in Copenhagen, which was 45 minutes by plane from Kaliningrad.

Every three months, for four years, Sher traveled there to spend a week with Nielsen.

In 1991, when the Soviet Union dissolved, Sher became a Russian citizen.

In 1991, in Belgorod, Sher shared 1st with Igor Novikov and Maxim Sorokin.

In October 1993, he tied for 1st at the Farum Open with GMs Lars Bo Hansen (de), Raj Tischbierek, Henrik Danielsen, Ralf Åkesson, and Nick de Firmian.

In December 1994, as the winner of the 1993–1994 Hastings Challengers, he qualified for the 1994–1995 Premier tournament, where he tied 3rd with Colin McNab, behind John Nunn (2nd), and Thomas Luther (1st).

According to Sher, they finished in 1994, after Nielsen became a grandmaster, but their relationship endured.

In 1997, Sher, his wife, Woman Grandmaster (WGM) Alla Grinfeld (ru), and their son, Mikhail, who then was 14, emigrated to America and settled in Brooklyn.

Sher went on to become a distinguished scholastic chess coach and clinician in New York and was instrumental in developing several internationally strong players, notably Fabiano Caruana, many times number two in the world, and Robert Hess, who at age 15, while attending Stuyvesant High School, became an international master and at 16, a grandmaster.

Before immigrating, Sher had also coached a number of students around Europe, including Peter Heine Nielsen.

Sher was born in Chernivtsi, Ukraine, and completed his bachelor's degree at Chernivtsi University.

Sher coached GM Fabiano Caruana from age 8 to 12 – 2000 to 2004.

According to a 2002 article in the Lincoln Journal Star, Caruana's weekly regimen – with no mention of school – consisted of roughly 28 hours training, 5 one-hour lessons with Sher, 4 hours playing on the Internet Chess Club site, 15 hours of tournament competition, and 4 hours of solving chess problems.

Caruana, as a dual citizen of the U.S. and Italy, holds many distinctions in chess.

Notably, at age 14, he became the youngest U.S. and Italian citizen to become a grandmaster.

In New York, Sher coached in several scholastic chess programs, including, for many years, the Dalton School, whose chess director, David MacEnulty, is portrayed in the 2005 film, Knights of the South Bronx. Other scholastic programs included IS 318, subject of the 2012 film, Brooklyn Castle, and Stuyvesant High School.

In 2013, Nielsen joined the team of assistants who helped Magnus Carlsen prepare for the 2013 Candidates Tournament World Championship.

Before that, Nielsen was on Viswanathan Anand's team.

While working with Magnus, Nielsen turned to Sher for coaching advice.

As of 2020, Nielsen is second in the world behind World Champion GM Magnus Carlsen.