 Gheorghiu in Altensteig, 1987 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1944-04-06)6 April 1944 (age 81) |
| Chess career | |
| Country | Romania |
| Title | Grandmaster (1965) |
| Peak rating | 2605 (January 1980) |
| Peak ranking | No. 10 (January 1980) |
Florin Gheorghiu (born 6 April 1944) is aRomanianchess player and has been a university lecturer in foreign languages.
Born inPloiești, on 6 April 1944, while the American bombersattacked the country's capital, his prodigious talent for the game was evidenced by his many early achievements; he became anInternational Master in 1963 and Romania's firstGrandmaster just two years later.
He earned the title ofWorld Junior Champion in 1963, at Vrnjacka Banja, and has been the national champion of Romania on nine occasions.
Gheorghiu was a lecturer in French at theUniversity of Bucharest and he also speaks English, Russian, German, and Spanish.[1]
When playing at his peak on the international tournament circuit, he was many times a winner. His victories included:Hastings 1967–68 (withHort andStein), Reykjavik 1972 (withHort andÓlafsson), Orense 1973, Torremolinos 1974 (withTorre),Lone Pine 1979 (withGligorić,Liberzon, and Hort), Novi Sad 1979, Biel 1982 (withNunn) and Lenk 1990. He was always a formidable opponent at theU.S. Open tournament and finished first in three successive years—1979, 1980 (withFedorowicz) and 1981 (withChristiansen and three others).
In his home country, there were few who could rival his dominance of the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. He won theRomanian Championship nine times (1960, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1973, 1977 and 1987). In 1970 he was equal first withVictor Ciocâltea, and after a subsequent tie-break match (5-5) the latter was awarded the champion title.
Despite these successes, Gheorghiu has seldom been regarded a serious contender for the world chess championship title. Although he regularly participated in the cycle and at other prestigious events, his placings at fourInterzonal Tournaments (world championship qualifiers) confirmed that he was not as strong as the world's elite players at the time, but could nevertheless perform consistently well at a high level. AtPetrópolis 1973 he finished 14th, atManila 1976 10–13th,Riga 1979 5–6th, and atMoscow 1982, he came 12th. At the Riga Interzonal, he only narrowly failed to qualify for theCandidates Matches. Overall, he participated in nine Zonal and four Interzonal tournaments.
Playing for Romania in team competitions, he amassed 459 games in 64 contests (including friendly matches with other nations), summing up to an overall result of 145 wins, 272 draws, and 42 losses. This included playing in everyChess Olympiad between 1962 and 1990, usually on first board. Further details are given in the table below.
| Town | Year | Contest's name | + | = | - |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tbilisi | 1960 | friendly match S. S. R. Georgia – Romania (b. 5) | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| Leningrad | 1960 | World student team ch. VII (reserve 1) | 5 | 1 | 1 |
| Bucharest | 1961 | friendly match Romania – S. S. R. Georgia (b. 5) | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| Karl Marx-Stadt | 1961 | friendly match East Germany – Romania (b. 1) | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Bucharest | 1962 | friendly match Romania – Bulgaria (b. 4) | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Budapest | 1962 | friendly match Hungary – Romania (b. 5) | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Mariánské Lázně | 1962 | World student team ch. IX (b. 1) | 4 | 8 | 1 |
| Varna | 1962 | Olympiad XV (b. 3) | 6 | 8 | 1 |
| Bucharest | 1963 | friendly match Romania – Hungary (b. 1) | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Kraków | 1964 | World student team ch. XI (b. 1) | 7 | 3 | 0 |
| Sinaia | 1964 | preliminaries ofEuropean team ch. (b. 3) | 4 | 2 | 0 |
| Tel Aviv | 1964 | Olympiad XVI (b. 2) | 8 | 8 | 1 |
| Bucharest | 1965 | friendly match Romania – Poland (b.1) | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Hamburg | 1965 | European team ch. III (b. 1) | 1 | 7 | 2 |
| Sinaia | 1965 | World student team ch. XII (b. 1) | 8 | 4 | 1 |
| Örebro | 1966 | World student team ch. XIII (b. 1) | 8 | 6 | 0 |
| Havana | 1966 | Olympiad XVII (b. 1) | 9 | 7 | 3 |
| Bucharest | 1966 | friendly match Romania – S. S. R. Latvia (b. 1) | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Warsaw | 1967 | friendly match Poland – Romania (b. 1) | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Sofia | 1967 | preliminaries of European team ch. (b. 1) | 2 | 4 | 0 |
| Harrachov | 1967 | World student team ch. XIV (b. 1) | 4 | 7 | 0 |
| Lugano | 1968 | Olympiad XVIII (b. 1) | 3 | 14 | 0 |
| Novi Sad | 1969 | friendly match Yugoslavia – Romania (b. 1) | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Bucharest | 1970 | friendly match Romania – Yugoslavia (b. 1) | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Siegen | 1970 | Olympiad XIX (b.1) | 6 | 10 | 3 |
| Bamberg | 1971 | friendly match Romania – West Germany (b. 1) | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Atena | 1971 | Balkaniad III (b. 1) | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Bucharest | 1971 | preliminaries of European team ch. (b. 2) | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Sofia | 1972 | Balkaniad IV (b. 1) | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Skopje | 1972 | Olympiad XX (b. 1) | 5 | 12 | 3 |
| Bath | 1973 | European team ch. V (b.1) | 0 | 5 | 2 |
| Paris | 1973 | friendly match France – Romania (b. 1) | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Poiana Brașov | 1973 | Balkaniad V (b. 1) | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| Nisa | 1974 | Olympiad XXI (b. 1) | 5 | 13 | 0 |
| Poreč | 1974 | Balkaniad VI (b. 1) | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Istanbul | 1975 | Balkaniad VII (b. 1) | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| Crans Montana | 1976 | preliminaries of European team ch. (b. 1) | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| Bucharest | 1976 | friendly match Romania – R. F. G. (b. 1) | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Athens | 1976 | friendly match Greece – Romania (b. 1) | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Athens | 1976 | Balkaniad VIII (b. 1) | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Moscow | 1977 | European team ch. VI (b. 1) | 1 | 5 | 1 |
| Albena | 1977 | Balkaniad IX (b. 1) | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Borås | 1978 | preliminaries of European team ch. (b. 1) | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Băile Herculane | 1978 | Balkaniad X (b. 1) | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| Buenos Aires | 1978 | Olympiad XXIII (b. 1) | 5 | 9 | 0 |
| Bensheim | 1979 | friendly match West Germany – Romania (b. 1) | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Istanbul | 1980 | Balkaniad XII (b. 1) | 2 | 3 | 0 |
| Malta | 1980 | Olympiad XXIV (b. 1) | 3 | 7 | 2 |
| Athens | 1981 | Balkaniad XIII (b. 1) | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Luzern | 1982 | Olympiad XXV (b. 1) | 3 | 5 | 4 |
| Băile Herculane | 1983 | Balkaniad XV (b. 2) | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Zinnowitz | 1983 | friendly match East Germany – Romania | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| Eforie Nord | 1984 | friendly match Romania – East Germany | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Skopje | 1984 | Balkaniad XVI (b. 1) | 0 | 4 | 1 |
| Salonic | 1984 | Olympiad XXVI (b. 2) | 5 | 8 | 1 |
| Iraklion | 1985 | Balkaniad XVII (b. 1) | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Luzern | 1985 | World team ch. I (b. 2) | 0 | 7 | 2 |
| Dubai | 1986 | Olympiad XXVII (b. 2) | 3 | 9 | 0 |
| Kaštel Stari | 1988 | Balkaniad XX (b. 1) | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| Thessaloniki | 1988 | Olympiad XXVIII (b.1) | 3 | 7 | 3 |
| Haifa | 1989 | European team ch. IX (b. 1) | 0 | 9 | 0 |
| Kavala | 1990 | Balkaniad XXI (b. 1) | 0 | 4 | 2 |
| Novi Sad | 1990 | Olympiad XXIX (b. 1) | 3 | 8 | 1 |
| Debrecen | 1992 | European team ch. X (b. 1) | 1 | 4 | 2 |
Gheorghiu is renowned for his success against the reputedly solidNimzo-Indian Defence. The variation comprising an earlyf3 for White (which is allied to the Sämisch Variation) became his trademark weapon, improving on the games and development work ofLajos Portisch andGyozo Forintos before him. The system is now referred to as the Gheorghiu Variation in manychess opening manuals and has been employed by tactical experts such asAlexei Shirov.
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Here is how Gheorghiu, playing White, beat futureworld championBobby Fischer at theHavana Olympiad in 1966. This was the only competitive game that Fischer ever lost to a player younger than himself.
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