Arturo Pomar Salamanca, Spanish chess grandmaster, Died at 84

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Arturo Pomar Salamanca was born on September 1, 1931, and died on May 26, 2016.

He was a Spanish chess player.

He was the first Spanish player to be awarded the title of grandmaster (GM).

Subsequently after World War II, he shared sixth place at the 1946 London tournament (Herman Steiner won) and won a short match against Jacques Mieses (1½–½) there.

He tied for 12–13th at Barcelona 1946 (Miguel Najdorf won); tied for 15–16th at Mar del Plata 1949 (Hector Rossetto won); won at Santa Fe 1949; tied for second/third place, behind Paul Michel, at Rosario 1949; shared first at Paris 1949; tied for second/third at Gijon 1950; took 15th at Madrid 1951 (Lodewijk Prins won); took 14th at Bad Pyrmont 1951 (zonal); he also took 2nd at Hollywood 1952; tied for first/second at New Orleans 1954 (US Open); won at Gijón 1955; tied for second/third at Madrid 1957; won at Santander 1958; shared first with Francisco José Pérez at Madrid 1959.

In 1960, Arturo Pomar Salamanca shared first with Svetozar Gligorić, Lajos Portisch and Jan Hein Donner in Madrid (zonal) and tied for second/third in play-off there.

Arturo Pomar Salamanca tied for first/second at Torremolinos 1961; tied for 11–12th in Stockholm 1962 (interzonal, Bobby Fischer won); took fifth at Enschede 1963 (zonal, Gligorić won); he won at Málaga 1964; then he took fourth at Málaga 1965 (Antonio Medina won); he shared first with Alberic O’Kelly de Galway and Klaus Darga at Palma de Mallorca 1965; he also took second, behind Mikhail Botvinnik, at Amsterdam 1966 (IBM tournament); took second, behind Mikhail Tal at Palma de Mallorca 1966; tied for 10–12th at Beverwijk 1967 (Boris Spassky won); took eighth at Palma de Mallorca 1968 (Viktor Korchnoi won); took 13th at Palma de Mallorca (Bent Larsen won); won at Málaga 1971, tied for 12–14th at Madrid 1973 (Anatoly Karpov won).

Arturo Pomar Salamanca was Spanish Champion seven times (1946, 1950, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1962, and 1966), and Sub-Champion four times (1951, 1956, 1964, and 1969).

Arturo Pomar Salamanca passed away at 84 yrs old.