- Josif Dorfman
Josif (Josef, Iossif, Iosif) Davidovich Dorfman (born
1 May 1952 ,Zhitomir ) is a Ukrainian-Frenchchess Grandmaster, coach, and chess writer.Dorfman played in several USSR championships. In 1975, he took 13th in
Yerevan (43rd URS-ch;Tigran Petrosian won). In 1976, he tied for 5-7th inMoscow (44th URS-ch;Anatoly Karpov won). One of his most emphatic victories occurred in qualification for this championship, at the 1976 First League tournament, where he finished 1½ points clear of the field (+6, =11). In 1977, he was joint USSR Champion withBoris Gulko (both +4, =11, ahead of Petrosian, Polugaevsky and Tal). The subsequent play-off match was drawn (+1 –1 =4). In 1978, he took 17th inTbilisi (46th URS-ch; Tal and Tseshkovsky won). In 1981, he tied for 8-9th inFrunze (49th URS-ch;Lev Psakhis andGarry Kasparov won). In 1984, he took 12th inLvov (51st URS-ch;Andrei Sokolov won).After finishing Soviet Champion in 1977, both he and Gulko posted very disappointing results; normally the reigning champion would finish in the top half of the table. It is known however, that both players were subjected to a wave of
anti-semitism that existed at the time. Although the extent of this treatment remains a matter of speculation, it is perhaps not entirely coincidental that they subsequently moved abroad and adopted new nationalities.In tournaments he tied for 2nd-4th at
Pecs 1976, took 2nd atSão Paulo 1978, tied for 2nd-4th atPolanica Zdrój 1978, 1st-3rd atDjakarta 1979, 3rd-5th atManila 1979. He won atZamardi 1980. He was a winner atWarsaw 1983 (+6, =8), was 1st= atLvov 1984, 1st at Moscow 1985, and 5th= atMinsk 1986.He acted as one of
Garry Kasparov 's seconds in his first four World Championship matches againstAnatoly Karpov . Later Dorfman moved to France. He coached the French playerEtienne Bacrot from age nine to Grandmaster level, when he became France's and the world's youngest ever.In 1998, Dorfman won the French national championship in
Méribel (73rd FRA-ch). Two years later, he was runner-up to his former student, Bacrot.He played for France in three
Chess Olympiads .
* In 1998, at 2nd board in the 33rd Olympiad inElista (+3 –0 =6);
* In 2002, at 2nd board in the 35th Olympiad inBled (+1 –1 =8);
* In 2004, at 3rd board in the 36th Olympiad inCalvia (+2 –0 =8).Dorfman was awarded the IM title in 1977 and the GM title in 1978. He was the author of the book "The Method in Chess".
References
*cite book | author=Hooper, David and Whyld, Kenneth | title=
The Oxford Companion to Chess | publisher=Oxford University | year=1984 | id=ISBN 0192175408
*cite book | author=Cafferty, Bernard andMark Taimanov | title=The Soviet Championships | publisher=Cadogan Chess | year=1998 | id=ISBN 1857442016External links
*fide|id=604011|name=Josif D Dorfman
*
* [http://www.chessworld.net/chessclubs/statistics_pgn_rating_chart.asp?username=Dorfman,Josif%20D Statistics at ChessWorld.net]
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