Miron Sher

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

Career
Sher was born in Chernivtsi, Ukraine, and completed his bachelor's degree at Chernivtsi University. 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. She was one of three women, nationwide, to win the distinction in 1974. Over the prior nineteen years – from 1950, when the distinction was first conferred upon women, through 1973 – only 56 women had won the title.

Sher's tournament successes include a shared 1$th$ place at the 1981 USSR Armed Forces Championship (ru) for chess in Mykolaiv and a shared 3$st$ place at the semifinals of the Soviet Championship that same year. In that tournament, Arkady Novopashin (1932–2014) (ru) was 2$rd$ and WGM Maia Chiburdanidze, age 20 at the time, tied GM Vladimir Tukmakov for 1$nd$.

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.

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 1$st$ in a four-way tie with Alexander Baburin (born 1967), Anatoly Donchenko (de) (born 1940), and Viktor Kuporosov (born 1961), each with 8-$st$ 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 2$1/2$ in a three-way tie. In June 1988, at Novi Sad, Serbia, Sher placed in a seven-way tie for 3$nd$ with Arshak Petrosian, Semen Dvoirys, Vladimir Petrienko, Nikolay Legky (ru), and Rajko Miranovic; behind Vereslav Eingorn and Ashot Anastasian (tied for 2$rd$), and Vladimir Bagirov (1$nd$). In 1989, at Eforie Nord, Romania, he placed 2$st$ 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 (14$nd$ 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 1$th$ with Evgeni Vasiukov (see game with Ratmir Kholmov at www.chessgames.com). In 1991, in Belgorod, Sher shared 1$st$ with Igor Novikov and Maxim Sorokin. In October 1993, he tied for 1$st$ 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 3$st$ with Colin McNab, behind John Nunn (2$rd$), and Thomas Luther (1$nd$).

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

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

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.

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. But before that, while Sher was coaching him, he became the youngest U.S. player to defeat a grandmaster. On September 30, 2002, at the Marshall Chess Club, Caruana, at age 10, defeated GM Aleksander Wojtkiewicz, who then was 39 and ranked eighth in the U.S.

In 2005, Caruana, with his family, moved to Madrid where he trained with Boris Zlotnik (ru) until 2015. Zlotnik had worked 16 years in the Chess Department of Sher's alma mater, the State Central Order of Lenin Institute of Physical Education. Grigory Goldberg (ru) (1908–1976) founding Director of the Chess Department had hired Zlotnik as a Senior Lecturer in 1975; and from 1985 to 1991, Zlotnik served as Director of the department. In 1992, Zlotnik emigrated to Spain and settled in The Pyrenees and Madrid and became a Spanish citizen.

Beginning around 1999, while living in New York, Sher began training Keaton Kiewra, a 12-year-old from Lincoln, Nebraska. Sher had been highly recommended by David MacEnulty and Bruce Pandolfini. Sher mentored Kiewra through high school, in chess camps and by phone – two hours a week. At age 23 – January 8, 2011 – Kiewra qualified as an international master at the Berkeley International, a tournament that marked a rare week for U.S. Chess, if ever, in which four Americans, Kiewra included, earned qualifying titles: Sam Shankland, 19, grandmaster; Daniel Naroditsky, 15, and Conrad Holt, 17, international masters. In that tournament, Kiewra defeated GM Robert Hess.

Sher also coached Darrian Robinson (born 1994), who, when the Chicago Tribune published an article about her in 2014, was the highest rated African American female chess player in the U.S. Chess Federation system.

In 2009, the World Chess Federation established a Trainers' Commission, who in turn established criteria for certified FIDE educator credentials: (i) FIDE Senior Trainer, (ii) FIDE Trainer, (iii) FIDE Instructor, (iv) National Instructor, and (v) Developmental Instructor. Sher, who was among several distinguished coaches who disapproved, commented, "I don't need this piece of paper from FIDE to be considered a good coach." Yet, Sher submitted an application because GM Yuri Razuvaev, a fellow Russian who was chairman of the commission, asked him to do so. Reflecting on the rationale of his decision, Sher stated, "if only not good coaches were on the list, it would not be good." Sher became a FIDE Senior Trainer.

Family
Sher and his wife, Alla Berkovna Grinfeld (ru) (Алла Берковна Гринфельд), a Woman Grandmaster, met while Sher was studying in Voronezh, Russia. Alla is a distinguished scholastic chess educator in New York and worked closely with Miron in chess education. Alla was born in Spassk-Dalny, Primorsky Krai, Russia.

Sher had stated that the impetus for emigrating from Russia in 1997 was out of concern that his son, Mikhail, would be drafted in the Russian military. Mikhail, who began his U.S. education in the 9$st$ grade, has gone on to earn degrees at Carnegie Mellon (B.S. Mathematics/B.S. Economics, 2005), Columbia (M.S. Operations Research, 2006), and Drexel (Ph.D., 2015) and is now a scholar and educator in supply chain management.

Death
Sher died August 21, 2020, in New York City. He was buried August 23, 2020, at Mount Carmel Cemetery, Glendale. In an obituary for Sher published by the U.S. Chess Federation, GM Robert Hess stated that Sher had been his one and only coach.

Selected videos of games and lectures

 * Miron Sher vs. Viktor Bologan, 1993 via YouTube (re: Victor Bologan)
 * John Nunn vs. Miron Sher, 1994 via YouTube
 * Artur Kogan vs Miron Sher, 18$th$ Politiken Cup, Copenhagen, 1996 via YouTube (re: Artur Kogan)
 * "What Does It Take to Be a Chess Master?" (Miron Sher at IS 318, Williamsburg, Brooklyn), Teen Kids News, October 30, 2018, via YouTube

Extant published work

 * Trends in the Czech and Schmid Benoni, Vol. 2 (pamphlet; 34 pages), by Miron Sher (Kaliningrad); London: Trends Publications, owned by IM Andrew David Martin (de) of Sandhurst (February 1996); ; ISBN 1859320597; ISBN 9781859320594
 * Part 1: Black played by Czech Benoni
 * Part 2: King's Indian Benoni
 * Part 3: Schmid Benoni and Modern Benoni
 * "I present you with the 100 most important games in these openings during the period 1992–95 inclusive."
 * Includes games by Topalov, Lautier, Miles, Yermolinsky, Kaidanov, Alterman, Rogers, Chernin, Timoscenko, Wells, Norwood, Krasenkov, Atalik, Naumkin (it), J. Horvath, Adianto, Braga, Baburin, Urban, Schneider, and Skembris (de).