Arturo Pomar
Toronto Daily Star, February 7 1946
I don't know whether this was an old file photo or whether the caption had his age wrong, but Arturo Pomar Salamanca (1931-2016) was actually 14, not 12, at the time that this edition of the Daily Star came out. In 1944, when he was 13, Pomar drew a game with reigning chess world champion Alexander Alekhine; he remains the youngest player ever to draw against a world champion.
Pomar went on to have a long career in chess, though he never challenged for the world championship. He competed for Spain in the Chess Olympiad from 1958 to 1980.
Created August 22, 2025.