Chess Trivia IX
In 1970, the top USCF players were Fischer (2755), Reshevsky (2634), Benko (2575), Evans (2561), Kavalek (2535), and Lombardy (2523), and Robert Byrne (2505). Top Junior was Ken Rogoff (2328). (source: Chess Life & Review, Mar 1970, p. 160 and June 1970, p. 336)
In 1969, there were 636 students that competed in the Third Annual Los Angeles Scholastic Open Chess Tournament. This was the largest assemblage of chess players ever to participate in a single chess event outside of New York City. Over 150 trophies were presented by Mrs. Gregor Piatigorsky. (source: Chess Life & Review, April 1970, p. 234)
On May 6, 1970, Bobby Fischer won at Rovinj-Zagreb, scoring 13 out of 17. Fischer was playing White against Vlatko Kovacevic at Zagreb. On his 18th move, Fischer had a chance to win if Black made the obvious move. Petrosian and Korchnoi, who were watching the game, spotted Fischer’s deadly intention and were analyzing the position in a different room. Petrosian’s wife had followed the analysis of the Petrosian and Korchnoi, then walked across to the board and whispered the lines to Kovacevic. Kovacevic then played another, less obvious, but stronger move, and actually won the game. It was Fischer’s only loss in the 17-round tournament.
In June 1970, the first chess game ever played between a space vehicle and earth occurred during Soyuz 9. Cosmonauts Col. Andriyan Nikolayev (1929-2004) and Vitaly Sevastianov (1935-2010) had the White pieces against ground controllers Nicolai Kamanin and Victor Gorbaty. The game, a Queen’s Gambit Accepted, was drawn after 35 moves. Sevastianov was president of the Soviet Chess Federation from 1977 to 1986 and from 1988 to 1989. (source: Chess Life & Review, Oct 1970, p. 576)
On November 13, 1971, David Moran, and inmate at Western Penitentiary, was permitted to play in an out-of-prison chess match as Carnegie-Mellon University. During the chess match, he escaped. He was part of the “The Wall Knights” prison chess team. He was serving two to four years for receiving stolen goods. Another prisoner escaped a week later at another chess tournament. (source: Somerset Daily American, PA, Nov 25, 1971)
In 1972, during the World Youth Team championship in Graz, Switzerland, Robert Huebner of Germany was scheduled to play Ken Rogoff of the USA. Both were tired from previous long games and Huebner offered a draw to Rogoff without making any moves. However, the arbiters did not like this and refused the game. So the two players put together a scoresheet of a game that looked like this: 1.Nf3 Nf6 2.Ng1 Ng8 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Ng1 Ng8 and so on ... Draw. The arbiters were not amused. They insisted that the two play some real moves. So the next game went 1.c4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.Nf1 Bg7 4.Qa4 O-O 5.Qxd7 Qxd7 6.g4 Qxd2+ 7.Kxd2 Nxg4 8.b4 a5 9.a4 Bxa1 10.Bb2 Nc6 11.Bh8 Bg7 12.h4 axb4 draw. The arbiters were not amused. They insisted that the two play a valid game. Rogoff agreed but Huebner did not, so Rogoff was given a win and Huebner was given a loss. The Russian team pressed for a double forfeit, but Huebner insisted that he alone bore responsibility. Years later, the main arbiter, Sajtar, admitted he was wrong in ordering a rematch of the games.
In 1973, Ken Regan (1959- ), at age 13, was the youngest chess master since Bobby Fischer. At the 10th Metropolitan Open in New York, he had a performance rating of 2550. (source: Chess Life & Review, Aug 1973, p. 445)
In 1973, the World Open chess tournament in New York had a prize fund of $15,000, which was a world record for an Open. This was $5,000 more than any previous open tournament. It set a new U.S. attendance record for an open, non-scholastic tournament with 725 players. Bill Wall, stationed in U Tapao, Thailand, traveled the farthest to play in the event, over 8, 500 miles. 33 states and 11 countries were represented. Walter Browne won the event to take top prize of $2,000. In 1974, the 2nd World Open had a record prize fund of $17,000. In 1975, the prize fund was $20,000 with 815 entries. In 1976, the prize fund was $24,000. In 1977, the prize fund was $27,000. In 1978, the prize fund was $40,000 with a record 1,063 entrants. In 1979, the prize fund was $46,000.
In 1973, during the Anglo-Dutch match, chain smoker Jan Donner (1927-1988) was filling up a large Bakelite ashtray with all of his discarded cigarettes. Cigarette after cigarette and all the ashes were making a big pile in the ashtray, much of which was still emitting smoke. Eventually, after several hours of play and several packs of cigarettes, the mountain of ash and discarded cigarettes burst into flames, causing the Bakelite ashtray to crack completely in half. The players were still transfixed on the position of their game as the chess table started to burn, with neither player seemingly about to take any action to control the fire. At this point, Ray Keene picked up Donner’s coffee cup and threw the contents over the fire. With the chess table now covered in a mess, the players looked at one another and offered a draw, shook hands, and left the table
In 1973, the top chess players in the world were Fischer (2780), Karpov (2660), Tal (2660), Spassky (2655), Korchnoi (2650), Portisch (2650), Petrosian (2640), Botvinnik (2630), Polugaevsky (2625), Larsen (2620), Smyslov (2610), Robert Byrne (2605), Geller (2605), Stein (2605), and Huebner (2600). (source: Chess Life & Review, Dec 1973, cover)
In 1974 in a tournament in Poland, Mikhail Tal (1936-1992) was playing Jan Adamski (1943- ) with both players in time trouble. Adamski’s flag fell but Tal lost a piece and resigned. At that moment Tal’s wife, who had been counting the moves, said “Black has not yet made 40 moves.” The flag had fallen before Tal resigned. The arbiter intervened and awarded the win to Tal, who went on to win the tournament. Tal’s wife scored this point! Later, it was shown that Adamski quit writing his moves down after move 25 because of time trouble, and then he added two fake moves while reconstructing his scoresheet to make it seem he made more than 40 moves.
In 1974, the top USCF players were Robert Byrne (2618), Kavalek (2570), Browne (2562), Evans (2523), Benko (2512), Reshevsky (2510), and Lombardy (2507). The top Junior was Larry Christiansen (2362). (source: Chess Life & Review, Dec 1974, p. 805)
On Oct 25, 1974, Leon Stolzenberg (1895-1974) died in Detroit. He won the U.S. Open (Western Chess Association Tournament) in 1926 and 1928. He won the championship of Michigan 12 times. He was the U.S. Open Postal Chess Champion (Golden Knights) 3 times (1947-48, 1950, 1960-61). He won the championship of the Correspondence Chess League of America twice. He was a medic in the hospital at Tarnopol, Ukraine in World War I. (source: Chess Life & Review, Jan 1975, p. 8)
In 1975, the top chess players in the world were Fischer (2780), Karpov (2705), Korchnoi (2665), Petrosian (2645), Polugaevsky (2645), Tal (2645), Portisch (2635), Larsen (2625), Spassky (2625), Huebner (2615), Ljubojevic (2615), Mecking (2610), Smyslov (2605), Byrne (2600), Geller (2600), Hort (2600), Kuzman (2600), and Smejkal (2600). (source: Chess Life & Review, Jan 1975, p. 9)
In January 1975, the Friends of the Cleveland Public Library offered a reward of $500 for information leading to the recovery of 5 valuable collectors’ chess sets stolen from the White Collection at the Cleveland Public Library. The sets included an 18th century Chinese set, and 18th century Japanese chess set, and a contemporary American Pyrex set. (source: Chess Life & Review, April 1975, p. 248)
On July 24, 1975, Nicolas Rossolimo (1910-1975) died from injuries resulting from a fall. In a hallway in Greenwich Village. He was one of 12 U.S. Grandmasters. He won the Paris chess championship 10 times. He won the French championship in 1948 and 1953. In 1955, he won the U.S. Open. He represented France in the 1950 Chess Olympiad. He was a member of the U.S. team at the Chess Olympiads in 1958, 1960, and 1966. (source: Chess Life & Review, Sep 1975, p.571)
In 1975, 15-year-old Michael Rohde (1959- ), former National Junior High and National High School Champion, was the youngest U.S. player since Bobby Fischer to achieve a 2300 rating. He was a master at 13. He is now an attorney.
From October to December 1975, Walter Browne drove over 16,000 miles through 40 states and gave 50 simultaneous exhibitions. He played 1,417 games, winning 1,328, drawing 49, and losing 40 games. He made over $10,000 after expenses in two months. (source: Interview with Walter Browne, by Bill Wall, Statesville Record and Landmark, Dec 13, 1975)
In December 1975, the top USCF players were Browne (2594), Byrne (2549), Kavalek (2546), Evans (2541), and Lombardy (2507). The top junior was Larry Christiansen (2440). (source: Chess Life & Review, Dec 1975, p. 843)
In 1976, the top USCF players were Browne (2580), Evans (2549), Kavalek (2521), Byrne (2520), Lombardy (2507), and Tarjan (2507). The top junior was Christiansen (2431). The top Under 16 was Yasser Seirawan (2234). The top woman was Ruth Herstein (2051). (source: Chess Life & Review, Jan 1976,p. 134)
In 1976, Michael Wilder (1962- ) of New Jersey at 13 became the youngest chess master since Fischer after he tied for 1st in the Greater New York Open. (source: Chess Life & Review, Apr 1976, p. 188)
In December 1976, the top USCF players were Byrne (2567), Lein (2552), Kavalek (2550), Evans (2549), Browne (2547), Tarjan (2533), Rogoff (2519), Lombardy (2513), Commons (2503), and Shamkovich (2501). (source: Chess Life & Review, Dec 1976, p. 675)
In 1976, Boris Spassky (1937- ) was given permission by Soviet authorities to live in France for one year as long as he refrained from participation in chess activity. He was then denied permission to marry French citizen Marina Stcherbatcheff. Spassky then complained to the international press and worldwide adverse publicity forced Soviet officials to permit the marriage to take place. Spassky lived at the home of his third new wife’s family. Spassky became a French citizen in 1978. (source: Chess Life & Review, Jan 1977, p. 8)
In 1974, South Africa was ousted from FIDE because of its apartheid racial policies. In 1976, at the FIDE Congress in Haifa, FIDE member nations voted to readmit South Africa. The vote to readmit was 38 to 3, with 7 abstentions. Negative votes were cast by British Virgin Islands, Yugoslavia, and New Zealand. Apartheid was introduced in South Africa in 1948. South Africa was expelled from FIDE while participating in the 1974 Chess Olympiad in Nice. South Africa returned to international competition in the 1992 Chess Olympiad. (source: Chess Life & Review, Jan 1977, p. 8)
On July 27, 1976, Viktor Korcnoi, age 45, world’s No, 2 rated chess player, defected from the USSR and asked for political asylum in The Netherlands. His wife, Bela, and their 17-year-old son, Igor, were at home in Leningrad and both said they had no idea that Viktor was defecting. Korchnoi had just finished playing in the IBM International in Amsterdam. He tied for 1st with Tony Miles. (source: Colorado Springs Telegraph, July 28, 1976 and “Korchnoy’s Complaint”, by Bill Wall, Statesville Record and Landmark, Sep 25, 1976)
In 1977, Mark Diesen (1957-2008), 19, won the World Junior Championship. He was the youngest U.S. player since Fischer to win an international title up to that time. It was the first time an American had won the World Junior Championship since Bill Lombardy in 1957. (source: Chess Life & Review, Feb 1977, p. 70)
On February 20, 1977, Mrs. Regina Fischer, mother of Bobby Fischer, was arrested in London while protesting as government deportation order against two American journalists. She was sentenced to one year’s probation for obstructing the sidewalk outside a British government office. (source: Indiana Gazette, PA, Mar 16, 1977)
In early 1977, the top USCF players were Byrne (2578), Evans (2565), Browne (2547), Kavalek 2544), Tarjan (2535), Lombardy (2534), Lein (2524), Rogoff (2519), Commons (2514), and Benko (2513). (source: Chess Life & Review, Mar 1977, p.161)
In July 1977, Joel Benjamin (1964- ) became the youngest U.S. master at the age of 13 years, 3 months. Bobby Fischer was a master at 13 years, 5 months. As a junior, he won the National Elementary championship (1976), the National Junior High championship (1978), and the National High School championship (1980-81). (source: Chess Life & Review, Sep 1977, p. 476)
In December 1977, the top active USCF players were Kavalek (2563), Tarjan (2548), Browne (2547), Byrne (2544), Lombardy (2532), Rogoff (2519), Commons (2515), Benko (2514), Evans (2508), Christiansen (2504), and Soltis (2502). The top junior was Mark Diesen (2428). The top woman was Diane Savereide (2130). (source: Chess Life & Review, Dec 1977, p. 662)
In 1978, the top active USCF players were Browne (2579), Kavalek (2576), Byrne (2553), Lombardy (2532), Tarjan (2522), Rogoff (2519), Commons (2515), Benko (2514), Evans (2508), and Lein (2506). (source: Chess Life & Review, Mar 1978, p. 156)
In June 1978, a chess piece was auctioned for $82,000 in London and was purchased by a German museum. The art auction was part of an effort to return some of the treasures Adolf Hitler drove out of the country. (source: Iola Register, June 24, 1978)
On July 16, 1978, Grandmaster Bill Lombardy (1937-2017) was attacked by a knife-wielding mugger on a street new his home. In the scuffle, tendons in two fingers on his left hand were severed. He is left-handed. He rushed to nearby Beth Israel Hospital where he underwent a long operation to repeair the severed tendons. In 1957, he won the World Junior Championship, the only person to win that event with a perfect score. (source: Chess Life & Review, Sep 1978, p. 471)
In November1978, Dr. Lee Hyder (1936-2003) won the South Carolina Chess Championship, held in Columbia, for the 6th time (he won it 7 times during his career). Hyder was USCF Secretary from 1975 to 1978.There were 63 players. Among the entrants were 6 inmates from the South Carolina Department of Corrections. This was the first time players from the state prison system were allowed to play outside the prison. (source: Chess Life & Review, Jan 1979, p. 5)
In 1979, the top active USCF players were Kavalek (2596), Browne (2584), Byrne (2537), Tarjan (2530), Evans (2517), Shamkovich (2516), Lombardy (2515), Rogoff (2515), Mednis (2511), Lein (2507), and Peters (2500). (source: Chess Life & Review, Jan 1979, p. 27)
In 1979, after the Islamic revolution, chess was banned in Iran on the count of encouraging gambling, warmongering, and inattention to the five ritual prayers every day. This ban was in effect until 1988, when the Ayatollah Khomeini rehabilitated the game.
In 1979, the top players in the world were Karpov (2705), Korchnoi (2695), Portisch (2640), Spassky (2640), Polugaevsky (2625), Timman (2625), Larsen (2620), Mecking (2615), Tal (2615), Petrosian (2610), Balashov (2600), and Hort (2600). There were 162 grandmasters in the world and 301 International Masters. (source: Chess Life & Review, April 1979, p. 184)
In 1979, Czech Grandmaster Vlastimil Hort (1944- ) moved to West Germany with official permission to teach chess in Cologne. In 1985, he defected to the West, moving to West Germany permanently. The top woman player from Czechoslovakia, Stepanka Vokralova (1949- ), escaped to Sweden, and then to West Germany. Petra Feustel (1958-2010), a leading East German woman chess master, was apprehended by East German border police while trying to escape to West Germany. She was sentence to 4 years in prison. She was released after 20 months and forced to leave the country. She settled in Mannheim, West Germany. (source: Chess Life & Review, May 1979, p. 250)
On July 8, 1979, Harlow Busey Daly (1883-1979) died at the age of 95. He played chess for 75 years. He won the New England Championship in 1908. He won chess championships of Boston (4 times), New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts (twice), and Maine (9 times). He was a Master Emeritus of the USCF. (source: Chess Life & Review, Sep 1979, p. 496)
Comments
Post a Comment