Thursday, December 28, 2017

American GM Walter Browne Interview - LCCC Returns Jan 8 with Kid's Night

GM Walter Browne - USA in 1972
We start our friendly chess club action on January 8, 2018 at 6pm. Stop on by with all the chess equipment Santa brought you and put it to use.

With all the technology out there for chess today, being able to play over games and puzzles is easy to do. You don't need a blog to do that. So this year your humble scribe is going to be doing more writing (and 'borrowing' articles) and less game and puzzle review.

Of course some great wins and interesting games from our members will still be presented. And true gems that I spot will also be reviewed. But a more article based blog will be done this year.

With that in mind, I wanted to present an interview done with GM Walter Browne in 2014. We lost this great chess player in June of 2015 at the age of 66. Much too young!

Your humble scribe does have some connection with GM Browne. First off I played him in a simultaneous exhibition at the height of his career in 1975. This must explain why I lost!

After all, GM Browne only had played in three interzonals to qualify for the World Championship, had 5 Olympic Chess Bronze medals, two time US Open Champion, three time World Open Champion, seven time American Open Champion and eleven time National Open Champion.

In addition, GM  Browne was also a serious poker player - which I also try to be. He finished second in a World Series of Poker event against 2000 entrants in 2007. And I finished second once in an online poker tournament of 9 players for play chips. So we draw there......right?

After reading GM Browne's autobiography The Stress of Chess and it's Infinite Finesse, Macauley Peterson interviewed the author for Chess Life. I present some highlights now:

WB: I learned chess from my father at the age of 8 years old (1957).  My first tournament was in September of 1962 at the Manhattan Chess Club. I did not do so well in school because I was studying chess around the clock. I would consume whole books in a matter of days. But as I got older I found poker and learned I could make money doing that. And even though I still worked hard at chess, poker did take time away from it. Bobby (Fischer) was chess, chess, chess all the time. But I still spent hours at the Manhattan Chess Club and the seedy Flea House. There were always people at both places playing chess at all hours. Some guys would play for 3 or 4 days straight.

MP: Can you describe your style?

WB: I think I have different styles. I play positional chess. I love chasing tactics, but I won't make unsound sacrifices just for the attack.

MP: You played Bobby Fischer in Zagreb in 1970, and you wrote you lost because you were "too much of an artist." What did you mean by that?

WB: The key move was around number 88 or 90. I saw the winning move and didn't play it. I wanted to win more beautifully and it cost me the game. He found a miracle defense and we drew.

MP: Did you and Fischer socialize?

WB: Yeah, we went out to dinner a few times. I wish I would have been more in touch with him, but he was really a recluse. I wish I would have offered to be his second in Reykjavik. And when he was negotiating with Karpov in 1975, I should have offered to help him then, Maybe I could have persuaded him to bend a little and play. I think Fischer would have blown Karpov away!

MP: How did you get on with Karpov?

WB: Quite well. I played a lot of tournaments with him. I wish I would have taken more risks to beat him. I never did. He used to play so fast too. (Walter seemed to always get in time trouble). I remember watching Karpov play [Svetozar] Gligoric one time and he reeled off the first 25 moves in a minute!

MP: [Victor] Korchnoi comes up many times in your book. He seems to be sort of an idol. I was curious about your relationship with him - sometimes friendly, sometimes not. You wrote that when you beat him in the last round at Wijk ann Zee in 1989 he didn't shake your hand.

WB: Well, he didn't like to lose. He was a very competitive guy. Even at bridge! He was a serious guy, but easy to talk to. He would share his thoughts about a game and was not standoffish. He was willing to share his thoughts with you more than the other Soviet players - like Petrosian and even Karpov.

MP: And your career over all?

WB: I was not a professional chess player after 1984. I focused on poker. But in 1988 I came back to chess and worked hard. I got my FIDE rating back up to 2560 so I was almost as good, but I didn't play internationally. Then the there was tremendous competition from European players coming over to play in our Swisses (tournaments) and it became very tough. But I still managed some moderate successes.

Scribe: GM Browne stopped playing competitive chess by 1998.

Saturday, December 16, 2017

Round 2 of 2017 Action Tournament Played - Next Big Michigan Tournament Listed!

Make sure you have a nice place to study chess at home.
We had nine players brave the cold and the snow to make it to the warm and comfy confines of the LCCC.

We had an inpromptu Speed Tournament tonight, which was a lot of fun and won by our Tournament Director, Ken T. Ken went undefeated - Nice job!

Here are the details for next tournament which you humble scribe will attend and hopefully many of the LCCC members also. See you there!



January 13 and 14, 2018
2018 Michigan Master/Expert & Class Championships

Radisson Hotel Lansing
111 N. Grand River Ave, Lansing, MI 48933       517-482-0188
$111 + tax by 1/2/18 – after if space still available. Be sure to mention MCA.
Visit www. Radissson .com/lansingmi       Promo code CHES18

5 Rounds – Swiss System–8 sections, 8 State Championship Titles available.
Master/Expert, A, B, C, D, E, (under 1200)
Time Limit: Game in 115 minutes with a 5 second delay
Rounds: Saturday 10am, 2:30pm and 7pm, Sunday 10am and 2:30 pm

Also the Novice (unrated ONLY) Tournament
Novice is Saturday only with a Fun Swiss Sunday
Rounds (10am, 11:30, 1:30 and 4:30)
Time Limit: Game in 30 minutes with 5 second delay

Enter/Information: Jeff Aldrich, PO Box 40, Flint, MI 48501
Email: jeffchess64@gmail.com           810-955-7271
Registration on-line at https://onlineregistration.cc/
Or On – site Saturday Jan 13 from 8 to 9 am,
Fun Swiss Sunday Jan 14 8:30am to 9:30am

EntryFee:Master/Expert $45 by 1/11-$10 more after(under 18 $5 off)Free to GM, IM,FM
               A, B, C, D, E   $42 by  1/11-$10 more after(under 18 $5 off)
               Novice $25  by 1/11 - $10 more after  
               Fun Swiss  $15

United States Chess Federation membership and Michigan Chess Association membership also required. You can purchase that when you register on line or at the tournament registration.

Prizes Guaranteed Amount (could be more):
M/X: $300 – 200
X: $230
U2100 $120
Plus trophies

A, B, C, D, E: $180 - $120
U1900, U1700, U1500, U1300, U1100 - $100
Plus trophies

Novice:
Trophy to top 5.
Top U800, top U700, top U600 trophy
1st Unrated - Trophy

Friday, December 1, 2017

Eleven Players on 112717 as LCCC Action Tourney Rd 1 Completes

White to move and get a big advantage.

Black to move and get a big advantage.
We had eleven players this evening as we welcomed back Tim R! He stopped by to get some casual chess in.

Tim moved to the north east side of town for work and the commute stops his regular participation. Welcome back Tim.

Round 2 of the LCCC Action Tournaments begins next Monday. Casual play and lessons will be moved to the round tables until the 'action' is complete.

The round will begin no later than 7pm and probably 6:30  is the real start time. Players can always start early if both decide to play.

Our Kid's Night will be on December 11th and we hope to see more youngsters make an appearance.

Check out the local Chess Tournament action listed on the Michigan Chess Calendar website listed on the right side of the blog. Here is a partial list:

Dec. 2 - Michigan Action Championship, Ann Arbor

Dec. 8 - Aspen Knights Quads, Ann Arbor

Dec. 9 - K-12 Championship, All the Kings Men, Roseville
Dec. 9 - Canton Quads, Canton

Dec 19 - Genessee Action Quads, Flint

And the event your scribe will be attending for sure -

Jan 13-14 - The 2018 Michigan Master/Expert and Class Championship, Lansing, Radisson Hotel

Here are a couple of puzzles for your enjoyment.