Come on by this Monday at the Buffalo Wild Wings in Brighton, Michigan for our next meeting. Casual chess is still available from 4pm until 10pm. But our 2022 Fischer Random 960 tournament continues. You can still enter this tournament (no cost) and we do have a player without an opponent for the next round so, there you go!
Here are the pairings for the next round. You have White if you are the first name:
Board 1: Paul M – Ken T
Board 2: Pete B – Mike N
Board 3: Levi T – Vince V
Board 4: Mary B – AJ E
Board 5: Sam T – Jim G
Board 6: Charlie S – Jeff S
Board 7: Leo B - TBD or Bye
Stop by to play or to watch some alternative chess action!
In honor of Boris Spassky's birthday, here are some insights into a great chess player and human being!
Boris Spassky turned 87 on January 30th. One of the finest chess players to ever live and a true sportsman in every sense of the word. Even Bobby Fischer, who hated the Russians, praised Spassky as a true champion and great man. I have played over many of his games and am amazed at his talent.
People forget history or are not correctly taught
it (so we are doomed to repeat it, but I digress). But Bobby Fischer lost to Boris
Spassky in the first game of the biggest World Chess Championship the world has
ever seen. Then, Fischer being Fischer did not show up for game two. He claimed there was too much noise in the
playing hall from the television cameras and does not show up for Round 2.
Spassky leads 2 – 0.
Fischer demanded that from now on, the games be
played in what was basically a closet off the main stage for privacy and silence.
This of course was out of the question to the sponsors, the organizers and of
course the Russian government! It looked like Spassky would go up 3 – 0 and
probably win the match on forfeit. All he had to do to remain world champion
was show up at the chessboard as scheduled.
But Spassky told them all he would not win that
way and would play Fischer in that back room! Not only making everyone mad at
him but defying the KGB! All of the then Soviet Union wanted and needed this victory
over the West. Spassky could be actually putting his life on the line!
Fischer won that game, and they returned to the stage for the rest of the match. Fischer won the match against a now frazzled opponent. How different the world, and the chess world would be if Spassky was not a true gentleman and sportsman? We will never know.
Walter Dobrich (Vlad to his friends) is no stranger to Canadian chess. Vlad is a master level player. But more important, Vlad was an excellent chess promoter and organizer. He disappeared into the world of backgammon in the late 1970’s and became a great player there also! Today Vlad has opened a club in Toronto and he organizes blitz tournaments every week and writes this tribute to Boris Spassky:
I’ve had some personal interaction with him when he was World Champion. He played in the Canadian Open in Vancouver in 1971. I was there as well, and we both arrived at round six with 5-0 scores and consequently were paired for round six. Showing no respect, I played what I later learned was his pet line in the Nimzo-Indian against him (I had no respect!). After some 30 or so moves I was ready to resign but I saw a chance for a futile attack where I would get to check him once or twice – I could one day tell my grandchildren “I checked the world champion Boris Spassky!" I saw I would have to resign after four moves.
For some reason he appeared to be lost in concentration before making his next move which was forced. I looked up, “Why is he looking? This is trivial.” At which point I saw his eyes were bright red! I thought "I am insulting him when he is clearly tired from last night.” His next two moves were slightly different from what I expected, and I was forced to resign in three moves instead of four!
Some ten minutes later, in the post-mortem room, we played out the opening where he told me that I had misplaced my QB at which point I looked up to see his eyes were bright white. I said, "Boris, your eyes were red like a rabbit’s 10 minutes ago, now they’re white again!" His answer was “Caruso was a great singer, he sang beautifully, effortlessly. But in between performances he always had to change his shirt!” What a compliment to me! Especially when I recall that he played sitting sideways to the board as if he had only a passing interest in the position.
A day or two later we were walking the UBC campus and entered the student’s common room where there was a group of some dozen or so crowded around a chess board going over the days game from the tournament. Boris casually squeezed into the group and suggested some play. At that point, whoever was the chief expounder on the game swatted him away as if he were some annoying bug. Smiling broadly, Boris retreated. The students never knew who it was that tried to make a suggestion!
After the tournament, we happened to be strolling a main avenue in Vancouver. I said “We have a major tournament in Toronto this weekend (the Labour Day Open at the CNE) perhaps you would like to play?”
“Unfortunately, my flight goes from here to Ottawa and then to Moskva” said Boris.
"Well, we can always change the ticket at a travel agency” said I, just as we approached a travel agency!
“You can do that?” said Boris.
Ten minutes later we were leaving the travel office with a rerouted ticket by way of Toronto.
“This will not cause some problem for you?” said I.
“The KGB has 100 files on me, 101 will make no difference.” said Boris.
And so, we ended up having a great Labour Day Open with five other
GMs as well as the reigning World Champion. The GMs were (if I recall) Larsen,
Benko, Browne, Byrne and Bisguire. There was a tie for first with Spassky and several of the GMs. I was the tournament director
and can say that I directed the only weekend Swiss tournament in the history of
chess to boast a reigning world champion as a participant!
Walter (Vlad) Dobrich
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