On Thu, 17 Feb 2022 01:30:33 -0800, The Horny Goat <lcraver@home.ca>
wrote:

>On Wed, 16 Feb 2022 14:53:20 -0700, Ken Blake <Ken@invalid.news.com>
>wrote:
>
>>On Wed, 16 Feb 2022 12:55:57 -0800, The Horny Goat <lcraver@home.ca>
>>wrote:
>>
>>>On Wed, 16 Feb 2022 08:57:12 -0700, Ken Blake <Ken@invalid.news.com>
>>>wrote:
>>>
>>>>On Tue, 15 Feb 2022 20:57:43 -0800, The Horny Goat <lcraver@home.ca>
>>>>wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>On Tue, 15 Feb 2022 16:16:31 -0700, Ken Blake <Ken@invalid.news.com>
>>>>>wrote:
>>>>The game went
>>>>
>>>>1. P-K4 (almost nobody in the US used algebraic notation in those
>>>>days)
>>>>
>>>>1... N-KB3 (dummy that I was, I didn't realize you couldn't play the
>>>>King's Indian Defense against 1. P-K4)
>>>>
>>>>2. P-K5 (I was flabbergasted. I don't remember what I replied nor who
>>>>won the game).
>>>
>>>Oh dear. That sounds like VERY early Beth Harmon.....having watched
>>>the Queens Gambit when it first came out I figured I should read the
>>
>>I never saw it, but I read the book. It was mildly entertaining, but I
>>wasn't crazy about it.
>
>I'm now at the part where she's tied for 1st in the US Open having
>lost her last round game when all she needed for solo victory was a
>draw. This is when she's crossed 2200 for the first time.

I never crossed 2200. At my peak (around 1958), I was about 2000, and
not having played in years, I'm probably much weaker now.

>>>book espec given who wrote it. I'm only 1/4 way through but no
>>>question there's a lot more tranquilizer talk than in the show
>>>
>>>Doesn't that picture at
>>>https://s3.amazonaws.com/files.saturdayeveningpost.com/uploads/reprints/Have_Pawn_Will_Travel/index.html?X-Amz-Content-Sha256=UNSIGNED-PAYLOAD&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIAI3QGKNAHC7QBOIAA%2F20220216%2Fus-east-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20220216T205037Z&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Expires=300&X-Amz-Signature=6f24ebb9cae9bc25dff65d6490dc1289f01cf864a08cc721d3787f36b9769184
>>>look like one of the Queens Gambit tournaments?
>>
>>I wasn't able to open it. Access Denied.
>>
>>It's an extremely long URL. Are you sure it's correct?
>
>Yep - just double checked it just now. Admittedly long URLs that get
>wrapped around usually need the >'s taken out to work.

Even without the >s, I get

AccessDeniedRequest has
expired3002022-02-16T20:55:37Z2022-02-17T15:39:59ZK5WWHBT044YCDKPAyUFNa5mEpU4Ju4Cog2ptrQY6qrNj94QqBvbucTY+N5rqJ8R6XDHA3aFzHyRDI3tG7/z9ZZ1w4BQ
Can you try using tinyurl or some similar site? Maybe such a URL will
work.

>>>(I assume you
>>>recognize Fischer in the photo)
>>
>>If Fischer was there, I'd recognize him. As you probably know, I knew
>>him well.
>
>Never met Fischer and one of my few regrets from my teen years is that
>I live in Vancouver and thus had the chance to go to the university to
>see one or more of the Fischer-Taimanov games. My parents felt it was
>too long a bus ride for me though 3 months later I played in the 1971
>Canadian Open in a larger venue on the same campus that was much
>further away from the main bus loop than the Student Union theatre
>which is where Fischer - Taimanov was played. (4 years later as a
>freshman at that school I visited that theatre and no question it
>would have been a great venue for a match but too small for an
>international 16 player round robin) of the type that were common in
>the 1970s
>
>See what I mean?
>https://m.facebook.com/TheatreUBC/photos/a.10152466662997966.1073741839.84835972965/10152466665152966/?type=3&_ft_=top_level_post_id.10152466670137966%3Atl_objid.10152466665152966%3Athid.84835972965%3A306061129499414%3A69%3A1388563200%3A1420099199%3A-8239785390272478728
>(apologies for the long URL)
>
>The hall where we had the Canadian Open was where I met and got yelled
>at by Max Euwe then president of FIDE for making too much noise in the
>skittles room (so that our noise was getting back to the main hall!)
>and also where I met Spassky who was watching my board with interest
>and I was so distracted by him I blundered a piece in a completely won
>middlegame by grabbing on h7. Given the move everyone remembers from
>game 1 of Fischer-Spassky the following year one wonders if Spassky
>remembered that distraught Canadian teenager as I made the blunder
>directly in front of him. During the post-mortem my opponent confirmed
>that that was indeed Spassky! (since our board was right on the aisle
>that led to the top boards I wasn't really in doubt)
>>
>>>>>As for 'late 50s' I was thinking a lot further back than that today -
>>>>>I'm the national secretary of the Chess Federation of Canada and was
>>>>
>>>>Congratulations!
>>>>
>>>Well I've been doing it for 10 years so not nearly as exciting as when
>>>I took it on. My biggest job is overseeing security on the board of
>>>governors section of our web forum (which is important as there's some
>>>highly confidential stuff discussed there) and redirecting e-mails
>>>from FIDE that were sent to me rather than the president or FIDE rep.
>>>
>>>You can safely assume there's currently a lot of talk about COVID
>>>since different parts of the country are recovering at different rates
>>>and while some areas are playing face to face (mostly with masks)
>>>others aren't there yet. Obviously this and within the country travel
>>>issues have implications for national championship events! Both the US
>>>and Canada are large by European standards so travel is a bigger deal
>>>for us and the USCF than over there.
>>>
>>>These days FIDE is mostly fine but can be a bit obtuse at times about
>>>certain things. (Which sorry I'm NOT going to discuss in a public
>>>forum! I don't want our board grumpy with me)
>>
>>Speaking of FIDE, back in my days at the Manhattan Chess Club, I used
>>to know Florencio Campomanes. He was not someone I liked. I only
>>played against him once, in a rapids tournament, but I won easily.
>>
>Sorry never met him. The only FIDE president I met was Euwe though I

I met Euwe when I played against him in a simultaneous he gave at the
Manhattan. We drew. It was the only time I played against someone in a
simultaneous and didn't lose.

>knew Nathan Divinsky (Canada's longtime FIDE rep and spoke on behalf
>of the Chess Federation of Canada at his funeral) having taken his
>vector calculus class at UBC before I knew him from chess. I later got
>to knew him VERY well after graduation as Divinsky and I are the two
>longest serving Chess Federation of Canada secretaries and regularly
>attended the same tournaments.
>>>>
>>>>>spending time in contact with FIDE today trying to find out how we get
>>>>>a celebratory header on their website for the CFC's 150th anniversary
>>>>>(1872-2022) - among other things we're a charter member of FIDE...
>>>>>
>>>This is the item that's mostly got my attention at the moment. The
>>>USCF (founded 1939) are newbies by comparison but there were regional
>>>federations long before that that merged to make the USCF you and I
>>>know.
>>>
>>>Up till Marshall the US championship was decided by match play but
>>
>>Marshall died in 1944, when I was seven, well before I became an
>>active player. So I never knew him, but I knew his wife, who ran the
>>Marshall Chess Club. I was a member of both the Manhattan and the
>>Marshall.
>>
>I have never been to NYC but know the reputation of both clubs well.

I think the Marshall still exists, but the Manhattan is long gone.

>>>when Marshall retired in 1936 he specified it should be done by
>>>tournament
>>
>>If I ever knew that I had forgotten.
>
>Reshevsky spells all this out in his collection of his games which was
>one of my first chess books and purchased at the same time as MCO 10
>from the university book store.

I used to have that book, so I must have known it too, but had
forgotten.

I never had an MCO 10, but I still have an MCO 8, the last version I
bought. I's one of the very few chess books I still own, but it's
certainly not a book I still need, since I never play anymore.

>>> (first won by Reshevsky in 1936) and provided rules that
>>>were good enough they lasted with only minor changes through the 60s.
>>>
>>>That was how the world championship was done pre WW2 but when
>>>Alekhine died in 1946 FIDE took over the title and has done a
>>
>>Yes, I know.
>>
>>>respectable job since Fischer and Kasparov notwithstanding.
>>>
>>>Lastly a request: in 1964 Fischer published an article "The Russians
>>>Have Fixed World Chess" in Sports Illustrated. Google says it's on the
>>>SI site but gave a dead link. So I went to the SI site and couldn't
>>>find it anywhere. Anyone know of an alternate source for this article?
>>
>>I just searched and couldn't find any. I think I read it years ago,
>>but I'm not sure.
>>
>>>(Historically it's fairly important as FIDE re-organized the structure
>>>of the World Championship in response to it so that there was no
>>>longer a Candidates tournament but 1 on 1 knockout matches)
>
>Regretably I've not yet found Fischer's Sports Illustrated article -
>you can search for it on SI's site and it appears to "find" it but
>comes up with a blank screen as if the PDF had been purged or moved to
>a different folder.
>
>Any article that led directly to reorganization of the Candidates is
>an important article regardless of where it's published.