Grandmasters I Have Known

http://www.chesscafe.com/text/kmoch05.pdf

The author's reminisence of Alekhine is fascinating, I knew he had a drinking problem, but it was a BAD one. Also his habit of marrying much older women was a bit sick.

I heard a lecture/played against GM William Lombardy a couple of weeks ago. For those of you who haven't heard of him, he was Bobby Fischer's 2nd in his world championship match against Spassky. He is also one of the people who arranged for Fischer to leave Japan to find a safe haven in Iceland. It was pretty cool to play with someone who played against Tal, Fischer, Botvinnik, etc etc etc...

I've met lots of GM's, but the most memorable was Max Euwe when I was 14 years old. My Dad took me to watch him play a simul and I got his autograph, and he wrote "good luck with chess interest." Arthur Bisguier is one of the most approachable as was William Lombardy.

Oh yeah, Lombardy signed my score sheet... he wrote "Always check, it might be mate"

I've known the Czech GM (semi-retired from active play) Karel Mokrey for several years now. He's a rare book dealer in Brno, Czech Republic. Every now and then, I come across one of his games from the '80s when he was active. The last one was a game fragment in a book on the Nimzo-Indian. I wanted to find out how it all turned out, so I asked him and he remembered every single detail of the game without being prompted or having to look it up. If you run into him, ask him about his game with Spassky where he won his second GM norm.

Originally posted by o0obruceleeo0o
I heard a lecture/played against GM William Lombardy a couple of weeks ago. For those of you who haven't heard of him, he was Bobby Fischer's 2nd in his world championship match against Spassky. He is also one of the people who arranged for Fischer to leave Japan to find a safe haven in Iceland. It was pretty cool to play with someone who played against Tal, Fischer, Botvinnik, etc etc etc...

I know Bill. I took a few lessons from him. He also frequents the chess clubs i went to.
Seen him around for a few years.
I also know Asa Hoffman. He played Fischer a lot back when, and wrote a book (Chess Gladiator) where he won a blitz game against Fischer using the evans gambit.
Asa hangs around the chess clubs in NYC, where i also go.

Originally posted by Grandmouster
I know Bill. I took a few lessons from him. He also frequents the chess clubs i went to.
Seen him around for a few years.
I also know Asa Hoffman. He played Fischer a lot back when, and wrote a book (Chess Gladiator) where he won a blitz game against Fischer using the evans gambit.
Asa hangs around the chess clubs in NYC, where i also go.

Thats cool! I live in Southern California. Mr. Lombardy was here to play in the West Amatuer Team tournament. I played in the tournament and there was a lot of hub bub that there was a GM in the tournament. There were a few IMs as well. Anyway the next day he visited our local chess club and analyzed a game for us and then played a little simul against 3 of us.

Originally posted by o0obruceleeo0o
Thats cool! I live in Southern California. Mr. Lombardy was here to play in the West Amatuer Team tournament. I played in the tournament and there was a lot of hub bub that there was a GM in the tournament. There were a few IMs as well. Anyway the next day he visited our local chess club and analyzed a game for us and then played a little simul against 3 of us.

He did mention, that he was playing in feb, that was in jan. I havent heard from him in a while.
I used to play in the Manhattan CC rapids on fris, and GM Joel Benjamin, and John Fedorowitz, and Becera, and Wojowicz (cant spell his name.😳) and many other GM's used to stop by and crush us patzers.😛
I did almost get a draw with Joel, and gave some GMs a scare. Mated this master one time, in a back rank tactic.
Dont get to the OTB rapids anymore. They still have them at the Marshall, but no GMs play in it.

Originally posted by Grandmouster
He did mention, that he was playing in feb, that was in jan. I havent heard from him in a while.
I used to play in the Manhattan CC rapids on fris, and GM Joel Benjamin, and John Fedorowitz, and Becera, and Wojowicz (cant spell his name.😳) and many other GM's used to stop by and crush us patzers.😛
I did almost get a draw with Joel, and gave some GM ...[text shortened]... ont get to the OTB rapids anymore. They still have them at the Marshall, but no GMs play in it.

Boy oh boy! GM Joel Benjamin must have been drunk or extremely tired for you to almost draw him. I like the part about giving them a "scare," too! HAHA! You're hilarious Grandmouster! Totally hilarious! You've got what amounts to a Class B rating in the USCF on www.redhotpawn.com, and you use to be pounding it out against Masters and Grandmasters. You're hilarious!

Originally posted by powershaker
Boy oh boy! GM Joel Benjamin must have been drunk or extremely tired for you to almost draw him. I like the part about giving them a "scare," too! HAHA! You're hilarious Grandmouster! Totally hilarious! You've got what amounts to a Class B rating in the USCF on www.redhotpawn.com, and you use to be pounding it out against Masters and Grandmasters. You're hilarious!

Compare and contrast this post with powershaker's post on the second page of Thread 39021.

Originally posted by powershaker
Boy oh boy! GM Joel Benjamin must have been drunk or extremely tired for you to almost draw him. I like the part about giving them a "scare," too! HAHA! You're hilarious Grandmouster! Totally hilarious! You've got what amounts to a Class B rating in the USCF on www.redhotpawn.com, and you use to be pounding it out against Masters and Grandmasters. You're hilarious!

hahaha, your insane.

Originally posted by powershaker
Boy oh boy! GM Joel Benjamin must have been drunk or extremely tired for you to almost draw him. I like the part about giving them a "scare," too! HAHA! You're hilarious Grandmouster! Totally hilarious! You've got what amounts to a Class B rating in the USCF on www.redhotpawn.com, and you use to be pounding it out against Masters and Grandmasters. You're hilarious!

Would you like to see my signed copy of chess life, after Joel won the US Champ.? Prozac head.
I've known Joel for about 8 years.
How would you know if i almost got any draws, knucklehead. Where you there watching me?
I have beat strong players in blitz, because thats mostly what i play.
My rating is slowly, but shurely climbing here, as your just, what? 1200? 1300?
Oh, thats right, you dont know, because chessmaster cant tell you.

I managed to play some GM Bryan Smith in a simul in where he whooped all of my school last year.