1973 Greater Philadelphia Invitational Championship (2 of 7)

[This is the second in a series of 7 blogs about the 1973 Greater Philadephia Invitational Championship - link for Part 1]

When I first started playing tournament chess in the late 1960's and early 1970's, "Master" was a very difficult title to achieve. The master title became much easier to obtain later but in 1973 it was still quite an accomplishment. However, by the time I played Tim Taylor in the second round, young Tim had already cracked that barrier. Tim had grown up in neighboring Central Bucks (Doylestown) and his father was a stock broker. Tim quit school to play chess - that's all he ever wanted to do. He soon achieved IM and remains today a well-read author of opening books like Alekhine Alert from Everyman.

Tim was the favorite in the tournament, so it was not fortunate that after my disastrous first round I was scheduled to next face him, even though I was White. However, I was never afraid of any of my opponents; "Always play with confidence, aggression, and respect for your opponent's moves and ideas".

So with this extremely lucky win, I even my record at 1-1. Who would think that I would lose to the lowest rated player and then beat the highest rated player in the first two rounds? So far my play has not been very accurate, but my score is back to respectable.

My next opponent on the following day, my 23rd birthday, was the rising young superstar of Philadelphia chess, NM Michael Pastor. (to be continued).