Anecdote Thread

Just for fun I think it would be nice to share anecdotes about chess. If some of you have anecdotes about famous and not so famous chess players please send them, chess can be dry at times but anecdotes liven chess up and humanizes it.  

Well my favourite Chess story concerns a player ( I've forgotten who ) that became very very upset after losing a game and heaved his King to the other side of the tournament hall while yelling " Why must I lose to this idiot ! ". Not very polite but I'm sure that most of us have felt that way at one time or another.  

I have several but this is one of them. If anyone looks at my USCF rating it says 2188. I have had that same rating for almost 40 years.

I lived in Kankakee Illinois a vast wasteland of chess with high rankings.

Thus I won or tied for first maybe 10 chess tournaments in the surrounding area.  US Open 1973 in Chicago. Hard for me to travel each day as I was also employed and had no time off.  I have a severe sleep problem and only get 2 or 3 hours sleep in a 24 hour period.

So each day had to drive to Chicago, [hate it] and then drive back to Kankakee and very soon go back to work and then drive back to

Chicago.  US Open 777 players! I had attended one US Open before in

Omaha in 1969 and grandmaster Arthur Bisguier won that [I scored 5 wins and 5 losses and two draws--high school graduation present]

In any event I won my first three games and was paired with Andrew Karklins rated 2415 and the State of Illinois Champ. I played the white side of Smith Morra and he was trying to win the end game but could not.

The game lasted until about 2 30 in the morning--one of the last games to finish--but it was a draw. I was dead tired but drove to Kankakee just about in time to go to work. and that evening back to Chicago and was paired with grandmaster Bisguier [who had won the US Open in Omaha]

I played this opening: [and won]

brillant !

Then I played Angelo Sandrin the Chicago Champion at the time. I had played him before to a draw. This time I had Black and won and now after 6 rounds I was in a 4 way tie for first place! [5 wins and 1 draw]

The next day some friends brought me to the tournament and I was on stage but my opponent Lawrence Day from Canada had read my score sheets and found a hole in one of my lines--it was black side of a Ruy Lopez with an early Bc5 and f5 by Black. He squashed me per that opening and I resigned and thought about withdrawing from the tournament as I was so dead tired. [Because of my severe sleep problem only was getting less than two hours sleep in 24 during that ime]

But one more game. This time it was against my friend Dr Steve Tennant master and former Illinois champion. We had played in about 3  city to city games and I had a little the best of him. This time I played the Smith Morra and was winning and entered the end game up two pawns in a rook and pawn end game. But my head was swimming - I could not think and he got a draw.  He was elated!  He told me something like "You were up two pawns and could not win!--You were up two pawns and could not win!"

Well he has right and I knew it was time to withdraw from the touramnt and later noticed my USDCF rating was increased to 2188--just 12 points to become an over-the-board master!  By this time I was really in to correspondence chess and my correspondence game was quite a bit above master.

As it turned out there was a tornado--4 games in one day in my home town of Kankakee.  I played and won all 4 of my games. To put me over the 2200 level for sure.  But then another tornado in Kankakee--should I play in it and risk my master rating--since I did not plan to play over-the- board USCF anymore?  I played and again won all 4 games. 

I eagerly waited for my Chess Life with new rating but it came and no rating change.

Ok, next month--but again no rating change! I was busy with other things so waited one more month--again stuck at 2188! [my rating the same for almost 40 years]

I finally got hold of the tournament director.  I asked what happened?

He told me that while he was tournament director--he was also a player and he did poorly in both tournaments and he decided not to send in the results to the USCF!!!!!

I was playing a chess game when something interesting happened, we then went back to the game.

Once I was playing a game and I was dominating the board when suddenly the other guy got so frustrated he took a queen from a neighbouring board and slammed it onto our board.

Suddenly I realized that the new queen blocked one of the king's escape squares, allowing me to mate in one! If he didn't blatantly cheat, I would probably have won but it wouldn't be a flashy mate in one. 

Probably not a true story, but  wish it was:

A GM agreed to play a blindfold simul against 10 players of a small club.

He played white in all the games, on some boards he opened e4, others d4, even a few Nf3's and c4's.

To his surprise, all his opponents opened with b6.

After the GM's secnd move, some players played Bb7, and some played Ba6.

After the 3rd move, Some of those who played Ba6 played Bb7, and some played Bc8. Of those that played 1 Bb8, some played Ba6, the rest Bc8.

The Bishop shuffling continued for 2 more moves, and by move 5 the poor GM as seeing bishops everywhere.

He excused himself to go the the toilet, and when he didnt return and they went looking for him, all they found was an open window.

How interesting and suspenseful! Have you considered selling the movie rights to this story?

@ponz111.  That is a great story, I would have invite you dinner for that one.  I am glad you tell it gracefully.  Thanks for sharing.

@frank124c.  Nice thread.  Thanks.

Thanks, LikeTheLake,  I am an "old timer" so have lots of such stories.

If I were in your area-would take you up on the dinner and we could talk chess and other stuff! 

He should have been reported for this and lose his ability to direct tournies.  

You know you are correct  but by the time I found out what he did--he had given up directing tournaments--apparently he only did so to try and gain rating points [which backfired]. I do not think there has been another USCF rated tournament in Kankakee since 1973.

I do not even remember who he is/was now.

Directors / TDs shouldnt be allowed to play in events they run/direct for this very reason .  FIDE doesnt allow it and I think the USCF still does but only for small/club tournies . 

Here is another true Kankakee Illinois story. Not many real super players in this area.

There was a chess club at the YMCA-I stopped by but no one seemed interested in playing me or greeting me etc.

Later I found that this 18 year old kid had won their club championship with a score of 8 wins and no losses and no draws. I talked to him and he was just a shade on the smart eleck side.

He wanted to play me and I said ok but under tournament conditions--he could come to my house every other day and we would play a game with a chess clock and time limit etc. It would be a ten game match.

He came every other day and we played a game.  I won all ten games.

Towards the end I thought maybe I will give him a draw but then I thought--that would really be dishonest...

hahahaahaha

Being an oldtimer, there are lots of stories.  I was age 15 and had my own motor scooter which I had saved for by mowing lawns--sometimes with a push lawn mower. 

Back in 1956 there was a law in Illinois that at age 15 you could drive a motor scooter!  I was in this large room surronded by nothing but teachers from various grade schools and junior high schools.  Maybe 40 or so teachers and me! The teachers were all going to be playground supervisors during the summer at various school in Decatur Illinois and they all were going to be paid the grand sum of $1.00 per hour! [equivalent to approximately $9.00 an hour today] 

And I was going to get the same salary as the teachers!  Why? They had chosen me as chess instructor for all the school areas in Decatur! They gave a little speech introducing me.  I was to take my motor scooter on a set schedule and maybe go to three schools a day.

The first school there were about 11 or 12 kids waiting for me. They all had chess sets and the idea was I was to play a simul against all of them and when the game was finished--another game etc. The first day this happened at all the schools and after that continued to happen for that summer and the next summer.  They all wanted to play me!

The first year I won every game except one in the middle of the season.

There was a blind kid who was one of the best. I made a special chess board for him with the sides of each square raised high. Unfortunately I hung a queen in one of my games and he beat me.  Actually I was happy if anyone would draw or beat me it would be him.  After that I won all my games for the whole summer.  Approximate result  4000 wins  and 1 loss and zero draws. 

I remember, some neighborhoods kids threw rocks and stones at me while I was on my scooter.  Once they tried to block me but I got away--just remembering...

The second year I won every single game for the whole summer--again about 4000 games!  They did not want instruction-just wanted to play..

So for 1/2 of one summer and another full summer, conservatively I won say 5000 games in a row, without a loss or draw!  And this against maybe

300 or 400 kids?  Probably almost a world record--but of course I cannot prove--but there you have it!

Hey Ponz111. Reading in between the lines it seems you may have want to teach them a little bit rather than just play them but if you were hired to just play them you shouldn't regret doing just that.  I think spending your summers playing chess when you are 15 years old is just fantastic plus riding the scooter must have been great.  Now lets see about the 4000 won games.  If the players were really much lower than your rating then here at chess.com you would get 1 point per won game.  That puts you at an 4000 rank if not 5000, that would be another record, now adding the next summer, geez.  Thanks for sharing traces of you life. 

No, I'm pretty sure that if you play somebody with much lower rating than you you get no points for beating them... it certainly works that way in reverse: Being ~1400 in online chess, I lost no points for losing to a >2000 player a few days ago.

Well..of course these were not USCF rated games but thinking back it is fantastic I was so in to chess that I could win so many gamess in a row and doing a simul which should make it harder. I mean you would think I would hang a queen several times and lose several games.

Today I hang my queen quite often.  Here is something I have done at leat twice.