Wow, great Story.
A wonderful chess story from St Petersburg, Russia
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May 29, 2019
0
#4
And think causal. Your guy beat Tal, you beat the guy, who is best ? Cheers, today I drink a pils. Tomorrow is daddy day in germany., No work.
May 29, 2019
0
#6
The guy's 73, so I'm hoping that his concentration levels are not what they once were! Though when we met last week he suggested having a game, and when I pointed out that we didn't have a board and pieces to hand, he laughed and said that we could play the game in our heads! That was the point I started to get scared! In Russian chess schools it's a very common exercise to play blind, in order to hone calculation skills. I'm English, so I DEFINITELY need a board! But I'm certainly going to play him, as if I win, I'll be able to say that I beat someone who beat Korchnoi and Tal! Though if he can play whole games in his head, I'm not hopeful!
And what's the guy's name?
Jun 12, 2019
0
#8
tired_of_ignorance wrote:
And what's the guy's name?
Sorry about the delay in answering, as I only just found out. He's Chumachenko Alexander Alexandrovich. I just knew him as "San Sanich" or "Masha's dedushka" :-)
Relatively few games from his era have made it onto the Internet, but he says he's still got some old score sheets, so I'm going to ask him for a look next time I see him. You can see him on a few pictures here:
http://www.bs-chess.com/tourn/spb/27/z100/z100.html
I am lucky enough to live in St Petersburg, which as anyone who has ever been there will know, is one of the world's great cities. From a chess point of view is well it is absolutely great, with the level of the average casual player far away higher than in most other countries, and a titled player living on pretty much every street corner!
So, not long ago, one of the mums at my daughter's school happened to mention that her dad was a pretty serious chess player in his day, and still plays a bit around the city. I assumed this meant he was a solid Leningrad player back in the day, which was a very decent level. So, I met him last week, and it turns out he regularly played in tournaments in the 60's which included Tal, Keres, Spassky and Korchnoi, to name just a few. And he once beat Tal in a game of blitz. He's extremely modest as well. "Tal had just had his appendix out, and probably wasn't on top form. Besides, we played eight games, he won six, we drew one and I won one." Yes, but you BEAT TAL! "Well, it's nothing really. But that time when I mated Korchnoi in a classic game. Well that is quite impressive I suppose".........