Chess for Oldtimers --- Good Idea !

Well, I am somewhat active in the Ponziani Power group which is all about the Ponziani Opening

Gosh, I must admit I'm not familiar with the "Ponzianzi Opening," but it sure does sound Powerful! !  Can you tell us more, oh Cool () One?

To shed just a little bit light on Ponziani's Opening the person who analyzed it was Domenico Lorenzo Ponziani ( 1719 - 1792 ). However this opening first appeared in the Gottingen manuscript of 1490 AD.  

I prefer to zigzag from grumpy to grousy to grumbly to crabby (and btw never say "zigzag" to anybody who grew up in the 1970s--they might have a flashback). 

WOW! Denverhigh-more power to you.

I have a couple of claims to fame as an oldster.  346 perfect games in bowling [300 games] [of course there is a "catch] 

And naturally I have to ask what that "catch" is... 

catch is that it was with wii bowling.  I also tied for a record of highest rating in wii tennis.  But still not so easy to score so many perfect bowling games in wii sports...

Also claim unofficial record for most chess games won in a row with no losses or draws.\

and my chess records vs gms is 100%... [those were the days...]

Thanks for the recent posts. Ponz111, I'm glad to see that you are using games to help you keep occupied, keeps the brain active. 

I recently saw some interesting info in GM Andy Soltis' column published in the July 2012 issue of " Chess Life ". It was 40 years ago this month that the Fischer - Spassky World Championship Match started ( on July 11th, 1972 ) and Andy's column explains the fun of trying to cover the match on Public TV in New York. Being on Public TV this Chess Show had a very small budget and went thru to the last game of the World Championship on September 1st, 1972. As there are only a few of us left that remember the Fischer - Spassky match of 1972 so I thought that I should mention it in this thread. 

Yes, the technical level of that 1972 TV coverage (hosted by Shelby Lyman) was laughable by today's standards.  I remember some sort of bell or buzzer would ring anytime a move was made in Iceland,  and Lyman would scramble to make the move on his demo board.  Sometimes several moves would be reported quickly,  with the ringing bells interupting Lyman's comments. . .  Edmar Mednis would report a few times each game by phone from the Marshall Chess Club. . . When Spassky resigned the last game, the TV station displayed a rather ridiculous picture of a grinning Fischer with a huge crown superimposed on his head. . .  All in all,  that TV coverage,  primitive though it was,  was great fun and certainly the highlight of that long, hot summer.  

im an old timer show me more

Thanks for the info Apawndown. On the subject of phone calls to that TV show on Chess ( which was done live ) I gather that the funniest one occured when they attempted to call the UN. When the host of the TV show called the United Nations Chess Club a member came on the line who did not speak any English at all but needing to fill some air time on the show the host tried to do an interview, must have been a classic  lol. 

That's hilarious~  wonder if its' online anywhere?

Thanks for the post IronButterfly. In the Chess Life article GM Andy Soltis does mention that in those pre-VCR times the only record of these shows would have been studio tapes and they were lost years ago. However sometimes tapes of old TV shows are found in someone's basement or in a forgotten old storage room somewhere so we may yet be lucky in getting a chance to see parts of these programs.    

Thanks!  It's good to know that some of my efforts have been appreciated...

lol 

There was a rather funny item mentioned in the Chess Life column on the Fischer - Spassky match. They did a random survey of 23 New York bars and fornd that 18 of them had their TV sets tuned to the Chess match, 18 out of 23 is pretty darn good  lol.  

The other five bars didn't have TV sets....

Yes that sounds about right to me Catnapper, after all Chess was King back in 1972 when Fischer and Spassky were having their Match. 

I see that HOS has just released a 40-year commemorative chess for the Spassky-Fischer match...it really looks nice; unfortunately, it costs $895!!!