Happy Birthday Walter Browne

The American Grandmaster Walter Browne is 60 years old today.  Browne was born in Sydney to his Australian mother, but his father was American and the family settled in New York when Walter was just 3 years old.

Browne represented both Australia and the US at chess, winning 6 US Championships, a record only bettered by Bobby Fischer and Sammy Reshevsky who won 8 each.

He represented Australia at the 1970 and 1972 Chess Olympiads, before switching to the US in 1974, and went on to play for the US again at the 1978, 1982 and 1984 Olympiads.

Browne was well known for his skill at blitz games, and founded the World Blitz Chess Association in 1988.  Besides chess, Browne is also a highly skilled professional poker player.

Here are 2 games from Walter Browne.  The first is a stunning tactical victory, and the second a hard fought game against Bobby Fischer, when Bobby was arguably at the peak of his powers in 1970.

Happy Birthday Walter Browne!