wildpigsonthe7th

First rated tournament: Oct. 14, 1973, Greater Boston Open, Prudential Center.

Other news that day: A massive fire, visible from the tournament site, wiped out 18 blocks of nearby Chelsea.

Chess highlight: Stopping Boris Spassky dead in his tracks during a simul, upon which he found a chair and sat in front of me analyzing for three minutes (I eventually lost). See "My Best Move," July 2021 Chess Life, Page 60.

Random stuff: Wheedling a draw out of World Junior Champion Ilya Gurevich in a simul by holding 2N v. P. Singing "The Lumberjack Song" from Monty Python with a 19-year-old Nigel Short; Meeting Mikhail Tahl (see avatar); Sitting in the press room at the 1988 Candidates Matches in Canada when a group of grandmasters commandeered the board I was sitting at and argued about a difficult position for 20 minutes. I shut my mouth.

USChess profile