Illinois Chess Bulletin Julio - Agosto 2002 | Page 27

Remembering Richard Part II
A very precise move, especially considering the severe
time-pressure. The goal is to further misplace White's
Queen before returning to a7 with the real threat.
35. Qd1 Qa7, 36. Kc1 Bb4! 37. Qxh Qg1+
In order to answer Kd2 with Qf2+. Simply BxR was
another easy win. At this point the moves were fast
and furious since there were only seconds left.
38. Nd1 Ra1+, 39. Kb2 BxR+, 40. NxB BxN, 41. Ne4
Qb1+, 42. Kc3 Qb4++
A new Chicago talent came onto the scene around this
time. Craig Chellstorp rapidly approached master
strength; at the 1971 U.S. Open in Ventura he scored
9-3, raising his rating to 2350. Richard, Greg DeFotis,
and Andrew Karklins had a new competitor.
The Role of the Midwest in the U.S. Chess Federation
Shortly after Frank Skoff brought the U.S. Student
Team home in triumph from Haifa, Chicago lost an
important figure in Chicago chess and politics. Elbert
Wagner Jr., Clerk of the Federal District Court of
Chicago, died December 4, 1970 at the age of 66. He
was a longtime member of the Chicago Chess Club
Board of Trustees and USCF President from 19451949. The Midwest, primarily Milwaukee and Chicago,
had played an important role in the formation and
growth of the USCF. Professor Arpad Elo of
Milwaukee had been one of the founders of the USCF
in 1939, through the negotiated merger of two
competing national groups. Milwaukee's chess-in-theplayground program in the '50s was a pioneering
effort. Prominent Milwaukee tournament directors like
Ernie Olfe and Pearle Mann were in the forefront of
showing how to refine the newly popular Swiss system
tournament. Midwesterners Jerry Spann, Fred
Cramer, and Marshall Rohland were popular and
successful USCF presidents. Frank Skoff, then USCF
Vice-President, had emerged as a national leader; he
would become President in 1972. At the time, Richard
and Frank were still good friends, and Richard took on
the role of his advisor.

Richard's Sense of Humor
I had left the country for Italy in August 1970
and I returned a year later, just before Labor Day 1971,
to direct the Illinois Open (which Richard organized). I
was sorry to see that he had gained a lot of weight. At
his heaviest, I would guess that Richard weighed 420
pounds. Unlike other very heavy people I have known,
Richard was very nimble, almost graceful, on his feet,
and until his final years, Richard carried his weight
well. His intelligence, conversational brilliance, chess
skill, and absurdist sense of humor remained
undiminished.
His humor deserves comment though it is
difficult to convey. It arose first of all from Richard's
acute visual sense, coupled with his gift for descriptive
prose. One of his favorite painters was the Belgian
20th-century expressionist Enscher; if you know his
work, you will start to get an idea of Richard's
viewpoint. Another source was his own acute selfconsciousness about his difference from others. So
what happens if you put the sensibility of Enscher in a
body by Botero? Richard.
He enjoyed telling the story of the time that a
mother and her four-year-old child were riding in an
elevator with Richard in some Loop hotel. "Are you a
clown?" the child asked ingenuously. "I recoiled and
tensed, stopping my hands from reaching out to
strangle the brat. His mother drew the child towards
herself protectively, hushing him," he said, relishing the
story as well as the exaggeration -- Richard could
harm no one. Another favorite was about the time that
Richard, and Larry and Beverly Mason, who were also
big people, walked into a Chinese restaurant that
offered an all-you-could eat buffet for $3.95. "The
owner took one look at the three of us and came and
offered us five dollars each if we would leave and
promise never to come back." Dennis Bourgerie, a
friend, described his anecdotal ability well: "Richard
had a beautiful command of the English language and
with raised eyebrows, gestures, and rolling eyes could
make a story come alive. I can remember sharing
meals with Richard and laughing so hard that my sides
hurt."

Gene Martinowski with Richard. Inscribed on
back. [I'll fill in more details later]
Illinois Chess Bulletin

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