Illinois Chess Bulletin Julio - Agosto 2002

Remembering Richard Part II Norbert Leopoldi with Bobby Fischer at the Chicago Chess Club. The Fischer Boom During 1971 and 1972, Bobby Fischer played a remarkable series of matches that brought him to the World Championship. Chess in Chicago and throughout the United States benefitted from Fischer fever, and Richard was ideally placed to lead the boom in our city. An article by William Granger, "Chicago Chess Attracts the Best" in The Sun Times of July 7, 1972 desc ribed the state of Chicago, Illinois, and American chess: he wrote of Richard "pushing 29 . . . . a jovial sort," one of twenty senior masters in the country, ranking just below the eight grandmasters; of the Chicago Chess Club with 120 members at $35 a year; of 2,000 USCF members in Illinois; of the North Avenue Chess Pavilion. With Bob Lerner, Richard convinced WTTW Channel 11 to cover the Fischer-Spassky match. With George Leighton, he convinced Mayor Daley to proclaim Monday, August 28, to Sunday, September 3 "Chess Week in Chicago." On Monday, August 28, Richard, George, myself and a few others met with Richard J. Daley -- a photograph of Richard and George presenting the Mayor with a chess set representing Chicago landmarks and buildings appeared in The Chicago Daily News that evening. Richard was very proud of that photo. Friends had it blown up to poster size and, like an icon, it accompanied him and was prominently displayed wherever he moved. Richard and Judge Leighton worked with the City to organize a massive simultaneous at the Civic Center. On August 31, 1972, about fifty Chicago masters and experts took on nearly 28 3,000 players in 90 degree heat, with chess being "hawk[ed] over a loudspeaker system by Richard Verber" according to Associated Press. Harold Winston later called it "the first Chessathon." I was one of three who lost a game; the winners were presented with a Nixon-McGovern chess set. That same day Fischer and Spassky adjourned; Spassky resigned the game and the match the next day by telephone. The Sun Times ran an article "Who Cares about Chess?" on Labor Day, Monday, September 4, reporting on the Illinois Open at the LaSalle Hotel, with 314 adults and 86 high school players the largest tournament ever held in Illinois. The USCF then had 35,000 members; Richard's prediction mirrored the optimism of the moment: "80,000 in the next six months and 200,000 in a year." In fact, the Chess Life and Review mailing list more than doubled, from 28,000 to 59,000 over the next year. From August 1972 to August 1973, membership in the Chicago Chess Club also soared, from 165 to 415. Chess was hot. Chess was cool. The front page of The Chicago Tribune for September 2, 1972 proclaimed "Bobby Wins Chess Crown." Buried inside the paper was another, almost unnoticed headline: "Mitchell Says He Had No Role in Bugging." Richard the Organizer GM Roman Dzindzihashvili makes a move in a simul game against Fred Gruenber while Richard looks on. Richard's increasing work as chief promoter of Chicago chess, President of the Chicago Chess Club, and graduate student, left him no time to work on his game. Rivals Greg DeFotis and Bill Martz of Milwaukee made their first appearances in the 14player U.S. Championship in 1972. Greg tied for 6th place with GM Bill Lombardy with 7 1/2-5 1/2; Bill finished with 6 1/2-6 1/2. By March of 1973 there were four senior masters in Chicago, Richard, Greg, Craig Illinois Chess Bulletin

Illinois Chess Bulletin Julio - Agosto 2002 | Page 28