A
Chess by Isaac Kashdan Sun, Feb 14, 1971 – 116 · The Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, California) · Newspapers.com
The Los Angeles Times Los Angeles, California Sunday, February 14, 1971 Times Problem 4060 by M. Forti. White mates in...
Posted by Bobby Fischer's True History on Sunday, April 26, 2020
Times Problem 4060 by M. Forti. White mates in two.
Today's problem is another valued contribution, composed especially for The Times, by Mario Forti of Los Angeles. It is a lightweight, featuring interferences by the black pawn and bishop.
FEN 3NRK2/2rp4/Q1q2k2/6R1/6pP/8/8/5b2 w - - 0 1
Multiple Ties In Western Tourneys
Three separate tournaments involving 222 participants were held last weekend at the Airport Marina Hotel, without a clear winner in any of them.
The major event was the Western High School Chess Championship, with 138 entries from all parts of California and Arizona.
Three Riverside students, Larry Christiansen, Ross Stoutenborough and Robert Newbold, won the top individual trophies, tying with six points out of seven games.
Others with the same score were Dave Oppedal of Sacramento and David Sewell of Salinas. They finished in the order listed on tie-breaking points.
All five will receive part of their expenses to travel to the National High School Championship, to be held in New York City from April 2 to 2.
Just behind the leaders, tying with totals of 5½-1½, were Mike Pollowitz, Van Nuys; Robert Snyder, Garden Grove; Joachim Van Leeuwen, El Monte; Jeff Spindler, Huntington Beach and Richard Gordon, San Jose.
A high school team championship was also held, with the results based on the scores of the leading four players for each school.
Piedmont Hills High School of San Jose won the title with an aggregate of 20 points. Sonora of La Habra and Marina of Huntington Beach tied for second with 18½ points, and Grand High School of Van Nuys followed with 17½ points.
A number of junior high school students also competed. The best were Mike Carlson of Anaheim of Christopher Strong of Los Angeles, who tied with 4½-2½.
The Western Intercollegiate Championship had 39 players. The winners were Julius Loftsson of UCLA and Andy Sacks of San Fernando Valley State College, who tied with scores of 5-1.
Loftsson lost to Sacks, winning his other five games. Sacks was undefeated, but drew with Ronald Larsen of Inglewood and James Woodward of San Diego.
There was another multiple tie for third place. Finishing with 4½-1½ were Larsen, Woodward, John Davidian of Sun Valley and Jeff Kent of Northridge.
The third tournament, with 45 participants, was the Western Senior Open, to which all non-students were eligible.
Here there was a three-way tie among Bruce Haisfield and Frank Thornally of San Francisco, and James Ulrich of Beverly Hills. All had 4½-½.
The tournaments were organized and sponsored by the Continental Chess Association of New York. William Goichberg or New York was the director.
Following are games from the tournaments:
Gruenfeld Defense
Larry Christiansen (white) vs. Joachim Van Leeuwen (black)
English Opening: Great Snake Variation
English Opening
Laffin (white) vs. Thornally (black)
English Opening: Great Snake Variation
Master Zuckerman
Bernard Zuckerman, in an article in the January issue of Chess Life & Review, tells how he won the title of international master.
According to the regulations of the International Chess Federation, this can be done by a very good result in the strongest type of tournament, or by two successes in tournaments of somewhat lower category.
This poses a particular problem for American players, as very few international tournaments are held in this country. Anyone seeking a major title practically has to compete in European tournaments, and generally more than once.
When a player has the time and funds, he must still get the invitations. This is not easy for the untitled player, as the tournament organizers are looking for international masters and grandmasters to build up the status of their events.
Sometimes a bit of trading is involved. If an invitation comes for Bobby Fischer or another of the U.S. grandmasters, our federation may reply that they will do their best to get the player desired, if an untitled player is also invited.
To get back to Zuckerman, he already had one “leg” on the international master title, and was invited to a tournament in Bari, Italy, late last year.
This was a 15-man round robin, of category 2A. Zuckerman could clinch the title if he could get eight points or more.
The winner was Janosevic of Yugoslavia, with a score of 10-4. He won six games and drew eight, without a loss. Janosevic is perhaps the most erratic grandmaster, as likely to come near the bottom as to win. This time he was in top form.
Barczay and Dely, both of Hungary, tied for second with 9-5. They were also undefeated, each winning four games and drawing nine.
The favorite, Unzicker of West Germany, lost in the first round to Cosulich of Italy, and never fully recovered. Unzicker and Honfi of Hungary tied for fourth with 8½-5½.
Zuckerman, with three rounds to go, had 6½points. He concentrated on his major goal, drew his remaining games, and assured the title with a final score of 8-7. He tied with Cosulich, for whom this was the first result toward the same title.
The following game is from the tournament.
Sicilian Defense
Nikolic (white) Yugoslavia vs. Wolfgang Unzicker (black) West Germany
Sicilian Defense: Kan Variation, Modern Variation
