January 01, 1978 The Sacramento Bee, The Chess Column

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Biker Doesn't Fit The Stereotype 01 Jan 1978, Sun The Sacramento Bee (Sacramento, California) Newspapers.com

The Sacramento Bee, Sacramento, California, Sunday, January 01, 1978

Chess by R. E. Fauber with Frank Garosi
Chess Players: Biker Doesn't Fit The Stereotype
THE STEREOTYPE of chess as an effete game for the anemic and underweight is slow dying. In fact chess provides pleasure and a creative outlet for all types and sizes of people. There is a sense of completeness about the micro-world of chess.
One of the leading players and organizers in the Bay Area illustrates this perfectly. A stocky, muscular character, Max Burkett travels to tournaments on his bike and swaggers to the registration table swinging his crash helmet. In Oakland they call him Motorcycle Max.
Burkett is not a person to be treated flippantly. He likes his beer and his Scotch in generous quantities and while some people treat chess tournaments as though they had just taken the Crusader's vow, Burkett refuses to stop living at night just because he has another game in the morning. He might be a higher-rated player today were he not vulnerable in morning rounds. By evening he is a tiger, but in the morning he sometimes succumbs as the result of living not wisely but too well.
Burkett's lifestyle, for all its colorful aspects, centers around chess. He publishes bulletins of the games of Bay Area tournaments, directs tournaments, and cooperates with anyone who is trying to give chess a boost. If you want to do a macho number, do not perform the rendition around Burkett — he'll floor you; but if you want to play chess or help promote it, Burkett is a perfect gentleman.
His current project is to organize the master and nearmaster players into an association to encourage quality tournaments and chess in Northern California. To have more time for this, for tournaments and his bulletins, he recently relinquished his job with the post office and now derives his non-chess income from a newspaper delivery route. One pictures him zooming crash-helmet on his bike through the streets of Oakland, hurling papers at high speed and bellowing: “Check, check, and double check!”
Over the board, Burkett is known for his deep opening knowledge and a preference for getting a wrestler's bind on the opponent and crushing him. He is most vulnerable when he sacrifices material, but here he coaxes a risky variation to victory.

Victor Baja (white) vs. Max Burkett (black)
Ruy Lopez: Open, Dilworth Variation

Descriptive 1. P-K4 P-K4 2. N-KB3 N-QB3 3. B-N5 P-QR3 4. B-R4 N-B3 5. O-O NxP 6. P-Q4 P-QN4 7. B-N3 P-Q4 8. PxP B-K3 9. P-B3 B-QB4 10. QN-Q2 O-O 11. B-B2 NxKBP(a) 12. RxN P-B3 13. PxP BxRch! 14. KxB QxP 15. K-N1 QR-K1 16. N-B1(b) N-K4 17. B-K3 NxNch 18. PxN QxKBP 19. B-B5(c) B-R6 20. QxQ RxQ 21. N-N3 R-K4! 22. B-B2 P-N3 23. R-K1 RxR 24. BxR P-KR4(d) 25. B-Q1 R-B2 26. B-K2 P-R5 27. N-R1 R-K2! 28. K-B2 B-N7! 29. KxB RxBch 30. K-B1 RxNP(e) 31. N-B2 RxRP 32. N-N4 K-B2 33. B-R4 P-B4 34. B-B2 P-N5 35. PxP PxP 36. K-K1 K-K3 37. B-N3 K-B4 38. N-K5 K-K5 39. N-N6 P-Q5 40. K-Q1 P-Q6 41. N-K5 P-N6 42. N-B4 P-N7 43. N-Q3 K-K6 44. N-B4 K-B6 (f) 0-1

Algebraic 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. 0-0 Nxe4 6. d4 b5 7. Bb3 d5 8. dxe5 Be6 9. c3 Bc5 10. Nd2 0-0 11. Bc2 Nxf2(a) 12. Rxf2 f6 13. exf6 Bxf2+! 14. Kxf2 Qxf6 15. Kg1 Re8 16. Nf1(b) Ne5 17. Be3 Nxf3+ 18. gxf3 Qxf3 19. Bc5(c) Bh3 20. Qxf3 Rxf3 21. Ng3 Re5! 22. Bf2 g6 23. Re1 Rxe1+ 24. Bxe1 h5(d) 25. Bd1 Rf7 26. Be2 h4 27. Nh1 Re7! 28. Kf2 Bg2! 29. Kxg2 Rxe2+ 30. Kf1 Rxb2(e) 31. Nf2 Rxa2 32. Ng4 Kf7 33. Bxh4 c5 34. Bf2 b4 35. cxb4 cxb4 36. Ke1 Ke6 37. Bg3 Kf5 38. Ne5 Ke4 39. Nxg6 d4 40. Kd1 d3 41. Ne5 b3 42. Nc4 b2 43. Nd6+ Ke3 44. Nc4+ Kf3 (f) 0-1

(a) This variation is generally considered inferior to the even wilder 11. … P-B4; 12. N-N3 B-N3; 13. QN-Q4. The two pieces should be better than the R and P, but White is still underdeveloped and so Black gets pressure.
(b) Q-B1!?
(c) Because 19. QxQ RxQ; 20. R-K1 B-R6; 21. B-Q1 RxNch; 22. RxR RxB.
(d) White has the two Bs, but they are not very active. Black's task is to maintain the bind until he is ready to break in. This presents a few technical problems which Burkett solves succintly.
(e) And not 30. … RxRP N-B2 trapping the R out of play.
(f) 45. Resigns