Jacqueline Piatigorsky

[Wayne Komer]

Jacqueline Piatigorsky

The World Chess Hall of Fame in St. Louis has an exhibition entitled Jacqueline Piatigorsky: Patron, Player, Pioneer, that has been running from October 25, 2013 until July 13, 2014.

You can access the exhibition at:

http://www.worldchesshof.org/exhibit...layer-pioneer/

She sponsored women’s chess in the ‘50s, promoted a match between Samuel Reshevsky and Bobby Fischer in 1961 and organized the two Piatigorsky Cup Tournaments of 1963 and 1966.

I can remember, in those days before the Internet, that Fischer was to meet Spassky in the penultimate round of the second tournament for the lead and I was getting tournament bulletins by air mail. What excitement! Alas, the game was a draw and in the last round, Spassky beat Donner and Fischer drew with Petrosian so Spassky won the tournament.

Second Piatigorsky Cup 1966
Round 17
August 14, 1966
Fischer, Robert – Spassky, Boris
C89 Ruy Lopez, Marshall Counter-Attack

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. c3 d5 9. exd5 Nxd5 10. Nxe5 Nxe5 11. Rxe5 c6 12. g3 Nf6 13. d4 Bd6 14. Re1 Bg4 15. Qd3 c5 16. dxc5 Bxc5 17. Qxd8 Raxd8 18. Bf4 h6 19. Na3 g5 20. Be3 Bxe3 21. Rxe3 Rd2 22. Nc2 Re8 23. Rxe8 Nxe8 24. Ne3 Bf3 25. Bc2 Nd6 26. b3 Kf8 27. a4 Ne4 28. Bxe4 Bxe4 29. axb5 axb5 30. b4 Rb2 31. g4 Kg7 32. Kf1 Kf6 33. Ra5 Rb1 34. Ke2 Rb2 35. Kf1 0.5-0.5

Second Piatigorsky Cup 1966
Round 18
August 15, 1966
Petrosian, Tigran – Fischer, Robert
E62 King’s Indian, Fianchetto, Simagin/Spassky Var.

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 O-O 5. O-O d6 6. c4 Nc6 7. Nc3 Bf5 8. h3 e5 9. d5 Ne7 10. Ne1 Bc8 11. e4 Nd7 12. Nd3 f5 13. Bd2 Nf6 14. Kh2 c6 15. f3 Kh8 16. Rc1 b5 17. cxb5 cxd5 18. exd5 Nfxd5 19. Nxd5 Nxd5 20. Nb4 Be6 21. Nxd5 Bxd5 22. Bb4 Bxa2 23. Rc6 Bg8 24. Bxd6 Re8 25. Re1 Rc8 26. Bb4 Rb8 27. Qxd8 Rexd8 28. Bc3 e4 0.5-0.5

The article has photos of Steiner, Reshevsky, Fischer, Petrosian and Keres, copies of letters, chessmen, other artifacts and pictures of contemporary issues of the magazine Chess Life.

In addition, there are audios and transcripts of James Tarjan, Anthony Saidy, Pal Benko, Svetozar Gligorich, Lajos Portisch and Bent Larsen.

If this isn’t enough, the enthusiast can download a pdf of the exhibition brochure, 12 pages (including covers) at:

http://www.worldchesshof.org/uploads...ochure2web.pdf

[Stephen Wright]

Re: Jacqueline Piatigorsky

A small B.C. connection, as noted in BCCF Bulletin #245:

Jacqueline Piatigorsky (November 6, 1911 – July 15, 2012)

We note the passing at age one hundred of Jacqueline Piatigorsky, widow of the Russian emigré cellist Gregor Piatigorsky. Jacqueline Piatigorsky is perhaps best known in chess circles for sponsoring the two Piatigorsky Cup tournaments in 1963 and 1966, the former won by Tigran Petrosian and Paul Keres, the latter by Boris Spassky ahead of Bobby Fischer (she was born a member of the Rothschild banking family). She was also a strong player in her own right, winning a bronze medal on board two at the first Women’s Olympiad in 1957 and finishing second in the U.S. Women’s Championship in 1965. Mrs. Piatigorsky lived a remarkable life, but the reason for her inclusion in these columns is that she played in a tournament in B.C., as some of our older readers might recollect. The event in question was the South Vancouver Island Open, held in Victoria in November of 1971. Mrs. Piatigorsky participated along with her friend Lina Grumette; she lost to Bruce Harper but beat Dan Scoones in scoring 4.0 points and winning a share of the “A” prize on tiebreak. Jonathan Berry was the overall winner, Harper and Ray Kerr tied for second, and the other “A” prize winners were Brian McLaren, Ernie Krzyzowski, and Nigel Fullbrook.