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Maurice Fox (1898-1988) won eight Canadian Closed titles: 1927, 1929, 1931, 1932, 1935, 1938, 1940, and 1949. This is tied with GM D.A. Yanofsky for the most ever. Fox was an engineer who immigrated from Ukraine to England and then to Canada, residing in Montreal. FIDE in 1950 formally established international titles. How was it that Fox didn't get an IM title? Now, there is no one surviving from that era of Canadian chess leadership who could answer this first-hand -- people such as Dan McAdam, Bernard Freedman, John Prentice and Phil Haley have all passed away. But I have long wondered why Fox wasn't recognized at that time. He was certainly deserving of that title.
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Probably due to his lack of international (European in particular) experience. His only European results that I can find were the 1954 Olympiad (5.5/8). With a Europe (eastern and western) centred FIDE at the time, they would be looking at well-known players as title candidates. If you didn't play in Europe, you probably weren't well-known. A bunch of Canadian championships would have been nothing compared to a similar number of Hungarian championships.Originally posted by Frank Dixon View Post
FIDE awarded 94 IM titles in 1950 (along with 27 GM titles). I can't find the list of the original IM's to compare their data with Fox. -
Maurice Fox was a brilliant player and a book of his 1920-30s games would be enjoyable. But by the 1950s he was much weaker.Originally posted by Hugh Brodie View PostComment
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A useful exercise is to go through the list of FIDE titleholders on the CFC site and note when the IMs got their titles (don't forget the GMs, they were IMs first), then consider why they got the title when they did. Then compare to the records of people like Fox who never got the title. Main difference is participation in international events - interzonals, olympiads, etc. Also remember that qualification for the IM title was quite different in those days, and the title itself (along with GM) has been considerably devalued since then.Comment
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In 1974 I was playing in my first major tournament, the Canadian open in Montreal. I was doing reasonably well and got to play my first master. A friend came up during the round and asked me who I was playing. I said some guy by the name of Fox. He must be from the States, his rating is too high for Canada. Back at the board after move 40 in a position where I had two rooks and f,g, h pawns vs queen and f,g,h pawns, I was considering doubling the rooks on the seventh and taking the f pawn. After the forced recapture with the queen (in effect trading the queen and pawn for the two rooks) I would be left with 3 pawns vs two in a king and pawn endgame. As I was thinking Master Fox put out his hand and said young man youve played an excellent game would you like a draw? Before I knew it my hand had grasped his. Outfoxed by Master Fox. (apparently Maurice Fox had just left the hospital to come and play in that tournament) That was before I knew any chess culture. Ive learned a lot since then.Comment
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Maybe I am stating the obvious, but he beat Fischer in the 1956 Canadian Open. Fischer was only 13, but very strong. https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1044029Comment
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And Fox lost to Howard Ridout in the 1951 Canadian Closed.Originally posted by Ian Findlay View PostComment
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In the CFC's first rating list, Spring 1954, there were only four Canadian Masters: IM Frank Anderson, IM Abe Yanofsky, IM Feodor Bohatirchuk, and IM Paul Vaitonis.
Maurice Fox, in his fifties, was considered an Expert.
In 1957 Geza Fuster rose to a Canadian Master (not an IM till 1969).
Experts were Joyner, Kerr, Draxl, Matthai, Jursevskis, Butkov, Fox, Williams, Zalys, Harry Yanofsky, Richardson and Fielding.
Rose, Rauch, Despard, Taylor, Sarosy and Theodorovich had dropped to A class.
By 1961 Canadian Masters were Yanofsky, Anderson, Macskasy, Bohatirchuk, Joyner, and Vranesic (not an IM till 1969).
Vaitonis and Fuster dropped to Expert, along with Despaard, Grimshaw, Witt (not an IM till 1969) and Theodorovich.
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In 1974 when I played him Maurice Fox had a rating of 2350.Comment
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Maurice Fox: Why not an IM?
May 20, 2020
Hans Jung: In 1974 when I played him Maurice Fox had a rating of 2350.
Can you give us the score of that game? I would love to play it over.
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Hans, I think that 2350 rating was just showing a sign of respect. In 1957 his rating was 2188, 11th top on list. I find no listings for him from 1961-1973.Originally posted by Hans Jung View Post
After the Canadian Open his rating was 2141, 32nd on the Top Canadian list (March-April 1975). 2350 would have been fifth on the list after Suttles, Kuprejanov, Biyiasas, and Amos.Comment
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Probably, but if he was considered worthy of respect then isn't the implication that there was a time when that rating was justified? Jeff Sonas' Chessmetrics site estimates his peak playing strength at 2470 in 1931. Also, chessgames.com shows an over-50% finish at Bradley Beach 1929, a tournament which included Alekhine, Marshall, L. Steiner, and solid American masters Kupchik, Kevitz, and H. Steiner.Originally posted by Erik Malmsten View Post"We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office." - Aesop
"Only the dead have seen the end of war." - Plato
"If once a man indulges himself in murder, very soon he comes to think little of robbing; and from robbing he comes next to drinking and Sabbath-breaking, and from that to incivility and procrastination." - Thomas De QuinceyComment
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He had a rating of 2141 in the Jan/Feb 1975 rating list. Probably due to inactivity, he's not listed on the over-2100 list going back to Nov/Dec 1973. I don't remember him playing at all from my early years of chess in 1966 until 1974.Originally posted by Hans Jung View PostComment
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As I stated, he was a great player in the 1920 and 1930s but I don't think that the 1974 Canadian Open organizers were aware of his old games and there was no chessmetric website back then.Originally posted by Peter McKillop View Post
Chessmetric ranked him as 84th best in the world in Sept 1931. For comparison, other Top 100 stars:
Alexander Lesiege 115th in 2000
Evgeny Bareev 4th in 1991
Peter Biyiasas 89th in 1989
Kevin Spraggett 47th in 1983
Igor Ivanov 42nd in 1978
Bruce Amos 72nd in 1971
Zvonko Vranesic 79th in 1971
Duncan Suttles 63rd in 1969
Frank Anderson 49th in 1958
Daniel Yanofsky 31st in 1946
Paul Viatonis 70th in 1933
Fedor Bohatirchuk 15th in 1927
and J. S. Morrison 21st in 1920.
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The field of players to choose from was much smaller in the 1920s and 1930s. I might have a hard time finding 8Comment
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