Fond memories in Chess

[Hans Jung]

I forget which tournament it was (I believe in Toronto) that Hyssam went up to the tournament director who was busy taking entries (and hadnt met Hyssam before) and gave him his information and said his name was Mister A**hole. The TD said What? and Hyssam said write it down first name Mister, last name A**hole. I dont have a listing for that name so you will also need CFC membership. Hyssam gave him the membership money. He insisted to the CFC later that his last name be changed to A**hole

[Tony Ficzere]

I remember this. I believe his named appeared as Ahole in the rating list once.

[John Brown]

I believe William Klarner was Billy Oxygen for a while as well.

[Hans Jung]

Thanks John (and Hugh) . Brings up a very interesting point. How many akas have been used by members of the CFC over the years? Can anyone else name one? I'll start with Grant Evans who used A. Fisch to rate games where he played blindfolded. This was in the 1970's.

[Peter McKillop]

Thanks John (and Hugh) . Brings up a very interesting point. How many akas have been used by members of the CFC over the years? Can anyone else name one? I'll start with Grant Evans who used A. Fisch to rate games where he played blindfolded. This was in the 1970's.

A related interesting question would be, what were the reasons for using aliases? Some might be arguably legit, like the one you mentioned for Grant Evans, some might come from friends or an individual making jokes (e.g. Billy Oxygen), and some might be for nefarious reasons (e.g. sandbagging). On a tangent, sandbaggers are a strange breed. Some of them operate right out in plain view, able to get away with their crap because TDs are busy and their opponents, if they notice what's happening, are too timid to speak up.

"God damn the [ sandbagger ] man!"
- John Kay, Steppenwolf

[Hans Jung]

Sandbagging is a whole other issue and there is enough material that another thread should be started (if we wanted to discuss)

[Hans Jung]

Another alias is Jeff Sarwer as Ray Phillips.

[Neil Frarey]

Another fond memory which also has to rank wayyy up there in my top three ...

In 1997, Hull Chess Club awarding me with a very rare Lifetime Membership ... honored and humbled still!!!

https//www.chessmetro.com/images/hcc_lt_mmbrshp.jpg

[Tony Ficzere]

Some of the best years in chess for me were the years I was running the Brantford Chess Club. After leaving work at the CFC in 1992 I moved back to Brantford. The club wasn't doing well, maybe 6 or 8 regular members. They met every Tuesday downtown at the YMCA. I was full of piss and vinegar at the time and decided to start my own club. My employer supplied a free site which was perfect. We called it the Bell City Chess Club. Things started slow but we slowly gained momentum. At first we had just a handful of players but after a couple years, we reached around 20. The existing Brantford Chess Club approached us (when I say us, I mean myself, Frank Hughes and Kim Whiting). They wanted us to take over. A sort of non-hostile takeover! Of course, we agreed. They gave us all there equipment and their club ledger dating back to at least 1920. Things started to take off and aside from our regular Thursday night events, we began to run CFC rated weekend tournaments. By 1994 the club was averaging over 30 players each week, on the right side of things. I was also secretary of the OCA at this time and won a bid to host the 1994 Ontario Open. Attendance was 86, Nickoloff and Rocket Ron Livshits attended. We added more weekend CFC tournaments, like 3 per year. By 96 we were getting 50 players each Thursday night. Things were going well. We took the show on the road and did weekend exhibitions at various Brantford events. The mayor even contacted me asking if we could do something for Canada Day. It was fun stuff. By 98 we had close to 100 paid members although attendance was still averaging between 40-60 each week. In 1998 I attended the AGM in Ottawa. They decided to make the Canadian Closed a swiss as opposed to the round robin. With the help of Paul Wentworth and Paul Simon, I submitted a bid for the event. So in 1999, the club hosted the Canadian Closed.

There are a thousand stories within those years. I will try to remember some of them and put them out there.

[Raymond Dickson]

hello I posted earlier that I played donald byrne in the 1971 cne open [ I also played harry posner there as well]
I just came across my games from 3 other tourneys from 1971. Played in the Ontario High School Championship which was held at the old wmca on college st toronto which was cool as staying at the Y was cheap but a wee bit scary lol
Next up was the 1971 toronto open, cant recall where it was held but I did have the pleasure of playing george kuprejanov ! { This was also around the time that Mohan Rajagopal was a strong toronto player}
Belleville was next on my list for the 1971 ontario open. It was held in an auditorium in the west end and I stayed at the Quinte hotel. I played D heeney and g lorenz, both very strong. Little did I know at the time I would live in belleville for 25 yrs !
Thats it for my 1971 tourney .
During my time in belleville I played at the belleville chess club run out of the four seasons hotel and organised by Peter Stockhausen ...good memories

[Erik Malmsten]

hello I posted earlier that I played donald byrne in the 1971 cne open [ I also played harry posner there as well]
. . .
During my time in belleville I played at the belleville chess club run out of the four seasons hotel and organised by Peter Stockhausen ...good memories

Harry Posner is playing this weekend in the Canadian Senior Chess Championship.

I remember playing in one of Peter's tournanents in Belleville. Having been there recently although my cousin Kevin Dinsmore lives there.

[Hans Jung]

I remember analysing with George Kuprejanov. He would see the most incredible moves. Very sharp tactician!

[Hugh Brodie]

Back in the old days when a GM title really meant something, and there was excitement when we heard that a GM was
coming to Montreal to give a simul.

My first was against Abe Yanofsky in the summer of 1967. I lost, and four of us late-finishers who had missed the
last bus/train from Pointe Claire had to walk the 16 km back home in the wee hours. At least the weather was OK
and as a group, we were never bored during the long walk.

Paul Keres gave a number of simuls in Montreal in 1967 and 1975. One was at Sun Life, in the days when the employees
were well catered to (free cafeteria meals, bowling alleys, etc.). I think one simul was in the board room, with the
chessboards placed on highly varnished tables. Another couple of losses for me.

Another loss was to Nona Gaprindashvili in 1967 - played in the USSR pavilion at Expo 67. Hundreds of spectators.

I was a last-minute entry in a 1979 simul against Lajos Portisch - and I won! I still have the signed scoresheet.

Boris Spassky gave one in 1971. The fee of $15 was too steep for me, so I alternated between watching Spassky, and
playing blitz for money in the Alekhine CC club rooms. (in those days, money chess paid for a lot of my
miscellaneous expenses).

I miss the Montreal team tournaments that were played once a week (1970's) in the CBC cafeteria. You could grab a meal while you played. Gone are the days of office buildings being available for chess tournaments - usually free of charge, since a (usually well-placed) contact worked there.

Toronto - I played in the CNE Open when Spassky was there. Whenever I visited Toronto, I would visit a downtown chess club, which may have been on Adelaide St., or the YMCA, or later on Vaughan Road, and try to play in a blitz tournament. Mr. Gameway's Ark on Yonge St was a big attraction - specially when they had their going-out-of-business sale, and all their books were half price. I came out of there with a couple of heavy bags full of Batsford books.

I won a "Chess Canada" prize of some amount of $ worth of chess books of my choice for predicting correctly the score in the Spassky-Fischer match. That involved visiting the Dobrich abode on Wychwood (I think?) and making my selections.

[Hans Jung]

I have fond memories of the Canadian Closed in 1999. To me it was one of the best ever. In 1996 I had my Cinderella year when I won the Ontario Championship in January and properly qualified for the Canadian Closed that was held at the Estonian residence at University of Toronto on Bloor in Toronto in the summer. There I beat Michael Schleifer in insane time trouble where he claimed a win on time with an incomplete scoresheet. We were moving so quickly and so many moves that the arbiter went into a trance and also had an incomplete scoresheet. We had to set up the game on another board and go through the moves. Turns out my scoresheet was the only correct one - although it was hard to read - and I had made 41 moves so Michael then resigned, At the Closed in 1999 in Brantford I again beat Michael Schleifer in the first round but he recovered and scored the necessary points to get the IM title. Many other stories from the 99 Closed. I'll have to think about that and post some more

[Hans Jung]

I finally met Nigel "Mad Dog" Fullbrook at the closed in 99. He was a legendary attacking player from the 70's that I admired. His style had obviously matured but he still liked to sack pawns and pieces (usually several in a game) at will. His games against Kevin Gentes and Brett Campbell left quite an impression. https://www.365chess.com/players/Nig.../?p=1&start=40