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After a year of writing, I finished a collection of entertaining and fascinating stories about chess players' lives.
They focus mostly on world champions and grandmasters, although there are chapters on historical figures, women in chess, chess cheaters, and quirky chess players.
Some involve Canadian players like Frank Anderson, and famous players going around Canada.
The stories are mostly bite-sized and tremendously funny, if you like light humour :)
If you've enjoyed The King's Gambit; the World's Most Dangerous Game by Paul Hoffman, this will be your cup of tea.
If interested, you can check it out here
Seeing some of Mike's chess analysis online, he is a good story teller. I got my copy of the book of Best Stories today. It's a nice size, pages of 8.5 x 11. Half of the book is stories about the World Champions, ending with Kasparov. There are colourized photos of the World Champions. Some of the more recent World Champions are also mentioned. And a few stories about women. In total, over 150 stories!
I love that several Canadians were mentioned, new players may not be familiar with them: Frank Anderson, Geza Fuster, Igor Ivanov, Kevin Spraggett, Duncan Suttles, Zvonko Vranesic, and George Berner. And Johannes Zukertort and Igor Bondarevsky's visits to Toronto and Paul Keres to Vancouver. Plus Mike's own personal Canadian stories.
Not a book to be read all at once, but just a story here and there.
Last edited by Erik Malmsten; Thursday, 4th September, 2025, 02:58 PM.
Thanks Eric and Hans! Canadians tend to be overlooked on the world chess stage, so this should help keep their history alive at least.
Wished that I could put in more stories about Lawrence Day and Bohartichuk for example, but that will be for another edition.
After a year of writing, I finished a collection of entertaining and fascinating stories about chess players' lives.
They focus mostly on world champions and grandmasters, although there are chapters on historical figures, women in chess, chess cheaters, and quirky chess players.
Some involve Canadian players like Frank Anderson, and famous players going around Canada.
The stories are mostly bite-sized and tremendously funny, if you like light humour :)
If you've enjoyed The King's Gambit; the World's Most Dangerous Game by Paul Hoffman, this will be your cup of tea.
If interested, you can check it out here
Cheers!
I would buy almost any Canadian published chess book. I am not sure why it shows ages 10-18. I am young in spirit but not that young. I am enjoying this book with many stories I have not heard previously. Very enjoyable book!
I would buy almost any Canadian published chess book. I am not sure why it shows ages 10-18. I am young in spirit but not that young. I am enjoying this book with many stories I have not heard previously. Very enjoyable book!
Working on removing that 18, has to go through their customer service...
I tried to include as many unheard of stories as possible, and find something new for the stories everyone knows.
Glad you're enjoying it!
Here is a Bohatirchuk story that Kingston chess people got from IM Lawrence Day, when he visited for a simul in 1999 (I drew my game!!). IM / IMC Dr. Fedor Bohatirchuk was the trainer of the young Lawrence Day, in Ottawa, starting in the early 1960s. One can see Fedor's influence on Day's style!! Lawrence told us that a young Fedor had sometimes travelled to Russian and Ukrainian events with the legendary Mikhail Chigorin (1850-1908). Chigorin played two world title matches with Wilhelm Steinitz. That collaboration with Chigorin, the first world-class Russian player, would have been in the very early years of the 20th century (say 1905 to 1908, the year of Chigorin's death)! Travel was mostly by train; I guess the service was good enough to do this. I put this little gem into the wikipedia.org article on Bohatirchuk!!
Fedor did work in the Russian medical corps during World War I. It was later that he began working for Ukrainian nationalism. He tied for first in the 1927 Soviet Championship with Peter Romanovsky; that was the first title tournament for the 16-year-old Mikhail Botvinnik, who lost to Fedor. Lawrence also told us that Fedor, when fleeing, with General Vlasov, the Soviet advance into eastern Europe, as World War II was winding down, played very successfully in some Master tournaments under the pseudonym 'Bogenko' (I added this into wiki as well!!), before he eventually made his way into Allied camp safety, and then to Canada, and a medical professorship at the University of Ottawa. General Vlasov was captured and executed by the Soviets; Fedor got away!! Since he had not played chess events in Europe, outside Russia / USSR / Ukraine, since Mannheim 1914, he was able to pass himself off as the unknown Bogenko -- who was to know!?
Lawrence told us that in his opinion, Fedor was the model for Dr. Zhivago in the Boris Pasternak novel and film of that name! Also into wiki!! In any case, Fedor's life in and out of chess has to be among the most interesting ever!! He lived into his 92nd year. I had a post-mortem with him in Ottawa, Feb. 1976, following my loss to future Master Kevin Pacey in the last round of a youth tournament, which we both entered with perfect scores, fighting for only one qualification place. Fedor said to me: 'You lost to the French Defense; start playing it yourself!"
GM Andrew Soltis, in his book 'Soviet Chess 1917-1991', wrote that GM Botvinnik reacted to news about Fedor from then world champion GM Boris Spassky in the early 1970s (those two had first met in 1967 in Winnipeg at the GM event, and were in touch by mail) with this: "Personally, I would hang this man." Botvinnik's career record against Fedor: +0 =2 -3; he acknowledged this in his book 'Botvinnik's Best Games 1947-70' in the index (Batsford 1972)!! Botvinnik's last loss to him, at Moscow 1935 International, cost him sole first place; he tied with GM Salo Flohr. Hey, tell us how you really feel! Botvinnik was a state-supported professional, in effect; Fedor was a medical practitioner who could maybe get one big event per year, and about 20 years older than Botvinnik. Krylenko, the commissar of Soviet chess (and Terror-era prosecutor of show trials), told Fedor then: "You will never beat Botvinnik again!" That was true, as they never met again!! Krylenko fell afoul of Stalin, and was himself dead by late 1938.
The story about the amateur in a simul being disappointed that after offering a draw to the world champion Lasker, he was sad he didn't make an offer to resign reminds me of a sequence where a player did that in a club, probably the old YMCA Windsor Chess Club. Perhaps they knew of that story from elsewhere as you were not born yet when he said that.
Here is a Bohatirchuk story that Kingston chess people got from IM Lawrence Day, when he visited for a simul in 1999 (I drew my game!!). IM / IMC Dr. Fedor Bohatirchuk was the trainer of the young Lawrence Day, in Ottawa, starting in the early 1960s. One can see Fedor's influence on Day's style!! Lawrence told us that a young Fedor had sometimes travelled to Russian and Ukrainian events with the legendary Mikhail Chigorin (1850-1908). Chigorin played two world title matches with Wilhelm Steinitz. That collaboration with Chigorin, the first world-class Russian player, would have been in the very early years of the 20th century (say 1905 to 1908, the year of Chigorin's death)! Travel was mostly by train; I guess the service was good enough to do this. I put this little gem into the wikipedia.org article on Bohatirchuk!!
Fedor did work in the Russian medical corps during World War I. It was later that he began working for Ukrainian nationalism. He tied for first in the 1927 Soviet Championship with Peter Romanovsky; that was the first title tournament for the 16-year-old Mikhail Botvinnik, who lost to Fedor. Lawrence also told us that Fedor, when fleeing, with General Vlasov, the Soviet advance into eastern Europe, as World War II was winding down, played very successfully in some Master tournaments under the pseudonym 'Bogenko' (I added this into wiki as well!!), before he eventually made his way into Allied camp safety, and then to Canada, and a medical professorship at the University of Ottawa. General Vlasov was captured and executed by the Soviets; Fedor got away!! Since he had not played chess events in Europe, outside Russia / USSR / Ukraine, since Mannheim 1914, he was able to pass himself off as the unknown Bogenko -- who was to know!?
Lawrence told us that in his opinion, Fedor was the model for Dr. Zhivago in the Boris Pasternak novel and film of that name! Also into wiki!! In any case, Fedor's life in and out of chess has to be among the most interesting ever!! He lived into his 92nd year. I had a post-mortem with him in Ottawa, Feb. 1976, following my loss to future Master Kevin Pacey in the last round of a youth tournament, which we both entered with perfect scores, fighting for only one qualification place. Fedor said to me: 'You lost to the French Defense; start playing it yourself!"
GM Andrew Soltis, in his book 'Soviet Chess 1917-1991', wrote that GM Botvinnik reacted to news about Fedor from then world champion GM Boris Spassky in the early 1970s (those two had first met in 1967 in Winnipeg at the GM event, and were in touch by mail) with this: "Personally, I would hang this man." Botvinnik's career record against Fedor: +0 =2 -3; he acknowledged this in his book 'Botvinnik's Best Games 1947-70' in the index (Batsford 1972)!! Botvinnik's last loss to him, at Moscow 1935 International, cost him sole first place; he tied with GM Salo Flohr. Hey, tell us how you really feel! Botvinnik was a state-supported professional, in effect; Fedor was a medical practitioner who could maybe get one big event per year, and about 20 years older than Botvinnik. Krylenko, the commissar of Soviet chess (and Terror-era prosecutor of show trials), told Fedor then: "You will never beat Botvinnik again!" That was true, as they never met again!! Krylenko fell afoul of Stalin, and was himself dead by late 1938.
Mike, I hope to get your new book soon!!
That's a good one! Reminds me of how Benko and his pal ran from the Soviets, Benko got caught and served a prison term, but his friend ran away all the way to Toronto.
By the way, fixed the book description so it shouldn't have an age limit now!
The friend which Mike refers to in the Benko attempted escape story was IM Geza Fuster (1910-1990)!!!
Geza, who became a hugely influential and strong figure on the Toronto chess scene, a mentor to many young players, a 1958 Interzonalist, and eventual IM from the 1969 Canadian Zonal, was one of the four Hungarian Masters who reached Canada during the late 1950s, fleeing the Soviet crackdown of 1956. The other three were NM Andrew Kalotay (born 1940, settled in Winnipeg, attended university at Queen's (undergrad) and U of T (doctorate), and noted problemist; eventually moved to New York to work in the financial sector, where I believe he is still alive); IM Laszlo Witt (1933-2005; settled in Montreal, later moved to Toronto), and NM Elod Macskasey (1919-1990; settled in Vancouver where he became a math professor at UBC).
That was quite an infusion of Hungarian chess talent to the Canadian landscape!!!
Geza Fuster actually came to Canada in 1952 (a few years before the Hungarian Revolution) . My uncle, Willi Ignatz and Geza worked together as construction laborers on the new Toronto subway for at least two years. Two of Europe's intelligentsia (with at least four university degrees between them and ten languages) working as common laborers twelve hous a day, six days a week.. But understandable as it was one of the best paying jobs at the time, one of the few jobs that paid overtime, and every dollar meant so much. Imagine the stories they shared and the ability to talk in six shared languages, although mainly in German and Hungarian. My uncle left to become a teacher at University of Toronto Schools as he had a natural gift for teaching. A couple of years later they encountered each other at the Hungarian Restaurant on Bloor between Bathurst and Spadina and my uncle finding out that Geza was still working construction arranged for him to become a lab assistant at UTS. Both mentored and taught thousands of students over the years.
In 1976 at the Canadian Open I went up to Geza and asked him if he knew Willi Ignatz. Of course, I just came from his funeral. Willi was my favorite uncle. Geza grabbed me, wrapped me in a bear hug, and from then on treated me like family. When ever he got the chance he would analyse my game. Even though he was gentle the lessons were sometimes harsh and interspersed with his wit and witty rhymes that he loved repeating.
In the spring of 1987 I played Geza in the Toronto Championship in our one and only classical tournament encounter (we had played in many speed tournaments). I used psychology and played Geza's own opening variation against him. He smiled briefly but then became very serious. I ended up playing what for me was an immortal zugzwang game and at the end he stood up, gave a short Hungarian bow and said: Ausgezeichnet as he shook my hand. One of my treasured games. A year later at age seventy eight he came back from Gausdal, Norway where he had the best tournament of the last half of his tournament life and exclaimed that he was having a chess renaissance, had performed well over 2400, and had some incredibly well played games. Alas it was not to be, it was his swan song.
Geza Fuster was well loved and treasured by the Hungarian communities of Toronto, Hamilton, Kitchener and London. So much so that Geza Fuster Memorials have been organised yearly in those communities since his passing.
A good chess friend was Ian Findlay. Ian did a fantastic job of writng Geza's eulogy in the CFC Bulletin. I know it has been reproduced here on chesstalk in the past but I dont know which thread. It would be good to see it here again.
On the subject of Hungarians - I just noticed the passing of Robert Hirsch (1936-2025). A Holocaust survivor - he arrived in Montreal from Hungary in 1956 - winning or doing very well in local events from 1959 to 1964. He probably would have been close to master strength. He played in the Canadian Open (1962) in Ottawa (6th place), and the Canadian Closed (1963) in Winnipeg (12th/13th place out of 16 players).
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