Chess Bio
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I first learned to play chess in the
summer before going into 1st grade (6 years old). My sister
who is five years older than I had just taught herself to play from
a big fat book my dad had bought for her, "The Complete Chess
Course" by Fred Reinfeld, 1959. After learning the rules she
then taught me the rule so she would have someone to play.
I just couldn't remember how the Knight moved so every time I wanted
to think about moving it she had to show me again. I beat her
the first three games in a row. She never played me again. |
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Through elementary school through High
School there were very few kids I could find to play with. In
all there seemed to be no more than five. I was by no means
any prodigy but there I was clearly better then all the others I
came across except for one other kid whom I could rarely ever beat. |
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Somewhere along the way I
discovered the USCF existed and joined. I entered a few postal
tournaments and in the very few cases where I seemed to be winning,
my opponents stopped playing. All the other games I got
crushed. I've got all those postcards deep stored in a shoe
box so next time I'm I get close to that box I'll update this
article with more details. |
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In early High school I used
to get a ride from my mom to get to a few of the tournaments held in
my area by Stephen Dann. I remember playing at the Natick Army
Labs once and at the much distant in the future site of the
Framingham Chess Club, the American Legion Hall on Pearl street in
Framingham. |
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I had perhaps my first brush
with chess fame at that Legion Hall event. One of the rounds I
played the soon to be area child phenom's by the name of Bobby
Seltzer. He was about five years younger than me, but unknown
to me, already higher than my 1500 rating. During the game I
thought he made a really poor choice so I, trying to help out the
little kid, said, "are you sure you really want to do that".
He asked me "what do I think is wrong with it". I rattled off
some stuff about it being a bad idea to do this kind of thing or
that. I was a little surprised later as my position got worse
and worse and he beat me. Thus, an early life lesson in chess
learned. Play the pieces, not the player. |
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In high school I came across
a small area club called the Square 67 club. I remember only
attending once. At the time they were meeting in a little
office building near the old Dennison manufacturing company
Framingham on Waverly street (Rt. 135). On the MetroWest Chess
Club site is a copy of the June 1974 newsletter which lists the
members and the charter of the club which I had taken home with me |
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More Bio to come. |
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