Who’s Who in New England Chess

 

Adams, Weaver Warren (1901-1963)

Weaver Warren Adams was born on April 28, 1901 in Dedham Massachusetts.  He was an American chess master.  He participated in the U.S. Championship in 1936, 1940, 1944, 1946 and 1948.  He won the Massachusetts State Championship in 1937, 1938, 1941 and 1945.  He won at Ventnor City in 1945.  In 1948, he won the US Open in Baltimore.  He won the New England Open championship five times (1925-1929).  In 1939, he wrote a book entitled White to Play and Win.  After publication he played in the U.S. Open at Dallas.  He did not win a single game as White (3 losses and 1 draw) and won all his games (4 games) as Black!   Weaver Adams won the 49th U.S. Open, held in Baltimore, in 1948.  He also wrote Simple Chess, How to Play Chess, and Absolute Chess.  He died on January 6, 1963.

 

Barry, John Finan (1873-1940)

John Finan Barry was born in Boston, Massachuesetts on December 12, 1873.  He was a Boston lawyer and strong amateur.  He played at Cambridge Springs, Pennsylvania in 1904.  He was president of the Boston Chess Club.  He edited a chess column in the Boston Transcript for 25 years.  He died in West Roxbury, Massachusetts on April 9, 1940.

 

Bolton, James Michael (1928- )

James Michael Bolton was born in New Haven, Connecticut on June 15, 1928.  He is a chess master from Connecticut.  He won the Connecticut State Championship in 1953, 1957, and 1966.

 

Bourdon, Eli (1907-1980)

Eli Bourdon was born in Claremont, New Hampshire in 1907.  In 1951, he started the Western Massachusetts Championship.  He won the Western Massachusetts Championship in 1957 and 1958.  He tied for 1st place in 1953, 1963, 1965, and 1970.  He was a former president of the New England Chess Association.  He died on January 6, 1980. 

 

Christiansen, Larry (1956-    )

Larry Christiansen was born in Riverside, California on June 27, 1956.  He become an International Grandmaster without ever being an International Master first.  In 1977 he was awarded the title after winning an international tournament in Torremolinos, Spain (he took 2nd place in the same tournament a year before).  He is also the first junior high school player to win the National High School Championship in 1971. He won it again in 1973.  He won the U.S. Junior Championship in 1973, 1974, and 1975.  He won the US Chess Championship in 1980, 1983, and 2002 (defeating Nick deFirmian in the playoff).  He took 2nd place in the World Junior Championship in 1975 (won by Valery Chekhov).  He has been runner-up to the US championship four times.  In the 1980s he was sponsored by Church’s Fried Chicken to play simultaneous and blindfold exhibitions throughout the United States.  He now resides in Cambridge, Massachusetts with his wife, Natasha.

 

Cunningham, George (1909-1993)

George Cunningham was born in Maine on March 25, 1909.  He was a college professor in Maine.  In 1978, he was Executive Director for the United States Chess Federation (USCF).  In 1980, he was the ratings statician for the USCF and introduced the bonus points, feedback points, and fiddle points.  He died in Maine on December 19, 1993.

 

Curdo, John Anthony (1931- )

John Anthony Curdo was born on November 14, 1931 in Lynn, Massachusetts and now lives in Auburn, Massachusetts.  He is a FIDE master (current Elo rating  2275, maximum Elo rating 2305).  He has won the Massachusetts state championship 18 times [1948 (age 16), 1949 (tied with Gerhard Katz), 1955, 1957, 1958 (tied with Siff and Popovich), 1959, 1960, 1961, 1963, 1966, 1969 (tied with Ed Formanek), 1970, 1975 (tied with John Peters), 1976, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1985].  He won the New England Open championship in 1956, 1959, 1961, 1966, 1973, and 1976 (losing on tie-break in 1963 and 1974).  He was won the U.S. Senior Open twice (1982 (tied with Larry Evans) and 1986).  He has been one of the top players in the New England area for over 50 years, winning 795 tournaments in his career as of September, 2007 (perhaps a world record).

 

Daly, Harlow Bussey (1883-1979)

Harlow Bussey Daly was born in Dorchester, Massachusetts on December 2, 1883,  He is perhaps the oldest person to win a state chess championship.  In 1959 and 1960, he won the Maine championship.  In 1968 he won the Championship of Maine at age 85.  He tied for 1st in 1970 and was 2nd in 1971 and 1972.  He had previously won in 1961 at the age of 77 and in 1965 at the age of 81.  He played in the New England Open every year from 1908 (when he won it) to 1971.  He won the Massachusetts State Championship in 1940 and 1942.   He was still playing chess in his late 80s and early 90s.  At 90, in 1973, he won a New Hampshire Open tournament with a perfect 5-0 score.  In 1975, he was designated Master Emeritus by the USCF.  He died on July 8, 1979 in Framington, Massachusetts at the age of 95.  He played chess for 75 years (1900 to 1974).  He won the championships of Massachusetts, New Hampshire (1962), Vermont, and Maine (9 times).  He competed in 280 tournaments and matches, not counting correspondence events.

 

Dann, Stephen

Former Massachusetts Chess Association President, former editor of Chess Horizons, and columnist for the Worcester Telegram & Gazette.

 

Dondis, Harold (1922- )

Harold Dondis was born on October 1, 1922 in Rockland, Maine.  He has been a writer for the Boston Globe’s chess column for over 40 years, first appearing in 1964.  On March 2, 1964, he defeated Bobby Fischer is a simultaneous exhibition.  He is considered the Dean of New England Chess Journalists.  He is a former president of the Massachusetts State Chess Association (MSCA).  In 1967, he co-founded the U.S. chess Trust with Ed Edmondson.  He is a lawyer, graduating from Harvard Law School in 1945.

 

Foygel, Igor (1947- )

Igor Foygel was born in Kiev in 1947.  He represented the republic of Ukraine in national youth chess competitions.  He became a master in 1974 and later became an International Master of Correspondence Chess.  He immigrated to the United States in 1991.  He won the championship of Massachusetts in 1992, 1997, 2000, and 2001.  He is an International Master with a maximum 2483 Elo rating.

 

Gerzadowicz, Stephan (1945- )

Stephan Gerzadowicz is a correspondence chess master.  He played in five USCF Absolute Championships and one U.S. Correspondence Chess Championship.  He has been president of both the Massachusetts Chess Association (1972-1974) and the New England Chess Association.  He is the author of five chess books.

 

Gilbert, Ellen E. (1837-1900)

American correspondence player from Connecticut, also known as Mrs. J. W. Gilbert.  In 1879 she participated in a U.S. vs. British correspondence match (International Postal Card Chess Tournament) with one of the strongest correspondence players in the world, George Gossip, and announced mate in 21 moves and mate in 35 moves in their two games.  Ellen Gilbert (born Ellen Strong) married John W. Gilbert.  From 1875 to 1879, she was known as the Queen of Chess.  She died at the age of 63.

 

Gosselin, Gilbert “Gus” F. (1926-2007)

Gus Gosselin was born on November 25, 1926 in New Bedford, Massachusetts.  He was one of the greatest contributers to the promotion of chess in Massachusetts and the New England area.  He was the scholastic coordinator for the Massachusetts Chess Association (MACA).  In 1984, he was the recipient of the Governor’s Points of Light Award for his volunteer chess activities, presented to him by governor Mitt Romney.  This is the highest honor given to a volunteer in Massachusetts.  He was president of the New England Chess Association for a number of years.  He organized, directed, promoted, and sponsored more chess events than any individual in New England.  In 2006, he received the Outstanding Career Achievement Award from the USCF.  He died on May 21, 2007, at the age of 80.

 

Gurevich, Ilya (1972-    )

Ilya Mark Gurevich was born in Kiev on February 6, 1972.  He later moved to Worcester, Massachusetts.  He is an American Grandmaster (1986).  He was U.S. National Elementary Champion (1983), World Under-14 Champion (1985), U.S. Junior Champion (1990), and World Junior Champion (1990).  He quit competitive chess in 1994 and is a stock exchange options trader.  He became a chess master at age 12 years, 3 months in 1984.  His current Elo rating is 2586.

 

Harrington, Dan (1945- )

Dan Harrington was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts on December 6, 1945.  He is lawyer and a former champion backgammon player (World Cup of Backgammon Champion in 1980), U.S. chess master, and professional poker player.  In 1971 he won the Massachusetts State Chess Championship.  He is a former club champion of the Bolyston Chess Club.

 

Harrow, Martin

Martin Harrow is a PhD, professor, and Director of Psycholgy at the University of Illinois in Chicago.  In 1967, he won the New England Chess Championship.

 

Jones, Stephen L. (1942-    )

Stephen L. Jones was born in Austin, Texas on September 26, 1942.  He is a Los Angeles attorney and FIDE master and a correspondence Senior International Master.  He had been a professor of mathematics at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.  He has a Ph.D. in mathematics and a law degree.  In 1958, he won the Southwest Open at the age of 15.  In 1968, he tied for 1st in the U.S. Amateur Championship with Michael Shahade.  In 1973, he won the Massachusetts Championship.  In 2002, he tied for 1st in  the U.S. Senior Open with Anthony Saidy.  He won the 9th  (1991-1993) and the 11th  (1995-1997) U.S. Correspondence Chess Championship.

 

Katz, Gerhard S. (1906-1975)

Gerhard Katz was born in Berlin on March 31, 1906.  He won the Massachusetts Championship in 1943, 1946, and 1949 (tied with John Curdo).  He died on May 7, 1975 in London.

 

Kaufman, Larry (1947-    )

Larry Kaufman, born in 1947, is an International Master (1980).  Winner of the American Open in 1966.  He has won state championships in Virginia, Florida, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Southern California.  He is the strongest Shogi player in the United States.  He graduated from M.I.T. with a degree in Economics and became a successful stock broker and trader.  He is the author of Chess Advantage in Black and White.

 

Landey, Benjamin M. (1912-1981)

Benjamin M. Landey, born in 1912, was a former president of the Massachusetts Chess Association and the New England Chess Association.  He was president of the Boylston Chess Club.  He was a pioneer in the promotion of chess in New England.  In the 1960s, he was the first person to lose a USCF-rated game to a computer.  He lost to the MIT MacHack computer.  He died in 1981.

 

Lees, David M. (1943-1996)

David M. Lees was born on February 12, 1943 in Springfield, Massachusetts.  He was a National Master.  He won or tied in the Western Massachusetts Championship five times (1961, 1962, 1963, 1965, 1967).  He won the Central New England Championship twice.  In 1964, he won the Texas Junior Championship.  In 1965, he won the Texas State Championship.  In 1965, he won the U.S. Armed Forces Championship (he was an Air Force enlisted person).  He won the Connecticut Valley Championship in 1962, 1963, 1967, 1977, 1987, 1988, and 1989.  In 1993, he published The Chess Games of David Lees.  He died on October 19, 1996 at the age of 53.

 

Lyman, Harry (1915-1999)

Henry (Harry) Lyman was born on June 15, 1915 in Boston, Massachusetts.  He was an accountant for General Dynamics.  He was U.S. Amateur champion in 1957 (winning it 6-0) and a former New England champion (1965, 1968, 1970).   He was considered the dean of Boston chess and active in the Boylston Chess Club.  In 1988, he received the Meritorious Services Award from the U.S. Chess Federation.  He was the uncle of Shelby Lyman.  He died of cancer at the age of 84 on September 5, 1999.

 

Lyman, Shelby (1936- )

Shelbourne (Shelby) Richard Lyman was born on October 22, 1936 in New York.  He graduated from Harvard and was a sociology teacher.  Is is a USCF chess master.  In 1964, he won the Marshall Chess Club Championship.  In 1972, he was a chess commentator on PBS during the Fischer-Spassky world championship match. 

 

McKelvie, Neil (1930-    )

Played chess on 1st board at Cambridge.  Winner of the Connecticut State Championship in 1962.  Winner of the Manhattan Chess Club Championship in 1975.  He has a Ph.D. in Chemistry.

 

Mirijanian, George

President of the Massachusetts Chess Association (MACA) and chess columnist.

 

Morton, Harold (1906-1940)

Harold Morton was born in Providence, Rhode Island on January 10, 1906.  He is a former champion of New England, who lived in Rhode Island.  He won the Massachusetts Chess Championship in 1933, 1934, and 1935.  He played in the 1936 US Chess Championship, but did poorly.  On February 17, 1940, he died in a car crash in Iowa when he hit a truck.  His passenger, by chess master I.A. Horowitz, survived.  The two were giving simultaneous chess exhibitions throughout the country.

 

Mugridge, Donald Henry (1905-1964)

Donald Mugridge was born in Chicago, Illinois on April 23, 1905.  He is a former Harvard and District of Columbia Champion.  He won the Massachusetts Championship in 1932.  He died in Washington, D.C. on November 3, 1964.

 

Niro, Frank (1948- )

Frank Niro was born in Milford, Massachusetts on September 28, 1948.  In 1973, he won the American Postal Chess Tournament (APCT) League championship and became a correspondence master in that organization in 1975.  From 1984 to 1986, he was editor of Chess Horizons.  He was Executive Director (ED) of the US Chess Federation (USCF) in 2002 and 2003.  He is board member and CEO of the US Chess Trust.  He is an ICCF Master who has represented the United States in international correspondence chess competition.  He is a former hospital administrator, management consultant and auditor for a national public accounting firm.

 

Peters, John (Jack) A. (1951-    )

John Peters was born in Boston, Massachusetts on February 10, 1951.  He was champion of New England in 1971, 1974, and 1975.  He was a USCF life master at the age of 22.  He was Massachusetts State Champion in 1974 and 1975 (tied with John Curdo).  He played in the 1975 U.S. Championship (won by Browne), tieing for 10th-13th place.He was the winner of the American Open in 1977.  In 1978 he was President of the Professional Chess Association (PCA).   He was awarded the International Master title in 1979.  He was a games editor for Chess Horizons and is a chess columnist for the Los Angeles Times.  His current Elo rating is 2419.  His maximum Elo rating was 2476.

 

Pillsbury, Harry Nelson (Dec 5, 1872 – Jun 17, 1906)

One of the top four chess players in the world from 1895 to 1903.  He was born in Somerville, Massachusetts and learned chess in 1888, at the age of 15.  In 1895 he played in his first major tournament in Hastings and won it (winning 150 pounds or about $1,200).  Up to that time, no other player had ever won his first major tournament that he participated in.  After his win in Hastings, several newspapers in Boston and New York added chess columns on page one.  He never won another tournament outright.  Pillsbury (now known as “hero of Hastings”) would give simultaneous exhibitions playing 10 chess players and 10 checker players, while playing whist.  His feat of 22 simultaneous blindfolded games was, in his time, judged to be unbeatable.  He was given a list to memorize: Antiphlogistine, periosteum, takadiastase, plasmon, ambrosia, Threlkeld, strepococcus, straphylococcus, micrococcus, plasmodium, Mississippi, Freiheit, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, athletics, no war, Etchenberg, American, Russian, philosophy, Piet Potgelter's Rost, Salamagundi, Oomisellecootsi, Bangmanvate, Schlechter's Nek, Manzinyama, theosophy, catechism, and Madjesoomalops.  After a few minutes he was able to recite the list forward and backward.  He was able to recall the list the following day.  In 1897, he won the U.S. Chess Championship, defeating Jackson Showalter.  When Pillsbury won, he refused the title of American Champion, so Showalter remained U.S. Champion.  Pillsbury did not want the title.  In 1898, he defeated Showalter again and accepted the title of U.S. Champion.  In 1900 he went on a seven month nation-wide tour in which he gave over 150 exhibitions and traveled 40,000 miles.  From 1890 to 1900 Pillsbury worked the automaton Ajeeb in New York.  In 1905, he tried to commit suicide in a hospital in Philadelphia.  Pillsbury died of syphilis in 1906 at the age of 33, probably caught in Russia.  He was considered one of the top 10 checker players in the country. 

 

Platz, Joseph (1905-1981)

Joseph Platz was born in Cologne, Germany on April 11, 1905.  He was  a USCF Master Emeritus and a medical doctor.  In 1926, he won the championship of Cologne.  In 1928, he won the championship f the Rhine.  In 1931, he won the championship of Hannover.  In the 1940s, he won the Bronx Championship six times.  In 1948, he played in the US Championship, placing 14th out of 20.  Between 1954 and 1972, he won the Western Massachusetts & Connecticut Valley Open Championship 14 times.  He won the Connecticut Championship three times.  He tied for the New England Championship four times.  In 1978, he wrote Chess memoirs: The chess career of a physician and Lasker pupil.  He died on December 30, 1981 in Manchester, Connecticut.

 

Reubens, Emil (1886-1973)

Emil Reubens was born in Russia on September 23, 1886.  He was a master emeritus and USCF life director.  He was a founding member of the United States Chess Federation.  In June, 1973, he received a Master’s degree in business administration from Boston Univeristy in Massachusetts.  He was the oldest person in the university’s history to obtain such a degree at age 86.  He died on August 29, 1973 at the age of 86.

 

Robertie, William (Bill) Gerrard (1946- )

Bill Robertie was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts on July 9, 1946.  He is a chess master and former winner of the U.S. chess speed championship.  In 1965, he tied for first in the USCF Golden Knights Correspondence Chess Championship, but lost in a playoff to Brian Owens.  He is considered the world’s best backgammon player and has won the world backgammon championship twice (1983 and 1987).  He is the author of at least a dozen books on chess, backgammon, and poker.  He graduated from Harvard and is a systems analyst.  In 2003, he wrote Easy Endgame Strategies and Master Checkmate Strategy.

 

Rubinow, Sol Isaac (1923-1981)

Sol Isaac Rubinow was born in New York City on November 6, 1923.  In 1943, he was intercollegiate chess champion.  He earned a doctorate at the University of Pennsylvania and moved to Massachusetts in 1951.  He later became a professor of biomathematics at Cornell.  In 1952, he won the Massachusetts State Championship.  He was a master emeritus with the USCF.  He died on February 22, 1981.

 

Russell, Hanon W.

Hanon Russell is a lawyer and chess expert (former chess master) from Milford, Connecticut.  He publishes ChessCafe.com, a weekly publication online.  He has been a translator of Russian chess books.  He is the owner of the Russell Collection, the largest collection of chess letters, correspondence, and autograph documentation in the world, with over 14,000 items.  He is the publisher of the International Chess Calendar.

 

Santasiere, Anthony (1904-1977)

American chess master.  The opening 1.Nf3 c5 2.b4 is known as Santasiere’s Folly, but was played by Alekhine in 1923.   In 1943, he won the New England Championship.  He won the 46th US Open in 1945 in Peoria, Illinois.  He won the New York State championship (1928, 1930, 1946, 1956) and the Marshall Chess Club (he was 17 when he won in 1922) six times.  He played in four U.S. championships (taking 3rd place in 1946).  He was school teacher in Manhattan’s public schools for 35 years, as well as an art and music critic.  He wrote books on chess, poetry, and a children’s novel.  He died at the age of 72.

 

Shapiro, Oscar (1909-2002)

Oscar Shapiro was born in Boston, Massachusetts on March 18, 1909.  In 1939, he won the Massachusetts State Championship.  He won the Washington, D.C. Championship several times.  In 1951, he won the Virginia Open Chess Tournament.  He became a USCF master at the age of 74.  He died on January 1, 2002 at the age of 92.

 

Sturgis, George (1891-1944)

George Sturgis was born in Boston, Massachusetts on May 31, 1891.  In 1932, he was elected president of the Massachusetts State Chess Association (MSCA).  He was the first President of the United States Chess Federation (USCF), elected in 1939.  He died on December 20, 1944 in Boston after returning from his honeymoon.

 

Strazdins, Arkadijs

Chess expert won the New Britain, Connecticut chess club championship for 23 years in a row, from 1952 to 1975.  He has also been President of the chess club for over 25 years.  He has won the club championship 30 times, from 1952 to 1994.

 

Suesman, Walter Bradford (1918-1984)

Walter Bradford Suesman was born in Providence, Rhode Island on September 19, 1918.  He won the Rhode Island Championship 14 times and was co-champion five times.  He was New England champion three times.  He played in the 1938 (taking last place) and 1946 U.S. Championship.  He died on November 11, 1984.

 

Trefler, Alan N. (1956- )

Alan N. Trefler was born on March 10, 1956 in Boston, Massachusetts.  He is CEO of Pegasystems, a leader in Business Process Management.  In 1975, as a USCF expert (2075), he tied for 1st place (with International Grandmaster Pal Benko) in the open section of the World Open in New York,   He holds a degree in Economics and Computer Science from Dartmouth College.

 

Weinstein, Norman Stephen (1950-    )

Norman Weinstein was born in New York City on October 4, 1950.  He was the winner of the 1968 US Junior Open (with Greg DeFotis), the 1972 Atlantic Open, the 1972 Massachusetts State Championship, and the 1973 US Open (on tiebreak over Browne, Suttles, DeFotis, and Rodriquez) in Chicago.  He tied for 2nd (behind Walter Browne) in the 1972 US Open in Atlantic City, New Jersey.  He became an International Master in 1975.  He won the Canadian Open in 1976.  He attended MIT and went to graduate school at Brandeis.  He was a computer programmer and now a very successful currency trader (Banker’s Trust).