Counterplay / Readers Respond
2014 U.S. Chess
Hall of Fame
Two of the 20th century’s key American chess players became the newest members of the U.S. Chess Hall of Fame, inducted on May 7, 2014, in St. Louis. The setting this year was the third floor of the World Chess Hall of Fame & Sidney Samole Museum in St. Louis, the city the U.S. Senate recently acclaimed as “chess capital of the nation.” The inductions occurred during the opening ceremony of the U.S. Championship, and the U.S. Women’s Cham pionship, both sponsored by Rex and Jeanne Sinquefield.
Abraham Kupchik (1892-1970, photo right) was one of America’s top players from 1915 to 1940. At the 1935 Olympiad, he was undefeated on third board for the United States, scoring six wins and eight draws, taking home an individual bronze medal as well as a team gold medal. His teammates, Frank Marshall, Reuben Fine, Arthur Dake, and Al Horowitz are all mem- bers of the Hall of Fame. Kupchik won the Manhattan Chess Club Championship a record 13 times. He shared first at the Ninth American Chess Congress in 1923 with Frank Marshall. At Lake Hopatcong, 1926, he took second behind World Cham- pion Capablanca, but ahead of Marshall, Geza Maroczy, and Edward Lasker. Kupchik competed in three U.S. Championships and was proud of playing board nine for our country in the 1945 USSR-USA radio match. Two of Kupchik’s granddaughters, Diane Gilmore and Kathy Celia, were pres- ent at the inductions, as well as great granddaughter Sarah Gilmore, and great grandson Josh Gilmore.
Jacqueline Piatigorsky (1911-2012, photo, far right) was a triple threat: an organizer, a sponsor, and a strong player. She organized two of the strongest tour- naments in American chess history: the 1963 and 1966 Piatigorsky Cups, bringing to America World Champion Tigran Pet- rosian, Paul Keres, and soon-to-be World Champion Bobby Fischer. She made these events spectator-friendly and drew 900 observers in 1966 when Fischer played Spassky, She initiated the U.S. Junior Invitational Championship, helped create scholastic programs in southern California through the Piatigorsky Foundation, and encouraged underprivileged and disabled children to participate in chess events. As a player, she won a bronze medal on second
8 November 2014 | Chess Life
board at the first Women’s Olympi ad in 1957 and placed second in the 1965 U.S. Women’s Championship.
Jacqueline’s son, Joram Piatigorsky, and his wife Lona, attended the inductions. Joram spoke of his mother’s love for chess and how chess helped her survive a difficult childhood: “chess was more than a game for my mother; it was a savior of sorts ... It was chess that filled the void and gave her comfort. It was chess that absorbed her mind and that she played with her father.”
The Hall of Fame also had a moving exhibit on Jacqueline Piatigorsky, including recorded oral reminiscences of people who knew her and a black and white video of her chess activities accompanied by a recording of Dvorak’s Cello Concerto, mas- terfully performed by her husband, world famous cellist Gregor Piatigorsky.
Acting under authorization of FIDE Vice President Beatriz Marinello, I also inducted two chess celebrities into the World Chess Hall of Fame: Paul Keres (1916-1975) and Maya Chiburdanidze (1961-). Keres won the great 1938 AVRO tournament on tie - break over Reuben Fine, shared first at the 1963 Piatigorsky Cup, and a record four times took second place at the Challengers’ Tournament (1953-1962). Chiburdanidze held the Women’s World Championship from 1978-1991, starred at the Women’s Olympiad for many years, and was the sec- ond woman to achieve the FIDE grand - mas ter title. I introduced Keres when he spoke at the University of Chicago in 1972.
It was fitting to have the inductions done at the start of the U.S. Championship and U.S. Women’s Championship, which both con- tained likely future Hall of Fame members. Among the speakers at the opening ceremony were Rex and Jeanne Sinquefield, Museum Curator Shannon Bailey, Tony Rich of the Saint Louis Chess Club and Scholastic Cen-
ter, Tournament Director Carol Jarecki, and Jennifer Shahade. The local government was repre sent ed by St. Louis County Exec- utive Charlie Dooley and the Chief of Staff Jeff Rainford of the mayor of St. Louis.
Members of the U.S. Chess Hall of Fame are nominated by the USCF Hall of Fame committee that included GMs Joel Benjamin and Arthur Bisguier, IM John Donaldson, Jennifer Shahade, John Hilbert, Al Lawrence, Shane Samole and this writer. Final decision is by the trustees of the U.S. Chess Trust, which owns many of the museum’s permanent exhibits. Donaldson and Shahade attended the inductions, as did Hall of Famer GM Yasser Seirawan.
~ Harold Winston Chair, Hall of Fame committee CORRECTIONS
In “Looks at Books,” September 2014, an incorrect diagram was given. The correct diagram is:
AFTER 26. ... Re3
Here, Purdy gives 27. Bf3 with at least a draw. Chess Life regrets the error.
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