More About Chess

More about chess

My father was the Quebec Chess Champion in 1948. He learned to play chess when he was 3 years old, and played all his life. In fact, he continued to play long after he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease.  Some of the old timer chess players used to come to visit and play a game of chess with him.  He could still beat them, even after he no longer knew who they were!!!  I was told that was a function of learning how to play chess at a very young age, and then playing his entire life.

If you’ll forgive the name dropping, some of the friends with whom my father played chess on a regular basis were Samuel Reshevsky, Maurice Fox, Lionel Joyner, Abe (Daniel) Yanofsky, and Lawrence Day.

Besides Bobby Fischer, International Grandmaster Boris Spassky also came to Montreal and stayed at our house.   If memory serves, in later years, my parents hosted Anatoly Karpov and Gary Kasparov.

And here’s something just for fun: http://www.anusha.com/breasts.htm

The Day Bobby Fischer Came to My House

The Day Bobby Fischer Came to My House

The year was 1962. My father, a former Quebec Chess Champion, was very active in the Canadian Chess Federation. The CCF was bringing 18 year old Grandmaster Chess Player Bobby Fischer to Montreal for a Demonstration Tournament. Bobby Fischer would stay at our house, of course, just as many other Grandmasters had, before and after.

It quickly became apparent that Bobby Fischer came with only T-shirts and torn jeans.  That wouldn’t do, so my father whisked him off to Canadian Outfitting Company Ltd on St. Lawrence Blvd., where he bought Bobby Fischer more appropriate tournament clothing – a suit, a dress shirt and a tie.  See picture below (Bobby is standing, playing Moishe Cohen.  My father is the one in the hat observing the game.)

Knowing that Bobby Fischer was Jewish, my mother asked him if he had been Bar Mitzvahed. His reaction was swift and furious; no, he had not.  End of topic. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Fischer