I followed your link to the brattin site and i found this about the 1981 brattin memorial chess tournament -what puzzles me is why there is no mention of korchnoi, let alone korchnoi being defeated,and why the prize money appears to have been in the fifty dollar range-hardly likely to attract the world number 2. i think we need some urgent confirmation that all these schulien wins v korchnoi marjanovic van der wiel etc are exactly what they seem to be. why does korchnoi in another apparent loss to schulien appear playing for a usa collegiate team?? there may be some simple explanation for all this but if so we shd be told!! here is the extract from the excellent and moving brattin website:

The Brattin Memorial
David Moody and I were discussing TD’s one time, and he was giving his opinion on Michigan’s current best. I asked him, “What about my Dad?” David hesitated, not because he had to ponder the answer, but in surprise that I would ask. “Your father was the best there ever was,” he said.

Now, David is the type who can sneak some humor into nearly everything he writes or speaks, but this time he was deadly serious.

All of which brings us to an incredible irony: the worst-directed major tournament in Michigan in the 1980’s (and beyond) was designated “the Brattin Memorial”.

It was the 1981 Motor City Open, and it was played at a Knights of Columbus Hall in, I think, Royal Oak. Now, the MCO normally had about 75 players, and this building could have accommodated this many quite easily—unfortunately, 137 showed up. There was also only one bathroom, a tiny, grubby room on the other side of an ill-fitting door in a corner of the building reserved for the top boards (the opposite end was by the snack bar/skittles room, which is traditionally noisy).

The MCO organizer—for most of his adult life, in fact—was Dr. Howard Gaba. Normally he got one of the better directors to take the reins, and just sat back and watched. This time, despite very mediocre credentials, he decided to direct this important and crowded event himself. The first round went smoothly enough, but he made so many elementary errors in making the second-round pairings that the players started to revolt. It turns out that he was pairing players more or less at random, and encouraging those so paired to start their games, even with the masses still up and about and talking.

Dan Burg came to the rescue. As respectfully as he could, he removed the crusty Dr. Gaba from the TD table and made an announcement: “I am withdrawing from the tournament, and I’m taking over as director.” 135 players cheered wildly. The lone dissenter was Dr. Poschel, whose game had been going on for some time, and which Burg annulled. “I’m going to lose two hours’ sleep tonight!” he wailed. Neither the TD nor the masses appeared overly sympathetic.

The tournament did run smoothly the rest of the way. I had to be careful vocalizing my opinion of Dr. Gaba’s directing, because he and his wife were also my hosts that weekend.

I played rather well that weekend, pulling off the two biggest upsets of the tournament, and pocketed $56 in prize money. My friend Andy Beaver, with whom I rode down to the event from Midland, had a tremendous tournament, tying for second place and trouncing Robert O’Donnell and Jim Marfia en route.

A funny footnote: a worker at the KofC hall very helpfully put up some signs outside the building, leading to the doorway in. They read: “Chest Torment”.

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