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| Jul-01-04 | | nikolaas: So this is that guy that asked thousands of dollars for a kidnapping which he hasn't commit? It was Charles Lindbergh's baby, but Whitaker didn't know where he/she (don't know what's right) was. |
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| Dec-05-04 | | Max Lange: Yes, it's all in the excellent albeit obscure book "Shady Side: The Life and Crimes of Norman Tweed Whitaker, Chess Master" by John S. Hilbert (2000). Whitaker played the "Who's Who" of American chess, and beat them. He clearly had some behavioral problems however (besides extortion, he got busted, after being a patent attorney, for car theft and for indecent acts with a 12 year old girl). Whitaker battled with the USCF (not unlike some people battle today at rec.games.chess.politics at Google) over a variety of issues, including whether he should be granted an IM title, which he eventually won. |
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| Apr-09-07 | | Strongest Force: This guy is still alive? |
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| Apr-09-08 | | brankat: No. he passed away more than 30 years ago, at the age of 85. His "involvement" in the Lindbergh affair showed, among other things, a flair for tactical play and an interest in dubious, risky lines :-) |
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| Jul-28-08 | | jerseybob: I remember while attending Temple University in the late 60s I joined the Franklin-Mercantile CC. One day, while talking with the manager of the club, an elderly man named Raymond Glover, the subject of Whittaker came up. At this time I only knew of him through his games and the kindly smiling face you saw in all the pictures. Glover started telling me of Whittaker's misdeeds and they sounded so surreal, so unbelievable, I was skeptical of what I was being told. Did I ever have a lot to learn! |
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| Dec-17-08 | | whiteshark: <Shady Side: The Life and Crimes of Norman Tweed Whitaker Chess Master> by John Hilbert, 481pp., Hardcover (Caissa Editions 2000) A chronicle of America's most notorious chess master based on many of his own papers. Includes a detailed story of his life, his loves, his cons, and his many chess experiences in a 60  year career, along with <570> of his games (some with full notes). Much US chess history and some excellent photos are a notable part of the book. Yorklyn, 2000. This book won the ChessCafe "Book of the Year" award for 2000. Where are all the other (570-27) games? |
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| Apr-09-09 | | blacksburg: happy birthday Norman! even though you were apparently a real SOB, you defeated Emanuel Lasker with the Scandinavian Defense! |
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| Apr-09-09 | | JaneEyre: <He was scheduled to play a match for the U.S. Chess Championship with Frank James Marshall, but failed to appear.> You have to admire his style. |
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| Apr-09-09 | | jtate43: I saw Norman Whitaker play in a tournament, the Delaware Championship in 1969. He had a special variation of the French giving up a gambit pawn as white. |
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| May-12-09 | | myschkin: . . .
A Tale Full of Genius and Devil:
http://www.chessarch.com/excavation... (by John S. Hilbert) |
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| May-12-09 | | PhilFeeley: Someone should get the book and put his games here, especially his defeat of Reshevsky. |
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May-12-09
 | | ChessBookForum: <whiteshark> <Max Lange> We just re-posted your comments about the book on Whitaker. Thanks. |
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Jun-20-09
 | | HeMateMe: That book is expensive. $45,hard to believe, just an obscure hustler. No used copies around. |
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| Aug-12-09 | | MaxxLange: Yeah, it's a small print run, no doubt, and priced as such. No one but chess book collectors or chess history nuts would buy it. I don't have it, but I read a long review of it somewhere. One scam Whitaker would run was to go into a small town, and buy a new car with a check. Then, he'd go right to the next town and try to sell the brand new car to a dealer there, before the check cleared. The second dealer would get suspicious and call the other local dealers. Then, the police would be called, and Whitaker would be arrested. After a day or two, the check would clear. Whitaker would be released, and sue the car dealers, who would usually pay a settlement. |
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| Aug-13-09 | | MaxxLange: I looked at a copy at the Atlanta Chess and Game Center store, it looked like a good value for your $45 or whatever as far as the amount of material, the quality of the binding, and the entertainment content Whitaker was a horrible person, quite possibly a psychopath. He was very good at chess, and had some other very attractive qualities - all con men do - one has to resist falling under his spell, even after all these years. The book is so interesting because many worlds come together in it - chess, prison, the grifters and hoods of early 20th century America. Whitaker came to a kind of sad and quiet end, gradually fading away from tournaments, his results worsening down to A class level, and then into a Florida apartment and then a nursing home |
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| Aug-13-09 | | MaxxLange: <ChessBookForum> feel free to copy over my new remarks, if anyone is stil interested what's the link to your forum? I used to get to it from JessicaFischerQueen's profile iirc |
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| Sep-01-09 | | TheFocus: Whitaker was once kicked out of the USCF and sued to get back in. He even sued people that spelled his name with 2 't's.
Am waiting on my copy to arrive. I buy as much of John Hilbert's works as I can. Even though his books are of limited runs, he is probably the best chess historian in the United States. |
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Sep-01-09
 | | Phony Benoni: ChessBookForum chessforum
I imagine this is common knowledge among the veteran users here, but I just noticed how to reach chessforums quickly. Go to the address at the top of the screen, delete everything after <chessgames.com/>, then add a tilde (~) and the name of the user whose forum you wish to reach. If the name contains more than one word, replace spaces with underscores (_). So adding ~chessbookforum takes you to chessbookforum chessforum, and adding ~Phony_Benoni goes to Phony Benoni chessforum. |
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| Sep-01-09 | | Dredge Rivers: Who do you think would win a match between Whitaker and Claude Bloodgood? Winner would get to be the Jailbird Chess World Champion! |
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Sep-01-09
| | Phony Benoni: Oh, Whitaker would murder Bloodgood. Can't you find him some real competition? |
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| Sep-01-09 | | Jim Bartle: Murder? Most foul? |
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Sep-01-09
| | HeMateMe: I hear OJ has a copy of Dvoretsky's 'Endgame Manual'. He is 'booking up.' |
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| Sep-01-09 | | TheFocus: The photo of Whitaker is from the 1956 Eastern States Open. The boy facing him is Sam Sloan, and the other is Creighton Sloan. Bobby Fischer tied for second in that tournament (hey, another jailbird!). |
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| Dec-23-09 | | jerseybob: Focus: If you think the U.S. State Dept., which has turned its back on so much evil down through the years but chose to demonize Bobby Fischer for simply plying his trade, is right in what it did, then go ahead and call him "jailbird". I've obviously got a different take on that. |
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| Dec-23-09 | | Petrosianic: What <is> your take, exactly? That any crime less serious than... something you don't specify, should be ignored in the sake of fairness? I think you're remembering it wrong. The State Department didn't go after poor innocent Bobby, who was just minding his own business. He went after them. He specifically played in Yugoslavia rather than any of the other places willing to put up a huge purse, to break the sanctions and stick it to the US for ruling against him in his lawsuit with Brad Darrach years earlier. He picked the fight, he just didn't realize until too late that he didn't want to pay for the privilige. 5 years earlier he had been talking about playing a match with Quinteros in South Africa, to thumb his nose at FIDE's anti-apartheid rules. He <should> have played that one. Not only an easier opponent, but he'd have gotten in less trouble. The worst that would have happened would be that FIDE would have banned him from play for a few years (which is what happened to Quinteros when he went and played simuls there without Bobby). A playing ban would have been less than meaningless to Fischer. |
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