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Oct-06-12
 | | HeMateMe: I'm guessing black can't activate the pawns without moving his King. when does, white gives up his a7 pawn to check the black king, maybe win a pawn. The problem for black is the doubled pawns on the e file. White doesn't necessarily have to make a pawn exchange that helps black. He'll check white's king whenever it pokes its head out for air. if white eats the kingside pawns, black wins the center pawns, and has some sort of drawn pawn -on- rook -file final position. |
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Oct-06-12
 | | Eggman: In brief, Black pushes the h-pawn, forcing White to play h2-h3, thus creating a hole on g3 that allows the Black king to infiltrate. |
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Oct-06-12
| | HeMateMe: But, does white have enough time to gobble up the rest of the pawns, before black can queen his pawn? If so, the game could be a draw. I have to think that if Fischer seriously analysed a position like this, with relatively few variables, he would have found a drawing resource, if there were one. |
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Oct-06-12
| | Eggman: <<I have to think that if Fischer seriously analysed a position like this, with relatively few variables, he would have found a drawing resource, if there were one.>> It's more a matter of whether Fischer would have found the win for Black that Browne claims was there. Browne's analysis is pretty convincing, and he claims to be certain "beyond the shadow of a doubt", which I'm inclined to take seriously. On the other hand Fischer, though he took his time, would not have analyzed this overnight, after all, and certainly had to do so without the aid of computers. The reference to "taking his time" may simply have meant 15-20 minutes. Only Browne and others present at the time would know just how long Fischer took. Furthermore Fischer, fantastic though he was in 1963, was not yet in his prime. I believe Fischer is supposed to have spent most of 1965 studying rook endings, and this game predates that. |
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Oct-06-12
| | Eggman: By the way I'm really enjoying Browne's new autobiographical games collection, "The Stress of Chess" (I'm only about 30 pages in so far). Browne is a likable character, seems to have had many chess (and non-chess) adventures, and knows what is interesting and amusing, and tells a good story. |
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Oct-07-12
 | | TheFocus: Wasn't it Browne who said, "When you win, you earn; when you lose, you learn." |
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Oct-07-12
 | | andrewjsacks: <TheFocus> <Eggman> Never heard that quote but am a supporter of Browne. Played him many times in speed chess and a couple of times in tournaments. Fair-minded and professional, despite his odd behavior in time trouble. Was always an asset to our game. Said, "Everybody is tough," speaking of tournament opponents in swisses, even in early rounds; took every game seriously and with professionalism and integrity. |
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Oct-07-12
 | | paulalbert: I haven't got Walter's book yet, but definitely on my list of "must buys" of new chess books. I got to know Walter a little bit from when he was the GM instructor several times at Danny Kopec's summer chess camps which I attended, and I took some private lessons from Walter as well. Walter is a highly energetic individual, and accomplished and successful in areas other than chess, many of which have been probably much more rewarding financially for him than than chess. One observation: Walter is an absolute chess calculating machine; when we went over my games as part of the private lessons, he immediately saw possibilities which he could calculate with blazing speed from candidate moves that I had not even considered, and he certainly helped me to broaden my thinking when playing chess, but I realized GMs like Walter have unique, innate ,chess abilities that cannot be replicated by lessons and study. |
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Oct-07-12
 | | parisattack: <paulalbert:...but I realized GMs like Walter have unique, innate ,chess abilities that cannot be replicated by lessons and study.> Here is wisdom. |
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Oct-08-12
| | Eggman: I don't know about this innateness claim, but I recall IM Tom O'Donnell talking about playing Walter Browne, getting a draw, and then being dazzled in the post-mortem as Browne reeled out one complex variation after another ("bang, bang, bang, bang", as O'Donnell told it), prompting O'Donnell to exclaim "Walter, why aren't you World Champion?" |
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Nov-03-12
 | | SteinitzLives: The new autobiography is entertaining, highly informational and a little disjointed as a biography/game collection. Despite this last point, I am very glad I bought the book. Brownes' personal honesty about his struggles to make a living at chess are both personal and even painful to read. He has a willingness to spare others by not always naming names, but does name them on the bigger issues he had to deal with. I like Walter a bit more after having finished the book. He writes that playing poker only uses about 5% of the energy chess does, loved it! The games are very well annotated, but the stories about the games and tournaments are separated into the four separate biographical-only sections, so they cannot be easily followed in relation to the annotated games. Brownes' writing style is very clear and concise, which may be due to good editing, or just a different talent Walter has. I learned about other GMs from this book too. Finally, Browne, though focused on self (then again it is an autobiography) reveals a very human side to him and comes off as having a great deal of normalcy about him which is rare for top U.S. players. Despite his controversial nature and past professional chess disputes, Browne (unlike lots of other GMs) seems to still have many good relationships with many others in the chess world. This is easy to forget or overlook when reading what others have written about him in the past. Anyone interested in U.S. chess history and what pre-technology chess was like for a very top American GM trying to make his way in the world on his own terms, should buy this book. |
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Nov-03-12
 | | Jambow: He looks like a bundle of nerves when playing fidgiting and just unable to sit still, I remeber his positions were very complex and required deep tactical. This is just as an observer not an opponent. |
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Nov-03-12
| | Jambow: Sorry deep tactical thought, speaking of disjointed. |
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| Nov-25-12 | | Llawdogg: He looked really cool in the Seventies with his long hair and mustache. |
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Nov-25-12
 | | perfidious: <Jambow> As an opponent, Browne definitely was 'a bundle of nerves': always in motion, fast-talking, very quick mind-probably one of the sharpest people I have met in either chess or poker (though we have never played poker together). |
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| Nov-25-12 | | SimonWebbsTiger: Always loved Browne when he did the voice overs for the Master Game (which SirB0b1 has uploaded on YouTube). "Yeah, just as I figured", in his broad American accent. Brilliant way he offers a draw to Ray Keene! Interesting thing to note is Keene talking about how Walter would collect bulletins en masse. He was one of the most theoretically prepared players f his time. |
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Nov-25-12
| | perfidious: <Simon> The American overlay in Browne's speech was much more apparent when we last met in 1991 than at our first meeting in 1972-of course, he had not been back in USA terribly long at that time. In the display he gave in South Burlington, Vermont forty years ago, he was fidgety, in constant motion-it was something I could hardly help noticing, even at twelve. One amusing note: in my game that night, I had White and played 6.Bg5 against his Sicilian Najdorf. If my copy of the game ever turns up, I may submit it for laughs-at least one of us was master strength (I was about 1100 then!). |
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Nov-25-12
| | HeMateMe: Always in motion, often in time trouble. I didn't know he had any critics among other players. Did his rocking motions distract the other players? |
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Nov-25-12
| | SteinitzLives: The rocking motions and head shaking may have been distracting to an opponent, but I've never read in print or other media about complaints by others for that behavior. Brownes' frequent vociferous complaints about lighting and other types of tournament conditions brought him considerable criticism. I'm sure some of these complaints were warranted and even applauded by his fellow players, others condemned. It's hard to know what were fair complaints or not even in hindsight. I am sure some TDs or organizers were happy knowing Browne would not be attending a tourney, but if he was not invited to tourneys because of his complaints, I don't know. |
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Nov-25-12
| | perfidious: Browne put his money where his mouth was: in 1978, he withdrew from the US championship (which, in that year, doubled as the zonal) because conditions were not to his liking. |
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Jan-10-13
 | | Abdel Irada: Let's review. Distinguishing "symptoms": Intense concentration, constant activity, rocking motions, sensitive to playing conditions. Provisional diagnosis: Asperger's or other autistic-spectrum condition. |
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Jan-10-13
 | | Caissanist: I've always wondered why Browne peaked so early; by the time he was in his mid twenties he was pretty much as good as he was ever going to get, although he did mostly maintain that level for another seven or eight years. Players with his level of raw calculating ability (Alekhine, Reshevsky, Korchnoi) usually don't peak until their mid thirties at least, as their number-crunching ability is gradually supplemented with an intuitive knowledge of the game. |
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Jan-10-13
 | | talisman: happy birthday champ! |
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| Jan-10-13 | | Kikoman: Happy 64th Birthday! :D |
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| Feb-05-13 | | IndigoViolet: <The Stress of Chess (and its infinite finesse): My Life, Career and 101 Best Games> Gets my vote for the silliest book title of the year award. |
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