| Feb-20-06 | | EmperorAtahualpa: This is the godfather of the Smith-Morra gambit! |
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| Feb-20-06 | | EmperorAtahualpa: I've found some more games played by Kenneth Smith and have submitted them to <chessgames.com>.. I'm sure <RolandTesh> will be pleased. :) |
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| Feb-21-06 | | EmperorAtahualpa: Although Kenneth Smith really is the creator of the Smith-Morra gambit, I can only find games in this database in which he plays the Morra gambit, not the Smith-Morra gambit... Can anyone help me out here and find some of his Smith-Morra games? Thanks! |
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| Jun-23-07 | | Manic: <EmperorAtahualpa> I don't understand. What is the difference between the morra gambit and the smith-morra? |
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| Dec-05-07 | | rozumim: <I don't understand. What is the difference between the morra gambit and the smith-morra?> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith-... |
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Feb-02-08
 | | Benzol: http://www.uschess.org/ratings/smit... |
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| Jun-26-08 | | wanabe2000: <Benzol> Thanks for the link.
".....he played in numerous Texas weekend tournaments, almost always winning or sharing first prize. He won more than 200 chess tournaments in his life, including eight times Texas Champion, seven times Southwest Open champion, four times Southern Open champion, and one time each winner of the British Major Open and the Mexican championship. Ken played in the great 1972 Church’s International tournament in San Antonio against some of the world's strongest players. Although he fared poorly overall against these elites, he did score a win (vs. Kaplan) and draws against Campos-Lopez and the legendary super grandmaster, Paul Keres. Smith was a titled FIDE Master with a FIDE rating of 2360. He was a USCF Senior Master for many years." |
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| Oct-02-08 | | hitman84: I hear that he was a brilliant poker player as well! I guess his gambit style of play suited poker. |
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Feb-14-09
 | | whiteshark: <Be a threat every time you sit down to play.> -- Ken Smith |
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Sep-13-10
 | | brankat: Would be 80 years old today.
R.I.P. Mr.Smith. |
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Sep-13-10
 | | wordfunph: "I can only tell you that even now after half a century I look at a chess set and I just get the chills. I mean, I just get the chills up my spine looking at people play chess." - Kenneth Smith |
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Dec-31-11
 | | Phony Benoni: Just submitted a game from the 1957 US Open where Kenneth Smith had BLACK against John T Westbrock. The game began: <1.e4 c5 2.d4! cxd4 3.c3!!> Smith declined with 3...Nf6, transposing into the Alapin Variation, but lost anyway. Such is the power of the Westbrock-Morra Gambit. |
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| Dec-31-11 | | King Death: <Phony Benoni> I can't wait to see that game. |
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Dec-31-11
| | Phony Benoni: <King Death> Well, since things have been running a bit slow of late: John T Westbrock - Kenneth Smith [B22]
US Open Cleveland, OH (12), 1957
<1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 Nf6 4.e5 Nd5 5.cxd4 d6 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.Nc3 Nxc3 8.bxc3 dxe5 9.d5 e4 10.Ng5> 
click for larger viewAll theory up to this point ... 1973 theory, that is, with the only move given being 10...Ne5. (The stem game Chiburdanidze vs O Andreeva, 1973 is worth looking at.) I am often surprised, when going through these old games, how often they anticipate variations by decades. Theory is often reinvented rather than invented. <10...Nb8 11.Nxe4 a6 12.Be2 e6 13.Bg5> White is not to be denied his pawn sacrifice for a development edge, and even a queen trade doesn't slow him down. <13...Qxd5 14.Bf3 Qxd1+ 15.Rxd1 Be7 16.Nd6+ Bxd6 17.Rxd6 Nd7 18.Ke2 f6 19.Rxe6+ Kf7 20.Bd5 Re8 21.Re4+ Kf8 22.Bf4 Ne5 23.Bxe5 Rxe5 24.Rxe5 fxe5 25.Rb1 Rb8 26.Rb6> 
click for larger viewBlack is now tied down completely, and the end follows quickly. <26...Ke7 27.Be4 h6 28.Ke3 a5 29.Rb5 b6 30.Rxe5+ Kf6 31.Re8 b5 32.a3> 1-0 Both players were rated about 2250 at the time, and I think Westbrock justified that. |
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| Dec-31-11 | | King Death: <Phony Benoni> One caveat before I go on here: I don't know anything about theory in this but 10...Nb8 looks pretty passive, even though Black got killed when she tried to keep that knight in play in Chiburdanidze-Andreeva. |
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| Jul-10-12 | | Mudphudder: Anyone know about Smith's poker playing days? It says he died in 1999 which was well before the popularity of the WSOP, so I was curious if there were any more details about this WSOP playing days. |
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| Nov-08-12 | | happyjuggler0: <Mudphudder> There are several Ken Smith's and Kenneth Smith's listed at this poker site, but this link seems likely to be him, giving a list of his tournament "cashes" but nothing else about him. http://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/pla... |
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