Aug-12-08
 | | monopole2313: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert... |
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| Apr-17-21 | | Sobelson: Please correct the information here. My Father, Robert D Sobel, born in Philadephia, PA in 1934, is the correct person who played these games. He beat Fischer in 1956, and lost to him the next year. He is not the professor that Wikipedia refers to. Thank you very much for updating to provide an accurate description |
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Apr-17-21
 | | MissScarlett: I'm assuming then he also played the Student Olympiads. In other words, there's simply been a conflation between Sobel the chess player and Sobel the professor/author. |
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| Apr-18-21 | | Sobelson: Thank you for your rapid reply. Yes. That is correct. It's an often occurrence that the Professor/Author gets credit for my father's chess accomplishments. My father was PA State Champion as well. I'd have to ask him the period if you would like. |
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Apr-19-21
 | | Stonehenge: 1953, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penns.... |
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Apr-19-21
| | monopole2313: <Sobelson> Apologies for my mistake. I can't remember why I posted that information. |
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Apr-20-21
| | MissScarlett: <Sobelson>, a potted biography - a couple of paragraphs - would be nice. We're a lazy lot around here. |
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| Jun-01-21 | | Sobelson: @Stonehenge: Thanks. Nice to see the reference. @MissScarlet: I'd be happy to, if you can give me an idea of what you'd like to know. |
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| Jul-20-21 | | Sobelson: My father was born in 1934, in Philadelphia, westside (I think), both his parents died in the depression, mother from scarlet fever, father from loneliness ( I presume that means alcohol), so he raised himself and his younger brother in a slum house that I remember. His younger brother went on to get a scholarship with the navy and a Master's at Penn, and my father at Wharton to get his associate business degree. He was working in a chemistry lab , and decided he was doing the same as those with a college degree, so he quit, went on to government work. He reported that he passed the exam with a higher score than the graduates (I cannot verify, but my father was honest to the point of stupidity, so I believe it), but was given a lower GS status because not having a full degree. He went on to support a family of 5 doing inventory management for the navy. He currently lives in Virginia nearby where he spend most of his adult life (and I my child life. He/we were among the beneficiaries of Levitt's housing who made suburban America a possibility for the middle class.) His chess career ended a bit early; I'd have to ask him when. I remember in the 1970's running around with Joel Benjamin at the US Open in Virginia. My father opted out. He said he made more money in the stock market over that weekend. My father described me as a big fish in a little pond. I took minor prizes at tournaments. The only time I beat my father at chess was when I was loosing a game to him. I told him this is lost. He turned the board around and told me "show me". Do I need to say I did? Now, at 87 years of age, he still thinks he could beat computers, recalling the stupidity of IBM Blue. and bigger stupidity of Spassky to Blue's random move. I hope when I get home, I can show how a basic engine picked up a move that he did not consider against Fisher which was better than the move he played. As an aside, he told my wife he was glad I even graduated with a university degree. That was his sole goal of any of his three children. His daughter became a master's of sociology and I'm an internist, pediatrician, preventive medicine physician and engineer with a track record for saving lives (e.g., 18,000 from interrupting measles transmission in Philippines, and hundreds of thousands of lives by introducing Early Essential Newborn Care which is now global, and most recently, supporting Laos and other Asian countries to protect against COVID.) |
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Jul-20-21
| | MissScarlett: Well, you could've stopped after the first two paragraphs, but it's all good. 👌 |
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| Jul-20-21 | | Z4all: I like the "show me" part in 3rd paragraph. |
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Kibitzing
