| Feb-05-05 | | latvija: I'm sorry to see that only lost games are listed. Al Sandrin was much more than that. He has the distinction of winning the 1949 U.S. Open. I don't remember if he ever won the U.S. Blind Championship. He and his brother Angelo were regulars in the Chicago chess scene. In 1965, I played in my first USCF tournament--Memorial Day. I don't know why, but Al and his lady companion took me under wing, during the tournament. He treated me to lunch one day. Al Sandrin would sit, at the board, with his lady companion sitting, on the side, in between. When it was time to make his move, he would announce it out loud and then move the piece. His companion would write his score. I don't remember who punched the clock. He was a decent chap and would like to see some his wins posted. |
|
| Mar-11-05 | | Resignation Trap: <latvija> I can go through "my archives" to find more information about Al Sandrin. A British magazine published a short article about him about 40 years ago, and I have a really old issue of Chess Review which features him on the front cover.
"My archives" are quite dusty and I have allergies, so, while this task is nostalgic, I'll probably break out in hives. |
|
| Mar-12-05 | | Resignation Trap: I found them quickly!
Albert Sandrin played in the US Championship in 1946 where he scored 8/18 and finished tenth http://members.aol.com/graemecree/c... Sandrin played in the 1948 US Championship where he finished with ascore of 10.5/19 (11th-12th place) http://www.members.aol.com/graemecr... And as <latvija> noted, he also won the 1949 US Open in Omaha http://www.huntel.net/jjirous/usope... His photograph appeared on the cover of CHESS REVIEW in October 1944: "THE THINKER". In that issue, his victory at the Illinois Championship is described in detail, as well as his win over Samuel D Factor In the March 1965 issue of CHESS (Sutton Coldfield), Paul Hugo Little has a seven-page article on Sandrin entitled "Proud Spirit". |
|
| May-28-05 | | Resignation Trap: In addition to winning the 1949 US Open, he also won the first brilliancy prize for this game, with the winning move 28. f8=N#. Albert Sandrin - Phil LeCornu
US Open, Omaha NE 1947.07.21
Round 10 English Opening A16
1. c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 d5 3.cxd5 Nxd5 4.g3 g6 5. Bg2 Be6 6. Nf3 Nxc3 7. bxc3 Bg7 8. 0-0 0-0 9. d4 c6 10. e4 Bc4 11. Re1 Nd7 12. Be3 Qa5 13. Nd2 Ba6 14. Qb3 c5 15. e5 cxd4 16. cxd4 Nb6 17. Rac1 Rac8 18. Rc5 Rxc5 19. dxc5 Nd7 20.e6 Nxc5 21. exf7+ Kh8 22. Qd5 b6 23. Bd4 Nd3 24. Rxe7 Qxd2 25. Re8 h6 26. Rxf8+ Kh7 27. Rh8+ Bxh8 28. f8=N# I'll try to upload thus game in the near future, right now I feel as sick as Kramnik. |
|
| Jul-07-05 | | eghagstrom: In 1980 Sandrin played first board for the U.S. team in the blind Olympiad. Seems there was an article in Chess Life, Dec. 1980, that reported the event. Subsequently that article was reprinted in the Tennessee Chess Association newsletter, Spring 2005. All of this is background for the following: The article states: "In the following position that occurred between Sandrin (White) and Vaccani (Black). White administered a mate in two. Do you see it?" The position is: 1r2r3/3R2pp/ppk1Bp1n/2p5/P3Pp2/1RP2P2/1PK2P1P/8 w - - 0 1 I don't see it and I can't find the game. Does anyone know if the position is misprinted? Or was this just one of those pre-computer puzzles that doesn't work? |
|
| Jul-07-05 | | pyryk: <eghagstrom> I pasted the FEN string to chessbase and it found no forced mate in that position either. |
|
| Dec-31-05 | | breeliz: I played Al Sandrin at a US Open in Chicago back in the early 1980's. He had a higher rating than I did but I figured that he was blind so he should make a mistake if I complicated the position. My grand plan was to play a complicated attack game and confuse him. What a fool I was. He sat down and the first thing I noted was that he didn't use the special chessboard for blind people with wooden pieces that locked into a base. He sat down in front of the standard chess board, took his two little fingers and found the very tips of the chessboard edge. And he immediately picked up the piece he wanted to move and plunked it right down on the square he wanted it to go to. That psyched me out right from the get-go. I followed my plan and created a very complex position. I saw an opportunity to sacrifice some material in return for a terrific attack. I was sure that he would lose track of it all and get rolled over. I unloaded everything but the kitchen sink at him. A pretty sizeable crowd had gathered around the game because it was exciting. Al Sandrin took every blow sent his way. He found every trap and avoided every pitfall. He patiently held his position and simplified when possible until I ran out of pieces and steam. I was busted and resigned. He enjoyed the exciting game and told me so. I will never ever make the mistake of thinking that a blind person can't see. They see with their mind's eye. I never saw him again and I stopped playing chess a couple of years later. I know I have the game somewhere and if I ever find it I will post it here for your pleasure. I registered on this asite and put this note in out of respect to a fine player... Al Sandrin. He taught me a lot. B. Corbett |
|
| Jan-16-06 | | sleepkid: Well, about a week ago I uploaded the game posted by Resignation Trap above (on May 28 - 05), so that Sandrin would have at least one win in the database, but apparently it hasn't made it into the system yet. |
|
| Feb-16-06 | | sleepkid: <chessgames.com> I've now twice uploaded the game posted by Resignation Trap above only for it to never make it into the database. What's the deal?
|
|
| Feb-23-06 | | sleepkid: (sing-a-long everybody!)
oh, chessgames.com, chessgames.com
no one cares
cause they are the bomb,
they fall down stairs,
they curl their hairs,
they like to wear green underwear!
Oh chessgames.com, chessgames.com,
you can suggest a correction
or insult their mom,
upload a game,
create a false name,
or make all your posts completely inane!
Oh chessgames.com, chessgames.com
Albert Sandrin played chess with much aplomb,
we sent you a PGN,
an interesting win,
but where is it now, did u chuck it in the bin?
click for larger view (disco party on 64 squares)
(black to play and groove)
|
|
| Apr-25-16 | | TheFocus: Happy birthday, Albert Sandrin. |
|
| Apr-26-16 | | Hodor: Hodor! |
|
Apr-25-18
 | | FSR: I didn't know Albert, but knew his brother Angelo, who was a very active tournament player. We played once. I was Black in a Queen's Indian/Hedgehog and got in trouble and lost a pawn. We eventually reached an ending with his queen, bishop and pawns against my queen, knight and pawns. I bet my friend Mario Spinosa a dollar that I wouldn't lose. I was inspired by an article by Bent Larsen in <Chess Life and Review> in which Larsen said that queen and knight coordinate better than queen and bishop. (Many years later, John Watson wrote that in fact this often was not the case and that it was difficult to lay down a general rule.) Sure enough, I swindled Angelo and won, concluding the game with a fatal royal fork. Both Angelo and Albert Sandrin were Life Masters. Angelo said that Albert was much more talented, and emphasized that the 50th US Open (1949), which he had won, was very strong. |
|
Apr-25-18
| | FSR: Little-known fact (Angelo didn't know it until I told him): the anagram of "Sandrin" is "innards." |
|
| Jun-08-22 | | wrap99: What a strange way to become blind -- I do not believe this was watching a solar eclipse. I think this staring at the sun might have been a competitive activity in those days when kids "made their own fun" before they watched a bunch of TV. Joseph Heller goes into the very challenging games of Follow the Leader he played as a child in the 1920s, games that, like staring at the sun, could be very dangerous as the leader would "up the ante" in an attempt to maintain his leader position. |
|
Mar-23-24
 | | Korora: I found in the Chess Caviar section of November 1949 issue of Chess Review a game over the telephone that he, representing the Chicago Chess Club, won in thirteen moves over one F. Howard of the Log Cabin Chess Club. The Chess Caviar section described the game with a bunch of telephone puns. <White gets his wires crossed from trying to call on two variations at once and picks the wrong number in Black who cuts him off short.> Transcribing with the descriptive notation used:
White: F Howard, Log Cabin C. C. Black: Al Sandrin, Chicago C. C. 1. P-K4 P-K4 2. N-QB3 N-QB3 3. B-B4 B-B4 4. P-B4? BxN! 5. RxB Q-R5† 6. P-KN3 QxRP 7. R-B1 QxNP† 8. R-B2 N-B3 9. N-K2 Q-R5 10. K-B1 Q-R8† 11. N-N1 P-Q4! 12. B-N5 B-R6† 13. K-K2 QxP mate |
|
|
|
|
Kibitzing
