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William Lombardy
Lombardy 
 

Number of games in database: 816
Years covered: 1953 to 1994
Last FIDE rating: 2435
Highest rating achieved in database: 2540
Overall record: +326 -147 =341 (61.0%)*
   * Overall winning percentage = (wins+draws/2) / total games in the database. 2 exhibition games, blitz/rapid, odds games, etc. are excluded from this statistic.

MOST PLAYED OPENINGS
With the White pieces:
 Sicilian (64) 
    B50 B40 B81 B51 B31
 English (39) 
    A15 A10 A16 A13 A12
 King's Indian (34) 
    E60 E71 E80 E70 E63
 Nimzo Indian (33) 
    E46 E21 E42 E26 E40
 Ruy Lopez (23) 
    C77 C64 C97 C79 C95
 King's Indian Attack (22) 
    A07 A08
With the Black pieces:
 Sicilian (96) 
    B94 B42 B96 B92 B32
 Ruy Lopez (41) 
    C96 C70 C84 C95 C77
 King's Indian (40) 
    E69 E95 E80 E62 E77
 Sicilian Najdorf (27) 
    B94 B96 B92 B90 B93
 Ruy Lopez, Closed (22) 
    C96 C95 C84 C93 C92
 Nimzo Indian (18) 
    E59 E24 E45 E26 E30
Repertoire Explorer

NOTABLE GAMES: [what is this?]
   M Gerusel vs Lombardy, 1957 0-1
   Lombardy vs Polugaevsky, 1978 1-0
   Lombardy vs Quinteros, 1973 1-0
   Reshevsky vs Lombardy, 1958 0-1
   Timman vs Lombardy, 1974 0-1
   Lombardy vs E Winslow, 1976 1-0
   A Planinc vs Lombardy, 1974 0-1
   Lombardy vs E Schiller, 1971 1/2-1/2
   B Jonsson vs Lombardy, 1984 0-1
   Lombardy vs R J Gross, 1966 1-0

NOTABLE TOURNAMENTS: [what is this?]
   World Junior Championship (1957)
   Mar del Plata (1958)
   Manhattan CC-ch 5556 (1955)
   Netanya (1969)
   Pan-American Championship (1958)
   63rd US Open (1962)
   67th US Open (1966)
   Mar del Plata (1957)
   72nd US Open (1971)
   Reykjavik (1978)
   Manila (1973)
   Ourense (1975)
   United States Championship (1972)
   56th US Open (1955)
   Haifa Olympiad (1976)

GAME COLLECTIONS: [what is this?]
   0ZeR0's collected games volume 63 by 0ZeR0
   Manila 1973 by Tabanus
   US Championship 1957/58 by suenteus po 147
   US Championship 1957/58 by shankartr2018
   US Championship 1972 by Phony Benoni
   US Championship 1975 by suenteus po 147
   US Open 1963, Chicago by Phony Benoni
   Vestmannaeyjar 1985 by Tabanus
   IV World Junior championship by gauer
   World Junior Championship, Toronto 1957 by FSR
   US Championship 1968/69 by suenteus po 147
   US Championship 1958/59 by suenteus po 147
   US Championship 1960/61 by suenteus po 147

Search Sacrifice Explorer for William Lombardy
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WILLIAM LOMBARDY
(born Dec-04-1937, died Oct-13-2017, 79 years old) United States of America

[what is this?]

William James Joseph Lombardy was born in the Bronx, New York on December 4, 1937. He became a National Master at age 14. In 1954, at age 16, he won the New York State Championship, becoming the youngest champion up until that time.

Lombardy tied for first at the Canadian Open Chess Championship in 1956. That same year, at age 18, he narrowly lost a match to Samuel Reshevsky (3.5-2.5), the best match result that anyone had achieved against Reshevsky up to that time.

The following year, Lombardy became the first American to win the World Junior Championship (1957). He remains the only player in the 55 times the event has been held to win it with a perfect score (11-0). FIDE awarded him the International Master title for this victory.

1960 was an eventful year for Lombardy. He led the U.S. team to an upset victory over the Soviet Union in the 1960 Student Team Championship in Leningrad. He scored 12/13, winning as Black against future World Champion Boris Spassky in their individual game, and winning the gold medal for the best result on first board. He played second board for the United States team at the Leipzig Olympiad, drawing as Black in his game against the recently dethroned World Champion Mikhail Botvinnik. In the same year, FIDE awarded Lombardy the Grandmaster title.

Lombardy tied for second in the 1960-61 U.S. Championship, behind Robert James Fischer. That result qualified him to play in the Stockholm Interzonal (1962). However, he declined the invitation and entered a Jesuit seminary. He convocated as a priest from CCNY (previous studies included biochemistry, in hopes of entering medicine) and was ordained in 1967.

Lombardy won the U.S. Open in 1963, and tied for first with Pal Benko in both 1965 and 1975. He also represented the United States in seven Olympiads (1958, 1960, 1968, 1970, 1974, 1976, and 1980) and served as Fischer's second during the Spassky - Fischer World Championship Match (1972).

In 1974, Lombardy left the priesthood, having lost faith in the Catholic church, which he felt was too concerned with amassing wealth. Soon after, while competing in the Amsterdam IBM (1974) tournament, he met and married a Dutch woman, Louise van Valen, who moved to Manhattan to live with him. Their son, Raymond, was born in 1984. The couple divorced in 1992 after Lombardy's wife returned to the Netherlands with their son.

Lombardy had been a lifelong New Yorker, but in 2016 moved to the Chicago area after being evicted from his Manhattan apartment. He died on October 13, 2017 while visiting a friend in Martinez, California.

Lombardy had a profound influence on Bobby Fischer, who was five years younger than Lombardy. They played hundreds of blitz games while they both lived in N.Y.C. Some consider Lombardy to have been strangely underappreciated.

He was still playing chess very strongly, including online, in his late seventies.

Wikipedia article: William Lombardy

Last updated: 2021-12-04 09:07:19

Try our new games table.

 page 1 of 33; games 1-25 of 816  PGN Download
Game  ResultMoves YearEvent/LocaleOpening
1. J W Collins vs Lombardy  0-1321953Practice GameB58 Sicilian
2. E Mednis vs Lombardy  1-026195354th US OpenC54 Giuoco Piano
3. A Mengarini vs Lombardy  1-023195354th US OpenD28 Queen's Gambit Accepted, Classical
4. M Yatron vs Lombardy  0-132195354th US OpenB09 Pirc, Austrian Attack
5. Lombardy vs N Whitaker 1-070195354th US OpenD09 Queen's Gambit Declined, Albin Counter Gambit, 5.g3
6. W Grombacher vs Lombardy  0-134195455th US OpenA48 King's Indian
7. Lombardy vs A Sandrin 1-040195455th US OpenA07 King's Indian Attack
8. O Popovych vs Lombardy 1-021195455th US OpenB93 Sicilian, Najdorf, 6.f4
9. Lombardy vs M Harrow  ½-½60195455th US OpenA07 King's Indian Attack
10. A Krumins vs Lombardy 0-120195455th US OpenB32 Sicilian
11. A Pomar vs Lombardy  1-040195455th US OpenB32 Sicilian
12. Lombardy vs D Fischheimer  1-053195455th US OpenA09 Reti Opening
13. Lombardy vs J F Donovan 0-141195455th US OpenA07 King's Indian Attack
14. E Mednis vs Lombardy ½-½18195455th US OpenB88 Sicilian, Fischer-Sozin Attack
15. P Monsky vs Lombardy ½-½40195556th US OpenE60 King's Indian Defense
16. Lombardy vs A Chappell 1-029195556th US OpenA83 Dutch, Staunton Gambit
17. B Schmidt vs Lombardy  0-138195556th US OpenB83 Sicilian
18. Lombardy vs Santasiere  ½-½47195556th US OpenA07 King's Indian Attack
19. A Suhobeck vs Lombardy  0-128195556th US OpenB83 Sicilian
20. R Cross vs Lombardy 0-155195556th US OpenB88 Sicilian, Fischer-Sozin Attack
21. Lombardy vs R Cross 0-150195556th US OpenA04 Reti Opening
22. J F Donovan vs Lombardy  0-149195556th US OpenA60 Benoni Defense
23. A Kaufman vs Lombardy  ½-½49195556th US OpenB45 Sicilian, Taimanov
24. Lombardy vs D Poliakoff 1-030195556th US OpenD50 Queen's Gambit Declined
25. Lombardy vs I Rivise 0-155195556th US OpenE87 King's Indian, Samisch, Orthodox
 page 1 of 33; games 1-25 of 816  PGN Download
  REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2) | Lombardy wins | Lombardy loses  

Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 8 OF 27 ·  Later Kibitzing>
Sep-09-13  parisattack: I've spent more time with GM Lombardy's book Understanding Chess: My System, My Games, My Life and highly recommend it.

Whatever might be your take on his chronicle of various events, Fischer, etc - the games and analysis are quite excellent! I stand by my earlier evaluation that his play is similar to Leonid Stein - 'dynamodern' with both hypermodern and dynamic elements.

As someone who has long speculated on what is the core chess skill/ability, I also found Lombardy's thoughts on 'eidetic imagery' fascinating.

The book is a well produced, high quality paperback. A bit pricey, perhaps, but so it goes...

Dec-04-13
Premium Chessgames Member
  Penguincw: Happy 76th birthday to the <POTD>: William James Lombardy.
Dec-04-13  parisattack: Happy Birthday, Bill.

I've very much enjoyed your book, studying your games, considering the eidetic imagery approach.

P.S. thanks for the name. ;)

Aug-12-14
Premium Chessgames Member
  HeMateMe: the Lombardy book cover:

<https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/...>

Dec-15-14  Caissanist: Updated link to the Spraggett article cited by <FSR>: https://kevinspraggettonchess.wordp... .

Incidentally, although the Lombardy page is OK much of the other material on Spraggett's website is NSFW. Proceed with caution.

Apr-21-15
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: He is obviously quite a character. I bet he knows some fantastic knock knock jokes.
Apr-21-15  zanzibar: Sorry - I messed up the line converting descriptive into algebraic, let me delete/repost:

Has anybody here ever worked through Lombardy's analysis in <Modern Chess Opening Traps> with or without an engine?

I know that the book came out in 1972, but still... only up to p22 and there are over half a dozen similar to this:

(White to move)


click for larger view

11.Nb3

Quote: <Castles long does not provide escape: 11: O-O-O Bxd2+(?) 12.Bxd2 Qxd4>

To think that Black has won a piece in the sub-variation is, er, symptomatically problematic.

Actually finding the winning move after 11.O-O-O makes a good puzzle, I think.

Apr-21-15  zanzibar: The answer to the knock-knock joke is Unpinning, of course.
Apr-21-15
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: GM Father William Lombarby: Knock! Knock!

Me: Who's there??

GM Monsignor ex-Father William Lombarby: Un.

Me: Un who?

Biochemist GM Monsignor ex-Father William Lombarby: Un-pinning!! [Laughter]

Apr-22-15  zanzibar: <offramp> see if you can unpin this...

http://images-00.delcampe-static.ne...

Not an easy task!

Apr-22-15  zanzibar: Hint - use the stuff all physicists love - symmetry.

(Warning - hints can just be all the more confusing if you don't already know the answer - but remember, you started it, 3x's over)

Apr-22-15  MagnusVerMagnus: Great player, very underrated, never given credit for helping Fischer win the Title. Exceptional speed player from I have read.
Apr-22-15
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: <Zanzibar>, that is a lovely stamp. Soldi looks like a European version of Shillings, i.e., solidi. The two headed eagle looks Polish, but it could be from lots of places in Danubia.

Since I don't think Poles ever used shillings (except perhaps in Galicia), I'm gonna say this is from Austria, and from about 1870. That is a genuine, non-googled guess.

Apr-23-15  zanzibar: <offramp> Yes, as a young man I was always more partial to coins than stamps.

But as a sometimes chess biographer I've come to appreciate stamps.

I found the stamps when doing this google image search:

https://www.google.com/search?q=lom...

It's from Austria. I could have used this image instead:

http://th06.deviantart.net/fs70/150...

or this:

https://www.raremaps.com/maps/mediu...

And if I had done a straight-forward textual search I would have found this image instead:

https://www.facebook.com/1626787571...

But only the stamps had the mirror symmetry I was looking for... dbdb

PS- Google translates "solidi" as "money", which is close enough:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solidu...

Apr-23-15  zanzibar: And here's an oft-repeated story, from Don Schulz, relating an incident when he was Fischer's second in 1972. It's from <The Atlantic>, and we'll pick it up at the beginning of the paragraph:

<Fischer's accomplishment cannot be overstated. A brash twenty-nine-year-old high school dropout, armed with little more than a pocket chess set and a dog-eared book documenting Spassky's important games, had single-handedly defeated the Soviet chess juggernaut. Spassky had a wealth of resources at his disposal to help him plot moves, including thirty-five grand masters back in the Soviet Union. Fischer, on the other hand, had two administrative seconds who served essentially as companions, and Bill Lombardy, a grand master, whose role was to help analyze games. However, Fischer did almost all the analysis himself—when he bothered to do anything. "After the games were adjourned, all the Soviets would go back to Spassky's hotel room to plan for the next position," recalls Don Schultz, one of the seconds. "Lombardy said to Fischer, 'That's a difficult position. Let's go back to the hotel and analyze it.' Fischer said, 'What do you mean, analyze? That guy's a fish. Let's go bowling.'" >

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine... (about 1/2 down)

Apr-23-15  zanzibar: And from Brady's <Endgame> is this note:

<p176 "It's true that he works alone" Interview of William Lombardy by the author, July 15, 1972 Reykjavik, Iceland.>

May-22-15  TheFocus: <What has always impressed me most of the young Lombardy was his flair for clear strategic play. Different from how young players normally develop their styles (first tactical, then strategic, finally universal), Lombardy’s early play was profoundly positional. This especially was evident with how he handled the English Opening. I can think of no other player of his age having such mastery of this opening. Not Botvinnik, Karpov, not even Fischer. Even today, I enjoy playing over his games in this opening> - Kevin Spraggett.
May-22-15  TheFocus: <There cannot be two champions at the same time. Lombardy had the misfortune that while his extraordinary natural chess talent was enormous, he was not a genius like Bobby. Nor was his more cautious boa-constrictor style of play able to impress the fans like Bobby’s dynamic, more aggressive style of play. Perhaps more importantly, what little (private) financial support there existed in American chess at the time went to Fischer; Bill had to do everything on his own.> - Kevin Spraggett (on Bill Lombardy).
May-23-15  TheFocus: <Confidence wells up as one patiently works on beating players on one level before moving up to the next level. If a player moves up too fast, the mauling he takes from the tigers on the upper levels could easily destroy his confidence and worse, dim his pleasure at playing chess. And one further note. When one plays stronger players prematurely and consequently gets crushed by them, it will be very difficult for that player to forget the thrashing he received. Later, when he does become strong enough to cross swords with those very same players, he may not be able to overcome the fear rooted in his mind as a result of former beatings. He then continues to lose to those self same players, even though his current playing strength may be greater than theirs. One does not practice running a full mile until one has practiced the quarter-mile> - William Lombardy, Guide to Tournament Chess (p.115).
May-26-15  TheFocus: <A young player, specifically because he is so inexperienced, naturally fears an established master. Only the ambitious player becomes a solid master, and that by breaking that fear. How? By being prepared to play out every game. He must gamble on losing; there is no other way of winning. We all make mistakes. A determined player makes fewer, and those he does make are more often overlooked simply because of the pressure and tension he exerts on his rival!> - William Lombardy.
Jun-06-15
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: <TheFocus: <What has always impressed me most of the young Lombardy was his flair for clear strategic play. Different from how young players normally develop their styles (first tactical, then strategic, finally universal), Lombardy’s early play was profoundly positional. This especially was evident with how he handled the English Opening. I can think of no other player of his age having such mastery of this opening. Not Botvinnik, Karpov, not even Fischer. Even today, I enjoy playing over his games in this opening> - Kevin Spraggett.>

A very illuminating comment from GM Spraggett, whose opinions I always value. I had never heard of Lombardy's mastery of the English before.

But here is a puzzle:
<I can think of no other player of his age having such mastery of this opening [the English]. Not Botvinnik, Karpov, not even Fischer.>

Fischer? Which Fischer? The late GM Fischer of Chicago was not, as far as I remember, a player of the English as either white or black.

Jun-06-15  RookFile: I did a quick look, Bobby Fischer appears to have a record of +9 -1 = 8 in this database as black against the English.
Jun-06-15
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: <RookFile: I did a quick look, Bobby Fischer appears to have a record of +9 -1 = 8 in this database as black against the English.>

I also had a look; I searched for Fischer (from the drop-down list) and English (also from the drop-down list}. That gave +23 =13 -1. That is far far more than I remembered.

The loss was B Wexler vs Fischer, 1960.

So Spraggett, once again, was right! His sample size was large enough to make a meaningful comparison between Lombardy's English and Fischer's English.

Jul-21-15
Premium Chessgames Member
  Retireborn: Does anybody have Lombardy's book (Understanding Chess) and know any more about game 114 vs Saevar Bjarnason?

Chessbase says Bjarnason wasn't playing in the Westman Islands 1985 tournament, and the score (which begins 1.e4 e6. 2.Nf3 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.a3 Ba5) doesn't correspond to any of Lombardy's games from there (or indeed any Lombardy game I can find in Chessbase.)

Obviously Lombardy's memory is at fault, but does anybody know when/where this game was played?

Jul-21-15  diceman: <RookFile: I did a quick look, Bobby Fischer appears to have a record of +9 -1 = 8 in this database as black against the English.>

He also beat Spassky (1972) as white in an English.

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