http://articles.latimes.com/1988-07...

<Lina Grumette, a chess expert who nurtured Bobby Fischer during the years that led to his capture of the world chess championship in 1972, died Thursday in Cedars-Sinai Medical Center of the complications of lung cancer.

Her son, Steve, said she was 80.

For many years she hosted a Memorial Day chess tournament--the largest one on the West Coast--and in her own right was considered one of the best women players of the 1940s.

Known as Fischer's "chess mother," Mrs. Grumette, a widow, kept the enfant terrible of chess at her home for months at a time. She encouraged him to seek the world championship from the Russian, Boris Spassky. Then she journeyed to Iceland with him and was there when Fischer became the first (and only) American to ever win the world title.

(Afterward, Fischer dropped from view and refused to ever play in public again. He is believed living a reclusive existence in the Pasadena area. He also turned his back on Mrs. Grumette and most of his other friends, accusing them of collaborating with the media and the Soviet KGB in what he viewed as a threat to his life.)

Mrs. Grumette for years ran a club in her West Hollywood home called The Chess Set. It became a gathering place for tournament players and other chess celebrities.

In addition to her son, she is survived by a daughter and a grandson.

That same day, Fischer had an afternoon meal with an elderly lady, Lina Grumette, that he knew from many years back in California. She later said: “I gave him hell. I told him if he walked out of the match he'd be washed up. He'd be a dirty word everywhere chess was played. Oh, I really laid it into him. He listened very seriously. He didn't say he'd play, but I shook him up and I think he was glad.”>

http://en.chessbase.com/post/a-grea...-

Also, with a little more West Coast perspective:

http://www.chessdryad.com/articles/...

(With remembrances by both Dan Bailey and Yasser Seirawan)

An annual Memorial Day Tournament is named after her, held each year in LA.

Pictures of her can be found here:

http://www.edochess.ca/batgirl/Grum...

http://www.worldchesshof.org/upload... (she's right next to Bobby)

http://www.edochess.ca/batgirl/Flea...

<Is it Lena, or Lina?>

Even Edward Winter punted on this one:

<CN 8173. From the Marshall Chess Club

<photo>

The Marshall Chess Club is currently cataloguing its photographic archives, and Alexander George (Amherst, MA, USA), who is on the club’s Board, submits the above photograph. Is it definitely, as believed, Lina/Lena Grumette, and can the picture be dated?>

My personal preference is for <Lena>, since that is the name given on the contemporaneous <Chess Reporter> writeup on the <2nd PanAm (1954)> tournament.

See also:

http://www.edochess.ca/batgirl/Flea... (Lena)

http://www.bklynlibrary.org/sites/d... (p 349 - <Grumette Lena Mrs. : Boro Chess Player>)

http://www.ancestry.com/1940-census... (1940 Census)

Lina (Futterman) Grumette
https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Futte...

Diff. birthdate/-place
https://de.findagrave.com/memorial/...

'.. In 1953, Lina and her family moved to Los Angeles, where she ran a public relations firm. After the death of her husband, Lina decided to open a chess club in her Hollywood home. “The Chess Set” began as a meeting place for Lina’s many friends in show business, but soon attracted more players who appreciated Lina’a unparalleled hospitality. Lina encouraged and befriended most of the masters in the area, and welcomed those who were just visiting southern California. She hosted a series of Futurity tournaments in the 1970s and 80s that introduced two generations of masters to international play. ..'

from http://www.scchess.com/rank_and_fil...

https://vid.pr0gramm.com/2019/08/03...