Sep-24-09
 | | Phony Benoni: http://www.chessdryad.com/articles/... How Boris Siff became an USCF Senior Master (rating above 2400) for the first time--at the age of 72! |
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| Sep-27-09 | | TheBish: Thanks, Phony Benoni, for the link to that great article on Boris Siff. I was at that LERA tournament, when Siff went 6-0! I heard later that he had collapsed and was rushed to the hospital, but later left the hospital against doctor's advice, saying that he was competing in a chess tournament that he had to finish! Remarkable story. It would be nice to have the brilliancy prize game from the article, as well as other more recent games of Siff's added to the CG database. How about it, CG? I loved those LERA tournaments in Sunnyvale (near San Jose). They were some of the best run and most enjoyable tournaments I've been to, with frequent appearances by Nick DeFirmian, Peter Biyiasas and other GMs and IMs. One of the nice features was brilliancy prizes for every section, plus a concession stand where you could buy sandwiches, etc. for lunch. Toward the end of his life, Jim Hurt, the chief TD at LERA, would fly back to California from his new residence in Colorado, just to keep the LERA tournament going. Now that's dedication! |
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| Nov-06-11 | | Diosantiago: About Boris Siff.
I had been playing chess with my uncles and father since an early age and in 1956, as a teenager, I discovered Loomis Park in Miami, Fla. I was beating all the old chess playing gizzards, mostly NY retirees, that met there everyday, but one middleaged man said to me, "When you are ready to stop 'Pushing Wood' I can give you some ideas about this game."
And that he did. Yes, this chain-smoking genius, introduced me to the 'real game', which without his enlightening method I would not have improved my understanding of the game.I had not heard from him or seen his name until I googled it and was directed to this site. The last time I saw him was at the Florida State Tournament in 1960, which he won. That was 50 years ago.
Now I see he passed on in 1999 at an advanced age. All of it has brought back fond memories of the many hours we spent at the Miami Chess Club going over games and setting up situations to be resolved, "Look for the conbinations," he would repeat. Thank you, Boris, I am wishing you are having a great time playing the old masters on 'the other side'. |
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| Jun-18-22 | | wrap99: I remember my first and possibly only LERA event from 1975, perhaps Siff was there. I for sure met a very young Jay Whitehead, already and expert at 12. Dennis Waterman was there, Nick Maffeo and probably some other masters whom I did not recognize. Ted Yudacufski used to direct in addition to Hurt. I think 1975 was before the term Silicon Valley was commonly used if it had even been coined yet. I recall being dazzled as I passed the giant blimp hangar if that was what it was -- I think it exists to this day, maybe Elon Musk is planning to use it although it has been, the last I saw, reduced to a skeleton. |
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Kibitzing
