After the war, Shamkovich moved to Leningrad, where he graduated from the university with a degree in physics and earned his Master's title in three years. Soon he abandoned all pursuit of a ''mainstream'' career to become a chess professional, combining tremendous activity as a player with internationally recognized work as a theoretician.

Between 1954 and 1974, Shamkovich was extremely active in the USSR. He was twice Russian Republic Champion (1954,1957) and Moscow Co-Champion with David Bronstein in 1963, narrowly losing a playoff 2.5-1-5. He participated in the famous Kiev USSR Championship with a stellar field of Soviet grandmasters, including Korchnoi, Stein, Bronstein, Tal, Geller, Kholmov, Suetin and Vasyukov. He went on compete a total of six times in the USSR Championship, sharing 5th place in 1964. In 1962, Shamkovich competed in his first international tournament, the Moscow International, finishing equal third behind Averback and Vasyukov and earning an International Master norm. In Marianske Lazen (1965) he finished third behind Hort and Keres, achieving his first grandmaster norm. At Sochi (1967) he tied for first with Krogius, Simagin, Spassky and Zaitsev. During this same period, Shamkovich was also second and trainer to Tal (1965) and Stein (1972), publishing a prodigious number of theoretical works, including the book ''Sacrifice in Chess''. During 1969-1972 he won three international tournaments in Romania and Hungary.

In 1975 he emigrated to Israel, winning their Open Championship. The following year he came to the US via Canada and established permanent residence. He has been a US citizen since 1983. Since arriving in the US he has won the US Open twice (1976,1977), qualified for the 1979 Interzonal in Rio, and competed in the 1980 Malta Olympiad. Shamkovich is still playing strong chess, writing internationally recognized books and articles, and serving as one of America's most qualified and experienced coaches.

Shamkovich is a popular author. His book ''Sacrifice in Chess'' was translated for publication in the US. He has authored or co-authored works such as ''The Tactical World of Chess'', ''Fischer vs Spassky, 1992'' and ''The Schliemann Defense'', among others.''

The night before, I'd had an 8.5 hour marathon with Danny Kopec; I went to the pairing sheet that Sunday morning of Labour Day weekend to find myself with an even tougher nut to crack this time round!

In the game itself, I played the line 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 b6 5.Ne2 Ba6 6.a3 Bxc3+ 7.Nxc3 d5 8.b3; the 4....b6 line was one I would often play as Black through the 1990s.

click for larger view

Shamkovitch - Kholmov, Baku, 1961.

... which prompts the question: what the heck is an aristocratic chess style??>

good question. sounds fancy to me. like "distinguished."

- "hi honey, how did your game go?"