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| Nov-07-11 | | wordfunph: here's the story of Bill Hook's 1980 Malta Chess Olympiad gold medal on board one, lifted from NIC 2006 05.. <Actually, Torre played a crucial role in the absolute highlight of Hook's Olympiad career, as in Malta 1980, they both vied for the gold medal on Board 1. Hook had a good start by beating Westerinen(!) in round 1, and following a scrappy draw against a Tunisian IM, his team dropped to lesser opposition and he was able to continue scoring well. Going into the last round, Torre had the same number of points, but he had faced stronger opposition. In his last game Bill Hook played a third player aspiring to the gold medal, Kanani of Kenya, broke open his position with a pawn push and managed to win. Now everything depended on Torre's game against Westerinen(!) and when the news came that they had drawn their game, the members of the British Virgin Islands let out a big whoop. Although their team had finished 75th out of 81, Bill Hook's 11.5 out of 14 won him the gold medal on first board.> ♔♕♗ |
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Nov-07-11
 | | moronovich: <wordfunph>
Hook wrote a book("Hooked on chess" or something simular)which to me was a very plesant read and hereby highly recommended.At sale for a rather low price(unless the bookie has settled his issues with you yet;). |
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Nov-07-11
 | | HeMateMe: I wanted to get this, but it was + $20 at Barnes and Noble. I'll wait till I see a used copy somewhere. |
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Nov-07-11
| | moronovich: has *not* |
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Nov-07-11
 | | SteinitzLives: Amazon has the book used for about $10 and some new for about $14. If the shipping costs aren't prohibitive, it's a great addition, I recommend it. Hook lived life as a chess native but was not a GM or IM and seemed to not need chess "playing" or chess "writing" income to do it, so my hats off to him. |
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| Nov-07-11 | | wordfunph: amigo <moronovich> thank you, add that to my wishlist of chessbooks. |
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| Dec-02-11 | | wordfunph: from GM Andy Soltis' Chess to Enjoy - Chess Life December 2011 issue.. Lajos Portisch holds the record for most career victories (121) in the Olympiad team tournaments. Who is number two in the record book? (a) Miguel Najdorf
(b) Viktor Korchnoi
(c) Anatoly Karpov
(d) Eugenio Torre
(e) Bill Hook
Answer:
e. 117 wins out of 235 games |
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Dec-02-11
| | moronovich: <wordfunph>
If in doubt,we go for the Hook(ers),right !? ;) |
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| Dec-02-11 | | bubuli55: That must be Najdorf :) |
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| Mar-02-12 | | wordfunph: "I've been in 17 Olympiads, from the Philippines to Buenos Aires, to Malta to Dubai, in Moscow and in France. These are great tournaments." - Bill Hook
rest in peace master Hook.. |
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| Jan-23-13 | | BIDMONFA: William Hook HOOK, William
http://www.bidmonfa.com/hook_willia...
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Mar-26-13
 | | DrNyet: Judging by his paintings in the book, he was a talented painter in addition to his other pursuits. |
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Nov-03-14
| | HeMateMe: Stanley Kubrick and Bill Hook?
"Kubrick was more than a 'chess fan', he was a master strength player who used to scrape a living playing speed chess for money, before he became a famous director....Interesting stories about him in William Hook's "Hooked On Chess." |
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Jul-19-17
 | | An Englishman: Good Evening: Interesting character! Does anyone have his victory over GM Westerinen from the 1980 Malta Olympiad? |
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| Jul-19-17 | | TheFocus: <An Englishman> Here you go. From Olimpbase. http://www.olimpbase.org/pgn4web/an... |
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| Jul-19-17 | | Olavi: <wordfunph: here's the story of Bill Hook's 1980 Malta Chess Olympiad gold medal on board one, lifted from NIC 2006 05.. Now everything depended on Torre's game against Westerinen(!) and when the news came that they had drawn their game> The story is incorrect, the opponent in the last round was Rantanen. Y Rantanen vs E Torre, 1980 |
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| Dec-20-17 | | zanzibar: Let's relate in full the RJF story, as told by Hook: <“Word was getting around about Bobby Fischer.From the first rumours of a talented kid from Brooklyn,he was now appearing regularly at the speed tournaments,and getting progressively better scores.At one point, however,I had beaten him four times in a row,and he cried at least once,revealing the depth of his intensity for the game.But one night at the Marshall Chess Club rapids where played a French Defence and a very peculiar thing happened.In the middle of the game Bobby made a strong move and I suddenly had an almost physical sense of power emanating from it.And Bobby moved again with the same effect; it was as if he were playing with dynamic rays of force that I had a heightened sensitivity to.It happened once more,and my position was busted,as the coffee house players would say.I never won an other game from Bobby,and I wonder if any other players had this experience while opposing him”.> http://chessbooks.nl/elburg121.html
I blame the French (again!). |
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| May-25-21 | | andrewjsacks: Since when was the Flea House way uptown? |
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| May-25-21 | | andrewjsacks: It was on 42nd St., near Times Square. |
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| May-25-21 | | Granny O Doul: Yes, the Flea House was 212 West 42nd.
I knew that Fischer "just got good" when he was 11, but I hadn't known it was in the middle of a blitz game with Hook. |
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May-25-21
| | SteinitzLives: My dad took me to the Flea House in the mid-1970's (I believe it's official name was The Chess & Checker Club of NY, if I am not mistaken), and just before we went in, my dad said: Son, if we are ever going to get mugged in New York, it will be here! Well, we didn't, but their were big holes in the drywall there where people had perhaps "fallen" or been disciplined for an unpaid balance. As a young fairly innocent teen at the time, being in that place forever dispelled any myths about chess players being wimps. |
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| May-12-24 | | Gottschalk: British Virgin Islands Legend.
R.I.P. |
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| Apr-28-25 | | areknames: Some great kibitzing and what a character Mr. Hook sounds like. You could do worse than building a house in the BVI and live there, not to mention playing in the Olympics! |
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Apr-28-25
 | | MissScarlett: <After spending World War II in a tuberculosis ward...> Good job.
One feels the biographical section should establish Hook's involvement with the British Virgin Isles before it mentions his meeting with Fischer in Siegen, but it would disturb the flow of the narrative. |
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| Apr-28-25 | | stone free or die: I believe the fleahouse is featured in this vignette - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5R...
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