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| Nov-19-14 | | Chessnutty: Does anyone know the whereabouts of Kim Ellen Commons, formerly married to Kim S Commons? |
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Nov-20-14
 | | HeMateMe: I thought that was Common knowledge? |
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Jun-30-15
 | | naisortep: Kim Commons
Courtesy of Club Red
Members of the local music scene are in mourning today after the sudden death of the owner of a prominent Valley music venue. Kim Commons, owner of Club Red in Mesa, passed away Tuesday night after suffering a major stroke over the weekend. He was 63. Commons, who originally opened Club Red in Tempe in 2005, helped the venue become one of the hubs of the city's music scene as he shepherded it through a decade filled with ups and downs, personal and professional losses, and a tumultuous move to a new home in Mesa last year. http://9gag.com/tv/p/a9xNyL/coppel-... |
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| Jun-30-15 | | Howard: First, Browne...and now Commons ! Damn, but for someone who has been a USCF member for 40 years, as of this year, this truly hurts ! |
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Jun-30-15
 | | WannaBe: I wonder if Club Red would nice enough to allow CG to use that photo. Sad to learn of his passing. =( |
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| Jun-30-15 | | Murky: i lived in the same student dormitory with Kim Commons at UCLA in 1970-1971. He spent a lot more time with chess than he did getting his degree in physics. He won local tournaments in the Los Angeles area, won the California state championship, soon got his IM title, then played in the US championship and in European tournaments. In the mid to late 70s he stopped just short of becoming a GM, flipping over to a career in real estate. He had nice wins over Browne and Reshevsky; worth finding those games. He missed an opportunity to mate Gligoric in two moves. Those were the days without chess playing computers and without chess databases, when Chess Informant was the very best source of current chess knowledge. Kim would avidly consume Chess Informant literature, and his knowledge of opening theory was particularly sharp. I remember one occasion when I helped Kim promote his chess career. He designed a flyer, offering chess lessons and describing himself as the current California state champion. We then drove around posh areas of LA stuffing mail boxes with his flyer. I didn't think anything good would come of it, but soon he's telling me about giving chess lessons to David Crosby and other West Coast musicians. Crosby said it was, "like taking batting lessons from Micky Mantle". Kim's life after chess is pretty obscure to me. Here is an obituary giving some detail: http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/musi... |
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| Jun-30-15 | | Howard: Probably his biggest accomplishment was winning the gold medal for board 6 at the 1976 Olympiad. The irony was that the late Walter Browne's ego was the only reason Commons made the team that year ~! |
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| Sep-09-15 | | wrap99: <Howard> Was it that Browne refused to play? |
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| Sep-11-16 | | siggemannen: Browne wanted first board or nothing, and he got it... Commons' 76 must've been one of the best "streaks" ever? Three tourneys won, plus great showing in the Olympics. Why did he quit? |
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Sep-11-16
 | | perfidious: <siggemannen> The post by <Murky>, just after Commons' death, is about all the information with which I am familiar. Got to chat briefly with Kim on ICC some years ago; no airs about him, just a reasonable guy. A pleasure. |
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| Sep-11-16 | | Murky: Why did Commons quit chess? On one occasion Kim told me he didn't like living out of a suitcase. Too much time on the road. Deprivation of home comforts. Jet lag. Starting a family might have anchored Kim a bit. And then there is the issue of making a decent living. Only the top GMs roll in dough. Lesser GMs struggle. Kim was able to switch over to a career in real estate, thanks in part to his mother, who was a real estate professional. I don't yet get how Kim transitioned into managing a bar and concert venue in Phoenix. Read that he had gone through a difficult divorce, and maybe that's what propelled him out of California and into Arizona, I'm not sure. I regret that I don't have more detail of Kim's later life. Was a good friend to me, and I remember him well. |
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Dec-05-17
 | | Domdaniel: The phrase 'the tragedy of the Commons' has nothing to do with Kim -- it relates to the way that common economic resources tend to be over-used and despoiled. |
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| Jan-09-18 | | Caissanist: Commons quit because he was never able to combine his chess and his real estate work. When he played at Lone Pine 1978, he wound up spending all his time on the phone doing real estate deals. Then when he played in the US championship that year he left his deals in the hands of one of his partners, and they all fell apart. |
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| Jan-09-18 | | Petrosianic: I remember seeing Commons on one of Shelby Lyman's PBS shows on the 1978 World Championship. All I remember from him is Lyman asking why Korchnoi hadn't castled, and Commons quoting Pillsbury as saying that you shouldn't castle just because you can, only castle because you want to. |
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| Jan-09-18 | | Granny O Doul: Better to live out of a suitcase than inside one. |
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| Jan-09-18 | | ChessHigherCat: <Granny O Doul: Better to live out of a suitcase than inside one.> I don't know, you can feel like a million bucks in a suitcase. |
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| Jul-23-18 | | Brendan S: Kim was my great uncle. I only met with him a few times at family gatherings, but I remember him very well. He was somewhat reserved, but extremely intelligent. My great uncle got me interested in chess and I would not be playing it today if it weren’t for his influence. If any of you have questions, feel free to email me: brenmaster27@gmail.com
Or my father:
bcs558@msn.com |
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| Jun-07-21 | | login:
Kim Steven Commons
late owner and president (2005-2014/15)
at Club Red (live venue) and Red Owl (sports bar). Rocking a book
https://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/53...
[Former] Club Red, Mesa AZ - one of Arizona's leading music venues
(Blurred) timeline
2014 Club Red re-opens in Mesa to big crowd, problems
https://eu.azcentral.com/story/ente... 2021 Club Red in Mesa has closed. Here's what we know.
'Local music venue Club Red, a prominent part of metro Phoenix’s metal and hip-hop scenes, has closed its doors after more than 15 years in business, according to a longtime employee. ..'
https://azmusicians.com/club-red-in... 2021 Why the family behind Mesa music venue Club Red is saying goodbye — for now
https://eu.azcentral.com/story/ente... 'Club Red hopes to reopen in a similar space', meanwhile one can support the 'Red Owl Burgers and Brews' foodtruck.
https://redowlburgersandbrews.com/
Club's concert history
https://www.concertarchives.org/ven... Related
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tD6...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ts...
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| Jul-23-22 | | Cheapo by the Dozen: RIP, Kim.
Kim is the best player I ever beat, but that claim requires many asterisks. We were playing Double Bughouse/Siamese Chess at UCLA. I was partnered with Diane Savereide, who had recently zoomed past me in ability, on her way to becoming US Women's Champion. The opposing team was Roy Ervin, an expert who had previously given a simul I organized when I was still in high school, and Kim. The other team was far better at chess than Diane and I were, but she and I liked and understood Siamese (as it was then called on the West Coast) a lot better. So while I basically was solidly outplayed by Roy, I still funneled Diane the right pieces at the right times to mate Kim. :) This was a one-off. I never saw either Roy or Kim play Siamese at other times. I got the impression Kim acquired a wife, also named Kim, also a chess player, also at UCLA. But this was solely from a quick comment by somebody a couple of years later, the gag being that the UCLA club president was again Kim Commons. |
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| Jul-31-22 | | wrap99: <Cheapo> Kim Commons did marry a woman named also Kim. Very good chess players certainly do not necessarily play good bughouse chess although some do. |
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Jul-31-22
| | perfidious: The mention of the nuptials between Kim and Kim, of which I first read in <CL+R> in the late 1970s, concluded with, best I recall: <....The six-foot....champion cannot be described as lovely.> |
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| Aug-02-22 | | wrap99: Was not the male Kim Commons significantly over 6 foot, I think 6' 3'' more like? His wife was dark-haired, perhaps a foot shorter. She also played chess, I think. |
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Aug-02-22
| | perfidious: <wrap99>, cannot say; was merely recalling the passage from that <CL+R> article. K Commons vs P Peev, 1976 |
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| Jan-02-25 | | wrap99: <cheapo by the dozen> I was introduced to Siamese (as we benightedly called it then) at a storefront chess club near UCLA in Westwood so many years ago. I believe Ron Frasco was one of the players. I remember Diane quite well. It almost hurts/heck on this new year's day of the science fictiony year 2025 it DOES hurt, to think how long ago this was. How much happened and, more sadly, how much did not happen. |
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| Feb-04-25 | | DataFly: I believe Kim Commons' former wife (they were only married for a few years) now goes by her maiden name, Kim Monson, and lives in Mariposa, California. |
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