Nov-06-13
 | | GrahamClayton: It seems that Tomargo died earlier this year, aged 75. He was a master strength player at chess and go. |
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| Mar-28-14 | | Caissanist: Tamargo was briefly a member of this site many years ago, and posted a few comments on his game with Bobby Fischer. User: JoeTamargo He seems to have been one of the more colorful characters of the New York Chess and Checkers Club, one of a number of sleazy chess clubs that populated New York for most of the 20th century. That hustler chess culture seems to be largely gone now; somebody should write a book about it, I suspect there are a lot of good stories about those places which have never been committed to paper or pixel. |
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| Mar-28-14 | | Benzol: I think it's possible Mr Tamargo may have got annoyed with other kibitzers about the interest shown in his game with Bobby Fischer and stopped posting as a result. See :
<Oct-20-03 JoeTamargo: No, we all found out in 1957 that he was the real article. My f5 was the kind of impetuous move a young player makes; probably should have built first. Also managed to trade off my good bishop. Enough of this. Bye.> <Oct-19-03 drukenknight: I have a question for Mr. T: did you know at that time the game was played that he was a future superstar or just another pretty good young player? Also in this game. A nice opening, but it seems that black has a lead in development when you decided to open up the game with 13 f5. Thoughts on that?> <Oct-19-03
Premium Chessgames Member chessgames.com: It is indeed an honor, Mr. Tamargo. First-hand Fischer anecdotes are always welcomed here.> <Oct-19-03
Premium Chessgames Member Eggman: Thanks for the first-hand acount, Mr. Tamargo! Maybe if someone at Chessgames.com is reading this, they can finally correct the spelling of your name!> <Oct-19-03 JoeTamargo: I don't remember which move I made to hang the rook. It was a move or two later. Disgusted with myself I didn't bother to write it down, just resigned. Of course I didn't think anybody would ever care. Bobby had all the talent anyway. Eventually I saw the light and made money betting on him.> <Oct-18-03
Premium Chessgames Member Eggman: Gosh, this is exciting! Living chess history! Mr. Tamargo, do you mean to say that you played 41.Rg7 (the only move that would put the Rook en prise)? If this is what was played, why is it not included in the score? Did you play the move and then resign before pressing your clock?> <Oct-18-03 JoeTamargo: The explanation is that I put my rook en prise a move later. I was upset because I had offered a draw and little Bobby piped up "Are you crazy?" Note the spelling of my name. It's Tamargo, not "Tomargo." I'm a well known New York master. They've been misspelling it for nearly fifty years, ever since Jack Spence (who was a nice man but maybe not the brightest guy in the world) got it wrong in the tournament book. --Joe Tamargo> |
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Mar-31-14
 | | Richard Taylor: I bet Fischer was a real arrogant little bastard - no wonder poor old Tamargo was pissed off losing to him. He played a great game there. Fischer didn't look so good except of course he was quite young. But he was soon to win the US Championships. Seems he didn't show poor old Joseph proper respect. Sadly the latter died in 2013. |
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| Nov-07-16 | | TheFocus: Happy birthday, Joseph Tamargo. |
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| Jul-10-20 | | oolalimk1: Poor old Tamargo was only four years and four months older than Fischer. |
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| Mar-02-25 | | Granny O Doul: I regret that I never met Mr. Tamargo, though he used to frequent the chess tables at Liberty Park, near the WTC, when I used to seldom them. There was a famous occasion when he chased Jack(ie) Beers around the block with an axe after Jack had upset his go game. |
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Mar-02-25
 | | perfidious: I met Beers once, in a side event at the 1984 New York Open. Thought him a strange little man. |
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| Mar-02-25 | | stone free or die: <perf> know anyone with a <Beers'> game score that we can enter into the db? Here's, thanks to Sam Sloan, a photo of <Tamargo>: http://www.anusha.com/tamargo.jpg |
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| Mar-02-25 | | stone free or die: <<Granny> [Tamargo] chased Jack(ie) Beers around the block with an axe after Jack had upset his go game.> According to Hoffman it was a hammer.
https://books.google.com/books?id=j... |
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| Mar-02-25 | | Granny O Doul: <<stone free or die>> I of course was not a witness, but I heard the story from Curtis Gibson, who was. He maintained it was an axe, specifically, a fireman's pickaxe. He addressed the alternate version of a hammer by saying if it had been, that would have been the end of Jackie, as the axe slowed Tamargo down just enough for the former gentleman to get away. |
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| Mar-02-25 | | Granny O Doul: <<perfidious: I met Beers once, in a side event at the 1984 New York Open. Thought him a strange little man.>> Probably not a controversial take. His niece once posted somewhere acknowledging his schizophrenia and asking that a particular discussion be dropped, so I'll try not to overdo it here. Anyway, that NYO marked his return to chess after a long absence. His USCF rating the next few years peaked at twenty-two sixty-something but from 1991 he was always heavily medicated and not up to tournament chess. Some of you may know he was a buddy of Fischer's and appears in "Bobby Fischer vs. the Rest of the World" by Brad Darrach. "Had Bobby switched his allegiance from Saidy, a man who said 'yes, but', to Beers, a man who simply said 'yes'? If so, prospects for the match were bleaker than ever". Something like that. |
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Mar-02-25
| | perfidious: <Granny>, while I do not recall any passages of <Fischer v ROW>, I read Darrach's book in late 1981, thus knew who he was when we met, and certainly recall that the picture Darrach painted of Beers was far from flattering, as it was with Saidy, for that matter. |
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| Mar-02-25 | | Granny O Doul: <<<perf> know anyone with a <Beers'> game score that we can enter into the db?>> Not a game but a fragment; Mark Willey-Jack Beers, New York, 198...5?-- 1. c4 e6 2. g3 d5 3. Bg2 c5 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Nc3 Nf6 6. e3 Be7 7. Qb3 c4 8. Qb5+ Bd7 9. Qxb7 Bc6 10. Nxd5 Nxd5 11. Bxd5 Bxb7 12. Bxb7 Nd7 13. Bxa8 Qxa8, and wins (of course). "He thought he was moving in on me but not so fast, you know? Not...so...fast!"--JB |
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| Mar-02-25 | | stone free or die: Thanks <Granny>, I'll submit it later on today (or tomorrow). Do you a little more on the location?
(You know we like to get the details down correctly, i.e. hammer vs. fireman's axe!) |
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| Mar-02-25 | | Granny O Doul: It was played at the Manhattan Chess Club. Not sure of the event but nothing too exalted. |
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| Mar-03-25 | | stone free or die: OK, I submitted the game, thanks again <Granny>. Might I ask how you happened to retain such a fragment across the ages? (Just wondering) |
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Mar-03-25
| | perfidious: Maybe <Granny> has the same sort of memory as I do, such as the ability to recall meeting Willey years ago in blitz. |
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| Mar-03-25 | | Granny O Doul: <stone free> It may have stuck because the fact that it spawned a catchphrase in my circle ("but not so fast!") gave it a certain historic value. |
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Mar-03-25
 | | MissScarlett: <I think it's possible Mr Tamargo may have got annoyed with other kibitzers about the interest shown in his game with Bobby Fischer and stopped posting as a result.> Joseph Tamargo (kibitz #3) You say 'Tomargo,' I say 'Tamargo.' Let's call the whole thing off! |
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| Mar-04-25 | | stone free or die: Thanks again <Granny>, the game is up: M Willey vs J Beers, 1985 The < ("but not so fast!")> might make a good pun for the game. More <Beer> stories can go here: Jack Beers |
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Kibitzing
