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Jude Acers
J Acers 
 

Number of games in database: 40
Years covered: 1960 to 2013
Last FIDE rating: 2229
Highest rating achieved in database: 2241
Overall record: +20 -13 =7 (58.8%)*
   * Overall winning percentage = (wins+draws/2) / total games.

Repertoire Explorer
Most played openings
D00 Queen's Pawn Game (4 games)
B21 Sicilian, 2.f4 and 2.d4 (2 games)
A07 King's Indian Attack (2 games)
D50 Queen's Gambit Declined (2 games)
B32 Sicilian (2 games)

RECENT GAMES:
   🏆 Wch Seniors 23rd
   J Acers vs A Kakageldyev (Nov-15-13) 0-1
   J Acers vs Y Rantanen (Nov-24-12) 0-1
   C Pritchett vs J Acers (Nov-18-12) 0-1
   J Acers vs Sveshnikov (Nov-14-12) 1/2-1/2

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FIDE player card for Jude Acers

JUDE ACERS
(born Apr-06-1944, 81 years old) United States of America

[what is this?]

Candidate Master (2022). Jude Acers was born in Long Beach, California. He is a U.S. senior chess master now living in New Orleans who has set several world record simultaneous exhibition records. He learned to play chess at age 7 and was a master at age 17. In 1967 at the Louisiana State Fair, he played 114 opponents simultaneously and won all 114 games. In 1968, he won the Louisiana State Championship. In 1976 he played 179 opponents simultaneously in Long Island. He has toured 48 states and 5 countries to give over a thousand chess exhibitions. When not touring and playing in other chess tournaments, Jude can be found at his World Chess table on the Gazebo sidewalk terrace at 1018 Decatur Street (the French Quarter), New Orleans, Louisiana. He is known as the man with the red beret. In 2005, he survived Hurricane Katrina and the floods in New Orleans, and was evacuated safely to Tennessee.

Jude is also an accomplished writer. From 1972 through 1975 (the Fischer boom), he was the editor of Chess Barbs (published in the Berkeley Barb underground newspaper), which featured not only his weekly chess columns, but chapters from his yet to be published book, The Road. He co-authored the book The Italian Gambit (2004).

Further Reading: (1) http://www.oxfordamerican.org/artic... , (2) Wikipedia article: Jude Acers

Last updated: 2024-11-13 09:53:29

Try our new games table.

 page 1 of 2; games 1-25 of 40  PGN Download
Game  ResultMoves YearEvent/LocaleOpening
1. J Acers vs J West 1-0181960New Orleans CC - Baton Rouge CC mC57 Two Knights
2. J Acers vs C Hoey 0-1341964Intercollegiate ChampionshipD00 Queen's Pawn Game
3. J Acers vs Browne  ½-½241967Acers-BrowneB32 Sicilian
4. Browne vs J Acers 1-0491967Acers-BrowneA07 King's Indian Attack
5. J Acers vs Browne 0-1191967Acers-BrowneB62 Sicilian, Richter-Rauzer
6. Browne vs J Acers  1-0631967Acers-BrowneA07 King's Indian Attack
7. J Acers vs G Simms  1-035196869th US OpenE11 Bogo-Indian Defense
8. Larsen vs J Acers 1-060196869th US OpenA29 English, Four Knights, Kingside Fianchetto
9. J Acers vs G Hulburd 1-046196869th US OpenE81 King's Indian, Samisch
10. J Acers vs R Klein 0-133196869th US OpenB21 Sicilian, 2.f4 and 2.d4
11. J Acers vs T Jenkins 1-024196869th US OpenB21 Sicilian, 2.f4 and 2.d4
12. J Acers vs W N Bragg 1-043196869th US OpenC07 French, Tarrasch
13. A Spiller vs J Acers 0-127196869th US OpenD50 Queen's Gambit Declined
14. A Saidy vs J Acers 1-041196869th US OpenD41 Queen's Gambit Declined, Semi-Tarrasch
15. J Acers vs M Wilkerson  1-055196869th US OpenB28 Sicilian, O'Kelly Variation
16. Leo Moon vs J Acers 0-1271969Denver opD32 Queen's Gambit Declined, Tarrasch
17. J Acers vs C Barnes 1-0311970San Jose opC44 King's Pawn Game
18. J Acers vs K Lawless  1-0401970San Francisco,Mechanics Institute,Training gameC27 Vienna Game
19. J Acers vs R Hough 1-0211970CCCA RegionalB93 Sicilian, Najdorf, 6.f4
20. Browne vs J Acers ½-½511970National OpenC82 Ruy Lopez, Open
21. R Wendling vs J Acers  1-0291970Utah OpenB32 Sicilian
22. J Acers vs C B Jones 1-0231970Acers-Jones Training MatchB29 Sicilian, Nimzovich-Rubinstein
23. Browne vs J Acers 0-1421971Training MatchC43 Petrov, Modern Attack
24. Browne vs J Acers  ½-½171971Training MatchD50 Queen's Gambit Declined
25. S Peterson vs J Acers  0-181976Simul, 179bC05 French, Tarrasch
 page 1 of 2; games 1-25 of 40  PGN Download
  REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2) | Acers wins | Acers loses  

Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 8 OF 8 ·  Later Kibitzing>
Dec-17-16
Premium Chessgames Member
  HeMateMe: I remember reading Chess Life in the '80s and Acers always had an advert in the back, every month, that stated "Jude acers takes on all comers at café _____ daily."
Dec-18-16
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: Any estimates as to how much he could make in a day? Theroretically, with 5 or 6 blitz games an hour, he could make about $400 in a day, but did he ever come close to that?
Dec-18-16
Premium Chessgames Member
  HeMateMe: was he playing for money?
Dec-18-16
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: <HeMateMe: was he playing for money?> I think so... I was going by the photo on his wikipedia page. He is sitting beside a professionally printed metal sign reading

<"U.S. Chess Master
Jude Acers
World Chess Table
$5.00 Lesson Games
Private!">

There is another photo with another, slightly different sign.

Dec-18-16
Premium Chessgames Member
  HeMateMe: Oh, ok. Is he also getting supplemental income as a spokesperson for DEVO?

<http://media.nbcsandiego.com/images...>

Mar-30-17  nolachess: Hey y'all! We are in the process of making a documentary about Jude Acers. We, too, are trying get to the bottom of why the USCF froze his ratings. We are also trying to find people who knew Jude in the 1970s during "The Road" days. Even in you DONT know him PLEASE email me at kdhanrah@gmail.com if you have any stories or thoughts on Jude. Also, If any of you know someone who may be interested in speaking with us, please let them know about our project. If you search for "The Man in the Red Beret" on google you will see videos of our progress. We also run Jude's instagram account "themanintheredberet" Thank you! Here are a few links to some footage from the FIDE tournament in Croatia in 2013...

(1) https://vimeo.com/115302954 ;
(2) https://vimeo.com/115316954 ;
(3) https://vimeo.com/115460623

Jun-19-17
Premium Chessgames Member
  redlance: nolachess,sorry did not see your post till now. I had the pleasure to have Jude come and do two simuls with my chess team and at a Children's Home. He and I also took on the school chess
team playing a blindfold match where Jude and I sat in another room without sight of the board making alternating moves against the team. This was in Desoto County MS south of Memphis TN. His visit made the Memphis paper.We won the blindfold game but it was because of him!!! I am a NM but this is not my strong point.He played 50 kids ,won 49.2010
Jan-25-18
Premium Chessgames Member
  Joshka: <nolachess> Did the movie about Jude ever get completed??
Feb-15-18  Caissanist: I am reposting the following from judeacers.com in case someone here knows something (or somebody):

<As you probably know, we have been making a documentary about Jude Acers these past 5 years or so. One item we have had some difficulty nailing down is archival news footage featuring Jude. We do have some excellent footage of Jude in the 1960s playing chess at the Wagner family home in Baton Rouge (thanks to Larry Wagner), and we have also located Associated Press footage from 1972 (see still above). In the early 1980s Jude appeared nationally on PM Magazine, and we would love to get our hands on that footage (do you have an in with Eric Paulsen at WWL? He did the PM Mag piece). Anybody with a lead on this kind of archival footage, please leave a comment below and I’ll follow up with you.>

I remember the PM Magazine piece, it was quite entertaining, hopefully somebody somewhere has an old tape lying around.

Feb-15-18
Premium Chessgames Member
  Joshka: Well it's been 5 years the man is not getting any younger. It's amazing like you said, that not much footage is around showing him play, he's been playing outside there for years!!! He's held numerous exhibitions!!....see, this is the problem with chess......no matter how much you are in the public view, you are still a NOBODY!! What a shame.
Feb-16-18  morfishine: Based on his bio, seems like he should have more games on file
Feb-16-18
Premium Chessgames Member
  Joshka: <morfishine> He had a run in with the USCF I believe way back in the 70's.......think he's persona non grata, but I'd sure like to hear HIS side of the story in a movie/bio......i do not believe he plead guilty....so his story is just very interesting for folks like me who really love the personalities of these chess greats!! I mean 1.New Orleans 2. Chess bad boy 3. Broke away from the USCF 4. Knew Fischer 5. Chess hustler ( a movie just on that element!!LOL) 6. Makes his living playing folks on a public street. All the elements a creative writer could put together a screenplay. Now add a little sex/Commie involvement/ and there ya go!:-) PS maybe a Morphy twist from years ago?
Feb-16-18  morfishine: Thanks <Joshka> nice post!
Feb-16-18  morfishine: And to think, that miserable miscreant, Claude Bloodgood Claude Frizzel Bloodgood actually has more games in the database than Acers

Thats criminal, no pun intended

*****

Feb-27-18
Premium Chessgames Member
  Joshka: Great video with Jude!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lpj...

Apr-11-19
Premium Chessgames Member
  perfidious: <morf>, one might say that, yes.
Nov-15-19  Caissanist: I don't think relations between Jude and the USCF were <that> bad. He was suspended for a while in the mid seventies becase the federation thought some of his results were fake, but he was later readmitted. He didn't play in many tournaments after that, but I recall that Larry Evans printed one or two of his games in his column in the eighties, which presumably wouldn't have happened if he really was <persona non grata>.
Aug-13-20  BananaStrings: In 2009 I went on a road trip from CA and made it a point to go see 'The Man in the Red Beret.'

I spent $15 for 2 losses and a draw (his sign read "$5 a lesson") against Mr. Acers on Decatur Street in the French Quarter.

He had a table set up on the sidewalk, sort of near a cafe, but he said that the cafe sort of asked him to leave to make space for customers as he was drawing too many players who were cheapskates and not buying anything.

The whole time we were playing he kept talking about the chess history of New Orleans, and which chess books he thought I should read. Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual was the only one I recall him mentioning.

After the games he took me on a tour where Morphy lived, played, and died throughout the French Quarter.

I don't know if he's still hanging out down there, but I doubt he still is. When we played he had some obvious health issues. He nonetheless was full of energy and treated me as an equal--two lovers of the game enjoying chess and its history.

Apr-06-21  login:

Link including a reprint of the article (pp. 31-34) mentioned by User: RolandTesh

J Acers vs G Hulburd, 1968 (kibitz #20)


'My Dinner with Jude Acers'

https://texaschess.org/wordpress/wp...

by Casey Bush, Northwest Chess



Roland (Rollie) Leslie Tesh Jr. (1958-2019)

https://www.forevermissed.com/rolli... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_...

For a good (non-profit organization striving to educate, engage, and create community through board games) cause http://spielbound.org/donate

Jun-10-21  login:

https://b2l2.com/documenting/

https://www.oxfordamerican.org/maga...

Oct-08-23  Caissanist: He is in fact still hanging out the same place near the Gazebo restaurant as he has been for 42 years, still taking on all comers for $5 a game. Here's a recent story in nola.com: https://www.nola.com/entertainment_... .
Nov-26-23  Caissanist: The above-mentioned documentary, after ten years in the making, has now been completed and is currently screening in a theater in New Orleans:

https://www.nola.com/gambit/events/...

There is also, for any Acers completists out there, a 25,000 word profile of him, written by the same guy who put together the documentary:

https://b2l2.com/therell-be-no-need...

Nov-27-23
Premium Chessgames Member
  Joshka: <caissanist> Wonderful news that's it's finally come to fruition!!! Think it will be streaming on youtube? soon!??
Jul-27-24  messin616: I played a game against Jude yesterday at his regular spot in New Orleans. I played one game for 1.5 hours and we talked a lot about life. Acers won. He told me to come by at the end of his night. I did, and he walked my girlfriend and I down the street (he didn't use the sidewalk, lol) to the local chess tournament in a cafe. He gave us food recommendations and made us laugh a lot. Introduced us to the local chess club and his manager, and then he disappeared. It was certainly a highlight of my trip!
Apr-25-25
Premium Chessgames Member
  HeMateMe: <Joshka: <nolachess> Did the movie about Jude ever get completed?? >

I heard that Russel Crowe and Kelsey Grammer dropped out when the money became 'questionable.'

Tom Hanks will work for "no money" if it's a great project. Status--limbo.

Mark Mothersbaugh is still interested

<https://www.bing.com/images/search?...>

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