Mr Sarapu occasionally called in on a Friday,to see Mr Mitchell,or to pick up a book,and the effect he would have on us was dramatic.It's Mr O Sarapu,we would whisper,Mr O Sarapu,The International Master.The older ones knew that he had beaten a player who had played for the World Title; all of us knew he had played Bobby Fischer.As if by magic,the games of suicide,swap,and progressive, would come to a quiet but speedy conclusion.Some of us then even tried to look thoughtful(..ahem),suddenly three moves deep in a rapidly constructed Four Knights or something similar.Simply a question of respect really.

I was at the NZ Congress at Upper Hutt in 1978/79 and he, I, Wayne Power and E Green were staying at the CIT - Ortvin's room was next to mine - he was an interesting man - he told me an anecdote about Sibelius - it went more or less that when Sibelius got visitors he would ask them, as they were about to go, if they had noticed a particularly beautiful plant, many hadn't: noticing, observation, alertness, and awareness of beauty.

Sarapu told me he had a photographic memory - I knew that as I had seen him play blindfold chess but he also said his memory of music was not good and he thus got onto Sibelius...signifcant as Finland is close in language, proximity etc to Estonia I suppose. BTW he worked as labourer at a factory in Auckland - and was always out ot win every tournament he could as much for the money as anything. And Ian Mitchell was a Communist (originally from Scotland) - now Mitchell and Sarapu would have had very opposite views (at some times I also argued politics with him -he was ok about disagreeing) - he wasn't happy with Russians (I mean the Russian Govt/military etc) or Germans (again I don't mean individuals - he had German friends and could speak German/Russain and Estonian at least ...)His mother wanted to go back to Estonia but he felt (he told me) that as his home had been destroyed by the Russain and German military there was no future there.

When he was young he was also a talented athlete. When I knew him he was always very interesting and he also had great sense of humour - he would also talk about chess and other subjects a lot - not just to strong chess players...anyone. He had very expressive face and manner. He smoked for years - at the board he concentrated ferociously - cigarette in mouth.

Once he played Kasparov and lost - it was not so easy for Kasprov but maybe not too hard I suppose - but Kasparov - he told me - was pacing back and forth behind the board like a (melo)dramatic tiger working out several variations about 15 or more moves deep "Into the end game, for practice" he told Sarapu after the game! (Probably just to show off.) But I recall Ortvin showing variations he had calculated very deeply in about 1963 or so.

http://www.chess.co.nz/mr_chess.htm

"Special moments recaptured in this book include games with Fischer, Spassky, Kasparov and Korchnoi."

We were good friends, but <Richard> has provided information I wasn't aware of. Sarapu and I had a little ongoing dispute about smoking, but he eventually gave that up and was glad he did.

A lot of our games were short draws, with only three decisive games. It was a privilege to have scored +2-1, but he was in his late 50s when I first played in the NZ champs. He won his last NZ champs in a very strong field when he was a few days short of his 66th birthday.

He must have been a powerhouse when he was in his prime, as shown by some notable scalps. Coming to NZ markedly strengthened chess in that country, but probably weakened his own game.

He and I also became allies when both of us were excluded from the 1990 Olympiad team for chess-political reasons, although he had just co-won his 20th title, and I was undefeated to finish 5th, while people who finished far behind us were selected.

Wasn't it you who sprayed some perfume at Ortvin when he lit up a smoke at the board?

My recollection was that he was a little put out although perhaps my memory is a little "hazy" and I am thinking of the cigarette!?

Did your "Brut"ish tactics "incence" him? I suspect that the game "fizzled" into a draw, and no real "sparks" flew between you.

Perhaps you should upload the game and Chessgames could feature it as game of the day? "Fire at the board" could be an apt title ;-)

I cant remember openings very well so I concentrate on a few good opening ideas or systems ideas and tactics!

I remember the long controversey about smoking at Chess events - I have never smoked - and it didn't worry me as both my parents smoked quite heavily - I suppose I would be concerned nowadays as my father L S Taylor died of lung cancer (BTW he had quite a lot to do with organising Junior Chess (about 1964 or so) and setting up ACC (about 1967) or so). My mother also smoked and she eventually died of a stroke - both conditions are not helped by smoking.

The answer to your question is yes, I should have added in my surname McIntosh.

It's good to touch base with you again after a number of years.

Thanks in advance.