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Robert Byrne

ROBERT BYRNE (born Apr-20-1928, died Apr-12-2013, 84 years old) United States of America [what is this?] Robert Eugene Byrne was born in New York on April 20, 1928. He was inspired to learn chess at the age of eight after seeing chess players in the local park. His younger brother was International Master Donald Byrne. Awarded the IM title in 1952, Byrne earned his Grandmaster title in 1964 and two years later shared first place at the United States Open with Pal Benko. The 1972 US Championship served as an interzonal qualifying tournament, and Byrne after tying for first place with Samuel Reshevsky and Lubomir Kavalek, won the three man play off to advance to the Leningrad Interzonal (1973). (1) The Leningrad Interzonal proved to be one of the highlights of his career, as Byrne finished only one point behind tournament winners Viktor Korchnoi and Anatoly Karpov and ahead of such luminaries as Bent Larsen, Mikhail Tal, and Svetozar Gligoric. His successful run ended with a loss in his 1974 quarter final candidates match against Boris Spassky. Byrne worked as a university professor for many years, before becoming a chess professional in the early 1970s. Editor for the New York Times weekly chess column from 1972 until his retirement on November 12, 2006, on which day they ran his final column (a recounting of his 1952 win over David Bronstein). Robert Byrne also attained eminence as a highly respected chess writer, culminating in his 2004 Lifetime Achievement Award from The Chess Journalists of America. (1) http://graeme.50webs.com/chesschamp... Wikipedia article: Robert Byrne (chess player) Last updated: 2023-01-20 06:15:50

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page 1 of 44; games 1-25 of 1,093  Game   Result Moves Year Event/Locale Opening 1. J Staffer vs R Byrne 1-0 17 1943 corr A10 English 2. M Pavey vs R Byrne ½-½ 38 1944 Manhattan CC-ch 1944/45 A13 English 3. G Kramer vs R Byrne   0-1 42 1944 Manhattan CC jr ch D11 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav 4. R Byrne vs Denker   ½-½ 64 1944 Manhattan CC-ch 1944/45 B29 Sicilian, Nimzovich-Rubinstein 5. A Pinkus vs R Byrne   1-0 31 1944 Manhattan CC-ch 1944/45 D29 Queen's Gambit Accepted, Classical 6. W Suesman vs R Byrne   ½-½ 27 1945 Ventnor City C47 Four Knights 7. Santasiere vs R Byrne   1-0 29 1945 Ventnor City C34 King's Gambit Accepted 8. R Byrne vs W Adams 1-0 42 1945 Ventnor City C31 King's Gambit Declined, Falkbeer Counter Gambit 9. H Yanofsky vs R Byrne 0-1 19 1945 Ventnor City D85 Grunfeld 10. R Byrne vs B Keltz   0-1 35 1945 Ventnor City A15 English 11. E S Jackson vs R Byrne 1-0 62 1945 Ventnor City C41 Philidor Defense 12. R Byrne vs M Green 1-0 28 1945 Ventnor City B04 Alekhine's Defense, Modern 13. R Byrne vs A Regen ½-½ 51 1945 Ventnor City C78 Ruy Lopez 14. M Stark vs R Byrne 1-0 33 1945 Ventnor City D29 Queen's Gambit Accepted, Classical 15. Fine vs R Byrne 1-0 38 1945 Blindfold blitz simul, 4b A48 King's Indian 16. J Paal vs R Byrne   0-1 45 1946 47th US Open D26 Queen's Gambit Accepted 17. R Byrne vs H Fajans 0-1 44 1946 47th US Open D22 Queen's Gambit Accepted 18. R Byrne vs B Price   1-0 40 1946 47th US Open B01 Scandinavian 19. G Hartleb vs R Byrne 0-1 20 1946 47th US Open A53 Old Indian 20. R Byrne vs W Adams ½-½ 43 1946 47th US Open C31 King's Gambit Declined, Falkbeer Counter Gambit 21. O Ulvestad vs R Byrne   1-0 32 1946 47th US Open A48 King's Indian 22. Evans vs R Byrne   0-1 54 1946 47th US Open E67 King's Indian, Fianchetto 23. R Byrne vs H Berliner 1-0 53 1946 47th US Open C34 King's Gambit Accepted 24. W Adams vs R Byrne   0-1 30 1946 47th US Open B45 Sicilian, Taimanov 25. R Byrne vs E Levin   ½-½ 33 1946 47th US Open C39 King's Gambit Accepted  page 1 of 44; games 1-25 of 1,093

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< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 5 OF 7 ·  Later Kibitzing> Apr-14-13    arrigato: what can I say? Robert Byrne was a fine chess master and a real gentleman along with his brother Donald they formed one of the strongest brother combination in chess annals he will be greatly missed first evans , now Robert Byrne Apr-14-13    whiteshark: Very sad news! Apr-14-13    waustad: Like many others I read his column for many years. I'm sorry to hear of his demise. Apr-14-13    hellopolgar: RIP Robert Byrne! Apr-14-13    andrewjsacks: <HeMateMe> Thanks for the link to fine the NY Times obit. Apr-14-13    andrewjsacks: And as to that top five list, why wasn't Pillsbury mentioned? Robert Byrne was certainly not in the top five, but was most certainly a very strong and often underrated player, and a very fine and important American chess journalist. Apr-14-13    andrewjsacks: Interesting idea, of course, to offer one's list of the top 5 American-born and bred players. Mine? Fischer, Morphy, Pillsbury, Fine, and I'm at a loss for a definitive 5th. Apr-14-13    hellopolgar: "American-born and bred": Larry Christiansen, Joel Benjamin, Nick de Firmian, Patrick Wolff, Walter Browne, Larry Evans, just to name a few. Just look at these names http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._C... Apr-14-13    SteinitzLives: A great guy, so happy he lived so long. I will never forget the surprise and delight of so many Americans when he finished high up in the '73 Interzonal to become a candidate. For years his column was the class of weekly chess writing. He was consistent and even handed in his reporting. He is from the great bygone era of very strong New York GMs and IM players who grew under the teaching of John Collins. Farewell Robert, I hope to see you on the other side. Apr-14-13    RookFile: At his best he was like Petrosian, very hard to beat. Yet in many games he also played crazy tactical games, like Tal. At the end of the day, he was an entertaining, strong player who got a lot of enjoyment out of chess. Apr-14-13    brankat: R.I.P. GM Byrne. Apr-14-13    waustad: <hello> Walter Browne is from Australia originally. Apr-14-13    HeMateMe: <andrewjsacks:> I would put Seriwan in the list. I think he was born in Syria or Lebanon, but didn't learn how to play chess *gasp!* until his mid teens. His chess development took place in the USA, so I think he is a product of USA chess. Apr-14-13    HeMateMe: ...Nakamura too, under this definition. That still leaves Byrne in the top ten, plenty good. Robert and Donald Byrne, tough brothers! Ok, not as tough as the Kray gangsters of mod London, or the Kiletchko chess-boxers, but still... Apr-14-13    andrewjsacks: <HeMateMe> Thanks for the follow-up. I always value your comments. You know, Frank J. Marshall was plenty good, too, erratic though he could be... And Isaac Kashdan, for a few years, was a top 5 world player. Apr-14-13    juan31: R.I.P. G.M. R.E. Byrne Apr-14-13    Caissanist: Walter Browne was born in Australia to an American father and Australian mother, and moved to the USA when he was two. I would say he is "American born and bred". Apr-15-13    kingscrusher: A very credible 70% in the 1952 Olympiad beating Bronstein in this team tournament : http://www.olimpbase.org/1952/1952u... Apr-15-13    FSR: Video tributes to Byrne by IM Andrew Martin: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdaJ... and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZIy... Apr-15-13    plang: I was a big fan of his Chess Column. It has not been the same since he retired in 2006. Apr-15-13    Karpova: Tribute by Andrew Martin: http://www.chessbase.com/Home/TabId... Apr-15-13    FSR: <plang: I was a big fan of his Chess Column. It has not been the same since he retired in 2006.> You got that right. Apparently the NYT picked his not-all-that-worthy successor because the guy was already on the NYT's staff and knew something about chess. http://gambit.blogs.nytimes.com/200... Probably that meant that the Times didn't have to pay him anything beyond his already-existing salary. (He is a FIDE Master. http://ratings.fide.com/card.phtml?...) Apr-15-13    andrewjsacks: <FSR> In the L.A. area, we have seen a similar sorry phenomenon. The L.A. Times chess column was run excellently by IM Jack Peters for years (after GM Jim Tarjan declined the offered post). A couple of years ago, Peters lost the column and it is now a syndicated piece each week, saving the Times the salary of Peters for a small fraction of the cost to them, and virtually no local news, and poor in international chess news, and is, more broadly, a sad commentary on the decline of the newspaper business because of all the online factors. Apr-15-13    keresfan: RIP Robert Byrne. Apr-16-13    FSR: <andrewsjacks> My aunt, who is a law professor at UCLA, sent me some of Jack Peters' columns over the years. He was an excellent columnist. Ditto with Kavalek, who used to write for the Washington Post. It's sad what's happening to newspapers. Jump to page #   (enter # from 1 to 7) search thread:    < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 5 OF 7 ·  Later Kibitzing>

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