Although Donald Byrne was never my full-time instructor, I had the honor of going over many games with him and getting the benefit of his sage advice.
Except on one occasion.
I was showing Professor Byrne a game where I had reached ~move 10 and had three candidate moves: 10.Re1, 10.Bg5, and 10.O-O. I told Professor Byrne I was not sure which of the three was correct.
“Oh, that’s easy” he said, “Play 10.Bg5!”
Now we were getting somewhere – I could learn why to play this move at this time. “So why 10.Bg5?”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know? But surely there must be a reason why 10.Bg5 is played first.”
“All I know is that in this position you play 10.Bg5 – I can’t explain it!”
So much for learning how to play those positions…
Except on one occasion.
I was showing Professor Byrne a game where I had reached ~move 10 and had three candidate moves: 10.Re1, 10.Bg5, and 10.O-O. I told Professor Byrne I was not sure which of the three was correct.
“Oh, that’s easy” he said, “Play 10.Bg5!”
Now we were getting somewhere – I could learn why to play this move at this time. “So why 10.Bg5?”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know? But surely there must be a reason why 10.Bg5 is played first.”
“All I know is that in this position you play 10.Bg5 – I can’t explain it!”
So much for learning how to play those positions…
When I was in college the top chess team in the state was my Penn State team – 2nd was the University of Pennsylvania. Both team’s captains were the first boards – me for PSU and Pete Meschter for UPenn. I was slightly the higher rated player, at Expert compared to Pete’s 1900. Pete was a great guy so naturally we became friendly adversaries.
In the 1971 PA State Championship, the round had been going on for about an hour. I was strolling around watching games, waiting for my lower-rated opponent to move. Pete was also walking around. Pete spotted me, came over and asked, “How’s your game going?” I replied “Oh, I started a premature attack and now I am paying for it – my game is terrible.” Pete gave me a friendly sneer and said “You always say that and you are always doing well! I’ll check for myself.” So Pete wandered over to my game to take a look. After looking at my position for a minute or so Pete returned to where I was standing and said “This time you’re right!”
In the 1971 PA State Championship, the round had been going on for about an hour. I was strolling around watching games, waiting for my lower-rated opponent to move. Pete was also walking around. Pete spotted me, came over and asked, “How’s your game going?” I replied “Oh, I started a premature attack and now I am paying for it – my game is terrible.” Pete gave me a friendly sneer and said “You always say that and you are always doing well! I’ll check for myself.” So Pete wandered over to my game to take a look. After looking at my position for a minute or so Pete returned to where I was standing and said “This time you’re right!”
My college roommate had a chess rating around 1800. This meant that he played third or fourth board on our team. However, he had suffered a disastrous tournament at Bloomsburg a while ago. Luckily for him, the tournament was being held up from undergoing its normal ratings by USCF because the tournament director had let someone play who was not a USCF member.
We were sitting in the auditorium waiting for a movie to start and he asked me who would be playing what board at the next tournament. I started listing the players, but instead of third or fourth he found himself seventh. He was concerned and interrupted me:
“How come I am seventh?” Isn’t my rating higher than so-and-so’s?
“Oh,” I replied, “That is because they finally rated Bloomsburg.”
My roommate had a look of shock, but that did not prevent him from quickly replying:
“They rated Bloomsburg!! That is like telling Napoleon they rated Waterloo!”
We were sitting in the auditorium waiting for a movie to start and he asked me who would be playing what board at the next tournament. I started listing the players, but instead of third or fourth he found himself seventh. He was concerned and interrupted me:
“How come I am seventh?” Isn’t my rating higher than so-and-so’s?
“Oh,” I replied, “That is because they finally rated Bloomsburg.”
My roommate had a look of shock, but that did not prevent him from quickly replying:
“They rated Bloomsburg!! That is like telling Napoleon they rated Waterloo!”