From: Bruce_Leverett@TRANSARC.COM
Newsgroups: rec.games.chess
Subject: Re: Sticking to your principles
Date: 14 Apr 92 20:05:55 GMT

>>> I admire Reshevsky for his great chess career, although I hear his
>>> personality left a lot to be desired -- now THIS I'd like to hear about.
>>> Anybody know anything of this "nasty personality" side of Reshevsky?
>>> Forgive me if I've been misinformed.
>>
>>Yeah, netnews.rec.games.chess.supermarket-tabloid.  And Fischer stories and
>>Browne stories and Steinitz stories and ...
>
>Gee, is there something wrong in wanting Fischer stories, Browne stories,
>Steinitz stories...?  You are human, n'est-ce pas?  Do you skip the interviews
>sections in magazines?  Or are you only interested in the moves and whether
>move X is better than move Y and for what reasons?  Or maybe you do read the
>interviews, but only to find the parts that will help you in finding the
>move X's?

Forgive me for interrupting your pleasure.  I was suggesting some skepticism.
Stories such as the ones you solicit, about celebrities, are generally
worthless from the point of view of actually learning about someone.  There
are many reasons.  Consider a story such as the one submitted by Mr. Burch.
This relates a trivial misunderstanding, such as could have been straightened
out on the spot, if Mr. Burch or his fellow TD's had had the time and the
inclination to do so.  So what does it tell us about Reshevsky?  Nothing.

In this case, if we trust Mr. Burch and his memory of events 6 years ago,
at least you are getting a first-hand story.  (How well do you remember details
of unimportant events that happened 6 years ago?)  Most of the stories you will
get will not be first hand, and they will be much more than 6 years old.
Moreover, many will be told by people who have a distinct interest in slanting
the story; for instance, stories about disputes that arose during tournament
play, generally told by partisans of one side or the other.  (The version told
by one player, is always different in at least one crucial detail from the
version told by his opponent.)  Then there are the stories that are pure
fiction, e.g. Korchnoi being deaf.

Worse yet, you're asking for stories in a newsgroup.  The level of discourse
in newsgroups is just amazingly low.  It's as if it were forbidden ever to
look anything up in an authoritative source.

So don't let me stop you, but excuse me for being jaded.  Yes, I've heard lots
of Browne stories, and Fischer stories, etc.  My experience has been that when
you meet the guy in person, the bullshit stories fade away and the real human
being is all that you care about any more.  Unfortunately it is no longer
possible to meet Reshevsky in person.  Thinking about this makes me sad.

Here is the score of the tournament game I played against Reshevsky, the one
time that I met him in person.  You'll see plenty of better games by him,
but this is my ``in memoriam'' contribution, for what it's worth.

W: Samuel Reshevsky
B: Bruce Leverett
CCA Summer International
Round 8, July 16, 1982

1 d4 d5 2 c4 dxc4 3 Nf3 Nf6 4 e3 e6 5 Bxc4 c5 6 O-O a6 7 Qe2 b5 8 Bd3 cxd4
9 exd4 Bb7 10 Rd1 Nbd7 11 a4 bxa4 12 Rxa4 a5 13 Ne5 Be7 14 Bd2 O-O 15 Ra1 Nxe5
16 dxe5 Nd5 17 Na3 Bb4 18 Qe4 g6 19 Bh6 Qe7 20 Bxf8 Rxf8 21 Qg4 f6 22 Nc4 fxe5
23 Bxg6 Rf4 24 Bxh7+ Kxh7 25 Qh5+ Kg8 26 Rd3 Qh4 27 Rg3+ Kf8 28 Qxe5 Rxc4
29 Qg7+ Ke8 30 Qxb7 Qf4 31 Rg8+ Bf8 32 g3 Rc1+ 33 Rxc1 Qxc1+ 34 Kg2 Qc5
35 h4 Nf6 36 Rg5 Nd5 37 Re5 Qd6 38 Re1 Qd7 39 Qxd7+ Kxd7 40 f4 a4 41 Re4 a3
42 bxa3 Bxa3 43 Kf3 Ke7 44 g4 Kf7 45 g5 Ne7 46 h5 Nf5 47 Ra4 Bd6 48 Ra7+ Ne7
49 Rd7 Bb4 50 Ke4 Ba3 51 h6 Bb2 52 h7 Bh8 53 Rb7 Bg7 54 Kd3 Bh8 55 Ke4 Bg7
56 Kf3 Bh8 57 Kg4 Bg7 58 Rb8 Ng6 59 Rg8 Bh8 60 Rb8 Bg7 61 Rb7+ Ne7 62 Kh5 Bh8
63 Ra7 Bg7 64 f5 exf5 65 g6+ Kf6 66 Ra6+ Ke5 67 Ra8 Nd5 68 Re8+ Kf6 69 Rf8+ Ke5
70 Kg5 Nc7 71 Rxf5+ Ke4 72 Ra5 Ne6+ 73 Kg4 Nf8 74 Ra7 Bd4 75 Re7+ Kd5 76 Kf5,
Black Resigns.

White's 63 Ra7! was a crucial insight, found during adjournment (I forget when
the game was adjourned, but it was some time before move 60).  As for the
rest of the game, presumably 15 ... Nxe5? 16 dxe5 Nd5?? losing the Exchange was
the crucial error, but both players made other errors, which the reader is
welcome to look for.  Note that 15 Nc4 would not have won the a-pawn because
of 15 ... Nb6.