November News: GM William Lombardy Memorial & Club Blog
GM WILLIAM LOMBARDY MEMORIAL & BLITZ
On October 13th, the chess world was devastated to learn that it had lost one of its most iconic members, GM William Lombardy. Former Marshall President Dr. Frank Brady was kind enough to offer his memories of the esteemed player:
"I followed Bill Lombardy’s career during his teenage years and later and was always overwhelmed by the brilliance of his play. He was six years older than Bobby Fischer and it looked for a while that he could be a contender for the world chess crown. He became New York State Champion at 17. And then in 1957, when he was 19, he won the World Junior Championship with the unprecedented score of 11-0, a feat that has never been equaled in that tournament. Although not many people may remember this, he was known then as “Willy” Lombardy. Also, in that year, he defeated Samuel Reshevsky in the last round of the U.S. Championship, thereby allowing his friend Bobby Fischer to capture the title for the first time. 'Lombardy is playing like a house!' Bobby said during the game.
"He was a member of the Marshall, but on some occasions would play for the Manhattan Chess Club, as he did in 1957 during the annual rivalry between the Manhattan and Marshall Clubs. Playing fourth board for Manhattan, he defeated Marshall Champion Eliot Hearst’s French Defense, by building a solid mid-game and ultimately sacrificing a Knight. It was a classic win and showed Lombardy’s best feature: positional and strategic strength, with occasional tactical flair. Boy, did he have sitzfleisch ! He would sit at the board like a rock and loved complicated middle games where he could come up with solutions that virtually no one else could see.
"William Lombardy clearly remains in the pantheon of American chess players of the then “modern era” of chess, and ranks with such immortal Grandmasters as Fischer, Reshevsky, Fine…and even Frank Marshall.
"The chess world will miss him and never forget his games."
On November 28th, the club will host a memorial and reception from 5-7 pm. This will be followed by a spirited blitz tournament from 7-10 pm. For complete details, please visit www.marshallchessclub.org/calendar.
We hope you will join us to celebrate the memory of one of the greatest legends of American chess.
NEW CLUB BLOG & "PLAYERS' CORNER"
In an effort to better engage with our members and the greater chess community, we are launching a new Marshall blog and a "Players' Corner" section on our website!
The Marshall blog (launching this weekend) will feature a new post each week covering such topics as: Member games and profiles, tournament round-ups, historical retrospectives, book reviews and puzzles! The blog will be curated by the newest member of our staff, Vanessa Sun. We encourage everyone to reach out to Vanessa with content suggestions and ideas!
The Players' Corner features information about the most active tournament players at the club, recent upsets, and the biggest rating winners! We plan to add additional pages in the near future!
Visit www.marshallchessclub.org and hit the News tab at the top of the page to explore all of our new content. The blog will soon be linked to the club homepage too!
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HAPPY THANKSGIVING!