Chess Buzz for August 22, 1997

Just for Fun: US Chess Federation Fun FactTrivia

Last week's Fun Fact pointed out that two players in one important game at the 1997 US Open were both on USCF Top 50 Lists: Asuka Nakamura, ranked 6th on the USCF's 11 & 12 year old Top 50 Players List, and GM Arnold Denker, ranked 6th on the USCF's Age 65 & Older Top 50 Players List. And Last week's Chess Life Online news column included coverage of a game in the British Open between two players aged 91 and 90. Obviously great chessplayers can be any age!

But what may be even more fun for chess fans is the fact that top players stay at the top of the field for so long in chess. A junior prodigy may be playing again for a national title 30 or 40 years later, and rivalries can literally last a lifetime.

This year, the best of the best are competing in the 1997 Interplay US Chess Championships, and the overall Championship features 16 top players--including 10 former titleholders!

GM Walter Browne, still only 48, won the first of 6 US titles 23 years ago! GM Yasser Seirawan, now age 37, won titles 9 years apart--at age 21 and 30.

But don't think that young players always steal the show--the player with the greatest length of time between titles won the Championship 7 times, and went 33 years between his first US Championship and his 7th. Who is he? (You can find the answer in the History section of our feature coverage on the 1997 Interplay US Chess Championships, underway from August 22 - September 12 in Chandler, Arizona.)

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