Absolute Player Bios

Max Zavanelli is perhaps most pleased with the two certificates and medals that he received at the 2003 ICCF Congress: the Bertl von Massow Gold Medal representing 15 years of service in ICCF and his own Senior International Master medal. He has a distinguished chess career in both OTB and Correspondence fields. It started with the Tri-State High School Championship and has been evolving ever since. While in the U.S. Army, he played in Europe and was European Armed Forces Champion, he and won the Kansas State Championship.

While studying at Bernard Baruch City College and Columbia University Graduate School of Business he won numerous championships including tying for best first board with a perfect score in the U.S. Team Championship 1971, Manhattan Chess Club Reserve Championship 1972, New York City Commercial Chess League Championship 1974, New York City Masters Championship 1977. His biggest victory was a tie for 1st with Anatoly Lein, Soviet Champion, in that event. He also won a West Virginia State Championship and a Philadelphia City Championship. The highlights of his New York City years include playing at the Port Authority Offices in the newly opened World Trade Center and a living chess match against Bent Larsen in Rockefeller Plaza.

During the 1980�s, he was playing 50-60 correspondence chess games at a time and still playing in OTB tournaments occasionally. In addition to playing, Max has actively participated in administrative side of chess. He started as a USCF Tournament Director in 1968, but his real contribution has been to international correspondence chess. In 1987, Max was appointed United States Secretary for International Correspondence Chess and General Secretary for all United States Correspondence Chess Championships. At some point, he picked up the title of �Max, The Axe.�

As ICCF-US Secretary, Max devoted his efforts to increasing both the number of US players in ICCF and guiding players to the right tournaments to earn ICCF titles. In 1993, he was awarded the lifetime title of ICCF International Arbiter. He has served as the North America/Pacific Zonal Director, was appointed an ICCF Vice President in 1992, served on the Rules Committee and The Appeals Committee for several years, and was just elected ICCF Deputy President at the 2003 Congress. He has attended 15 Congresses and greatly enjoyed picking up the title medals for the US players.

Parallel to his chess career, Max Zavanelli has developed a very successful career in investment business and academia. He started as Senior Financial Analyst at Mellon Bank, and next he was an Investment Strategist at American National Bank in Chicago. In1979, he founded Zavanelli Portfolio Research, which later became 3 separate corporations: ZPR Investment Management, Inc., ZPR Investment Research, Inc., and ZPR International, Inc. He also founded the National Index Fund in Lithuania (NSEL 30) and held the position of Distinguished George Professor, Chair of Applied Investments and Research and served on the Business School Board of Directors at Stetson University, DeLand, Florida.