Massachusetts Chess Association

Top prize winners at the 9th Massachusetts Senior Open, held April 25-26 in Marlborough.

Open Section: FM Nelson Castaneda (CT). The top Massachusetts player was Vlad Farfel.
Under 1810 Section: Stephen Shea.

For a complete list of prize winners, see the tournament report at MACA Chess News:

Chess News Provided by The Massachusetts Chess Association Chess News Provided by The Massachusetts Chess Association

I was recently asked by Silman-James Press to review IM John Donaldson's new book Inside the Mind of Bobby Fischer. "Studying Fischer's writing is key to understanding the thinking of this exceptional chess mind," Donaldson wrote in the book's introduction. The book brings together Fischer's articles, annotations, transcripts and other writings, starting with his first published words: his 1956 "Game of the Century" win over Donald Byrne, annotated by Fischer with his mentor Jack Collins for Chess Life magazine. Fischer prided himself on the quality of his annotations and analysis, which hold up impressively well; fresh and high relevant for players of today, even in our era of seemingly all-knowing chess engines. Fischer's final published chess analysis for an Icelandic newspaper in 2005 somehow was just as fresh and insightful as his body of work, nearly all of which was published in 1958-1971. The book is an excellent companion to Donaldson's 2000 biography, Bobby Fischer and his World. Photos from the book: (1) book cover, (2+3) a reconstructed copy of Fischer's game score vs. Byrne written by Bobby Fischer shortly after his "Game of the Century" victory, (4) a 1959 postcard from Bobby to his mother, blaming his 4th loss to Mikhail Tal, who Bobby said was "jumping up and down and trying to annoy (me)", and (5) a nice surprise, especially for Wachusett Chess Club members: a photo from a simul Fischer played in Fitchburg, MA on March 2, 1964, in which then-master candidate Stephen Brandwein held Fischer to a draw. - Mike Urbonas 🙂