In late high school and early college, ^z played a little chess. His rating drifted around within Class B ... more or less average, in other words, for a semi-serious tournament player. He took part in seven competitions:
- Texas Open (29-30 November 1969): won 2, lost 2, drew 1; finished 24th out of 40, resulting in a rating of 1642 — ^z began his rated tournament career with a horrible 18-move Round One loss against Bird's Opening as played by Median Anderson (1812, who had the White pieces). ^z then had a drawn French Defense (Exchange Variation) with Jesse Tuggle (1753/B), a quick loss in the Max Lange Attack to Norman N. Snapp III (1738/W), followed in the two final rounds by victories in a Pirc vs. Samuel Young (1323/B) and a nondescript Queen's Pawn opening vs. Robert E. Anderson (1583/W) ... overall, not a pleasant performance, partly due to nervousness in this debut experience.
- San Jacinto Open (18-19 April 1970): won 2, lost 2, drew 1; finished 25th out of 54, moving up to a rating of 1704 — starting well, with a quick win using the (unsound?!) Falkbeer Counter-Gambit vs. M. L. Berki (1666/W) and then a 63-move triumph against P. A. Oliver's (1700/B) Sicilian Defense. Alas, ^z reverted to form then with a loss to the Sicilian of William Gray (1969/B) and a draw with Curtis Lucas (1641/B) in the French Defense (Exchange Variation). The struggle ended with a slow final-round win over Dusan Djuric (1813/W) via a Queen's Gambit Declined (symmetrical variation) ... for a net gain of 62 rating points, based on good results against stronger players.
- Austin Open (18-19 July 1970): won 2, lost 3; finished 31st out of 42, final rating 1671 — not a good start, with losses to Expert James Stallings (2073/W) in a King's Indian Defense and to Robert Chalker (1728/B) in a King's Gambit Declined. ^z then managed to beat Class C player Charles Stokes (1404/W) with a Blackmar-Diemer Gambit, fell victim to a surprise checkmate (on move 18!) by Thomas Arnold (1679/B) in a Ruy Lopez (Exchange variation), and ended with a fifth-round win over George Stephen's (1441/B) Sicilian.
- SMI-SW Open (5-7 September 1970): won 3, lost 2, drew 2; finished 40th out of 130, rating 1750 (including subsequent tournament) — beginning strong, with a quick kill using the Colle System over M. Ybarra (1361/B) and a slower win via the Riga variation of the Ruy Lopez against Pedro Oliver (1637/W). Two ^z losses followed: his Colle failed vs. Expert D. L. P. Ballard (2170/B), and he fell to a startling Grob's Attack by near-Expert R. F. McGregor (1954/W). A Colle draw followed with R. S. Underwood (1764/W), then a win over A. Means (1558/B) in yet another Colle which transposed into a QGD. This three-day tournament concluded with a draw in a symmetrical QGD vs. Owen Johnson (1795/W).
- Texas Open (28-29 November 1970): won 3, lost 1, drew 1; finished 13th out of 70, rating 1750 (including previous tournament) — Round One saw a repeat performance with M. Ybarra (1361/B) who lost quickly to ^z's King's Gambit. The glow faded after the next game's rapid loss to Master John Hall (2260/W) when an (unsound?!) Latvian Gambit bit the dust in 20 moves. Against his cousin David Zimmermann (1487/B), ^z essayed another King's Gambit which won, as did his King's Indian Defense vs. Lee Gaskill (1444/W). The final game was a drawn Albin Counter Gambit with J. Fox (1798). The positive net scores in these last two 1970 tourneys sent ^z's rating skyrocketing.
- Aggie Open (13-14 November 1971): won 3, lost 2; unknown final ranking, rating 1735 (including next tournament) — a strong start in the first two rounds, with wins over M. K. Bandyopadhyay (1686/B) using a Tchigorin French Defense, and over Robert Corley's (1938/W) Van't Kruys Opening. But then, a rematch with Median Anderson (1899/W) in another Van't Kruys came to an ill conclusion. A win over Nelson Ford (1691/B) using the Vienna canceled out a loss to Alan Leonard's (1922/B) Alekhine.
- Texas Open (27-28 November 1971): won 2, lost 2, drew 1; finished 36 out of 78, rating 1735 (including previous tournament) — Rolando Cantu (1156/W) played well, belying his low rating, until he was checkmated on move 43 of a Colle System. ^z then tried and lost with a Smith-Morra Gambit against the Sicilian of Robert Mapes (1847/B). An Open Ruy Lopez drew against Thomas Arnold (1614/W), but a repeat Smith-Morra fell to Lamar C. Bush (1571/B). Only a last-round Budapest Gambit win over Richard King (1682/W) brought the net result back to neutral.
So ended ^z's teenage tournament chess career: 17 wins, 14 losses, and 6 draws. More than 60 solid hours of over-the-board sweat, building upon thousands of hours of study plus countless behind-the-scenes unrated practice games. ^z did not return to competitive play until late 1990, after a lapse of 29 years. (See PostaLite for ^z postal chess results and commentary, Chess1990To1991, and Chess1991To1993)
Sunday, December 10, 2000 at 08:05:05 (EST) = 2000-12-10
(correlates: GeoMemory, Chess1990To1991, PostaLite, ...)