March 1975 & 2000 'On the Cover'
Last month's post about American chess 50 and 25 years ago, February 1975 & 2000 'On the Cover' (February 2025), was all about the American Open. This month's post, somewhat more diverse, is a mixture of American and international chess.
Left: '?'
Right: 'George Koltanowski 1903-2000'
Chess Life & Review (50 Years Ago)
Robert Huebner, winner of the Houston International, with his trophy which, as Lynne Babcock writes, is "custom made, gold plated and does everything a chess trophy should -- nothing." Photo by Fred Bunch. Story [inside].
The 'Story [inside]' was titled 'Another USCF Success: The Houston International 1974' by Edmar Mednis. It started,
The Houston International Chess Tournament, fourth in the series of international events organized and sponsored by the USCF, was by far the most successful one for American chess, and it ended 1974 on a number of truly positive notes.
The first seven paragraphs of the report were about the organization of the tournament and its norm possibilities for American players seeking a FIDE title. It then continued,
And now back to us, the players -- the absolute requirement for any tournament. West German GM Robert Huebner was the clear favorite and fulfilled the high expectations by finishing first. Some of the wins did not come easily, yet his high class usually showed through. Yugoslav GM Aleksandar Matanovic is known the world over as editor-in-chief of the Informants and the new Encyclopedia of Chess Openings. At Houston he also demonstrated his fine playing ability. He was the only one never to have a dubious position and deservedly finished undefeated and in second place. My third place and GM result [by Mednis] was fashioned in a rather steady way [...]
Huebner died at the beginning of 2025. See Wikipedia's Robert Huebner (wikipedia.org; '6 November 1948 – 5 January 2025'), for his biography.
For the last year or so, we've been tracking the monthly CL column 'The Editor's Page - News & Views' by Burt Hochberg, as it provided a monthly summary of the evolving situation about a 'match that never was', i.e. 1975 Fischer forfeits to Karpov (m-w.com). In March we learned a number of details about the organization of the forthcoming match, e.g.
John Prentice, Deputy President of FIDE, announced in Amsterdam on February 17 that President Euwe's choice for the site of the 1975 World Championship Match was Manila. [...]
There is far too much detail in the report for this post and the topic would be more appropriate for my WCC blog.
Chess Life (25 Years Ago)
George Koltanowski, the Dean of American Chess, had thousands of favorite chess stories, and everyone he met, left with a favorite story about George. I invite you to share your reminiscences about this great ambassador for chess with other Chess Life readers. That way, as we continue to promote the game to which he devoted his life, we can add to the legacy he left behind. George could charm the feathers off a jaybird, if that's what it took to get a chess program started, or to secure a donation or a sponsor. And we definitely want others to benefit from his expertise.
Send your thoughts to the USCF, in care of the Editor, or use our e-mail address: cleditor@uschess.org.
We wish to thank the San Francisco Chronicle and photographer Chris Stewart for providing our cover this month. It was taken in May of 1999. You can check out Steve Rubenstein's tribute to George Koltanowski at www.sfgate.com.
A two page appreciation by CL Assistant Editor Peter Kurzdorfer and Editor Glenn Petersen gave more details about Koltanowski's career. I'm sure we'll be seeing more about 'the Dean of American Chess' in future 'On the Cover' posts. The 'Dean' was also featured on the right side of November 1971 & 1996 'On the Cover' (November 2021).