April 1973 & 1998 'On the Cover'

Continuing last month's 'On the Cover', March 1973 & 1998 (March 2023), let's again follow the wheel of chess history as it was recorded in U.S. chess mazines 50 and 25 years ago. This month we find 'USA all the way'.

Left: '?'
Right: 'Imagine! ... Inside: 1998 USCF Yearbook'

Chess Life & Review (50 Years Ago)

Grandmaster Robert Byrne, who won the 1972 U.S. Championship by out-scoring Reshevsky and Kavalek in a playoff this February. This is the first time Byrne has won this title. Story and games [inside].

The story inside started,

Grandmaster Robert Byrne of Ossining, New York, is the new U.S. Chess Champion. He scored 3-1 by notching one victory and one draw each against Grandmasters Samuel Reshevsky and Lubomir Kavalek in a play-off at Chicago's LaSalle Hotel February 3-11.

For the CL report on the main tournament, see July 1972 & 1997 'On the Cover' (July 2022). This was the first step in Byrne's unexpected success in that World Championship cycle. For his progress in the cycle, see

• 1972-1975 Zonal Cycle (C09) • '[Zone] 5 New York 1972-04'
• 1973 Leningrad Interzonal Tournament • 'Leningrad, VI, 1973'; Byrne finished third, a point behind Soviet GMs Korchnoi and Karpov
• 1973-75 Candidates Matches • Quarterfinal match 'San Juan, Puerto Rico, I, 1974', lost to Spassky +0-3=3

In the semifinal match, 'Leningrad, IV-V, 1974', Karpov beat Spassky +4-1=6. He then beat Korchnoi +3-2=19 in the final match to earn the right to challenge Fischer in the cycle's title match.

Chess Life (25 Years Ago)

The Chess In The Schools IMAGINE! tournament was a great success for the kids of New York City, primarily due to the support given by Yoko Ono, shown on our cover with her son, Sean. Brian Killigrew is the photographer and writer. Based in New York city, his work has been featured in newspapers and magazines around the world. A chess neophyte, he will work for chess lessons. E-mail him at ***@aol.com.

FIDE GMA PCA WCC World Champion Garry Kasparov is back in the news, having announced that he will defend his title in October, against either Kramnik or Anand. See [inside] for details and prognostications.

The 'Imagine' tournament report was incorporated into the 20-page USCF Yearbook. The top quarter of each yearbook page had a running story with details of the event plus a photo or two. The story by Brian Killigrew started,

Imagine a 94 ft. blue whale, the largest mammal on earth. Two hundred New York City school children stare, some nervous, some downright scared. A brave nine-year-old moves his hand tentatively, then pulls it back. He steadies himself, then pushes a pawn to e4.

You are at the Chess-in-the-Schools (CIS) First Annual Imagine Tournament held on January 15, 1998, at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. In the museum's Hall of Ocean Life, 209 students, from 41 schools, are here to do battle for team and individual honors in a four round swiss, game 30 tournament.

The accompanying photo was captioned,

Overhead view of 1st Annual Imagine Tournament held in the Hall of Ocean Life. Above, right corner, is a small part of the 94 foot blue whale. • All photos by Brian Killigrew

As for 'First Annual' / '1st Annual', that will take more effort to research. I'll try to tackle that some other time.

In the first paragraph, did I say, 'USA all the way'? The second part of the introduction to the April 1998 'On the Cover' mentioned news of Kasparov's non-FIDE World Championship title; see also the letter from Karpov. I'll come back to that later, probably on my World Championship blog.