October 1973 & 1998 'On the Cover'

In last month's post about American chess magazines of 50 and 25 years ago -- September 1973 & 1998 'On the Cover' (September 2023) -- the 1973 side was about the World Championship and the 1998 side was about important American tournaments. For this month's post, the roles are reversed.

Left: '?'
Right: 'Hall of Fame Inducts Milan Vukcevich'

Chess Life & Review (50 Years Ago)

U.S. Open Champion Norman Weinstein of Massachusetts with his trophy. See [inside] for a complete list of winners. Chicago Tribune photo.

The article inside, titled 'Record U.S. Open in Chicago: Norman Weinstein Wins on Tiebreak' (unsigned), started,

Twenty-two-year-old Norman Weinstein of Allston, Massachusetts, won the title of United States Open Champion by scoring ten points out of a possible twelve in the 778-player tournament held at the LaSalle Hotel in Chicago. August 12-24. He drew his final game with Illinois Champion Craig Chellstorp in 14 moves.

Weinstein, a former Massachusetts Champion who tied for second place in last year's Open, holds a master's degree in mathematics from Brandeis University, but is now a fulltime chessplayer. Four other players also scored ten points, but Weinstein had by far the toughest opposition, facing six of the seven top-ranked players in the tournament. His title was won on tiebreaking points over Grandmaster Walter Browne, International Master Duncan Suttles, Greg DeFotis and Ruben Rodriguez.

Browne, a former representative of Australia, has recently been living in New York as a U.S. citizen, and has just moved to California. [continues with brief discussions of Suttles, DeFotis, and Rodriguez]

Winner Weinstein has his own profile at IM Norman Weinstein (chess.com). In the list of class winners, after 'Expert' and 'Class A', a 'Premier' class had one 'Yasser Seirawan, Washington' as co-winner.

Chess Life (25 Years Ago)

One of the highlights of the U.S. Open each year is the Awards Luncheon where the newest members of the Hall of Fame are inducted. This year, Milan Vukcevich, the 1998 inductee [for problem composition], also served as the keynote speaker. He and his wife Michelle grace this month's cover. The text of his speech begins [inside]. Cover photograph by Jami L. Anson.

The Kasparov - Shirov World Chess Council (WCC) championship match will not take place in 1998, if indeed it takes place at all. Lack of sponsorship is the stated reason. One quirk, as a result of the terms of the "qualifying" round, is that Kramnik -- who lost to Shirov -- received $200,000. As we go to press, Kasparov is leading Jan Timman in a training match (Euro-Tel), 2.5-0.5, and will probably receive the winner's share of the purse, which is $65,000. Timman would then receive $35,000. And Shirov, by advancing to the title match, receives nothing for beating Kramnik. His reward was to be a percentage of the championship match prize fund. At present, though, he appears to be the unfortunate loser -- without having even pushed a pawn.

Chess Life readers, however, will be the real winners; beginning with next month's issue, Alexei Shirov will author a series of articles for USCF members. Shirov will also be in the country in time to participate in the FIDE World Championship tournament, which begins November 29 and ends December 27. Las Vegas will be the venue; early rounds will take place at various Mirage Resort properties. The final rounds (after most of the 100 participants have been eliminated) will be at the Mirage Resort's newest and most elegant hotel, the Bellagio Casino.

Complete details are a bit sketchy as we go to press, but as plans line up, you can check it out on our website: www.uschess.org/news/world98.html. There is also a toll-free number you can call for airline and hotel package information [inside].

With almost everything here relevant to the World Championship, there is much to expand on. Let's start with a link for Milan Vukcevich (worldchesshof.org; HOF = Hall of Fame). I'll try to come back to the rest in the not-too-distant future.