February 1974 & 1999 'On the Cover'

The previous 'On the Cover' post, January 1974 & 1999 'On the Cover' (January 2024), had several twists on the World Championships of 50 and 25 years ago. In the current post, we return to important events of national interest.

Left: '?'
Right: 'EuroDisney and the World Rapids for Kids'

Chess Life & Review (50 Years Ago)

James Tarjan, winner of the American Open in California. Carl Budd's story is [inside]. Photo by Paula Muller.

The Carl Budd story was titled, 'Tarjan Wins American Open', and identified Budd as 'President, Santa Monica Bay Chess Club'. After five paragraphs about the organizational challenges presented by the event ('403 players, 137 in the Open section and 266 in the Amateur'), the report continued,

The new American Open Champion is James Tarjan, a popular master from Sherman Oaks, California, who now calls Berkeley home. He earned his fine victory by defeating strong competition, including GM Larry Evans and IM Anthony Saidy, After the seventh round, Tarjan was a half point ahead of former California State Champion Kim Commons and needed only a draw to clinch the title, which he achieved. His final score of 7.5-0.5 was worth the first prize of $1.000.

Tarjan. one of America's fastest-rising stars, is 21. In 1965, at the age of 13. he played in his first American Open, winning a junior trophy. Top prizes eluded him until this year. In the 1970 American Open he tied for second with Walter Browne. In 1972 he tied for second with four others. But then, at the National Open in Las Vegas earlier this year, he tied for first with Browne and Laszlo Szabo (though Browne took the title on tiebreaking points). He performed very well in the West Coast Invitational, coming in second, and then finished fourth in the strong U.S. Championship in El Paso. Just one month before the American Open, he indicated his latest playing form by winning the Capps Memorial in the Bay Area.

He will be seeking an international title in 1974 and has already had his first IM result at the Chicago Invitational tournament played after the American Open. Later in the year he will be going to Holland and Spain in furtherance of his ambition.

I included these details because GM Tarjan has been mentioned before on this blog, but was never featured as the top finisher. See, for example, the 1973 National Open in May 1973 & 1998 'On the Cover' (May 2023).

Chess Life (25 Years Ago)

"Can you be in Paris tomorrow?" asked Jami Anson, senior art director of Chess Life. Although it sounds romantic -- Paris/Chess/Disneyland -- I know from experience that a working trip is quite different from a pleasure trip. After deciding to go, I knew I wanted to get something unique for the cover, like my April '98 cover of Sean Lennon and Yoko Ono. Here is the result. Exclusively for the readers of Chess Life -- the current FIDE World Chess Champion, Anatoly Karpov, with Asuka Nakamura, playing the one and only (French!) Mickey Mouse.

The reporting on the event started with 'Adventures in Fantasyland' by FM Aviv Friedman, who explained,

Once a year FIDE, with the help of the French Federation, holds its World Rapid Championship for Boys and Girls Under 14 at the EuroDisney Theme Park in Paris. Does that sound a bit amazing to those who have often read about the usual, army-style youth championships, with bad conditions, poor food and nothing to do? Well, it is as good as it sounds! It really can't be much more fun that that. This year, between the 15th and the 18th of November, 157 players from 55(!) countries all flocked to EuroDisney on the outskirts of Paris, to combine chess and fun.

The reporting continued with 'Disney's World Rapid Chess Championship -- for Kids' by Brian Killigrew. His report included two pages of color photos, an interview titled, 'Anatoly Karpov Speaks', and another interview with Pierre Sissman, Disney Executive VP (Europe). See also the previous post Karpov at Disney (October 2015).