This
board shot shows a critical position from my favorite opening as black, the Marshall
Gambit. It's perfect for blitz, and I've done well with it in tournaments too.
I've been playing chess for as long as I can remember, back to around five years old. I'm a class A player, and I think I could just about get to the vaulted expert class if I'd only take the time to really study the openings. Unfortunately that would take a lot of time, and it's not going to happen at this point in my life. Maybe later.
As a kid, I played whenever I got the chance with my cousins and in grade school, but the quality of play wasn't very good. The summer before starting high school, I'd play on the front porch of my house. A fellow who was dating the girl next door saw us playing and asked for a game. I was not pleased to have lost! We played again with the same results, and he explained why he won. He was a former New York State High School champion, and didn't get much opportunity to play anymore himself. From there, we played more often, and he taught me the game as a serious activity. By the end of the summer, I had gotten much better. But he married the girl and they moved away, so I had to find somewhere else to play. Living right next to New York City, this wasn't difficult.
On my first visit to the Manhattan Chess Club, I got to watch Sammy Reshevsky give a simultaneous exhibition. He was very impressive, winning every game against a roomful of strong opponents. I didn't get to play that day, but I took an immediate liking to the place. On another day, I had the pleasure to play against Isaac Horowitz, who was still an active player although he was very old at the time (he made mincemeat of me every single time). I also met Hans Kmoch, who liked to watch the games but by then was in too poor health to play. On some Saturday mornings I would play at the historic Marshall Chess Club in Greenwich Village, where I had the occasion to play blitz with Bruce Pandolfini (I never won a single game from him) and Shelby Lyman.
My first trophy for chess came from the Manhattan Chess Club when I was seventeen. It was my first tournament, and as an unrated player I went into the open under 1600 section. I'd never played with a clock before. Not knowing how to handle it, I played much too quickly and lost my first game in fifteen minutes. After that, I found out how long the time controls really were (standard then was 40 moves in two hours), so I slowed down and won all the rest of my games except for one draw. That was enough for first place. Although the trophy was small, it's the one that gives me the most pleasure.
I played a lot in college, where I was third best on campus behind a master and an expert. I was also second seeded at Newport News Shipbuilding, behind a master. At Grumman the field was very strong, containing several experts and a master or two. The company typically fielded two teams in the Industrial League, the A team with an average rating well over 1900 and the B team with an average in the upper 1800s. Once I came in second in a Grumman tournament, and twice I came in third. It took years, but finally in 1994 I won the Grumman Championship. I am also the City of Crystal Lake Champion for 2003, in my first United States Chess Federation rated tournament since leaving New York in '95.
Some of my proudest moments of chess happened at the simultaneous exhibitions sponsored by the Long Island Industrial Chess League (LIICL). I had the honor to play three Grandmasters in successive years--Joel Benjamin, Michael Rhode and Max Dlugy. I had two draws after the first two games, and I offered a draw to Max, who very properly declined. Drawn or lost, I'm equally fond of all these games. The score for these games can be found at the end of this page.
I currently play at a club that meets Tuesday evenings at the Borders bookstore in town. I started this club in '97, as soon as they finished building the bookstore. That informal club that has grown into the McHenry Area Chess group, a not for profit organization of which I am president. This group has been established for two purposes. First to provide adequate opportunities for the casual play of chess for the adults and children of this area. The second purpose is to provide official rated tournaments in this area, without players having to travel an hour or more into the big cities of northern Illinois. As the group develops over the next year, we plan to bring in a grandmaster for a simultaneous exhibition, and to field a team at the US Amateur team Championship Midwest. We also provide an annual scholarship to a local chess player.
I also give private chess lessons and, in conjunction with Chess Scholars, run chess clubs in area schools.
I will continue to expand this page, adding a selection of my games, interesting games by others, and commentary. For now, here are the three of the four games I've played against grandmasters, all in simultaneous exhibitions. The first three were all run by the LIICL, and these are the games I have the scores for. In 2006 I played in a small clock simul against Yuri Shulman and won in a game neither of us is proud of. The pace was too fast for me to keep score. All of these grandmasters were the United States Chess Champion in the year the respective games were played. The following game scores on this page are static, but these games can also be played on screen by clicking here.
From the First LIICL Simultaneous Exhibition, Bethpage NY,
May 6, 1988
White: Joel Benjamin Black: Bob Cairone
Result:1/2-1/2
1) d4 d5 2) c4 e6 3) Nf3 Nf6 4) Nc3 b6 5) cxd5 Nxd5 6) e4 Nxc3 7) bxc3 Bb7 8) Bd3 c5 9) O-O Be7 10) Be3 Nd7 11) Qe2 O-O 12) Rad1 cxd4 13) cxd4 Nf6 14) Bf4 Rc8 15) Bb1 Rc3 16) d5 exd5 17) e5 Nh5 18) Bd2 Ra3 19) Nd4 g6 20) Qg4 Bc8 21) Bf5 Rxa2 22) Bh6 Ng7 23) Bxg7 Kxg7 24) Rc1 Bc5 25) Bxc8 Qxc8 26) Qf4 Qd7 27) h4 Bxd4 28) Qxd4 Qe6 29) Rc7 Re2 30) f3 Qxe5 31) Qxe5+ Rxe5 32) Rxa7 Rc8 33) Rf2 d4 34) Rd7 Re1+ 35) Kh2 Rd1 36) Ra2 d3 37) Raa7 Kf6 38) Rxf7+ Ke5 39) Rad7 d2 40) Kg3 Rc6 41) f4+ Ke4 42) Rfe7+ Kf5 43) Re5+ Kf6 44) Red5 Rc3+ 45) Kf2 h5 46) R7d6+ Ke7 47) Rxg6 Rc2 48) Rgd6 Rh1 1/2-1/2
The critical position, after 15) ... Rc3. The rook lies deep in enemy territory, and is unsupported, and even presents no immediate tactical threat. Still, it is surprisingly effective. Note how that move catalyzes the pressure of the black's bishop on the f3 square. With this move, the rook interferes with coordination of white's pieces and so disrupts the planned attack. Joel looked annoyed, even surprised, when he saw it. That little gesture made my day!
From the Second LIICL Simultaneous Exhibition, Bethpage NY,
July 21, 1989
White: Michael Rohde Black: Bob Cairone Result: 1/2-1/2
1) e4 e5 2) Nf3 Nc6 3) Bb5 a6 4) Ba4 Nf6 5) O-O Be7
6) Re1 b5 7) Bb3 d6 8) c3 O-O 9) h3 Na5 10) Bc2 c5
11) d4 Qc7 12) Nbd2 Bd7 13) Nf1 Nc6 14) d5 Nd8 15) Ng3
Ne8 16) b4 cxb4 17) cxb4 a5 18) Bd2 Nb7 19) Bd3 axb4
20) Bxb4 Nc5 21) a3 Nxd3 22) Qxd3 f6 23) Rac1 Qb7 24)
Rc2 Nc7 25) Rec1 Na6 26) Nd2 Nxb4 27) axb4 Rfc8 28) Nf5
Bf8 29) Nb3 Rxc2 30) Rxc2 Rc8 31) Na5 Qb6 32) Rxc8 Bxc8
33) Qc3 Bd7 34) Nc6 g6 35) Ne3 f5 36) exf5 gxf5 37) Qc2
e4 38) g4 f4 39) Ng2 e3 40) fxe3 f3 41) Ne1 Qxe3+
42) Qf2 Qc1 43) Kh2 Bxc6 1/2-1/2
Position after 28) Nf5. At this point I have to decide whether to give up the
bishop pair to disrupt the white pawn structure, leaving me with the bad bishop,
or to deal with a cramped position. I felt that since the position was
likely to turn into an endgame fairly quickly, holding onto the bishops was the
better plan.
From the Third LIICL Simultaneous Exhibition, Huntington NY, July 28, 1990
White: Maxim Dlugy Black: Bob Cairone
Result: 1-0
1) d4 d5
2) c4 e6
3) Nc3 Nf6
4) cxd5 exd5
5) Bg5 Be7
6) e3 Nbd7
7) Qc2 O-O
8) Bd3 h6
9) Bh4 Re8
10) Nf3 c6
11) O-O Bd6
12) Rab1 Qc7
13) Rfc1 a6
14) b4 b5
15) e4 Bf4
16) Re1 dxe4
17) Nxe4 Nxe4
18) Bxe4 Bb7
19) Bg3 Rac8
20) Bxf4 Qxf4
21) g3 Qg4
22) Ne5 Nxe5
23) dxe5 g6
24) Bg2 Qd7
25) Qc5 Qe7
26) Rbc1 Qxc5
27) Rxc5 f5
28) Rd1 Kf7
29) f4 Re6
30) Kf2 Ke7
31) Ke3 Rd8
32) Rdc1 Kd7
33) Bd5 cxd5
34) Rc7+ Ke8
35) Rxb7 Rd7
36) Rxd7 Kxd7
37) Kd4 Rc6
38) Rxc6 Kxc6
39) a3 g5
40) h4 gxf4
41) gxf4 1-0
Position after 19) Bg3.
This is where I encountered the most trouble making a decision. At the
time, I didn't want my queen pinned and tied to the defense of the pawn on c6,
which is a permanent structural defect. In retrospect, I think the better
course of action for black is to trade the dark squared bishops, weakening
white's pawn structure a little in the process, and playing Nf6 to take some of
white's bishop's heat off of the backwards pawn. Then it might be easier to
activate black's bad white squared bishop. That plan makes it difficult for me
to attack the d4 square, but it might have worked out better. It was a
very tough call.