GM Robert Byrne, April 20, 1928 – April 12, 2013

Robert Byrne and his younger brother Donald were among the talented young “Collins Kids” who developed under John W. (Jack) Collins in the mid-20th century. Between 1952 and 1976, he won seven medals over the course of nine Olympiads, attained the U.S. Open title in 1960, and participated in several team matches between the U.S. and the Soviet Union.

However, academic pursuits limited his opportunities for competitive play. After graduating from Yale in 1952, he went on to become a professor of philosophy at Indiana University, where he spent several years before gradually turning professional in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Besides his Olympiad participation, he tied for another U.S. Open title in 1966 and scored victories at the 1972 U.S. Championship and the 1973 Leningrad Interzonal.

Known for his contributions in several opening systems, preparing for a match against Byrne was always a challenge. His competitive play tailed off during the 1970s after succeeding Al Horowitz in 1972 as chess columnist for the New York Times, a position he held until his retirement in 2006. He contributed frequently to Chess Life and released three books. He also worked with the U.S. Chess Federation in an administrative role, chairing the committee on masters’ affairs and serving as one of the organization’s vice-presidents. – Source: World Chess Hall of Fame

The editor of Chess Today provided analysis of the following exciting game from fifty years ago:

Video commentary by Kingscrusher

The author of the following videos is Tryfon Gavriel, also known as "Kingscrusher" on the Internet. He is a FIDE Candidate Master (CM), British Regional Chess Master, and has run a popular Youtube channel for many years. He also does the weekly "Kingscrusher Radio show" on Playchess.com on Tuesday evenings at 21:00 GMT. Kingscrusher is also the Webmaster of the correspondence style chess server Chessworld.net.

Fischer vs Byrne, US Championship 1965

Byrne vs Larry Evans, US Championship 1965

Twenty years later: Byrne vs Joel Benjamin, US Championship 1984

Svidler plays the Byrne system

Following his recent tribute to Robert Byrne Andrew Martin shows us a game from the present day between two for the world's top players, in which it seems like they have transported Byrne's ideas from the 1970s and 80s into the year 2013. The game shows us that the King's Indian Defence is still in business!

Caruana-Svidler Russian Team Championships 2013

Andrew David Martin (born 18th May 1957 in West Ham, London) is an English chess player with the title of International Master. He has won various national and international tournaments and has been playing for years in the Four Nations Chess League, at present (July 2009) for Wood Green Hilsmark Kingfisher, previously for the Camberley Chess Club. Martin received his IM title in1984. He earned his first grandmaster norm in the British Championship of 1997 in Brighton. Martin was a commentator on the chess world championship between Kasparov and Kramnik in 2000.

On the 21st February 2004 Martin set a new world record for simultaneous chess. He faced 321 chess players at the same time. His result was: 294 wins, 26 draws and only one loss. Martin is known as a professional chess teacher and head trainer of the English youth team. He trains eight schools (Yateley Manor, Aldro, Millfield, Sunningdale, Waverley School, St Michael’s Sandhurst, Wellington College, Salesian College). Martin is a chess columnist, an author of chess books and the author of various instructional videos. He was the publisher of the series Trends Publications. Martin lives in Sandhurst, England, is married and the father of two daughters and two sons. His present Elo rating is 2423 (as of July 2009).

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