| < Earlier Kibitzing· PAGE 8 OF 15 ·Later Kibitzing> | May-23-13
| SteinitzLives: <Let's review. Distinguishing 'symptoms': Intense concentration, constant activity, rocking motions, sensitive to playing conditions.Provisional diagnosis: Asperger's or other autistic-spectrum condition.> Abdel, I will not say I disagree with you but I do hear lots of very intelligent people with chronically poor social skills, get diagnosed with Aspergers, especially in chess, very often.The related over-diagnosis I hear these days is Lyme disease for anyone dealing with chronic high levels of fatigue. Lots of people think Fischer had Aspergers too, and I am more or less one of them, but no one really knows or can know. | | Jun-25-13 | optimal play: <<<<CHESS> by GEORGE STERN> AUSTRALIAN chess champion [Walter] Shawn Browne, who breezed* in from the USA only long enough to win the title, is off again, this time to Denmark. After becoming Australian Master, Browne played in the South East Asian Zonal Tournament. Although he failed to win this event, he did well enough by coming second to gain the title of International Master. This gives him automatic right of selection to any international master's tournament, and Browne is availing himself of this privilege by turning professional. Since Europe is virtually the only location where a professional can make his living at chess, that's where Browne has gone. His ultimate ambition, as reported by the press, to become another Bobby Fischer.> - The Canberra Times (ACT) issue Wednesday 17 September 1969> *The original newspaper column has the word <breezed> in italics. | | Jun-25-13 | Caissanist: I never heard of anyone claiming that Browne was distracting at the board, in fact the most common complaint was that he complained too much about his own distractions. There was a story in the 1975 (I believe) US championship, where he growled at Reshevsky for making too much noise unwrapping a candy bar. According to the Chess Life report of the tournament Lombardy, who was playing Benko on an adjacent board, then pulled out two pieces of candy himself and gave one to Benko; they then unwrapped them just as noisily while <sporting two of the most <<innocent>> looks this writer ever hopes to see>. | Aug-29-13
| harrylime: Is Brownes' book any good ? Thinking of picking it up on amazon.. Know he worshipped RJF and I'm pretty sure his life would be a fascinating read.. but this does'nt mean the book is good. | Aug-29-13
| TheFocus: <harry> I have the book and think it is well worth the price. Excellent and very deep annotations. Great bio by a great writer! Here is a collection I did on the book. Some games are missing, but I will submit them. | | Aug-29-13 | savagerules: Browne's book is really good. One quibble is with the opening index where cryptic letters like RL for Ruy Lopez are used instead of the actual name of the opening. It's a biography as well as some poker stuff too along with the games and a lot of anecdotes throughout the book like referring to a Swiss weekend opponent named Moulton in Game 82 who Browne says incessantly coughed throughout the whole game either because of nerves or to purposely annoy him. | | Oct-09-13 | kramputz: It seems Browne retired, no games since 2007. I think he is playing poker, more money if you are lucky. | | Jan-10-14 | waustad: Happy 65th. | | Jan-10-14 | waustad: <kramputz>Actually he's played some FIDE rated games this fall. Just because games don't make it into print or on the net doesn't mean they weren't played. See his player card, linked abive. | | Feb-25-14 | optimal play: <<<Browne made good in US> EXPATRIATE Australians make good in all sorts of places in all sorts of fields — including chess in the USA. Walter Shawn Browne was born in Sydney in 1949, but he was taken to the USA at an early age. At age eight he learned chess; five years later he joined the Manhattan Chess Club, which has been the training ground of many US champions; and two years after that, at the age of 17, he won the US junior title. In 1968, Browne came to Australia to compete in the national championship here. He won and, with the title, he gained a place in the zonal tourney. But his result in the latter event was not good enough to project him into the interzonal and the world championship preliminaries. In fact, the failure to get anywhere near the world crown has been Browne's greatest disappointment in life. Nevertheless, as a past US champion, Browne is one of an august group of grandmasters who have included such players as Paul Morphy, Harry Pillsbury, Frank Marshall, Sammy Reshevsky, and Bobby Fischer. In an interview with US Chess Life and Review, Browne said, 'I think I'm probably one of the top 10 or 15 players in the world right now — but it's the kind of thing where the numbers are really not important. Because what you're aiming at is Number One, so what does it matter if you're fifth or 15th? I think the group of Andersson, Ljubojevic, Huebner, Timman, Miles, myself, Mecking of course, are the young players who can come up and vie for the title in the next 15 years. I used to smoke a little bit, but I gave it up completely in the last four years. Smoking is definitely bad for you. It cuts away oxygen from the brain, and you need all the oxygen you can get. Drinking in moderation is okay. I think a couple of glasses of wine with your meal is fine. There are certain people I like to play. I really like to play people like Fischer, Spassky and Larsen, because they are very sharp, forcing, pushy players. People I don't like to play are people like Petrosian who don't do anything and are really kind of a bore'.> - The Canberra Times (ACT) issue Sunday 6 July 1980> | | Feb-25-14 | optimal play: <A tricky game, this chess> CAREFUL . . .
EASY . . .
INTENSE . . .
DANGEROUS . . .
[Four photos of Browne with a Beatles mop-top]
<<<'Beatle' chess champion> This well-dressed young man, Walter Browne, is the junior chess champion of the United States. And he was born in Australia. In fact, his dress, shaggy hair and expressive face made him a 'natural' for a photographer at the Australian Chess Championships in Melbourne. The photographs capture concentration, reflection, detachment and disgust. Browne has lived in New York for 15 of his 19 years. He learned chess when he was eight and became an American senior master at 15. He is seeded, unofficially, as No. 12 in the United States. In the game which calls as much for patience as any other quality, Browne took up to 25 minutes to make a move in the game he was playing at the Victoria Hotel.> - The Canberra Times (ACT) issue Wednesday 1 January 1969 page 12> | Mar-09-14
| ketchuplover: He's doing well in Reykjavik :) | Nov-02-14
| MissScarlett: The June 1979 <Chess> announced: <For a fee of $50,000, World Chess Champion Anatoly Karpov has agreed to play one chess game with United States Chess Champion Walter Browne. To help raise the money, Browne intends to break a world record by playing 300 simultaneous games at $100. Browne will challenge Karpov in August or September.> The July 1979 <Chess> revealed: <Karpov has definitely agreed to meet Browne for $50,000. He declined a first offer of $20,000 out of hand. The cash is being put up by Caesar's Palace, a Las Vegas night club, and the encounter, probably a match of more than one game, may take place in September.> The August and September editions came and went without further comment. Still, better late than never: <But he won't be leaving town without having a little more fun on this trip. He plans on attending the Tyson fight Saturday, and negotiations are under way for a chess game between Karpov and Fisher, probably Thursday or Friday. If it happens, the game will actually be a contest between Karpov and American grandmaster Walter Browne, who will be advising Fisher. Brown is the 10-time winner of the National Open and five-time winner of the North American Open - international tournaments that are played in Las Vegas each year. Although Fisher will be only a nominal opponent, just for fun, the sound of his name vs. that of Karpov will set chess fans thinking about the greatest match in chess history - the one that was never played.> | | Nov-03-14 | Petrosianic: It must have been an old announcement. Browne wasn't US Champion in 1979. | Nov-03-14
| MissScarlett: I tend toward Karpov's view - once a champion, always a champion. | Nov-03-14
| SteinitzLives: Wow! Wanting 50K to play just one game, in 1979? What generosity! Considering Walter's score against him (0-4 with 7 draws), Karpov might have sold a stamp or two to to help raise the cash. There is probably a bit more to this story that has not yet been revealed. It's a bit hard to believe they spelled Fischer's last name incorrectly more than once too. | | Nov-05-14 | Shams: During my morning commute I found myself wondering (as you do) what Browne's peak world ranking was. I guessed Top 15, Top 20 at the most. Turns out it's 27th (Dec '75 - Jan '76). I guess I should read about Browne's ability from people other than Browne himself. | | Nov-05-14 | Granny O Doul: But what does it matter if you're 5th or 15th or 27th or 14,532nd? | | Nov-05-14 | Shams: <Granny O Doul> Well, what does it 'matter' if you're World Champion or not? None of this truly matters. Even Jeff Sonas would concede that. | Nov-06-14
| SteinitzLives: Remember that when Browne was at his peak ranking in 75 and 76, the world of chess was not wide open media- technology-wise, and chess news took weeks and even months to get around, unless it involved the World Ch. There were very few weekly chess magazines in the world, and the monthlies could not put in all of what some thought was the big or almost biggest news. With that in mind, what one knew best about the chess greats were those in one's own back yard, or at most one's own country if in the U.S. anyway. This is part of what made Browne seem like such a huge superstar in the U.S. though not in the rest of the world by any means. Winning the U.S. Ch. 6 times helped his status in the U.S. just a wee bit too! In Chess Life I would see his results against the top Russians back in the 70's and 80's and just sigh, (yearning for Fischer to return). Browne's play against non-Russians outside the top 10 was way more impressive, and his play at home against Americans made him look like a Chess Giant! | Nov-06-14
| perfidious: <SteinitzLives: Remember that when Browne was at his peak ranking in 75 and 76, the world of chess was not wide open media- technology-wise, and chess news took weeks and even months to get around....> Even in the 1990s, Jonathan Speelman wrote of this in his collection of best games. A droll tale on the spread of information comes from Gligoric vs K Langeweg, 1970, a nice win for White. A while later, Gligoric vs Fischer, 1970 deviated with 17.Kh1, which Gliga played as he feared an improvement after 17.Kh2, as played vs Langeweg. Fischer was asked afterwards how he would have played had White stuck to 17.Kh2, and his interlocutor was astounded to learn that the IBM tourney had been played so recently that Fischer had not yet seen the games. | | Nov-06-14 | Shams: <SteinitzLives> Good point. | | Nov-06-14 | zanzibar: I consider MCO-13 as really written by Browne - they have so many of his games used in the opening refs. I don't know if anybody cited this before, but if so, it's worth repeating. It's Seirawan's foreword from Browne's book <The Stress of Chess>: <'In the many games that we contested we held a deep post-mortem. Often these lasted for hours and during them it was obvious, time in and time out, that Walter had out-calculated me. We had looked at the same variations, but he had calculated them more deeply than I had. In many instances Walter went far beyond the point where I had stopped, being satisfied with a line. Walter wanted to be sure. When he felt a win existed he wished to nail it down with calculation and cold-blooded determination. When I asked why he didn't just play an obviously good move, he would often say that while his 'instinct' had told him to play the 'natural' good move it was his calculation that guided him to consider other possibilities, and what ultimately caused him to come to a decision was the calculated line. In most cases Walter's instinct and calculation were one and the same, producing the same move, which he would then play. But here comes the rub. He would go into deep concentration, using large amounts of time on his clock to confirm his instinct with concrete calculation. The result? Chronic time trouble. The flip side of his greatest strength, calculation, was that it often led to harrowing time-scrambles. Bingo! Wonderful, you may think. All I'd have to do is present enough problems for Walter early and often enough and he would drift into time-trouble, at which point I might take advantage... Unfortunately, it was precisely here, when he was in time-trouble, that Walter was at his most dangerous. Cobra fast, he could make 20 moves within one minute, and those 20 moves were like perfect links in a chain leading to victory. It was truly remarkable to see him in action while in time-trouble. He was a demon. Any one caught playing time trouble blitz against him would likely fail as again and again Walter would come through the most harrowing clock pressure in better shape than when he started. How he kept his nerves during these episodes remains a mystery to me.' [ed- slight para edits]>
Here's John Watson's review of the book (with the above quote): And the amazon link to the book:
| | Nov-06-14 | Shams: <Zanzibar> Thanks for transcribing. Seirawan is always a flattering biographer. I remember Browne himself saying (paraphrasing from memory) 'I am one of the best blitz players in the world, but when I get in time trouble in a long game that blitz skill doesn't help me at all.' | Nov-07-14
| MissScarlett: <Wow! Wanting 50K to play just one game, in 1979? What generosity!> Karpov was way ahead of Kasparov in his appreciation of the consolations of capitalism. What amazes is the apparent latitude that he had to chart his own career, whether that be negotiating with Fischer for a multi-million dollar match outside the confines of FIDE, agreeing to play an exhibition match in the mecca of Las Vegas, or securing lucrative endorsements with Western companies. Given that so many of his Soviet colleagues of that period were fighting over scraps, a Western invitation was like gold dust, it's little wonder that people like Gulko and Alburt ascribed such power to the man. It'd be interesting to know which side pulled the plug on the project. Given the announcement had already reached the press, one would have to presume the Americans couldn't raise the money. | | < Earlier Kibitzing· PAGE 8 OF 15 ·Later Kibitzing> |
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