John Grefe

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

John Alan Grefe (born September 6, 1947 in Hoboken (New Jersey) , † December 22, 2013 in San Francisco ) was an American chess player and author.

His greatest chess success was the 1st place shared with Lubomir Kavalek at the United States Chess Championship 1973 in El Paso (Texas) . At that time he had no title and no international rating . He was a follower of Guru Maharaj Ji . Grefe received the title of International Master in 1975. After that, his chess career stagnated. He was able to defeat many well-known players in individual games, but no longer win any major tournaments.

Grefe was considered a good tactician and opening expert . For Walter Browne he worked as a second at the 1976 interzonal tournament in Manila . Later Grefe also wrote some chess books .

Grefe died of kidney cancer at the age of 66 .

Game example

At the Lone Pine Open in 1979, Grefe won against Arnold Denker after an unconventional opening treatment in just 22 moves.

Grefe - thinker
1. e2 – e4 c7 – c6 2. d2 – d3 d7 – d5 3. Nb1 – d2 Qd8 – c7 4. f2 – f4 Qc7xf4 5. Ng1 – f3 Ng8 – f6 6. Nd2 – b3 Qf4 – c7 7. e4– e5 Nf6 – g4 8. d3 – d4 Bc8 – f5 9. Nf3 – h4 Bf5 – d7 10. Bf1 – e2 Ng4 – h6 11. Bc1xh6 g7xh6 12. 0–0 Nb8 – a6 13. Be2xa6 b7xa6 14. Nb3 – c5 e7 –E6 15. Qd1 – h5 Bd7 – c8 16. Rf1 – f6 Bf8xc5 17. d4xc5 Ra8 – b8 18. Ra1 – f1 Rh8 – f8 19. Qh5xh6 Qc7xe5 20. Qh6xh7 Rb8xb2 21. Rf6xf7 Rf8xf7 22. Qh7 – g8 + Black retired . 1-0

Works

  • with Andrew Soltis , Edmar Mednis and Raymond Keene : Understanding the Queen's Indian Defense. 1981.
  • with Dennis Waterman: The Best of Lone Pine. The Louis D. Statham Chess Tournaments 1971-1980 RHM Press, Great Neck, NY 1981, ISBN 0-890-58049-9 .
  • Progressing through chess. The thirty-five best chess books and how to use them. Players Press, Los Angeles 1981, ISBN 0-941-42601-7 .
  • with Jeremy Silman : The Center Counter. Chess Enterprises, Coraopolis, Pa. 1983, ISBN 0-931-46222-3 .
  • with Jeremy Silman: French Defense for Black. Chess Diges, Dallas 1984, ISBN 0-875-68157-3 .
  • Modern Benoni for Black. Chess Diges, Dallas 1984, OCLC 11339273 .
  • Queen's Indian defense: Recent developments in 4. a3. 1984.
  • with Jeremy Silman: Winning with the French Defense. 1985.
  • Offbeat Sicilian. Unorthodox Ways to Win With White. 1987.
  • Mastering the Chess Openings. 1992.
  • The Chess Tactician's Handbook. 1993.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Grefe, John
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Grefe, John Alan (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American chess player and writer
DATE OF BIRTH September 6, 1947
PLACE OF BIRTH Hoboken, New Jersey
DATE OF DEATH December 22, 2013
Place of death San Francisco