Robert Byrne (chess player)

Robert Byrne, 1969
Surname	Robert Eugene Byrne
Association	United States
Born	April 20, 1928 New York City , United States
Died	April 12, 2013 Ossining
title	International Master (1952) Grand Master (1964)
Best Elo rating	2605 (July 1973)

Robert Eugene Byrne (born April 20, 1928 in New York City , † April 12, 2013 in Ossining , New York ) was an American chess player .

Life

Robert Byrne grew up in New York and in 1952 an International Master of FIDE . He then turned to several years of his scientific career as a philosopher at Indiana University .

In 1960 he seriously returned to chess and won a silver medal on the third board at the Chess Olympiad in Leipzig . Since 1964 he was a grandmaster . In 1972, Byrne won the United States Chess Championship in a playoff against Samuel Reshevsky and Lubomir Kavalek . His greatest achievement was the 3rd place in the inter-zonal tournament in Leningrad in 1973 behind Viktor Korchnoi and Anatoly Karpov , so he chose the candidates competitions for World Chess Championship 1975 qualifying. In these he was defeated by Boris Spasski with 1.5: 4.5.

From 1972 to November 2006, Byrne headed the New York Times chess column .

In July 1973, Byrne reached his best placement in the Elo list , he was tied with Efim Geller and Leonid Stein in 12th place.

His younger brother was the International Master Donald Byrne (1930-1976); his most famous game, in which he lost with the white pieces in 1956 against Bobby Fischer , who was then only 13 , is considered the game of the century .

Byrne's style was characterized by caution and patience. He preferred a solid defense and flank attacks , avoided weaknesses in the pawn structure and was considered particularly strong in the endgame .

National team

With the United States team, Byrne took part in the 1952 , 1960 , 1962 , 1966 , 1968 , 1972 , 1974 , 1976 and 1978 Chess Olympiads . He won with the team in 1976, finished second in 1960 and 1966, and third in 1974 and 1978. In the individual ranking he achieved the third best result in 1952 and the second best result on the third board in 1960.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Robert Byrne, 1928–2013 , USCF, Apr. 13, 2013
2. ↑ Willy Iclicki: FIDE Golden book 1924-2002 . Euroadria, Slovenia, 2002, p. 75.
3. ↑ Bruce Weber: Robert Byrne, Chess Grandmaster, Dies at 84 . New York Times, April 13, 2013, p. B10
4. ↑ Robert Byrne's results at the Chess Olympiads on olimpbase.org (English)

Web links

• 15 combinations by Robert Byrne
• Replayable chess games by Robert Byrne on chessgames.com (English)