CROSSWORDS & GAMES / CROSSWORDS | November 12, 2006

Chess: A Farewell, After 34 Years, and a Memorable 1952 Game

By ROBERT BYRNE

This chess column is my last; I am retiring after 34 years.

Good guy Byrne is. I bought his books. Too bad the NYT did not have
his columns in a format such as PGN where we could analyze the games
without having to manually print and input everything.

RL

wrote:
CROSSWORDS & GAMES / CROSSWORDS | November 12, 2006

Chess: A Farewell, After 34 Years, and a Memorable 1952 Game

By ROBERT BYRNE

This chess column is my last; I am retiring after 34 years.

wrote in message
ups.com...

CROSSWORDS & GAMES / CROSSWORDS | November 12, 2006

Chess: A Farewell, After 34 Years, and a Memorable 1952 Game

By ROBERT BYRNE

This chess column is my last; I am retiring after 34 years.

Much as I like Robert Byrne, I have to say he was not much of a columnist in
the last few years, and nothing of a reporter in the vein of the great
Hermann Helms. (Even in his late eighties, Helms could be seen at the
Manhattan and Marshall chess clubs taking notes on the events of the week --
sometimes of the evening.) I do hope Byrne has not been ill.

Any chance that Bill Lombardy might take over? Dubious, eh? Lombardy would
have been a dedicated columnist/reporter, but failed to get the approval of
his "friend," the then music critic of the NY Times, Harold Schonberg, who
favored Byrne.
--
Ian Burton
(Please reply to the Newsgroup)

Ian Burton wrote:
Any chance that Bill Lombardy might take over? Dubious, eh? Lombardy would
have been a dedicated columnist/reporter, but failed to get the approval of
his "friend," the then music critic of the NY Times, Harold Schonberg, who
favored Byrne.
--

Excellent idea, but I wonder whether Lombardy's name would be likely to
pop up in the NYT's selection process. Does anyone have any idea how
Byrne's successor will be chosen? I should expect Byrne's own opinion
to carry some weight.

LT

snip

Does anyone have any idea howByrne's successor will be chosen?
I should expect Byrne's own opinion to carry some weight.

LT

How about Yasser Seirawan or Gata Kamsky?

EZoto

EZoto writes:
Does anyone have any idea howByrne's successor will be chosen?
I should expect Byrne's own opinion to carry some weight.

How about Yasser Seirawan or Gata Kamsky?

The successor should be New York based, so not Seirawan. I don't know
if this is Kamsky's kind of gig, or if his English is good enough to
write a regular column without a lot of grammar errors. I'd worry if
a non-chessplaying editor had to make too many corrections, since that
could introduce chess errors.

If it's ok for a candidate to have less than perfect English, then
Susan Polgar should also be considered; she's a good writer with about
the widest imaginable range of chess contacts and a lot of publishing
experience, and a track record of cranking out daily chess writing (on
her blog) for a fairly long time now. And she might be more willing
to accept the job than one of the really top-flight GM's, and she'd
draw more readers to the column than just about anyone else. However,
she apparently might run for president of FIDE, which might create a
conflict.