In the book "Shady Side: The Life and Crimes of Norman Tweed Whitaker"
by John S. Hilbert on page 246 there is a group photo from the 1956
Eastern States Open in Washington DC. The author incorrectly
identifies it as being from the 1957 Western Open but I am sure it is
from the 1956 Eastern States Open.

I am in the photo. I am sitting on the floor in the lower right hand
corner.

The photo has 55 players in it. As I recall, there were exactly 56
players in the tournament. Whitaker is in the photo, but he did not
play. Laucks, the sponsor, is in the photo but as I recall he did not
play either. If I am correct, this means that all but four players in
the tournament were in the photo.

Since you played, you should probably also be able to find yourself in
the photo.

I can recognize clearly in the photo myself, Bobby Fischer, Forry
Laucks, Norman T. Whitaker, Nicholas Rossolino, William Lombardy and
Hans Berliner.

There are several other faces I recognize but I cannot remember their
names. That looks to me like Larry Gilden in the center bottom row but
I do not recall him being in the tournament.

The black player in the top row I recall as being named Y. Ferguson,
the only black player in the tournament.

Can you find this photo and see if you recognize anybody in it?

I can no longer find the e-mail address of John Hilbert, the author.

Sam Sloan


At 11:48 AM 6/13/2004 -0400, william adams wrote:
hi

found a web page
not sure if this email still works

i knew norman in the late 50s
we went to a few chess tournaments together
as well as meeting in the dc clubs
and touring once with forry laucks

he talked about fischer
had very personal details of him and his mother
but we never all met together

i toured with norman and forry laucks to mexico for matches in 57
so it is likely they repeated this with fischer later as they liked to do
that sort of thing

i did meet bobby in philadelphia
at the us junior (he watched did not play - age 11?) c. 1953??
i met him again at the eastern open in dc
bobby was 13 as i recall
i played lombardy and lost
he went to the mens room a lot
was he using a book as later accused of elsewhere?
rossolimo was there too

ntw was heavily involved with the federal cc in the ymca
which is where i first met him
he arranged it having heard of me from my play at the divan

he was a member and played occasionally (off hand but club rated games not
tournaments) at the divan but never a director as i can recall although he
may have helped run things from behind the scenes

i do recall berliner and helping them run a blindfold exhibition

he was a cheapskate
sold me a used chess clock for $3 that lasted for only a few games

on occasion would pick up a female on the way home from a tournament that
he claimed to spend the night with after he dropped the rest of us off
sometimes he drove two of us to the md open
sometimes we rode with some other adult players who drove
homer jones is a name i recall - he resided at the time in chestnut lodge
in rockville md

ntw also bragged about girlfriends in various cities
and doing a 16 year old girl who begged him for her first time

in acapulco he and forry were looking at investing in a hotel
i inferred that ntw had interests in real estate in other places too
that provided him with some income

ntw kept a home base in georgetown on m street
as far as we could see he always had enough money
although he was extremely frugal
he never worked as long as i could tell

i ran into him again many years later
and lost to him in a tournament in dc
at (i think) a dc rec center which had an active club
somewhere the naval observatory

he had been in a car accident some time before
some kid wrecked up
not clear if ntw had helped him get an illegal license
had a very built up shoe to even out his legs
drove a vw that he parked illegally in front of the building
used a cane to walk but was still basically independent and mobile

Subject: 1956 Photo from "Shady Side: The Life and Crimes of Norman T.
Whitaker"

On 13 June 2004 (Sam Sloan) wrote in
Message-id:

In the book "Shady Side: The Life and Crimes of Norman Tweed Whitaker"
by John S. Hilbert on page 246 there is a group photo from the 1956
Eastern States Open in Washington DC. The author incorrectly
identifies it as being from the 1957 Western Open but I am sure it is
from the 1956 Eastern States Open.

Sam Sloan


At 11:48 AM 6/13/2004 -0400, william adams wrote:

-snipped-

i did meet bobby in philadelphia
at the us junior (he watched did not play - age 11?) c. 1953??
i met him again at the eastern open in dc
bobby was 13 as i recall
i played lombardy and lost
he went to the mens room a lot
was he using a book as later accused of elsewhere?
rossolimo was there too

-snipped-

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Fischer played in the 1956 Eastern States Open on Thanksgiving weekend in
Washington, DC. There were 56 participants. Hans Berliner came in first with a
6-1 score. Fischer, Lombardy, Rossolimo and Feuerstein were runners-up with
5.5-1.5. E. Forry Laucks contributed more than $500 to the prize fund.
Here are the results of six of Fischer's games from that tournament:
Fischer 1-0 Attilio di Camillio
Ed Nash 0-1 Fischer
Erich Marchand 0-1 Fischer
Goldhamer 0-1 Fischer
Fischer 1/2-1/2 N. Hurttlen
Arthur Feuerstein 1/2-1/2 Fischer

I don't know the name of the other player who drew Fischer.

George Mirijanian

"Miriling" wrote in message
...

Fischer played in the 1956 Eastern States Open on Thanksgiving weekend in
Washington, DC. There were 56 participants. Hans Berliner came in first
with a
6-1 score. Fischer, Lombardy, Rossolimo and Feuerstein were runners-up
with
5.5-1.5. E. Forry Laucks contributed more than $500 to the prize fund.
Here are the results of six of Fischer's games from that tournament:
Fischer 1-0 Attilio di Camillio
Ed Nash 0-1 Fischer
Erich Marchand 0-1 Fischer
Goldhamer 0-1 Fischer
Fischer 1/2-1/2 N. Hurttlen
Arthur Feuerstein 1/2-1/2 Fischer

I don't know the name of the other player who drew Fischer.

George Mirijanian

Lou Hays, Bobby Fischer: Complete Games of the American World Chess Champion
doesn't mention the seventh player either.

(Sam Sloan) wrote in message ...
In the book "Shady Side: The Life and Crimes of Norman Tweed Whitaker" by John S. Hilbert on page 246 there is a group photo ... The author incorrectly identifies it as being from the 1957 Western Open but I am sure it is from the 1956 Eastern States Open.

The above statement is misleading. The caption actually reads
"Unidentified tournament photograph, possibly from the 1957 New
Western Open." Therefore it is incorrect to say "the author
incorrectly identifies it." Mr. Hilbert is a far more careful
historian than Mr. Sloan.

Taylor Kingston

Subject: 1956 Photo from "Shady Side: The Life and Crimes of Norman T.
Whitaker"

On 14 June 2004 (Taylor Kingston) replied in
Message-id:

(Sam Sloan) wrote in message
...
In the book "Shady Side: The Life and Crimes of Norman Tweed Whitaker" by
John S. Hilbert on page 246 there is a group photo ... The author incorrectly
identifies it as being from the 1957 Western Open but I am sure it is from
the 1956 Eastern States Open.

The above statement is misleading. The caption actually reads
"Unidentified tournament photograph, possibly from the 1957 New
Western Open." Therefore it is incorrect to say "the author
incorrectly identifies it." Mr. Hilbert is a far more careful
historian than Mr. Sloan.

Taylor Kingston


Mr. Hilbert may be a "far more careful historian than Mr. Sloan," but he
certainly did not do his homework in calling the photo in question an
"unidentified tournament photograph, possibly from the 1957 New Western Open."
Any chess historian worth a hill of beans would know that the group photo in
the Hilbert book could not possibly be from the 1957 New Western Open.
The 1957 New Western Open, held 4-7 July at the Astor Hotel in Milwaukee, Wis.,
had 122 participants. It's true that Fischer and Berliner were among the
players, but the photo that Sloan cites is one in which he clearly recognizes
himself, Fischer, Berliner, Lombardy, Rossolimo, Whitaker and Laucks, among
others. None of the last four individuals were even at the 1957 New Western
Open.
Mr. Hilbert should have left the photo as an "unidentified tournament
photograph" - if he didn't know - and not added "possibly from the 1957 New
Western Open."
In this case, score 1-0 for Sloan, since he correctly identified the photo as
one from the 1956 Eastern States Open.
In my opinion, Sloan is more knowledgeable about U.S. chess history, especially
history in the latter half of the 20th century, than a lot of chess historians,
including the self-professed one from Pennsylvania.

George Mirijanian

(Miriling) wrote in message ...

"In this case, score 1-0 for Sloan, since he correctly identified the
photo as one from the 1956 Eastern States Open. In my opinion, Sloan
is more knowledgeable about U.S. chess history, especially history in
the latter half of the 20th century, than a lot of chess historians,
including the self-professed one from Pennsylvania."

I must respectfully disagree. Score one for Sloan if his
identification of the photo is correct, but subtract at least two for
misrepresenting Hilbert's caption. Hilbert's identification was
clearly tentative, Sloan misrepresented it as positive.
This kind of carelessness is not unusual for Sloan. At times he
commits inaccuracies bordering on fabrication, e.g. his recent utterly
fallacious post about Carlos Torre undressing "at a major tournament."
The relevance of Pennsylvania to this matter eludes me; last I heard
from John Hilbert, he still lived near Buffalo, New York.

Taylor Kingston

Subject: 1956 Photo from "Shady Side: The Life and Crimes of Norman T.
Whitaker"

On 14 June 2004 (Taylor Kingston) replied in
Message-id:


-snipped-

The relevance of Pennsylvania to this matter eludes me; last I heard
from John Hilbert, he still lived near Buffalo, New York.

Taylor Kingston


I was not talking about Mr. Hilbert. I respect his ability as a chess
historian. I was talking about another person, an individual in Pennsylvania
who has slandered enough people on this newsgroup and whose chess historian
credentials pale in comparison to Mr. Hilbert's.

George Mirijanian

I think the distinction here is that John Hilbert does history or, perhaps,
more accurately, compendium-izing, and Sam Sloan has lived part of the history
that Mr. Hilbert writes. Sloan IS history, and there will always be things
that he knows that the most careful student of the subject will not. Perhaps
Mr. Hilbert let down on the photo, given the info provided by George
Mirijanian. But Mr. Hilbert's work is carefully done on the whole.

John Hilbert's good points are taking pains, enormous research,
well-organized presentation of material, straightforward if not stylish
writing. His key weak point is sometimes not knowing when to eliminate
information that does not belong in a work of history as opposed to a
compendium.

Taylor Kingston's argument represents rushing to the barricades against
what should have been better sense on his part. He should simply have written,
"Sloan's right in the main. John Hilbert, who is normally pretty careful, let
down on this one."

Lou Hays, Bobby Fischer: Complete Games of the American World Chess Champion
doesn't mention the seventh player either.

Wasn't it Westerinen? I think I spelled it wrong.

EZoto

On Sun, 13 Jun 2004 18:51:51 GMT, (Sam Sloan)
wrote:

In the book "Shady Side: The Life and Crimes of Norman Tweed Whitaker"
by John S. Hilbert on page 246 there is a group photo from the 1956
Eastern States Open in Washington DC.

I have a little story about Whitaker and what is likely that photo.

I knew Whitaker in the late 60s and early 70s. A few months before
the 1972 Spassky-Fischer match, he showed me a glossy black and white
8 x 10 of him, young Fischer, and a group of chess players. It its
likely to be that photo. He said that he was going to make copies of
it and go to the match in Iceland and sell them. I don't know if he
actually did that because it was one of the last times I saw him, and
I didn't see him after Spassky-Fisher.

I don't remember much about the photo. In the same conversation he
told me about a match that he, Fischer, and others played in Mexico,
or somewhere. He said that he played board 1 and Fischer played board
2, so the photo could have been from that match.

I haven't heard of that match, except from Whitaker. Does anyone know
anything about that?

---
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