MCC History / Raw Transcripts of Interviews  (all conducted from Feb 2003 – April 2003)

 

Interviewer: Fred Harvey

 

Transcription: Mary Murphy / Harvey Reed

 

Copy Editor: Fred Harvey

 

 

ALAN BECK

 

Fred:
Tell me Tal stories.

Alan:
I will start with one that showed me his character. I can’t remember all the names of those involved, but you should be able to research most of them. Tal gave a simultaneous exhibition at your prior site.
Fred:
Which one? Was it the American Legion Post?

Alan:
Yep, that was it. They had pool tables upstairs.

Fred:
Yes, somebody mentioned that site to me.

Alan:
I’m not sure of the exact year, as it was quite a while ago, but Warren Pinches, who organized the simul, would undoubtedly know when it was held. Tal stayed at his house. I believe that it was Warren Pinches who founded the club. He was running everything when I attended in the eighties. He was really active in chess here, for a long time. He had a flaming red, Steinitzian beard. I had just got in touch with Warren to find out about chess in the area. And he introduced me to your club. He informed me about the various upcoming simuls in the area. Being able to attend some was a great pleasure for me.

Fred:
About what year was it then?

Alan:
I think we can pin it down exactly if we check with some other people. I moved from California to New Hampshire at the end of 1984. In the summer of 1985 I moved to Waltham. So it was after that. I am not sure exactly when you moved to your current site. That is something you should have records on. I would say the simul was held somewhere between 1986-8. It was when Warren Pinches was in charge of the club. He organized the Tal simul. One of my friends came along to watch. He was also a chess player. You could probably pin it down exactly by asking someone like Steve Frymer, who’s been active in MACA for a long time.

Fred:
This would be at the American Legion in Framingham.

Alan:
Yes.   Tal’s coming to America was newsworthy, so we should be able to verify the timeframe pretty easily. He gave a very nice talk and a simul.

I think only two people knicked him. One of those, was Bobby Seltzer,  who was the bright, young (around 12 or 13) star of Massachusetts chess at that time. Seltzer already had a GM scalp, and some of us thought he might go on to become a GM. He got a draw, so Bobby should still have his score sheet. Alas, I was too embarrassed by my poor play to have Tal sign mine.

Fred:
S E L T Z E R?

Alan:
Yes. He’s still somewhat involved with chess, as I heard recently that he is running a chess camp. Steve Frymer would have that information because he thoughtfully mentioned to me the possibility of being a teacher at one of those camps.

Bobby Seltzer did move up in the ratings. He got up to around 2300 or thereabouts. But he decided not to pursue chess as a career.  

The other player who drew was, I believe, Sarkisian. I am not sure if I’m remembering his name correctly. He was one of the strongest players at the club. I believe he was a high expert close to 2200.

All the other games had finished, so Sarkisian’s was the last game going. Gathered around were photographers, journalists, players, family and friends. (Referring to a game between top club member and Tal- renowned GM). On the board were a King and a Rook for each side. Tal had attacked Sarkisian’s rook with his king.  Sarkisian had his rook defended by his King. And at this key, pivotal moment, he reached out and touched his king. And all the color drained from his face. He just sat there in the chair with his mouth slightly open, looking so shocked. One’s heart went out to him..  It must have been very humiliating to someone who was the top club player to have made such a gross, elementary blunder in front of his family, his friends, his fellow club members, and all the on-lookers.

Fred:
On the other hand, it was against one of the world’s biggest champions.

Alan:
Right, but this is not the story, I am just setting it up.

Fred:
Go ahead.

Alan:
He touched the King. He just froze as seconds went by. Tal looked at him. And I think he was sizing up the situation, reading the pain behind his opponent’s expression. He just pointed to the enemy rook with his forefinger, indicating to Sarkisian that it would be all right for him to move his rook instead of his king.   Then after the rook had been moved instead of being taken, Tal just stood up and shook Sarkisian’s hand, offering him the draw. That impressed me so much. Obviously all simul scores were being recorded and sent back to Russia. Tal could have claimed victory on the spot. Yet Tal realized that his opponent had played an even, long, and hard-fought game to reach a standard, drawn, King and Rook versus King and Rook ending. But there was just this God-awful touch move thing where the poor man in a moment of blindness had reached out and touched his King without thinking. Tal’s recognition of the man’s pain, and his giving him the draw, when by the rules he could have claimed a win, impressed me a great deal.

Fred:
I would think it would.

Alan:
I treasured that memory. Because, how many other players would have done that. I have read some really horrible stories. For example, Gerald Abrahams, who wrote The Chess Mind relates how when he was a young player of 14 he got a good position in a simul against Alekhine and he was doing very well until Alekhine switched the normal simul rules on him. Instead of rotating around the room as normal, Alekhine just stood in front of him saying, “compliance,” and forcing him to blitz out the game one on one with none of the normal extra time that one usually has in a simul as the master makes moves against the other players.    (difficultly with the tape recording)

Fred:
Is that a legitimate demand?

Alan:
I don’t think so.


Fred:
I would not think so.

Alan:
I think it would be a little intimidating. Alekhine got his ‘win.’ Many years later, after Abrahams had grown up and gone on to become a Barrister (lawyer in England) Alekhine came to him to ask for his legal help in an immigration matter concering his wife. He did not realize that this was the little boy that he had mistreated. Abrahams looked at him and said, “If I help you with this, I hope you will be kinder to little boys in the future.”  Then an expression came over Alekhine’s face, as he remembered the whole thing. He said, “you were the one…” and he remembered the whole game.  (laughter)

It was interesting seeing the different personalities. Alekhine’s giant ego wanted to crush the little kid who was winning against him. He realized that he’d lose if the simul was played by normal rules. So he bent them in his favor. .

I was so impressed by Tal, when he gave that man the draw. That was very kind of him, and it undoubtedly made that man’s day. You might be able to track him down as it’s possible that the game score appeared in one of the local newspapers or at least Horizons. I believe he and Seltzer were the only two who drew against Tal.

Warren Pinches would know. As I mentioned before, Tal actually stayed at his house for a few days. Although, I don’t know if you will get any good stories out of Warren because when I asked him what Tal was like, he didn’t seem interested in talking about it. Trying to guess the reason for Warren’s reticence, I said: “Well, I’ve heard that Tal can be difficult because he tends to drink rather heavily.” Warren made some comment like, “well, that is the least of his vices.” I don’t know what happened there. (laughter)

All I know, is from my personal interactions with Tal, he was absolutely charming.

Fred:
And you said that Tal also gave a lecture.

Alan:
Yes. He was going over one his games in English.

Fred:
I was going to ask you, could he converse in English.

Alan:
Yes, he could. It was clear that he could speak English just fine. I think that he was sometimes a little reluctant to do it. I do remember him talking in English.

I had a neat personal experience while playing Tal in the simul. It was about the eighth or ninth move. Tal had just attacked a piece. I was all set to make my move. My bishop was attacked. My bishop was out on g4, and he played h3. Just then my chess friend, who was standing behind me watching, said: “Don’t retreat, it would be cowardly against Tal. DO A COUNTER ATTACK”, you know that kind of thing.

Fred:
Yes, right.

Alan:
So when Tal came to the board I’d had less time than normal to think because of the exchange with my well meaning friend and my search for an alternative move to the one I’d originally planned. I still hadn’t found one and suddenly there was Tal at my board waiting for my move. I panicked. All my planned strategy and thought went out the window. All I could think was that I have to attack something else. So, I did. And he just calmly captured my attacking piece. Though I could of course take back, he’d then net the other hanging piece. So naturally I resigned on the spot, being a piece down to Tal. It was really humiliating for me to lose so quickly against one of my chess heroes. Fortunately I didn’t lose heart and later beat a GM in a different simul. So, there is a personal story. After I resigned, I went to watch the other boards. 

While walking around, one of the variations from my just finished game kept intruding on my thoughts, so I returned to my board. You know how you see patterns in the game that you set up.

Fred:
Yep.

Alan:
And I thought, oh, if I could change a few little things I could get a smothered mate here. Of course, it was not real. It would have only been in a variation. Of course, Tal would have never allowed it. So, I set it up on the board and was kind of playing around with it when Tal came back around to my board. And I saw that he had sort of a serious look on his face as though suddenly confronted with an unexpectedly difficult position.
You have to remember that there were about 40 people playing and sometimes players taking the place of those who’d just lost, so it wasn’t surprising that the ‘variation’ didn’t register with him as something not actually played at the board. And Tal just sort of looked at the board, puzzled. He looked worried, and then he was leaning forward on his knuckles, looking at my board intensely. He thought it was for real, and he clearly saw the smothered mate at a glance. Then I just sort of knocked my King over, and said, “no no, I resigned. I was just going over the game.”

Fred:
Your instincts were probably correct.

Alan:
Yeah

Fred:
You just got the wrong advice.

Alan:
Exactly.

And I told Tal, “it did not actually happen. I thought it was an interesting position.” And Tal looked at me and his eyes sort of glowed, and he had this way of sort of putting out his forefinger. And then saying “Tisk, Tisk, Tisk” (laughter)

Fred:
It sounds to me that he forgot you had resigned.

Alan:
Yes, he was just going around the boards. This was like half an hour later. It was quite clear that he forgot that I’d already resigned. Of course, I had resigned very early. When he came back he saw this different position, which was losing for him.

After everything was over, we went up to get our books autographed. I had my copy of the Life and Games of Mikhail Tal. He saw me in the line. He looked at me very intensely at first. His eyes started gleaming again. He reached up, and said, “Tisk, Tisk Tisk” while waving his forefinger in the air and grinning mischievously, and then he signed my book. It was quite clear that he found the whole incident amusing. There was never any actual exchange of words. It was just the “Tisk , Tisk, Tisk”. (laughter) I kind of treasure that moment. It was a connection between us. And it showed his sense of humor.

Fred:
It sounds like he was a real gentlemen. And a nice guy.

Alan:
He was. I have heard some beautiful stories about him. He would play against anybody, at any hour of the day or night. He was quite happy to play a speed game against a low-rated player. He did not have any airs about him. He was not an arrogant world champion. If you read his book the Life and Games of Tal, you’ll see his wonderful sense of humor bubbling up throughout. There is one section where he interviews himself and shows a lot of wit.

Fred:
Now this was around the late 80’s, right?

Alan:
I think it was the late 80’s. I suppose it is possible it was the early 90’s. But I am thinking the 80’s. That is my gut feeling. I know we definitely played at the old post.

Fred:
The American Legion Post.

Alan:
Yes, right.

Fred:
Let me ask you a couple of questions. They wanted me to ask, not just you, but everybody.

Alan:
Sure.

Fred:
I think you have probably covered quite a few of them in your stories. Let’s see – When and where did you start playing chess? Most of us started as kids.

Alan:
Let me see, my Mother taught me the moves when I was a kid in England. She’s English . I did not really latch onto it right away, probably just played a couple of games.

Fred:
How old were you at that time?

Alan:
I think I was about 8 or 9.  My father was in the US Air Force and we moved back and forth between America and Europe. I had one of those service brat childhoods. We moved to Arizona. My Father was stationed at Davis Monthan Air force base. I remember that I was 11 at the time. I started getting interested in chess while there. 

My Mother was playing a man my father had brought home for supper. While watching her game, I thought, ‘I know how to move these pieces.’ So I challenged the winner.

Fred:
You know, I don’t think there is anything that motives a kid more than watching somebody. Because they say, I can do that, I want to do that.

Alan:
Yes, exactly. You feel sort of left out. Here you are with your family, your mother. And then there was this intriguing stranger. At least to my eleven year old mind he was interesting, as he was a Judo master and hunted rattlesnakes with just a knife. He was a very nice man, but he was playing (chess) with my mother. And I think I may have been a little jealous. I wanted to get in on it.

Fred:
Right.

Alan:
After he won, I played him and I lost. That motivated me more. So, I started playing chess with my mother. Within a year I was beating her pretty much all the time. At the age of 12, when I was in the 7th grade, I joined the junior high school chess team and became more active. Before that, I had just played a few games. 

Fred:
Are you playing now?

Alan:
Oh yes. I used to play correspondence chess, where I achieved an expert rating, but haven’t been interested in that form since computers came on the scene. That was quite a while ago.

My first real chess was playing second bard for the junior high school team. Then we returned to England. Unfortunately, the school there did not have a chess team. So I had a hiatus from it.

Three years later we moved back to America again, this time to Texas. I had a sad story there.  We had gone to Mexico. I came back with a beautiful onyx chess set. The white pieces were a wonderful mixture of cloudy white with some parts crystal clear. The black pieces were not just straight black but they had some gray woven in interesting patterns.

Fred:
I remember buying a set in Mexico in a place that was renowned for them. It starts with T, and might be something like Tosco. Something like that.

Alan:
Well, this was just across the border from Texas. We went in once a year. My parents would go shopping. We had a whole family thing down there. At one store I found a unique and beautiful set. Not only were the pieces lovely, they were contained in an elaborately inlaid, wooden box that opened up. It folded up to hold the pieces. You could unfold it to be a board to play on. Of course, everything would be loose inside. But my mother put felt inside the box and then she sewed pockets for all the pawns and pieces on both sides.

Fred:
Oh, that is a good idea.

Alan:
I was very, proud of my set. I took it to the Fort Worth club and fairly early on in the evening it got knocked over by someone passing by. I just remember that everything fell on the floor and a number of the onyx pieces got shattered. I was so utterly distraught.

But, anyway, played there at the Fort Worth club. And then I played a few games with one of my teachers in 12th grade. When I went to college I was fortunate to have a chess playing roomate my first year. In fact, that was one of my requests to the college, that my roommate be a chess player! And they actually verified that was what I wanted, and got a chess player roommate for me. Unfortunately my roommate later transferred to another university and that ended my college play.
Then, I went into the US Air Force, as an officer. I was sent to Lowery Air Force Base in Colorado, which has since been closed down. I was in the air training command. The base ran qualifing tournaments to obtain representatives for competing against other branches of the service. I was the number one player there. My top competition was a Sergeant who matched up pretty well, but I won the majority of games. In the base tournament, we each won all of our other games. Going into the last round, my opponent had clearly had quite a few beers, and it kind of irked me. I felt I was being taken too lightly. Anyway, I just went on this wild attack. It did not work and I ended getting one of my rare loses to him. So he got first place, and I finished second.

The top three went on to represent the base at the air training command tournament. That was in New Orleans. They flew us out there. I beat the sergeant like a drum all the way down on the plane ride, which of course didn’t really make up for losing the more important game in the tournament, but it felt good at the time! At least I finished well ahead of him at the Air Training Command championship, getting the top score for our base. That was my introduction to organized chess with clocks, score sheets, and the whole shebang.

Fred:
Yes, the first games with those is the worst. But after that it is okay.

Alan:
Oh God, yeah, I think I lost my first two games because the clock was driving me nuts and I kept forgetting to punch it, but then I started doing reasonably well. There were some decent, experienced players participating.

We had this lovely seafood meal outside under rows of colored lights. The ocean was just a stone’s throw away, and all the lights of the shrimp boats were glittering in the bay. It was a beautiful and memorable setting. The scrumptious four-course dinner was all paid for by the Air Force.

That was my introduction to organized chess. Then I played in a tournament in Denver. I got a provisional rating of 1717.

Fred:
And this was what year?

Alan:
Around 1968.

Fred:
They want to know who are some of the key players that you remember, from recent club activity. And I guess probably local. You mentioned Bobby Seltzer – and Sarkisian.

Alan:
I think that was his name, it was something like that. I remember he was a big guy. He was probably in his 30’s, with short, dark hair.

Fred:
Anybody else that you recall?

Alan:
You are talking about strong local players?

Fred:
Yes, right. In other words what we want to do is to fill out the history. Connect the dots.

Alan:
John Curdo. You are looking for players that have played at the Metro, or have played there.

Fred:
Right, so we can get in touch with them somewhere along the line.

Alan:
I did not continue going to that club that long because it was quite a bit further away than the local Waltham club. I did play Susan Polger. That was held at Framingham State College.

Fred:
How did you do against her?

Alan:
I actually lost quite quickly. I played her twice. The first time it was very close. The second time she crushed me, but very nicely though. Actually, she is the best woman player that I have ever played.

She was in the area. They arranged a simul with her at the Boylston chess club. I went to that.  She played 1.d4, I played 1…Nf6, she played 2.c4, I played 2…e6 and we ended up in a Nimzo-Indian.;  I did well for quite a while. I held out close to 60 moves, pushing her deep into the end game. Gave her a really good run for her money. Though I lost, I felt quite proud of the game.

Then a week or two later, she came to the Framingham area to give a simul.   It was at the Framingham State College.  This time she varied. She obviously had remembered the previous game. Because, she played Nf3 instead of Nc3 and I was suddenly in a Queen’s Indian that I knew nothing about. I didn’t have a clue as to what I was doing. (laughter) But she was very nice. She left this Queenside pawn hanging and I bit on it with my queen. She got the Rook on the B file and started gaining tempos like crazy. She quickly got this wonderful combination going. I may still have that game. Anyway, she crushed me in like 23 moves. I could have dragged it out a bit longer, bu my kingside was getting drafty, and I was behind in material, so I just resigned.

I had usually done fairly well in simuls up to that point. I took Yasser Seirawan deep into the game. I think I had a won position at one point. He was obviously impressed enough to invite me up to his hotel room for a party. There I got to chat with his fiancée, as well as GMs like Larry Christiansen. There was a whole party up there with lots of famous players and great food. I’d been the last human player to go down in the Yasser simul. He had been playing computers, too.

And we had gotten deep into this end game. I was up an exchange, for which he had a pawn. In the end game, he played better than I did with the pawns. When he was getting close to queening, I could have probably dragged it out and played on another 20 moves or so. But I was doomed, so I resigned. I think that he appreciated that, as now he was able to focus on the computer. He beat it. At least I gave him a good run for his money -- well, my money!

And I played Patrick Wolff, a really fine person, four times. I lost three long, tough games before I finally won one. I did not do so hot against Grand Master Walter Brown. He caught me in a pretty bad variation of the Center Counter, and destroyed me pretty quickly. It was much like the the 2nd Susan Polgar game.

Another simul was held on Boston Common, where there was a rotation of top players. I played Susan Polgar, Patrick Wolff, and the lovely Sophia Polgar, who is such a sweet and charming person. I held out a long time for that game too. I also played Grand Master Bisguier. For the most part I have lost to the grandmasters. Yet, I have played some decent games. Usually I’ve held out a long time. Except for the Walter Brown and second Susan Polgar games. And of course the Tal game, which was sad, as I so wanted to do well against him. My play there was quite pathetic. But I did get to know him a bit as a human being and make some connection with him, which I’ll always treasure.

  
  

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