Chess in 1991
by Bill Wall

In 1991, Susan Polgar became the first woman in chess history to earn the Grandmaster title through the conventional means by earning the required Elo rating of 2500 or above and playing well against other GMs.

In 1991, Anke Koglin won the first German Women's Chess Championship.

In 1991, Eva Ladanyine-Karakas of Hungary won the first World Senior (over 50) Chess Championship for women.

In 1991, Lin Weiguo (1970- ) won the China National Chess Championship.

In 1991, International Master Ricardo Calvo (1943-2002) was censured by FIDE and declared persona non grata for writing a letter that was interpreted by many Latin American readers as racist. He wrote of an unnamed South American journalist who "corrupted" young people.

In 1991, an episode (Season 3, Episode 7) called "Check Your Mate" appeared on Saved by the Bell (TV series from 1989 to 1993), where Screech Powers (Dustin Diamond) plays in a chess championship. Screech is the undefeated chess champion of Bayside and he has to play against Valley for the chess championship. Zack and Slater bet $300 that Screech would win, but Screech gets distracted when one of the attractive Valley girls steals his lucky beret before the match.

In 1991, Roman Dzindzichashvili (1944- ) won the Marshall Chess Club championship.

In 1991, USAF Major Bill Wall won the Central Pacific Armed Forces Championship in Mare Island, CA.

In 1991, Mario Murillo (Navy) won the 32nd US Armed Forces championship. The Sea Services won the team championship.

In 1991, Vladimir Akopian, Sergey Arkhipov, Dibyendu Barua, Victor Bologan, Roberto Cifuentes Parada, Stuart Conquest, Goran Dizdar, Thomas Ernst, Zenon Franco Ocampos, Joseph Gallagher, Jonny Hector, Gerald Hertneck, Alexander Huzman, Zlatko Ilincic, Alexander Ivanov, Edvins Kengis, Valey Loginov, Anatoly Machulsky, Dragoljub Minic, Valery Neverov, Thomas Paehtz, Judit Polgar (age 15 years, 4 months, 28 days), Zsuzsa (Susan) Polgar, Eduardas Rozentalis, Vadim Ruban, Alexander Shabalov, Spyridon Skrembris, Zurab Sturua, Raj Tischbierek, Sergei Tiviakov, and Milhail Ulibin became GMs.

In 1991, Arkady Flom, a 64-year-old grandfather was arrested in Manhattan after a young man sat down to play chess with him in the park. The young man played so poorly that Flom would give him pointers in exchange for $2. The young man agreed. They played for 20 more minutes and the young fellow paid his money. As soon as Flom put the money in his pocket, four NYPD officers approached him, slapped him in handcuffs and read him his rights. He was arrested for promoting gambling in the second degree and for possession of a gambling device, his chess set. He was jailed for 3 days, his medication was confiscated, and he had a heart attack. Five years later, he received a $1 million settlement in a false arrest suit against New York City as the judge ruled that a chess game was not "gambling" since it was a game of skill rather than chance and the chess board was not "gambling equipment."

In 1991, Jennie Frenklakh won the California Elementary Scholastic championship.

In 1991, Bernard Friend became a chess master for the first time at the age of 71.

In January 1991, Evgeny Bareev won Hastings 1990/91.

In January 1991, Igor Ivanov won the 8th Grand Prix.

In 1991, Kasparov was rated 2800 at the beginning of the year. Ivanchuk was rated 2735, followed by Karpov at 2730. Bareev was rated 2680, followed by Salov at 2665.

On January 1, 1991, the 11th world microcomputer chess championship was held in Vancouver, Canada. It was won by Gideon.

On January 11, 1991, Ladislav Alster (1921-1991) of Czechoslovakia died. He was Czechoslovak champion in 1956

On January 20, 1991, Anatoly Karpov won at Reggio Emilia, Italy.

On January 31, 1991, GM Ju Wenjun was born in China.

On February 3, 1991, John Nunn won at Wijk aan Zee (FIDE Category 14 — average rating of 2584).

On February 9, 1991, Jesse Tuggle died. He was the USCF most active player from 1985 to 1990.

On March 12, 1991, Edgar McCormick (1914-1991) died in New Jersey. He was New Jersey champion in 1951 and 1972.

From March 2-14, 1991, the Pan Pacific Grandmaster Chess Tournament was held in San Francisco. The event was won by Eugene Torre. 2nd place went to Patrick Wolff. 3rd-6th went to Mikhail Tal, Joel Benjamin, Ian Rogers, and Larry Christiansen. 7th place went to John Fedrorowicz. 8th-10th place went to Utut Adianto, Lubomir Ftacnik, and Susan Polgar. 11th place went to John Grefe. 12th place went to Walter Browne. I ran many of the demonstration boards during the tournament.

On March 15, 1991, Vassily Ivanchuk won at Linares.

On March 24, 1991, Shirazi and Zaltsman tied for 1st at the 114th annual Manhattan CC Championship.

On March 26, 1991, an episode (Season 18, Episode 21) on computer chess called "Chip vs. the Chessmaster" appeared on NOVA.

On March 31, 1991, Alexander Goldin won the 1991 New York Open.

On April 5, 1991, The Old Gang won the 1991 US Amateur Team Championship, played via modem.

On April 14, 1991, Paul Rohwer won the National Junior High Championship, held in Dearborn, Michigan.

On May 3, 1991, Josh Waitzkin won the National High School Championship, held in Atlanta.

On May 9, 1991, The ChessMachine won the Microcomputer World Championship, held in Vancouver, BC.

On May 13, 1991, Short and Salov tied for 1st at the 5th Euwe Memorial, held in Amsterdam . It was a Category 16 tournament.

On May 27, 1991, Dave Collins won the 1991 US Amateur Championship, held in Hackettstown, NJ.

In June 1991, Josh Waitzkin won the 1991 US Cadet Championship (under 16).

In June 1991, Ilya Gurevich became the 5th annual Samford Fellow.

On June 3, 1991, IM Osmo Kaila died. He won the Finnish championship twice.

On June 6, 1991, Walter Browne won on tiebreak at the 1991 National Open, held in Chicago.

On June 19, 1991, Bobby Moore won the 32nd Armed Force Championship, held in Quantico, VA.

On June 21, 1991, The US Blind Championship began in Columbus, Ohio. It was won by William Gibson, and Joe Kennedy.

On June 26, 1991, Vadim Tsemekhman won the US Junior Open, held in Bloomington, Illinois.

On June 26, 1001, Alex Sherzer won the 1991 US Junior Closed Championship, held in Bloomington, Indiana.

In July 1991, Charles Powell (1944-1991) died in San Francisco. He won the Virginia State championship 7 times.

In July 1991, Josh Waitzkin won the US under-16 Championship, held in Bronxville, NY.

In July 1991, Joel Benjamin won the 19th World Open, held in Philadelphia.

On July 13, 1991, Marcin Kaminski won the World Championship for Boys under 14, held in Warsaw, Poland.

On July 19, 1991, Ron Gross won the 11th US Senior Open, held in San Diego.

On July 30, 191, Vladimir Kramnik won the World Championship for Boys under 18, held in Guarapuava, Brazil.

In August 1991, the 3rd NATO championship was organized in the United Kingdom at Royal Air Force Cranwell. Germany took 1st place, followed by The Netherlands and Italy. The USA took 6th place. The individual winner was Norbert Lucke of Germany.

On August 9, 1991, the 92nd US Open was held in Los Angeles. Michael Rohde and Vladimir Akopian tied for 1st place.

On August 9, 1991 Gata Kamsky won the US Championship in Los Angeles.

On August 24, 1991, Levitina and Epstein tied for 1st at the US Women's Championship, held in Highland Beach, Florida.

On August 26, 1991, Alexei Shirov won the 15th Annual Lloyds Bank Masters, held in London.

In September 1991, Vladimir Akopian won the 1991 World Junior Championship, held in Mamaia, Romania.

In September 1991, Walter Browne won the 14th US Class Championship, held in San Francisco.

On September 2, 1991, John Fedorowicz won the 114th NY State Championship.

On September 9, 1991, the Soviets won the World Student Olympiad, held in Maringa, Brazil.

On October 1, 1991, GM Sam Shankland was born in Berkeley, California.

In October 1991, Xie Jun won the World Women's Championship in Manila at age 20.

In October 1991, Vasily Smyslov won the first Open Senior World Championship, held in Bad Worishofen.

On October 3, 1991, Gia Nadareishvili died. He was a Georgian chess composer and author.

On October 14, 1991, Karpov and Ivanchuk tied at the Reykjavik GMA World Cup (FIDE Category 16 — average rating of 2627).

In November 1991, Alan Stein won the 7th Arnold Denker Tournament of State HS Champions.

In November 1991, Joel Benjamin won the American Open, held in Los Angeles.

On November 3, 1991, China won the 9th Asian Championship in Penang, Malaysia.

On November 4, 1991, Garry Kasparov won at Tilburg, a Category 17 (2666) event.

On November 5, 1991, WGM Tan Zhongyi was born in China.

On November 11, 1991, Jan Timman won the 2nd Immopar Trophy in Paris (25 minute games).

On November 13, 1991, Elmar Magerramov and Artashes Minasian tied for 1st at the 58th Soviet Championship. The event was a Swiss System held in Moscow. Minasian won the event on tie-break. His prize was a gold medal and a new automobile fresh from the "Lada" factory. There were 64 players.

On November 25, 1991, Gaprindashvili and Zhaoqin tied at Women's Interzonal, held in Subotica, Yugoslavia.

On November 29, 1991, Gelfand won the Investbanka Tournament in Belgrade (Cat 15).

On November 29, 1991 an episode (Season 3, Episode 9) called "The Nose Job" appeared on Seinfeld. There is a dream sequence in which Jerry's brain and penis play a game of chess to decide whether he should dump his girlfriend or not.

In December 1991. Judit Polgar was awarded the grandmaster title at 15 years, 4 months, 28 days.

On December 19, 1991, Nigel Short wins the Duncan Lawrie English Chess Championship in Hammersmith.

On December 29, 1991, Brian P. Reilly died. He was a longtime editor of the British Chess Magazine.

On December 30, 1991, the U of Illinois won the 1991 Pan-American Intercollegiate Championship in Chicago.





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