Hi Jim,
Did you know that you are mentioned in the new book "The Rookie" by Stephen Moss? See quote below from the chapter titled "Life at the Marshall." I got it on my Kindle and read it over the weekend. The book was a good read about competitive chess.
In the second round – this was what in the U.S. is called a ‘Game 45’ tournament, with each player getting 45 minutes – I came up against a very good player: a veteran called James West who was rated 2200, had written books on opening theory and who was, I discovered later, a fixture on the New York chess circuit. He had a greying beard, which he stroked from time to time; his jacket was a little threadbare; he sighed a good deal (even though I didn’t give him much to sigh about), and made a point of always staying a few minutes ahead on the clock just in case. He played the King’s Indian Defence, and of course knew it back to front. After 15 moves my position was horrible; after 20 I was a pawn down and as good as lost. I wished he had been out on a bender with Sam the night before, but I could see he wasn’t that kind of a guy: he was very businesslike, clearly lived for chess and loved to win. I had heard him earlier telling the story of defeating a grandmaster in a tournament being played in a hotel, and coming out of the lobby afterwards and finding the GM beating his head against the wall. He wasn’t boasting; just telling it matter of factly. Chess does strange things to people – and especially to players who try to make a living from the game – was his point.
Tom Stanics
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The story is true, with one correction. My opponent at the New Yorker Hotel was a FIDE master, not a grandmaster.
