By Larry Tamarkin

The Chess Center of New York was one of those romantic New York game joints that you read about in novels or see featured in movies like SEARCHING FOR BOBBY FISCHER. You always knew they existed, but when you actually experienced these places firsthand, they weren't quite like you pictured them to be ... and yet they were.

My first story concerns an experience I had at the Chess Center of New York when, as a naïve, relatively young man of twenty-seven, I deeply loved chess but had no idea how weak I really was compared to professional players.

This particular tale occurred in 1983. The name of my opponent has been changed, though I think many who know him will recognize him here.

Since the 1972 match between the young superstar Bobby Fischer and then World Champion Boris Spassky, I had been smitten with chess. My school guidance counselor found me some local clubs to join and for several years I crossed swords with other members and learned what I could. 

Nevertheless, big league chess in Manhattan came slowly for me. My chess consisted of a steady diet of Long Island club games and battles in weekend, hotel-based tournaments. My results demonstrated my lack of talent, so scholastic coaches and New York chess stars didn't know I existed. And, being a bit dense, I didn't know how to find them.

It wasn't until 1981 that I finally found the Chess Center of New York. This was an actual chess building devoted to chess, backgammon, and poker in the back room. It also had a kitchen area roughly in the middle of the facility that prepared food for the poker players -- they often needed a sandwich, along with their lines of coke, late into the night.

This romantic setting was what I had often dreamt of and, when Bill Goichberg put a sign up offering a chess-related job, I jumped at the chance!

Bill's mother was in charge of the interviewing process, and I must admit that her questions weren't what I expected:

Fanny (very severe traditional Brooklyn accent): "Can you wash dishes?"

Larry: "Sure, I won't mind that at all."

Fanny: "Can you mop the floor?"

Larry (Faking it): "I look forward to doing that every day, no problem!"

Fanny: "Well, we want to make sure we hire a person who isn't afraid of a little hard work -- Would you do some cleaning for me right now so I can see how you are at it?"

Larry: "Okay." (What was getting myself into?)

Moving one of the signs in front of the kitchen area, Fanny handed me a paper towel and cleaning fluid as thousands of roaches launched themselves in all directions -- up the grease-caked wall, down to the filthy floor, under cabinets, at my throat. Things went hazy as I launched into action, but eventually I realized that I must have won when Fanny yelled, "Bill, Bill! This boy can really clean!"

The job was mine, and with it, a place in one of America's greatest chess establishments.


Back in 1973, New York was the place to be if you were a strong player or an up-and-coming talent, and this would remain the case for many years to come. I had often read about the exploits of young International Master RM and, always looking for more information and games, clipped out every chess column by Robert Byrne (published twice weekly in the New York Times). When Shernaz Kennedy eventually introduced me to RM at the chess center, I was amazed -- he actually played me a few five-minute games! Of course, I didn't realize that the rapidly improving I.M. was usually up till 3 or 4 every night playing poker in the back room. In many of the games RM would trash talk nonstop "OK, Where is it? Where is it?" or "What the F does this fish think he's doing here?" I was in heaven! This was true New York blitz -- energy, insults, mood -- it was all there hitting me in the face like a waterfall. Though I was losing the overall match by about 7 to 3, I was battling him tight in every game and his running commentary was (In my mind anyway), very complimentary -- "Who does this guy think he is?"

Later on, as I became a regular at the Chess Center and attended to many of the card clowns' (tournament director Steve Immitts metaphorical suggestion of what to call them) late night eating habits (Sometimes we had to include the roaches in the food!), I became good friends with RM. And then one day it finally happened -- I was paired with him in one of the club's numerous quads! At this point I was in an incredible run of great form (1st in nine Swiss Quad Events in a row!) and really thought I was going to become a late-blooming International superstar like so many others that came to the club who, of course, were much younger then me. In this quad I was rated number two of the four players and would get RM in the last round (we would toss for colors). I duly won my first two games, as did RM. Then I lucked out and got White against him. I remember thinking, "Well this guy is still stronger then me despite my recent results. I have to do something solid so that even though I will probably lose, at least I won't look like a fool in doing so!" Here is the game:

Tamarkin - RM [A01]
Chess Center, 1983
1.b3 e5

I experienced a disaster as Black seven years later: 1...Nf6 2.Bb2 g6 3.e3 Bg7 4.Nf3 d6 5.d4 0-0 6.c4 Nbd7 7.Be2 e5 8.dxe5 Ng4 9.Nc3 Ndxe5 10.Nxe5 Nxe5 11.0-0 f5 12.Qd2, Haessler-Tamarkin, MCC Futurity 1990. The position may not be anything special for White, but I have had problems with the Black side in practice. I went down in flames in the Haessler game.

2.Bb2 Nc6 3.Nf3 d6 4.e3 Nf6 5.Bb5

A new move at that time. More common moves were:

1) 5.c4 g6 (5...Be7 6.d4 exd4 7.exd4 [7.Nxd4 Nxd4 8.Bxd4 c5 9.Bb2 b6 10.Be2 Bb7 11.Bf3 Rb8 12.Nc3 0-0 13.0-0 a6 14.Nd5 Nxd5 15.Bxd5 Bf6 16.Bxf6 Qxf6 17.Bxb7 Rxb7 18.Qd5 Rc7 19.Rad1 Rd8 20.Rd2 Qe6 21.Rfd1 g6 22.Qxe6 fxe6 23.Rxd6 Rxd6 24.Rxd6 b5 25.Rxe6 bxc4 26.bxc4 Rb7 27.g3 Rb4 28.Rxa6 Rxc4 29.a4 Rb4 30.a5 Ra4 31.Ra7 Ra1+ 32.Kg2 c4 33.Rc7 Rxa5 34.Rxc4 h5 35.Rc7 Re5 36.h4 Re4 Iacono - Y Salazar, Dubai 1986] 7...d5 8.Nc3 0-0 9.Be2 Re8 10.0-0 Bf5 11.Re1 Nb4 12.Rc1 Rc8 13.a3 Na6 14.cxd5 Nxd5 15.Nxd5, Iacono - Abbasi, Dubai 1986) 6.d4 exd4 7.Nxd4 Bg7 8.Nxc6 bxc6 9.Nc3 0-0 10.Qc2 Re8 11.Bd3 d5 12.cxd5 cxd5 13.0-0 c6 14.Rac1 Qd6, Chaves - Landry Vuorenpaa, Thessaloniki 1984.

2) 5.Be2 a6 6.0-0 Be7 7.c4 Bg4 8.d4 exd4 9.Nxd4 Nxd4 10.exd4 Bxe2 11.Qxe2 0-0 12.d5 Nd7 13.Nd2 Bf6 14.Ne4 Bxb2 15.Qxb2 Qh4 16.f4 Rae8 17.Qd4 f5 18.Ng5 Re2 19.Ne6 Rf7 20.Rf3 Rf6 21.Rg3 Rf7, 1/2-1/2, Braeutigam Recknagel, Eisenberg 1993.

5...Be7

Not completely free of problems is 5...a6 6.Bxc6+ bxc6 7.0-0 g6 8.c4 Bg7 9.d4 exd4 10.Nxd4 Bd7 11.Nc3 0-0 12.Qd2 Re8 13.Rad1 Qe7 14.Rfe1 Ne4 15.Nxe4 Qxe4 16.Ne2 Bxb2 17.Qxb2 Qh4 18.c5 Re5 19.Rd4 Qf6 20.cxd6 cxd6 21.Qd2 d5 22.Rc1 h5 23.Qb4, ±, Schaefer - Krueckeberg, Hessen 1988.

6.Bxc6+

6.d4 exd4 7.Nxd4 Bd7 8.Bxc6 bxc6 9.Qf3 d5 10.Nf5 Bxf5 11.Qxf5 0-0 12.Nc3 Bb4 13.0-0 is in the Fritz powerbook.

6...bxc6 7.0-0 0-0 8.c4 c5 9.d4! cxd4 10.exd4 e4 11.Nfd2 Re8 12.Nc3 Bf8 13.Re1 Bf5 14.Nf1 c6 15.Ne3 Bg6 16.d5 c5 17.Ne2 Nd7 18.Nf4 Ne5 19.Bxe5!

A key exchange, White's positional control is complete.

19...Rxe5 20.Ng4 Re8 21.f3 Bf5 22.fxe4 Bxe4 23.Ne6!


The best move of the game. It gives me an iron grip on the light squares.

23...fxe6 24.Rxe4 e5 25.Qf3 Qg5 26.Ne3 Be7 27.Rg4 Qf6 28.Qe4 h5 29.Rf1 Qxf1+

Black's position is bereft of possibilities. If 29...Qh6 30.Nf5 Qh7 (30...Qf6 31.Rg6! is cute) 31.Rxg7+ Qxg7 32.Nxg7 Kxg7 33.Qf5 Rf8 34.Qxh5 Rxf1+ 35.Kxf1 Rf8+ 36.Ke2 followed by 37.Qg4+ and Qd7.

30.Kxf1 hxg4 31.Qxg4 Rf8+ 32.Ke2 Bf6 33.h4 Rae8 34.Qg6 Re7 35.Nf5 Rd7 36.g4 e4 37.h5 Be5 38.g5 Rff7 39.Nh6+, 1-0.

To say I was happy is an understatement. I couldn't believe I had beaten such a strong opponent! I.M. David Goodman was so enamored with this game that he encouraged me to write it down properly so he could see exactly how it went. He proceeded to almost prance around the room (I didn't realize that he and RM didn't exactly get along.), showing everybody else the game -- particularly the part where I played Ne6, dominating the light-squares!

RM was a little miffed but, though he was known to have a pretty serious temper, was reasonably nice to me. "So you're the big fish now, aren't you?"

I just shrugged and mumbled something about spending the $40.00 prize.

RM's eyes lit up, and he said, "Well then maybe some of your good luck will rub off on me? Give me your prize and I'll use my patented rock-solid poker strategy to increase it in the next few hands of cards in back."

What could I say? What could I do? I had just beaten the guy who beat the latest group of young Russian chess geniuses, and was the youngest I.M. since Fischer! In other words, I was in heaven (little did I know that RM and I would play more than a dozen games in the years after this and I would only manage one single draw)! I gladly gave him the $40 I won, and off he went to demonstrate the ultimate poker strategy. Twenty-five minutes (and lots of losing hands) later my money had gone down the drain and RM was out for the night. Nevertheless, I had to admit that I had been blessed with one hell of a good day!