Larry Evans dies at the age of 78

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Larry Evans (1932-2010)

Larry Evans dies at the age of 78

IM Malcolm Pein - Monday 22nd November 2010

Malcolm Pein gives his tribute to Larry Evans who has died at the age of 78.

Grandmaster Larry Evans, a five-time United States chess champion, author, journalist, and trainer of Bobby Fischer has died in Reno, Nevada at the age of 78.

Evans was potentially a world class player but took an early decision to make a career in chess writing. His chess column, concise and informative, was syndicated across the USA and worldwide for over 30 years and he was perhaps the most widely read chess journalist in the age before the internet.

Evans wrote over twenty books, the most notable being "New Ideas in Chess," and "Modern Chess Brilliancies". He was an editor of the 10th edition of "Modern Chess Openings," which, before computer databases, was the main reference book for tournament players. However, Evans' main contribution to chess literature was his editing of the most famour chess book of all time; Bobby Fischer's "My 60 Memorable Games." in which he also wrote the game introductions.

Evans assisted Fischer in his match victories over Mark Taimanov and Bent Larsen in 1970 and Tigran Petrosian in 1971. As was the case with many of Fischer's friends, there was a falling out and Evans did not travel to Reykjavik for the 'Match of the Century' against Boris Spassky in 1972.

According to his long time friend Larry Parr, Evans, originally from Manhattan, began his career as a chess hustler on 42^ndStreet. At 15 he won the championship of the Marshall Chess Club. He was New York State champion at 18 and represented the USA in the Chess Olympiad at Dubrovnik in 1950 where he took an individual gold medal. He played eight Olympiads and participated when the USA won team gold at Haifa in 1976.

In 1951 he won his first United States championship ahead of the legendary Sammy Reshevsky and four more triumphs followed in 1952, 1961, 1968 and 1980. He was awarded the GM title in 1957.

Evans made few forays abroad to play tournaments but hinted at his potential. He finished fourth at Buenos Aires 1960, ahead of Fischer and was second at Venice 1967, equal with the then world champion Tigran Petrosian. His 2.5-1.5 victory over Mark Taimanov in the 1954 U.S.A. vs U.S.S.R. match stands out. Evans describes this as The most thrilling game of my career" as he was trapped in some prepared analysis. By move 18 Taimanov had used only two minutes on the clock while Evans had contemplated for an hour.

M Taimanov - L Evans

King's Indian

1.c4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 0-0 5.d4 d6 6.Be2 e5 7.0-0 Nc6 8.d5 Ne7 9.Ne1 Nd7 10.Nd3 f5 11.f3 f4 12.Bd2 g5 13.Rc1 Rf6 14.c5!?

(A novelty. White gives a pawn to open the queenside)

14...Nxc5 15.Nxc5 dxc5 16.Na4 b6 17.b4 cxb4 18.Bxb4 Bf8?!

(18...c5 19.Bc3 Ng6 20.Nb2 Bd7 21.a4 with pressure)

19.Rxc7?

(19.Qb3! Kh8 20.Nb2)

19...Nf5!!

Larry Evans