Old chess tales - Playing Bobby Fischer for a draw

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012

Hi everyone,

We found this interesting video about a senior chess player. In 1964, a Hungarian immigrant who worked at a brewery in Philadelphia played chess legend Bobby Fischer. His name was Anthony Koppany. He passed away on on Oct. 17, 2011. You might say what's so great about a draw in a simul. But then, this is not just about a draw. It's not even about a simul. It's about the passion that chess is!

Here is the game.

Robert James Fischer - A Koppany

Result: 1/2-1/2

Site: Cheltenham

Date: 1964.05.03

[...] 1.e4 g6 2.d4 ¥g7 3.¤c3 d6 4.f4 ¤f6 5.¤f3 O-O 6.¥d3 c5 7.dxc5 ¥d7 8.cxd6 exd6 9.O-O ¥c6 10.f5 gxf5 11.exf5 ¤bd7 12.¢h1 d5 13.¤e2 ¢h8 14.¤g3 £b6 15.¤g5 ¦ae8 16.¤h5 ¥b5 17.¤xg7 ¢xg7 18.¤h3 ¦g8 19.¤f4 ¢h8 20.b3 ¥c6 21.¥b2 d4 22.¥c4 ¦e4 23.¥xf7 ¦g4 24.£d2 ¦exf4 25.¦xf4 ¦xg2 26.£xg2 ¥xg2+ 27.¢xg2 £c6+ 28.¢g1 ¢g7 29.¥c4 b5 30.¥d3 ¤e5 31.¦af1 ¢f7 32.¥xd4 ¤xd3 33.cxd3 £c2 34.¦4f3 ¤g4 35.¦h3 h6 36.¦h4 £e2 37.¥xa7 ¤e5 38.¦h3 ¤g4 39.a4 bxa4 40.bxa4 £a2 41.¦h4 £xa4 42.¥e3 £e8 43.¦xg4 £xe3+ 44.¢h1 £xd3

From Alexandra Kosteniuk's

www.chessblog.com

Also see her personal blog at

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R.I.P. Anthony Koppany - Chess master who drew with Fischer in a wild game

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011


Hi everyone,

Anthony Koppany, 93, of Lansdale, an accomplished chess player who once played Bobby Fischer to a draw, died Monday, Oct. 17, at home. A native of Hungary, Mr. Koppany learned to play chess when he was 10 from a relative who became a chess master. After emigrating to the United States in 1949, he played with the North City Chess Club and was later director of the Franklin Mercantile Chess Club in Center City.

In 1964, Mr. Koppany played Fischer at the Cheltenham Township Art Center.

According to an Inquirer account, it was a wild game in which Fischer, playing white, wound up with two rooks and two bishops against Koppany's queen and two knights. After the bishops and knights were gone and Mr. Koppany's queen seemed positioned to check Fischer's exposed king repeatedly, Fischer offered a draw. The two men then shook hands. When he moved from Olney to Lansdale in 1997, Mr. Koppany played chess at St. John's United Church of Christ. He continued to win tournaments there until he stopped playing at 90. He was having some memory loss and said he wanted to go out on top, said his daughter, Edith Verna.

Mr. Koppany taught school in Hungary. During World War II, while serving in the Hungarian Army, he met and married Maria Bedice in Yugoslavia in 1944. He later fought on the Russian front. Mr. Koppany worked for a meat-processing company in Philadelphia for several years before going to work for Schmidt's brewery in 1953. He was a computer systems operator at the brewery when he retired at 62.

Mr. Koppany enjoyed reading, the outdoors, and swimming at the YMCA in Lansdale. In addition to his wife and daughter, he is survived by sons Stephen and George; six grandchildren; and 14 great-grandchildren. A son, Anthony Jr., died in 2009.

A Funeral Mass will be said at 11 a.m., Friday, Oct. 21, at St. Stanislaus Church, 51 Lansdale Ave., Lansdale. Friends may call from 10 a.m. Donations may be made to the American Cancer Society, 480 Norristown Rd., Suite 150, Blue Bell, Pa. 19422. The full story is at this link.

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From Alexandra Kosteniuk's
www.chessblog.com
Also see her personal blog at
www.chessqueen.com