Author Description

Chess historians and collectors consider the California Chess Reporter the gold standard for California chess magazines. It has combined all the pertinent information that a chess historian looks for: who played in what tournament, club or league, when and where it was played, and, of course, the game scores. The match results, club results, league results, tournament cross tables, and game scores that appeared every month for both Northern and Southern California answered all of these criteria and more. In 1967-1971 chess activity increased throughout the state. No longer were players playing primarily for the honor and the glory. They wanted the money. Class tournaments started being held, where players would compete in the Class A, Class B or Class C sections for big cash prizes. Strong new players developed either because they were young players who just got better or because they came to California from other places or both. Examples of both were Walter Shawn Browne and Julio Kaplan, both of whom came to California at age 17. Browne was born in Australia but grew up in Brooklyn. When he came to California in 1967 he was already the US Junior Champion. He proceeded to win almost every tournament he played in, including the California State Championship. A great new series of tournaments was established in Lone Pine in 1971. It eventually became annually the strongest Swiss System tournament in the world. First winner was Larry Evans who moved to nearby Reno, Nevada. The new player who had the biggest impact on the California Chess Reporter was Jude Acers, who moved here from New Orleans. Acers won several tournaments. Acers proceeded to provide numerous articles and chess analysis that filled up the pages of the California Chess Reporter. If you read it here, it was probably written by Acers.