American Grandmaster Larry Evans has died. I met him several times and corresponded with him on a few occasions when I used to be more of a journalist, but I certainly don't have anything to add to Larry Parr's piece at the USCF site. Most of the mentions of him I recall were my weakly defending his Chess Life Q&A column in its final years as being mostly not his fault since people always sent in the same questions. Of course that popular column was only a small chapter in a long and impressive life in chess. Like so many others who lived through the Bobby Fischer Explosion, much of what is widely known and what will be remembered about Evans by those who didn't know him personally is about his relationship and experiences with Fischer. (Remarkably, he played only six games against Fischer.)
Larry Evans 1932-2010
39 Comments
Rip Larry.
Let's not rip Larry. Let him rest in peace.
Indeed, semanicist, whatever your handle may mean.
RIP means Rest In Peace.
Oy vay.
Today (and everyday) also died 10.000 children because they had nothing to eat.
RIP Larry and RIP the 10.000 unkown children without names that have nothing to eat and nobody cares about.
Requiescat in pace works in other languages, too.
Why would anyone want to rip Larry?
Show some respect, for Evans' sake
Um...are we all thoughtless dogs because we don't remember everyone who dies every day, Kramnik-Fan?
Did you post that simply to flex your compassion muscles? Jeez, what a dick move.
Here, let me widen the sensitivity gap between you and me: RIP to GM Larry Evans, but to hell with all those other jerks. Serves 'em right for not mastering chess.
Very 'puny' professor. Somehow, Larry probably would have like the jokes.
I'll miss his columns as well as his books; I have five or six of them and they are great, still enjoy reading them over.
So sad that the U.S. has lost all four of it's greatest 20th century players (Fischer, Fine, Reshevsky and now Larry Evans).
I remember once when Fischer himself wrote into Evans' column. In a previous column, Evans had evaluated some bishop vs. knight ending as equal--Fischer wrote in to show that the side with the bishop was winning (of course, that particular ending was a specialty of Bobby's).
I also remember there was some guy who--long before the age of computers--made a specialty of "cooking" Fine's Basic Chess Endings and writing long, detailed letters to Evans' column, correcting Fine.
Evans was a huge figure for us chess players of a certain age.
very nice beard.
(Ooops! This is my correct handle. Sorry about that, Knallo!)
noyb: "Somehow, Larry probably would have like the jokes."
EXACTLY! Thank you for vindicating my attempt at humor. I knew GM Evans, and I am SURE you are correct.
And CAL|Daniel, are you ... ah, never mind.
"So sad that the U.S. has lost all four of it's greatest 20th century players (Fischer, Fine, Reshevsky and now Larry Evans)."
What about Jackie Beers?
Do you mean there were four "greatest players" in the U.S. during the 20th century and now "all four" are dead?
Hag
"So sad that the U.S. has lost all four of it's greatest 20th century players (Fischer, Fine, Reshevsky and now Larry Evans)."
"All four"? Some greats that are still with us are Kamsky, Nakamura, and Seirawan.
Let's leave Nakamura out of this - he wasn't such a great 20th century player ..... .
Very, very sad news.
Even some from the early part of the 20th century probably rank higher than Evans or Fine. Marshall and Pillsbury, for example.
I wish GM Evans(RIP) would have written a "Best Games" book.I applaud Kramnik-Fan for mentioning the suffering children in this world.Ricardo is a twisted-minded jerk. Seriously, get a life and join the human race.
I'll one-up you and mention not just the suffering children, but ALSO the suffering elderly ladies. And the suffering dachshunds.
Kashdan was a giant compared with Evans, as were the other three you name. And Lombardy was the first US world champion of the century, if not of all time. How soon they forget! Sigh.
Goodbye Larry Evans, one of the best,RIP
Another person who's better than the rest of humanity.
I mean, seriously. Get over your phony-baloney kum-ba-yah selves. Of course no one wants to see children, or anyone for that matter, die of starvation.
The insecurity and faux-compassion of you and Kramnik-Fan is revolting. Everyone here who failed to mention the 10,000 children feels just as badly about their plight.
Let me guess: you're big into candlelight vigils, Livestrong wristbands, and awareness ribbons, right?
Really, you have no idea how arrogant and self-centered you seem. That's why your guesses are all stupid and ignorant.You were actualy angry at Kramnik-Fan for remembering the UN estimates of daily fatality rates for children. WTF? Why would any normal human being be angry about that? That was a dick move( your words). And instead of mocking children's deaths ( a real dick move) keep your posts on topic,chess, remember? Example, I bet that Ricardo sucks at chess.
gee, my perfectly neutral comments on the Spassky thread are looking good by comparison...
Lame and fail.
"You were actualy angry at Kramnik-Fan for remembering the UN estimates of daily fatality rates for children. WTF? Why would any normal human being be angry about that?"
How dense are you? Seriously. Seek help.
This is a thread about the death of Larry Evans. Kramnik-Fan rides in on his "I care" horse and reminds us that 10,000 children die daily. What on earth is the point?
It's praise bait. Someone like Kramnik-Fan believes himself to be a TRULY CARING person, and thus wants praise for his superhuman sensitivity. I'm sorry you fell for it.
"And instead of mocking children's deaths..."
*facepalm*
"keep your posts on topic,chess, remember?"
Agreed. Now I suppose, having appointed yourself to the position of topic monitor, you could explain how 10,000 dead children relates to the topic of chess.
"I bet that Ricardo sucks at chess."
I do, Grandmaster. But I'm pretty good at spotting platitude-spouting approval whores, like Kramnik-Fan and yourself.
I remember Fischer wrote in once to cook a Karpov move. He began with "I'm sure I'm wrong but..."
"[S]ome guy" was John Speights of Raleigh, NC, who I believe specialized in R & P vs. R cooks.
Agree that it's silly to mention Evans in the same breath as Reshevsky and Fine. Even some of his peers (R. Byrne, Benko) had far more success in international play. But this was largely a conscious choice on Evans's part....
Indeed a very good read! Very informative post with pretty good insight on all aspects of the topic! Will keep visiting in future too!
My first big tournament was the 1971 U.S. Open in Ventrua, near my home town. I got to play partial host and Larry Evans was a gracious guest on those occasions where we interacted. I have purchased probably 10 copies of New Ideas in Chess for friends over the years.
Rest In Peace
It may be hard for young 20-somethings or non-Americans to fully understand what Larry Evans meant to American chess fans who lived through the Fischer quake.
Evans was a giant. The best single adjective I have heard is 'versatile': Evans mattered in a lot of ways, not just as a player or just as an author etc.
Unlike too many other major figures in American chess history, Larry Evans is not associated with disruptive personality traits or hyper-dramatic tragedies that dominated his chess persona. Evans therefore gets less press at his passing after a long life enjoyed.
Doubtless Evans is happy with that trade-off.
I have read up some on Larry Evans and, from what I have gathered, his was a greater man than chess player - and that is something not all chess players can say. God rest his soul. http://www.outdoorlightsgalore.com | http://www.outdoorlightsgalore.com/landscape-lighting-ideas/outdoor-party-lights | http://bestpelletstoves.blogspot.com/2009/08/used-pellet-stoves.html | http://bestpelletstoves.blogspot.com/ | http://www.findacellphoneuser.com/2010/04/reverse-cell-phone-number-lookup.html
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