In June of 2005 Bill Brock and Sam Sloan played a 3-game “Grudge Match” (Event ID 200506269701) sponsored by the Illinois Chess Association. Bill, with a rating over 100 points higher than Sam, won the first game. In spite of his higher rating and first-game win, though, he somehow managed not to win the match.
I had long wondered how my friend Bill could have failed to seal the deal in such favorable circumstances. Today I figured it out, though:
In the second game, Bill was about to checkmate Sam. Bill was grinning broadly as he grabbed his queen to deliver the mate. Suddenly, lifelong Chicago chess fan Steve Bartman leaned over the spectator railing and blurted out, “Why did that red thingie on the clock just fall?” Sam instantly claimed the win by time forfeit, and though Bill fumed about “fan interference,” the result stood. Bill was so shaken by the fan interference-induced robbery of his historic win that he just couldn’t pull himself together for the last game, and that was that.
Thus rabid Chicago chess fans were once again cruelly denied the victory over New Yorkers that they have yearned for so many decades. Probably many lifetimes will pass before Chicago will even have another opportunity to claim chess preeminence.