Helen Warren informed me this AM that her husband Jim Warren died. His heart gave out. I have few details. The death notice and funeral details will be in the Chicago Tribune a week from Saturday, according to Helen.
Jim worked with Elo in developing the ratings formula. Along with Helen he ran APCT for years. They sponsored many Master chess events over the years, including the U.S. Masters.
There was a profile written 35 years ago. Interestingly enough, he said the programming he did for the CICL ratings (Chicago Industrial Chess League) was a fore-runner of the work he did for the FIDE/ELO ratings.
chicagochessleague.org/cicl/ … ec1979.pdf
P.S. The CICL’s annual Most Improved Player award is also called the James E Warren award.
[Event “Fischer tour sim”]
[Site “Chicago”]
[Date “1964.03.22”]
[Round “?”]
[White “Fischer, Robert James”]
[Black “Warren, Jim”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[ECO “B88”]
[PlyCount “133”]
[EventDate “1964.03.??”]
[EventType “simul”]
[EventRounds “1”]
[EventCountry “USA”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “2000.11.22”]
{The main line is the game Jim Warren played against Fischer at the Edgewater
Beach Hotel in March 1964; their Cicero game from May 1964 is cited in the
notes to White’s 19th move. I’ve referenced a couple other famous Fischer
games to give the reader an idea of how impressive it was to get Bobby into
trouble in this line, even in a simul.} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4
Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. Bc4 {Fischer was the virtuoso of the Sozin Attack.} e6 7. Be3
Be7 8. O-O ({The Velimirović Attack} 8. Qe2 a6 9. Bb3 Qc7 10. O-O-O {had not
yet been developed.}) 8… O-O 9. Bb3 Bd7 10. f4 Nxd4 11. Bxd4 Bc6 12. Qe2 b5
$1 $11 {This move was first played by Unzicker in 1952, and adopted by such
great players as Geller, Tal, and Boleslavsky later in the 1950s. There’s no
need for Black to waste time on 12…a6, as White has tactical problems
defending e4.} 13. Nxb5 {In his book on Fischer’s simul tour, A Legend on the
Road, John Donaldson quotes Jim Warren: “After this move [in the second game,
played in Cicero], Fischer looked up from the board at me and said, ‘Didn’t I
make this mistake against you before?’”} (13. e5 dxe5 14. Qxe5 Bd6) 13… Bxb5
14. Qxb5 Nxe4 15. f5 Bf6 (15… e5 {“is considered critical nowadays,”
according to Karsten Müller.} {Stockfish offers the cute line} 16. Qe2 Ng3 $1
17. hxg3 exd4 {with a sharp middlegame in store.}) 16. Qd3 Bxd4+ ({IM John
Donaldson writes, “Improving over Fischer-Weinstein, USA (ch) 1958-59 which saw
} 16… d5 17. Bxf6 Nxf6 18. c4 dxc4 19. Qxd8 Rfxd8 20. Bxc4 e5 21. Rfe1 e4 22.
Rad1 {with a clear advantage to White. It’s interesting to note that in these
games Warren was able to gain the advantage against Fischer favorite 6.Bc4” (A
Legend on the Road, p. 76).}) 17. Qxd4 d5 ({Suffering} 17… Nc5 18. fxe6 Nxe6
{against Fischer would not be fun.}) 18. c4 $6 ({Stockfish finds an
improvement:} 18. fxe6 fxe6 19. Rxf8+ Qxf8 $2 (19… Kxf8 20. c4 {is an
improved version of the game continuation}) 20. Bxd5 $1 Qd6 21. Re1 $1 {
Fortunately for us, there were no desktop computers in 1964.}) 18… dxc4 $1
19. Qxd8 ({In the Cicero simul, Fischer played} 19. Qxe4 {and once again
barely held on} cxb3 20. fxe6 Qb6+ 21. Kh1 fxe6 22. axb3 Qxb3 23. h3 Qxb2 24.
Qxe6+ Kh8 25. Qe7 Rxf1+ 26. Rxf1 h6 27. Rf8+ Rxf8 28. Qxf8+ Kh7 29. Qf5+ Kg8
30. Qc8+ Kh7 31. Qf5+ g6 32. Qa5 Qb6 33. Qa2 Qb7 34. Qa1 Qc7 {1/2-1/2 (34)
Fischer,R-Warren,J Cicero 1964}) 19… Rfxd8 20. Bxc4 Nd2 21. Rfc1 Nxc4 22.
Rxc4 exf5 {Black has excellent practical chances in this pawn-up double rook
ending.} 23. b4 Rd2 24. a4 g6 25. b5 $2 ({White’s first priority should be to
get a pair of rooks off the board:} 25. Rac1) 25… Re8 $1 26. Kh1 Ree2 27. Rg1
Ra2 28. h3 Re4 {Fischer was of course an amazing defender, but Jim Warren’s
technique in the next thirty-five moves is pretty darn good, too.} 29. Rgc1
Rxa4 30. Rxa4 Rxa4 31. Rc7 h5 32. Kg1 h4 $1 33. Kf2 Kg7 34. Rb7 Kf6 35. Rc7 Rb4
36. Rxa7 Rxb5 37. Rc7 Re5 38. Ra7 g5 39. Rb7 g4 40. Rb6+ Re6 41. Rb4 Kg5 42.
Rb5 Kf4 43. Rb4+ Re4 44. Rb7 f6 45. Rb6 Kg5 46. Rb5 Re5 47. Rb8 Ra5 48. Rb2 Ra3
(48… g3+ {is a faster win, but Jim’s move is perfectly sensible.}) 49. Rc2
gxh3 50. gxh3 Rxh3 {Rook plus f- and h-pawns versus rook is like the 7-10
split in bowling in that it’s famously difficult to convert. Many positions
are objectively drawn. Here, however, Black’s doubled f-pawns should insure
the win.} 51. Rc8 Ra3 52. Rg8+ Kf4 53. Rh8 Ra2+ 54. Kg1 Kg3 55. Rg8+ Kf3 56.
Rh8 Rg2+ 57. Kh1 Rg4 (57… f4 58. Rxh4 Rg6 {is a quick kill because White’s
rook is too passive.}) 58. Kh2 Ra4 {Take away the pawn on f5, and this
position is a theoretical draw.} 59. Rh6 Ra2+ 60. Kh3 f4 61. Rxf6 Ke3 62. Kxh4
(62. Kg4 {might be a better try, but it still loses} Rg2+ $1 63. Kh3 f3 64.
Re6+ Kf2 65. Ra6 Rg1 $1 {and now, because the White king is cut off, Black can
hide his king on h5} 66. Ra2+ Ke3 67. Ra3+ Kf4 68. Ra4+ Kg5 69. Ra5+ Kg6 70.
Ra2 (70. Ra6+ Kh5 71. Ra5+ Rg5 72. Ra4 Rg3+ 73. Kh2 Rg4 74. Ra8 Rg5 75. Kh3 Rf5
76. Ra1 Kg5 77. Rb1 Kf4) 70… Kh5 $1 {Hmm, that’s a mate threat.} 71. Ra5+ Rg5
72. Ra4 Rg3+ 73. Kh2 Rg4 74. Ra8 Rb4) 62… f3 {John Donaldson writes, “Jim
was the last player to finish in both [the Chicago and Cicero] exhibitions and
was twice forced to play Fischer ‘one on one,’ having to move instantly. That
explains why he didn’t win [this] game.”} 63. Kg3 Rg2+ 64. Kh3 Rg8 $2 (64…
Rg1 $1 65. Ra6 f2 66. Ra3+ Kd4 67. Ra4+ Kc5 68. Ra5+ Kb6) 65. Ra6 $1 {Rook on
the long side, king on the short side!} f2 66. Ra3+ Ke2 67. Ra2+ 1/2-1/2
I had hoped he would be the survivor and would be able to explain unsubstantiated remarks made in private correspondence