Steve Brandwein has died
No, this is not a mistake. This time he really has died.
In January 2015, it was reported that Steve Brandwein, who had been suffering from cancer, had died. A Steve Brandwein Memorial Blitz Tournament was organized at the Mechanics Institute at 57 Post Street in San Francisco California, to be held on Saturday February 21, 2015.
However, before the event could be held it was discovered that Steve was alive. The tournament was held anyway and Steve attended but did not play. This proved to be the strongest blitz chess event ever held in San Francisco with 76 players including 6 grandmasters and 6 International Masters. It was also the strongest stand-alone blitz tournament ever held in the USA outside of New York City. A stand-alone event is an event not connected with another major event such as the US Open.
It was also one of my best results ever as I defeated a master Uyanga Byambaa and I won all of my other games against anyone rated lower than me. Sadly it was not USCF or FIDE Rated so I did not get the oodles of rating points I would otherwise have received.
chessclub.org/archive.php?y=2015 … 1Standings
Steve Brandwein was a tremendously strong chess player, but nobody ever found out strong he was because nobody could ever beat him. The only player I ever saw beat Brandwein was Grandmaster Miguel Najdorf who played him a session at the Flea House, also known as the Chess and Checker Club in New York on 42nd Street and Seventh Avenue in New York City in 1964. Najdorf who was one of the strongest blitz players in the world won almost all of the games against Brandwein. However, I have been told that later on there was another a session between Brandwein and Najdorf in San Francisco and they broke about even.
In 1981, during the “Searching for Bobby Fischer” years when Bobby Fischer was in hiding, Brandwein put Fischer up in his room briefly in San Francisco and they played a lot of two-minute games. Brandwein won a few of the games. He was the only player who ever won a two-minute game against Fischer. Fischer refused to play a game slower than two-minute chess.
Steve Brandwein was born on November 9, 1942 in Massachusetts. He died at 3:30 PM on Saturday December 13, 2015 in Pacific Medical Center, San Francisco, California. The presumed cause of death was cancer as he had been under treatment for cancer for some time. The last time I met him a few months ago, he told me he was cancer clear. Apparently that was not true.
There is no doubt that Steve was above 2400 in strength. However, after the 1964 US Open in Boston where he finished bear the top and where I first met him, he never played in another tournament. His final rating in that tournament was 2297. As he never played again, that will be the final rating in his life.
Unfortunately, the records of that event have been lost, the only US Open from which no records survive. The only tournament game we have by Brandwein was a game where he beat a 2400-player, Neil McKelvie. Here is that game.
[Event “US Open”]
[Site “Boston, MA USA”]
[Date “1964.08.??”]
[White “Neil McKelvie”]
[Black “Stephen Brandwein”]
[Result “0-1”]
[ECO “E78”]
[WhiteElo “2400”]
[BlackElo “2297”]
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Be2 O-O 6.f4 c5 7.Nf3 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Nbd7 9.Be3 a6 10.O-O e5 11.Nc2 exf4 12.Bxf4 Ne5 13.Qd2 Be6 14.b3 b5 15.c5 b4 16.Nxb4 Qa5 17.Bxe5 dxe5 18.Nd3 Rfd8 19.Qb2 Rd4 20.b4 Qc7 21.a3 Rb8 22.Rad1 Nxe4 23.Nxe4 Rxe4 24.Nf2 Re3 25.Bxa6 e4 26.Qc1 Rc3 27.Qg5 h6 28.Qh4 Rxa3 29.b5 e3 30.Ne4 e2 31.b6 exf1=Q+ 32.Bxf1 Qc8 33.Bb5 Bf5 34.c6 Qe6 0-1
The way I found out that Steve had died is I was calling him to ask a question about chess history. I called him to ask about a fine and distinguished chess player known as “Checkers the Mad Gorilla”. Checkers the Mad Gorilla was a regular at the Flea House for many years. He was about expert strength at chess. I played him one long session but I cannot remember who won. I was calling Steve to ask him about how strong Checkers the Mad Gorilla was, because Steve would know the answers to a question like that. Unfortunately, the person who answered the phone told me the bad news that Steve had died. So, I may never learn the answer to my question.
For the last several years, Steve Brandwein was the guest of Andrew McKinley, owner of the Adobe Bookstore located at 24th and Shotwell Streets in San Francisco.
A memorial will be held for Steve Brandwein on January 24, 2016 at the Mechanics Institute on 57 Post Street in San Francisco. Paul Whitehead is the contact person.
Sam Sloan