It all began at the West Vancouver Chess Club in 1966-67. The club championship was a round robin among all interested members (14 of them). But nobody could be bothered to keep track of the results (in a crosstable), so I did. They knew more than I did, because in the crosstable, which I still have, only three players completed their schedule.
My international debut was at the 1969 Peace Arch tournament in Bellingham. The TD, Harold Raymond, was a cop, and unexpectedly got called on duty on the second day. I was playing, but subbed as TD. In the last round I got an unusual ending with Q + unmoved e-pawn versus Q against another Canadian, Brian Foan. That could take forever, so the other players decided that the game should be adjudicated. Viesteurs Seglins decided it should be a draw. So much for wielding Absolute Authority.
In 1969 I entered University at UBC. There was not really much of a chess club, so I organized two tournament. They were quite successful, with about 50 players.
In June of 1973 I was in Mexico, visiting my parents, and was
asked to direct a Zonal Tournament
, a regional qualifier for
the Mexican national championship. It was not that I had any fame as
a chess jurist, more that I was impartial (didn't really know any of
the contestants) and a reasonable player. In the very first round I
made a mistaken ruling. Both players were half an hour late, and
when they showed up, I took 15 minutes off each player's clock. As
Alfredo Iglesias pointed out to me, according to FIDE rules, then as
now, White should be docked the full 30 minutes.
In 1973-74 I was the BCCF Tournament Director, which meant coordinating the schedule of events, and maybe even directing some.
In the summer of 1973 I passed through Winnipeg on the way back from chess battles, and Cecil Rosner suggested that, since I could speak Spanish, maybe I would like to direct the Pan American Individual Championship the next summer. Seemed like a good idea at the time.
In 1974-75, after the BC Championship Incident, I became President of the BCCF. It was like a punishment for being a trouble maker. By this time the UBC Chess Club had a pretty good relationship with International House and we held the 1974 Canadian Junior with me as the chief and dogsbody. Peter Nurmi won the tournament, which tickled the head of IH, Mr. Smith, who remembered the skiing exploits of Paavo Nurmi.
The big event of the season was Vancouver 1975 which, with 320 entrants and a prize fund of over $16,000 is still (2003) the largest adult tournament with the largest prize fund in Canada west of Toronto. I directed the Open Section, while Ray and Eunice Kerr, Rusty and Kathy Miller shared the other sections.
After Vancouver 1975, John Prentice, who was the President of the CFC and Canada's FIDE Representative, suggested that I might be eligible for the title of International Arbiter. I needed to speak two languages (English and Spanish), and to have been chief arbiter at at least four important competitions.
and to have displayed competence and impartiality. Mr. Prentice kindly sponsored my application, and in the fall of 1975, at the tender age of 22, I became the youngest International Arbiter in the history of FIDE. A few years later, Sophia Gorman became an arbiter at a younger age, but it was fun while it lasted.
Here is a list of tournaments that I have directed.
... to be continued, maybe.
URL: This web page is:
http://members.shaw.ca/berry5868/cha.htm
Last modified February 23, 2005