It's also home of Cafe Figaro, a long-running stop for homestyle Italian dishes and an extensive wine list in a warm, cozy setting. Over the course of three weekends a Swiss tournament, the Cafe Figaro Open, was held there back in June, 1970.
The event wasn't a small one...there were 97 players and a lot of them were pretty good. The winner, William Addison, had earned his IM title in 1967 and James Tarjan would go on to win his IM title in 1974 and the GM title in 1976.
The tournament was directed by none other than GM Isaac Kashdan and there were 8 Masters and 24 Experts (2000-2199) entered.
Way down in 34th place was a 2230 rated National Master named John Grefe who got his IM title in 1975. He also tied for first with GM Lubomir Kavalek in the 1973 US Championship. Grefe passed away of liver cancer at the age of 66 in 2013. Also, among the top 20 or so finishers a significant number went on to become National Masters.
Addison won a trophy and $500, Tarjan won $300 and the four players sharing 3rd place got $50. That $500 Addison won would be worth over $3,700 today. Back in those days the median income of all families was about $9,870 compared to last year's median of over $51,000. It was a nice payday for Addison.
In the following game Andrew Sacks crushes Earl Pruner. Sacks, then an Expert, went on to become a National Master and an English professor at Cal State. He served as one of the wall-boys for
the 1963 Piatigorsky Cup. In 1964 he was one of three players to defeat Bobby Fischer in 50-board simul against members of the Steiner Juniors section of the Herman Steiner Chess Club.
Earl Pruner (1930-2019, 88 years old) was the best Mechanics’ Institute Chess Club (San Francisco) player to emerge after World War Two.
A native of San Francisco, he graduated from UC Berkeley and came to prominence when he finished fourth in the 1949 US Junior Open in Fort Worth behind Arthur Bisguier, James Cross and Larry Evans. He defeated Bisguier in their individual game. After serving in the Army, Pruner developed into a 2300 rated Master by the 1950s
Andrew Sacks–Earl Pruner1–0B43Cafe Figaro Open, Burlingame CA1970Stockfish 15
Sicilian: Kan Variation 1.e4 c5 2.f3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.xd4 a6 This move
is a common themes in many Sicilian variations, but in the Kan black plays
early. This allows him to be very flexible. The critical square for black to
control early is e5 because he does not want to allow white to play e4-e5.
This is usually accomplished by playing ...Qc7 and ...Nc6. Of course these are
normal development moves but in the Kan they are played before black develops
his K-side pieces. 5.c3 c7 6.g3 By far the most popular move here is 5.
Bd3. 6.d3 f6 7.0-0 c5 8.b3 e7 9.f4 d6 is the main line today. 6...b5 7.g2 b7 8.0-0 f6 8...e7 9.e1 d6 10.a4 bxa4 11.xa4 d7
Carlsen,M (2646)-Van Wely,L (2655) Schagen 2006. Whits has the better chances. 9.a3 9.e1 Intending the thematic advance e5 is better. h6 10.e5 xg2 11.xg2 h7 12.f3 with a good game. Stepovaia,T (2378)-Dzagnidze,N (2443)
Kocaeli 2008 9...c6 10.xc6 10.de2 did not turn out well for white in
Vasiukov,E-Tal,M Tbilisi 1959 e7 11.b3 0-0 12.b2 fd8 13.h3 ac8 14.h2 d5 15.exd5 e5 16.d4 g6 17.ad1 exd5 black is better. 10...xc6
Taking with the Q was actually better, but understandably black was reluctant
to place his Q on the diagonal of the B. 11.e2 Missing a tactical shot
that would have secured the advantage. 11.d5 exd5 12.exd5 xd5 13.xd5 e7 13...xd5 14.xd5 c6 15.e1+ e7 16.g5 f6 17.xf6 gxf6
Strategically white has a won position. 14.e1 d6 15.g5 xd5 16.xe7+ f8 17.xd5 xd5 18.xd7 White is better, but Bs of opposite color offer
black some hope. 11...b7 12.f4 d6 This yields the advantage to white.
Black needs to get castled by ...Be7 and ...O-O 13.fd1 0-0-0
Even though this defends the d-Pawn the K is dangerously exposed on this side. 13...d8 14.d5 e7 15.xf6+ gxf6 15...xf6 16.xd6 wins the P anyway
and white is clearly better. 16.c4 bxc4 17.ac1 a4 18.d2 e5 19.h6
White is better. 13...c8 This gives up the P, but it is his best chance. 14.xd6 xd6 15.xd6 0-0 16.ad1 a5 with some chance of defending himself. 14.d3 e5 This only makes matters worse. 14...d7 15.ad1 h6 16.d2 16.xd6 xd6 17.xd6 e5 Black's defense has been eased. 16...c5 17.d4 d7 18.xd6 xd6 19.xd6 hd8 20.f4 c7 21.e5 with an excellent position.
15.g5 e7 16.xf6 xf6 17.d5 xd5 18.xd5 b6 Black's position is
lost, but somewhat better was 18...Kd7 as the text allows white a very strong
reply. 19.a4 Which he misses, not that it really matters. Black's fate is
already sealed. 19.h3+ b7 20.c4 g5 21.cxb5 a5 22.a4 Black is
helpless against the coming advance b4. 19...b7 20.axb5 a8 21.a3 a5 22.h3 d8 23.c3 c7 24.c6 a7 25.c4 b8
Mate is in the air. 26.b6 xb6 27.xb6+ xb6 28.b5+ It's
mate in 3 so Pruner resigned. Forceful play by Sacks. 28.b5+ Stockfish 15:
a7 29.xa5+ b6 30.b5+ a6 31.a4# 1–0
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