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| Kenneth Clayton |
Clayton was one of the earliest pioneers of Black chess in the US and was described as distinguished and a man with a presence that commanded respect.
His first rated tournament was the 1959 Washington, DC Open in which he placed 6th earning a provisional rating of 2020. In 1963 he entered the US Amateur Championship with a 2102 rating that ranked him in 8th place; he won the title.
Making Master was a struggle, but he achieved the coveted 2200 rating in 1967 and became only the 4th Black player in the US to earn the title. He was also known for his coaching ability and he successfully mentored many young Black players.
Clayton, who came from a relatively well-to-do family, was born and raised in Washington, DC. He earned early admissions to attend any Ivy-League university and he chose Harvard where he studied chemistry. At the age of 17 he enrolled and that was also the same year he took up chess and improved rapidly. For the next two years, he played for the Harvard chess team along with Shelby Lyman who became famous for his broadcasts of the Fischer-Spassky World Championship match in 1972.
He dropped out of Harvard because he had gotten involved computer science and found employment with a company in Laurel, Maryland. He then got a contract as a computer advisor in Vietnam. Nobody knows exactly what that job entailed, but it was speculated that he was involved with US intelligence.
Stationed in Saigon, he met the Truong family. Mentored by Clayton, the son, Trong Hoai Nhan, created a sensation when he won the national championship at the age of eight!
When the South Vietnamese government collapsed in the spring of 1973, the family made a death defying escape and ended up in the US where the boy became known as Paul Truong, a Master, trainer, and organizer. Clayton helped the family resettle.
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| Milton Danon |
In the last round Clayton and Tomchin played a quick draw and so Daniels had a chance to become the clear winner, but he was unable to get past his opponent's staunch defense and could only draw. Thus, the finish based on tiebreaks was 1) Clayton 2) Tomchin and 3-4) Daniels and George Sendeckyj.
Here is Clayton's crush of USCF Expert Milton Danon (January 15, 1921 - November 14, 2006, 85 years old) of New Jersey. He was the US Amateur Champion in 1979 and a very strong postal player with the USCF.
Kenneth R Clayton2102–Milton Danon1–0B90US Amateur Champ, Asbury Park, NJ1963Stockfish 15.1
Sicilian Scheveningen/Najdorf 1.e4 c5 2.f3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.xd4 f6 5.c3 a6 6.c4 e6 7.b3 e7 8.f4 c7 9.e3 White had a very strong move in
9.f5! 9.f5 exf5 9...e5 10.f3 b5 11.g5 bd7 12.xf6 xf6 13.d5
with an excellent position. 10.xf5 xf5 11.exf5 0-0 is favorable to
white because of black's isolated d-Pawn. 9...d7 9...b5 is more to the
point. 10.a3 b7 11.f3 bd7 Matthews,S-Noaman,H (2205) Thessaloniki 1988
Now white's best move is 12.f5 which leaves black only slightly better. In the
game white played the risky 12.Bxe6, but managed a draw. 10.g4 e5 This is
the wrong P push because it allows white to get a very strong attack. However,
calculating the best move (10...d5!) OTB would not be an easy task! 10...b5 is not worthy of serious consideration because after 11.g5 g8 12.f5
White has what should amount to a winning attack. For example... b4 13.fxe6 fxe6 14.ce2 e5 15.e6 xe6 16.xe6 d7 17.d5 and wins. 10...d5
is black's best option, but after 11.exd5 e5 This complicates things and is
black's best chance. 11...xd5 12.xd5 exd5 13.f3 white's position is
favorable. 12.g5 g4 In order to keep any advantage white needs to find... 13.g1 a3 Clever. 14.d6 Again, the only good move. xd6 15.de2 exf4 16.d5 a5+ 17.ec3 e3 18.xe3 fxe3 19.f6+ gxf6 20.xd6 White is
better, but visualizing all this is beyond a human player. 11.f5 White
has a decisive advantage. xf5 11...g6 12.xe7 xe7 13.fxe5 dxe5 14.g5
wins the N because if it retreats white has the fork 15.Nd5+ 11...exf4
This is the only other option, but after 12.xf4 xf5 13.exf5 White's
position is much better. 12.gxf5 12.exf5 was even better. bd7 13.e2 c5 14.g5 fd7 15.0-0-0 xb3+ 16.axb3 followed by Nd5 leaves white calling
the shots. 12...bd7 13.g1 g8 Black does best to ignire the threat to
his g-Pawn and stike back in the center. 13...d5 14.fxe5 xe5 15.xd5 xd5 16.xd5 h4+ 17.f1 c4 18.xc4 xc4+ 19.d3 White is better, but black
can continue the fight. 14.d2 c5 15.d5 xd5 15...exf4 Black's
position is very difficult, but this was a better try. 16.xf4 h5 17.g5 h6 18.xe7 xe7 19.0-0-0 and black can put up a stubborn defense. 16.xd5 h4+ 17.e2 c6 18.fxe5 dxe5 19.c3 This excellent move wraps it up. c8 20.xe5+ f8 21.f6 Digging out black's K. xf6 22.xf6 b5+ 22...gxf6
leads to mate. 23.h6+ g7 24.xg7+ g8 25.xf6+ f8 26.e7# 23.f3 e2+ Pointless, but he was facing a mate in 3, so after playing this move black
resigned. Excellent play by Clayton. 23...e2+ 24.xe2 gxf6 25.d6+ e8 26.xg8# 1–0
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