Russell Chauvenet

  

     Besides being an Expert chess player Louis Russell Chauvenet (February 12, 1920 – June 24, 2003) was one of the founders of science fiction fandom. 

     He was the US Amateur Champion in 1959, as well as state champion for Virginia in 1942 through 1948 and for Maryland in 1963, 1969 and 1976. He also wrote columns for Chess Life. When he won the title in 1963, his son also took the state's Junior title.

     In 1991, Chauvenet won the National Deaf Championship in Austin, Texas. In 1992, at Edinburgh, Scotland, the International Committee of Silent Chess awarded him its Grandmaster title. 

     Chauvenet represented the US at the World Individual Deaf Championship four times: (1980, 1984 where he won the Silver medal, 1988 where he won the Silver medal and 1992. In addition, he also won three US National Tournaments of the Deaf: 1980, 1983 and 1987. 

     Besides chess, Chauvenet was an award winning runner. After his retirement, he resumed his college running career with the Montgomery County (Maryland) track club. He was honored in the Washington D.C. area and recognized as a "1,000K Man" when he completed his 100th 10K race (all between the ages of 62-75). 

     He was the founder of Boston's The Stranger Club, a science fiction club active during the 1940s. He also co-founded the National Fantasy Fan Federation. 

     It was Chauvenet who coined the terns “fanzine” (in 1940) and “prozine, a term for professionally published magazines containing science fiction stories.

     Chauvenet was also a sailor and even built his own Windmill class sailboat and participated in regattas. The Windmill is a recreational sailboat, built predominantly of plywood or fiberglass in the form of a double hull with a foam core, resulting in an unsinkable boat. In addition to other positions he served as editor of the Windmill Class Association newsletter. 

     Born in Knoxville, Tennessee, he became completely deaf in 1930 at age 10 after suffering cerebro-spinal meningitis. He attended a special school for the deaf before graduating from Belmont Hill Preparatory School in Belmont, Massachusetts and then went on to Harvard, Boston College and the University of Virginia, receiving a Bachelor of Science in biology in 1943 and a Master of Science in chemistry in 1948. 

     From 1943-1946 he was employed by the Calco Chemical Company in New Jersey, after which he worked with computers as a civilian employee of the US Department of Defense from 1948 until his retirement.

     In the following game he defeated Walter Suesman (1918-1984) who once played in the US Championship in 1938; he finished last (17 players) with a +1 -13 =2. He defeated Isaac Kashdan (!) and drew with George Treysman and George Shainswit. Reshevsky won the tournament a half point ahead of Fine. Suesman, a solid Master, won the 1960 Rhode Island state championship. 

[Event "Ventnor City"] [Site "Ventnor City, NJ USA"] [Date "1942.06.22"] [Round "?"] [White "Walter B. Suesman"] [Black "L. Russel Chauvenet"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D10"] [Annotator "Stockfish 16"] [PlyCount "81"] [EventDate "1942.??.??"] {D12: Slav Defense} 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. e3 Nf6 4. Nc3 Bf5 5. Nf3 e6 6. Qb3 Qc7 7. Bd2 b6 {An inferior continuation. Correct is 7...Nbd7} 8. Rc1 {The threat is 9.cxd5 exd5 10.Nxd5 sso now the Q has to move to an ineffective square.} Qb7 9. Qa4 {Rather pointless. Simply 9.Nh4 gaining the two Bs was satisfactory.} Bd6 10. Be2 {Here or next move he should still try Nh4} O-O 11. O-O a6 12. Ne5 dxc4 {This should worj out to be in white's favor.} (12... b5 13. Qb3 Bxe5 14. dxe5 Nfd7 15. cxd5 cxd5 {keeps things even.}) 13. Nxc4 $16 Bc7 14. Qb3 Nbd7 { White now has the more active position.} 15. f4 (15. Na5 {Interestiong, but tricky!} Bxh2+ 16. Kxh2 Qc7+ 17. Kg1 bxa5 {White should be OK because of all black's weak Ps.}) 15... b5 16. Ne5 Nxe5 {Taking with B was a little more precise because his Ns would do better in the closed position.} 17. fxe5 { By capturing with the f-Pawn white hopes to use the open f-file to cocnduct a K-side attack.} Ne4 18. Be1 {Too passive.} (18. Nxe4 Bxe4 19. Bd3 Bxd3 20. Qxd3 {and there doesn't seem to be any way for white to take advantage of black's backward c-Pawn.} a5 21. Qe4 Ra6 22. Rc5 Rc8 23. Rfc1 Bd8) 18... Bb6 19. Bf3 { After this the position is only equal, so white should have played 19.Nxe4 and he would have had slightly the better of it.} (19. Nxe4 Bxe4 20. Bb4 Rfd8 21. Bd3 c5 22. Bxc5 Bxc5 23. Bxe4 Qxe4 24. Rf4 Qb7 {and either way white takes on c5 he has a very slight advantage.}) 19... Ng5 20. Be2 c5 {[%mdl 32] Black commences his counterplay.} 21. Bh4 {He simply cannot afford to ignore blak's Q-side activity.} (21. dxc5 {and white has nothing to worry about.} Bxc5 22. Nxb5 Qb6 (22... axb5 23. Rxc5 {and white has the advantage.}) 23. Nd4 Bxd4 24. exd4 Qxd4+ 25. Bf2 Qxe5 {with an equal position.}) 21... Ne4 (21... cxd4 { This takes advantage of white's slip.} 22. exd4 Bxd4+ 23. Kh1 Be4 24. Nxe4 Qxe4 25. Bxg5 Qxe2 26. Be7 (26. Rfe1 Qxb2 27. Qxb2 Bxb2 {with a won ending.}) 26... Rfc8 {Black has a active and theefore promising position.}) 22. Nxe4 Qxe4 23. Rf4 {After this white quickly finds himself in hot water.} (23. dxc5 { Neutralizes black's Q-side play and after} Bxc5 24. Rxc5 Qxh4 {neither side can demonstrate an advantage.} 25. Qc3) 23... c4 {Of course the Q cannot retreat.} (23... Qb7 24. Bf3 Qa7 25. Bxa8) 24. Qc3 (24. Rxe4 cxb3 25. Rf4 bxa2 26. Ra1 Bb1 {is not at all good for white.}) 24... Ba5 {[%mdl 512] A well played followup to his last move as his Q still cannot retreat.} 25. Rxe4 Bxc3 26. Rxc3 Bxe4 27. Bf3 {Trading off his good B only makes things worse, but in the long run black would still be winning after, say, 27.Be7} Bxf3 28. gxf3 { [%mdl 4096]} Ra7 {White's mass of center Ps will prove no match for the exchange.} 29. Kf2 Rc8 30. e4 b4 31. Rc2 Rac7 32. d5 Rd7 33. d6 f6 {Excellent! Black undermines white’s P’s and makes inroads for his R’s.} 34. Bg3 (34. exf6 gxf6 35. Bxf6 Rxd6 {and black is in full control.}) 34... Rc5 35. f4 Kf7 36. Ke3 c3 37. bxc3 $2 (37. Kd4 {is also insufficient, but it would hold out longer.} Rc8 38. bxc3 Rxc3 39. Rxc3 bxc3 40. Kxc3 fxe5 41. fxe5 Rb7 {wins the endin. For example...} 42. Bf4 Rb1 43. Bg5 Ke8 44. h4 Ra1 45. Kb3 Kd7 46. Be7 Re1 47. Kb4 Rxe4+ 48. Ka5 Kc6 49. a3 Re3 50. d7 Kxd7 51. Bf8 Kc6 52. Kxa6 g6 53. Ka5 Rxe5+ 54. Kb4 Re4+ 55. Kb3 Rxh4) 37... Rxc3+ 38. Rxc3 bxc3 39. Kd3 Rb7 40. Kxc3 {This position is very similar to the one reached after move 40 in the the note to move 37.} Ke8 41. Kc4 {White resigned. His resignation is possibly a little premature, but in the long run his position is lost.} (41. Kc4 fxe5 42. f5 {As has been seen, fxe5 leads nowhere.} exf5 43. exf5 Kd7 44. Bxe5 Rb5 45. Kd4 g6 46. fxg6 hxg6 47. Bg3 Ra5 {Black wins. One example...} 48. Kc4 Rxa2 49. Kb3 Rg2 50. Be5 Re2 51. Bf4 Rf2 52. Be5 Rf5 53. Bd4 {White cannot allow the sacrifice of th exchange because the K+P ending is lost.} (53. Bg3 Rf3+ 54. Ka4 Rxg3 55. hxg3 Kxd6) 53... Rh5 54. Bg1 Kxd6 55. Kb4 Rh4+ 56. Kb3 ( 56. Ka5 Kc6 57. Ba7 (57. Kxa6 Ra4#) 57... Rxh2) 56... Kc6 57. Ka3 g5 58. Kb3 g4 59. Kc3 Kd5 60. Kb3 Ke4 61. Kb4 Rh5 62. Kb3 Kf3 63. Ba7 Rxh2 {and wins}) 0-1