For example, up in Duluth, a port city on western Lake Superior, the winters are long, snowy and very cold. They normally see temperatures remaining at or below freezing on 100 days which is the second-most of any city in the contiguous US behind International Falls in Minnesota. They have snow cover from late November to early April and winter storms can bring a foot or more of snow to the city; the average annual snowfall is about 7.5 feet.
Minneapolis in east central Minnesota isn’t any better. The city lies near the northern edge of Tornado Alley and the region experiences tornadoes almost annually. Then there are derechos which are not tornadoes, bu have winds as strong. Snow averages 9-10 feet a year and during the winter months temperatures average below freezing.
Minnesota was home to the legendary Curt Brasket (December 7, 1932 – January 24, 2014), a former US Junior Chess Champion and a sixteen-time (!) state champion. He held the title of FIDE Master. In 2013 he was awarded the Outstanding Career Achievement Award by the USCF.
Brasket was born in Tracy, Minnesota, the sixth of eight children. He became interested in chess at age 13 after finding a book on the game when he was looking for a book on checkers.
He attended the University of Minnesota and Saint John's University, graduating with degrees in French and mathematics.
Upon graduation, Brasket enlisted in the Army and was sent to Japan for a two-year tour. After his discharge he started a career as computer programmer for Unisys. Brasket got married in 1963 and moved to Bloomington, Minnesota. He had three daughters.
In 1952. the 20-year old Brasket won the US Junior Championship held in Omaha, Nebraska. During the 1970s he competed in a number of the Lone Pine tournaments and scored wins over the likes of Walter Browne, Arnold Denker and Larry Evans.
His peak FIDE rating was 2375 in January 1978 and in 1983 he was awarded the FIDE Master title. Between 1991 and his final tournament in 2011, Brasket competed in 583 tournaments.
In the late 70's he was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. After three years in a Veteran’s Administration facility Brasket died in his sleep at the age of 81. He was described by Sean Nagle, the incumbent Minnesota State Champion at the time of his death, as "a truly towering figure in Minnesota chess"
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A game that I liked (Fritz 17)
Curt Brasket–Dr. Anthony Saidy1–0E80Lone Pine6Lone Pine, CA USA12.03.1976Stockfish 17
E80: King's Indian: Saemisch 1.c4 g6 2.e4 g7 3.d4 d6 4.c3 f6 5.f3
The Sämisch is has been played by almost all the greats of the past
(Botvinnik,Tal, Petrosian, Spassky, Karpov and Kasparov.And, Bobby Fischer
eventually came to avoid it. White intemds to use the P on f3 to support the
advance of his K-side Ps in hopes of obtaining strong attack. c6 In practice
this little played side line is neither better nor worse than the far more
popular 5...O-O or the less often played 5...e5.... 6.e3 a6 This, the
Byrne Variation, is a flexible approach that was developed by GM Robert Byrne.
Black plays ...c6 and ...a6 in order to prepare . ..b5 while delaying a direct
counterstrike in the center. 7.c5 An interesting idea aimed at countering ..
.b5 bd7 7...b5 is playable. 8.cxb6 xb6 9.d2 0-0 and Hauchard,A
(2500)-Gurevich,M (2610) Belfort 1998 resukted in a long, boring draw. 8.h3 It's somewhat surprising that this move is Stockfish's second choice (8.cxd6
is first)/ 8.d3 e5 9.dxe5 xe5 10.e2 d5 11.d4 is about even. Dlugy,M
(2550) -Browne,W (2515) National op blitz 1993 8.c1 0-0 9.h3 dxc5 10.dxc5 c7 11.f2 e5 12.e2 with equal chances. Spassov,L (2419)-Dimov,K
(2167) Plovdiv BUL 2010 8...b5 9.cxb6 xb6 10.f2 e6 11.e2 0-0 12.0-0 b8 13.b3 Preventing ...Nc4 Black's Q-side play is underway while white
has yet to start anything on the K-side. a5 14.b1 c8 The more direct 14...
a4 was preferable. The tinmy delay in conducting his Q-side play that 14...Rc8
and 15...c5 take gives white just enough time to launch his K-side attack. 15.g4 It wasn't too late to try ...a4 c5 16.d5 Brasket has seized the
initiative and he bever lets up. d7 17.d2 c7 18.f4 18.h6 might have
been played by a lot of players in which case many players would avoid the
exchange of Bs and play h8 The problem here us that white has no really
effective way of continuing his attack. 18...a4 Finally! The move is still
sufficient to keep black in the game. 19.g5 e8 20.g4 axb3 21.axb3 xg4 22.xg4 cb8 23.f5 Technically the position is quite even, but a K-side
attack is always more dangerous than a Q-side one, so there is lurking danger
for black. d7 24.fxg6 hxg6 And here it is; this is the wrong recapture.
Brasket meets this with a real surprise. 24...fxg6 looks too dangerous,
but after 25.e6+ h8 26.h4 e5 27.f7 g7 28.xe7 White's position
looks overwhelming, but black can save himself with... a5 29.xd7 xc3 30.e2 f8 White's extra P, R on the 7rh and two Bs aren't enough yo give hjime
the advantage. That's theoretical based on the engine's evaluation, but in
practice not many players would like to have black's position. 24...fxg6 25.f7 This does not work here! e5 forking the R and B. 26.e6 xf7 27.f1 e5 28.xf7+ h8 29.g2 xb3 30.h3 xc3 31.xg6 f6 32.gxf6 exf6
Black is winnign. 25.xf7 xf7 25...e5 26.e6 xf7 27.f1 e5 28.g2 xb3 29.xf7+ g7 30.h3 ends the gane. 26.e6+ f8 27.f1+ 27.g2
was even more potent. e5 28.h3 a3 29.h7 f7 30.f1 wins. 27...f6
There is no longer any defense. 28.g2 g7 29.gxf6 e5 30.fxg7+ xg7 31.g5 h8 Brasket finishes the game with a very pretty move. 32.xe5+
Black resigned 32.xe5+ dxe5 33.f7+ g8 34.xe7+ f8 35.xc7 There is a matein 9/ a1+ 36.g2 a5 37.d6 a6 38.d5 a2+ 39.g3 f2 40.d7 h3+ 41.xh3 f3+ 42.g2 g7 43.d8+ f7 44.xf7# 1–0
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