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Saturday, June 29, 2019

Manhattan CC International 1976

     July marks the 43rd anniversary of the Manhattan Chess Club’s holding of the first international tournament in New York since 1951 and it ended in a triple tie for first prize between IM Norman Weinstein, GM Leonid Shankovich (then representing Israel) and GM Anatoly Lein, an expatriate Russian. 
     The tournament was held from July 8-23, 1976 and was an important test for several of the young US players.
     Weinstein missed achieving the GM norm by half a point while 16-year old Michael Rohde of New Jersey, 18-year old Helgi Olafsson of Iceland and Roberto Kaimo of the Philippines, obtained their first IM norms. 
     Two young players, 17-year old Jonathan Tisdall and 18-year old Mark Diesen, missed the IM norm by a half point. For 13-year old Michael Wilder and 12-year old Joel Benjamin it was the first time they had faced such tough opposition.
     The name of Roberto Kaimo is probably unfamiliar to most. He was born in Surigao City, Philippines and was a graduate of F.E.U. in Manila with a Bachelors Degree in Commerce. After graduation he worked for a paint company in the Philippines before moving to the US where he worked for a chemical company in Newark, New Jersey as an Inventory Manager; he retired from in 2006. 
     He passed away at the age of 72 on July 28, 2016 in South Plainfield, New Jersey. Although his obituary listed him as an IM, his FIDE card shows no title and lists his rating as 2280 with no activity since at least the year 2000. 
     The only other mention of him that I found was that in the 1974 Philippine Championship the then 29-year-old Kaimo, who had quit his job in order to play in the event, was among the leaders for much of the tournament, but ended up in 7th place with a score of 11-9. As a result, he was just a half a point short of making the country’s Olympic team. Soon after this tournament he moved to the US. He also enjoyed bowling, singing, dancing, and was known as the life of the party. 
Weinstein
     Norman Weinstein (no relation to Raymond Weinstein) had been a student at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and described himself as a “chess bum” who traveled the country playing in tournaments. All that came to a halt when he was the first chess player hired by Banker's Trust in the early 1990s. He was so successful that they kicked off a recruitment program for other strong players. 
     Anatoly Lein (March 28, 1931 – March 1, 2018, 86 years old) was a Soviet-born GM who emigrated to the US in 1975. He arrived in the US at the same time as Leonid Shamkovich as part of the earliest wave of Soviet players. He was enshrined in the US Chess Hall of Fame in 2004. 
Lein

     Lein was strongly disliked by more than a few people because he was confrontational and quick-tempered. He once complained that the USCF was illegally taking rating points away from him. 
     He was a big, burly fellow who like to play quiet positional games and endings and was famous for his grim determination to milk small advantages and forcing his opponents to defend hours. 
     At one time he was a chain smoker and I remember seeing him watching a game with his hands clasped behind his back and holding a cigarette while he tap, tap, tapped the lit end with his index finger...quite a trick. 
     Lein settled in Cleveland, Ohio where his wife, Barbara Gottlieb, was an attorney. In 1999 he told a reporter that he would have preferred to live in Alaska because, "It's pretty hot here sometimes." 
     In the following game Weinstein demonstrates how a powerful center can be used to create a K-side attack. 

1-3) Norman Weinstein, Anatoly Lein and Leonid Shamkovich 10.5 
4) Milan Vukic 9.5 
5-7) Michael Rohde, Helgi Olafsson and Roberto Kaimo 9.0 
8-9) Jonathan Tisdall and Mark Diesen 8.0 
10) Julio Kaplan 7.5 
11-12) Bruce Amos and Edmar Mednis 7.0 
13) Milorad Boskovic 5.0 
14) Orest Popovych 4.0 
15) Michael Wilder 3.5 
16) Joel Benjamin 2.0 

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