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
[Event "Cafe Figaro Open, Burlingame CA"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1970.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Andrew Sacks"]
[Black "Earl Pruner"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B43"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 15"]
[PlyCount "55"]
[EventDate "1970.??.??"]
{Sicilian: Kan Variation} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 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. Nc3 Qc7 6. g3 {By far the most popular move here is 5.
Bd3.} (6. Bd3 Nf6 7. O-O Bc5 8. Nb3 Be7 9. f4 d6 {is the main line today.})
6... b5 7. Bg2 Bb7 8. O-O Nf6 (8... Be7 9. Re1 d6 10. a4 bxa4 11. Rxa4 Nd7 {
Carlsen,M (2646)-Van Wely,L (2655) Schagen 2006. Whits has the better chances.}
) 9. a3 (9. Re1 {Intending the thematic advance e5 is better.} h6 10. e5 Bxg2
11. Kxg2 Nh7 12. Qf3 {with a good game. Stepovaia,T (2378)-Dzagnidze,N (2443)
Kocaeli 2008}) 9... Nc6 10. Nxc6 (10. Nde2 {did not turn out well for white in
Vasiukov,E-Tal,M Tbilisi 1959} Be7 11. b3 O-O 12. Bb2 Rfd8 13. h3 Rac8 14. Kh2
d5 15. exd5 Ne5 16. Qd4 Ng6 17. Rad1 exd5 {black is better.}) 10... Bxc6 {
Taking with the Q was actually better, but understandably black was reluctant
to place his Q on the diagonal of the B.} 11. Qe2 {Missing a tactical shot
that would have secured the advantage.} (11. Nd5 exd5 12. exd5 Nxd5 13. Bxd5
Be7 (13... Bxd5 14. Qxd5 Qc6 15. Re1+ Be7 16. Qg5 Qf6 17. Qxf6 gxf6 {
Strategically white has a won position.}) 14. Re1 Qd6 15. Bg5 Qxd5 16. Rxe7+
Kf8 17. Qxd5 Bxd5 18. Rxd7 {White is better, but Bs of opposite color offer
black some hope.}) 11... Qb7 12. Bf4 d6 {This yields the advantage to white.
Black needs to get castled by ...Be7 and ...O-O} 13. Rfd1 O-O-O {[%mdl 8192]
Even though this defends the d-Pawn the K is dangerously exposed on this side.}
(13... Rd8 14. Nd5 Be7 15. Nxf6+ gxf6 (15... Bxf6 16. Rxd6 {wins the P anyway
and white is clearly better.}) 16. c4 bxc4 17. Rac1 Ba4 18. Rd2 e5 19. Bh6 {
White is better.}) (13... Rc8 {This gives up the P, but it is his best chance.}
14. Bxd6 Bxd6 15. Rxd6 O-O 16. Rad1 a5 {with some chance of defending himself.}
) 14. Rd3 e5 {This only makes matters worse.} (14... Nd7 15. Rad1 h6 16. Qd2 (
16. Bxd6 Bxd6 17. Rxd6 Ne5 {Black's defense has been eased.}) 16... Nc5 17. Rd4
Rd7 18. Bxd6 Bxd6 19. Rxd6 Rhd8 20. Qf4 Qc7 21. e5 {with an excellent position.
}) 15. Bg5 Be7 16. Bxf6 Bxf6 17. Nd5 Bxd5 18. Rxd5 Qb6 {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. Bh3+ Kb7 20. c4 Bg5 21. cxb5 a5 22. a4 {Black is
helpless against the coming advance b4.}) 19... Kb7 20. axb5 {[%cal Ra1a6]} Ra8
21. Ra3 {[%mdl 32]} a5 22. Bh3 Bd8 23. Rc3 Bc7 24. Rc6 Qa7 25. Qc4 Qb8 {
Mate is in the air.} 26. b6 Bxb6 27. Rxb6+ {[%mdl 512]} Kxb6 28. Rb5+ {It's
mate in 3 so Pruner resigned. Forceful play by Sacks.} (28. Rb5+ {Stockfish 15:
} Ka7 29. Rxa5+ Kb6 30. Rb5+ Ka6 31. Qa4#) 1-0
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