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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.
[Event "US Amateur Champ, Asbury Park, NJ"]
[Site ""]
[Date "1963.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Kenneth R Clayton"]
[Black "Milton Danon"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2102"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 15.1"]
[PlyCount "46"]
[EventDate "1963.??.??"]
[Source "Kenneth Clayton,"]
{Sicilian Scheveningen/Najdorf} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5.
Nc3 a6 6. Bc4 e6 7. Bb3 Be7 8. f4 Qc7 9. Be3 {White had a very strong move in
9.f5!} (9. f5 exf5 (9... e5 10. Nf3 b5 11. Bg5 Nbd7 12. Bxf6 Nxf6 13. Nd5 {
with an excellent position.}) 10. Nxf5 Bxf5 11. exf5 O-O {is favorable to
white because of black's isolated d-Pawn.}) 9... Bd7 (9... b5 {is more to the
point.} 10. a3 Bb7 11. Qf3 Nbd7 {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 Ng8 12. f5 {
White has what should amount to a winning attack. For example...} b4 13. fxe6
fxe6 14. Nce2 e5 15. Ne6 Bxe6 16. Bxe6 Nd7 17. Qd5 {and wins.}) (10... d5 {
is black's best option, but after} 11. exd5 e5 {This complicates things and is
black's best chance.} (11... Nxd5 12. Bxd5 exd5 13. Qf3 {white's position is
favorable.}) 12. g5 Ng4 {In order to keep any advantage white needs to find...}
13. Bg1 Ba3 {Clever.} 14. d6 {Again, the only good move.} Bxd6 15. Nde2 exf4
16. Nd5 Qa5+ 17. Nec3 Ne3 18. Bxe3 fxe3 19. Nf6+ gxf6 20. Qxd6 {White is
better, but visualizing all this is beyond a human player.}) 11. Nf5 {White
has a decisive advantage.} Bxf5 (11... g6 12. Nxe7 Kxe7 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. Bxf4 Bxf5 13. exf5 {White's
position is much better.}) 12. gxf5 (12. exf5 {was even better.} Nbd7 13. Qe2
Nc5 14. g5 Nfd7 15. O-O-O Nxb3+ 16. axb3 {followed by Nd5 leaves white calling
the shots.}) 12... Nbd7 13. Rg1 Rg8 {Black does best to ignire the threat to
his g-Pawn and stike back in the center.} (13... d5 14. fxe5 Nxe5 15. Nxd5 Nxd5
16. Bxd5 Bh4+ 17. Kf1 Nc4 18. Bxc4 Qxc4+ 19. Qd3 {White is better, but black
can continue the fight.}) 14. Qd2 Nc5 15. Bd5 Nxd5 (15... exf4 {Black's
position is very difficult, but this was a better try.} 16. Bxf4 Nh5 17. Bg5 h6
18. Bxe7 Qxe7 19. O-O-O {and black can put up a stubborn defense.}) 16. Nxd5
Bh4+ 17. Ke2 Qc6 18. fxe5 dxe5 19. Qc3 {This excellent move wraps it up.} Rc8
20. Qxe5+ Kf8 21. f6 {Digging out black's K.} Bxf6 22. Nxf6 Qb5+ (22... gxf6 {
leads to mate.} 23. Bh6+ Rg7 24. Bxg7+ Kg8 25. Bxf6+ Kf8 26. Qe7#) 23. Kf3 Qe2+
{Pointless, but he was facing a mate in 3, so after playing this move black
resigned. Excellent play by Clayton.} (23... Qe2+ 24. Kxe2 gxf6 25. Qd6+ Ke8
26. Rxg8#) 1-0
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