George William “Bill” Church, Jr., who guided the growth of Church's Fried Chicken beyond San Antonio, Texas and transformed it into one of the largest chicken fast food chains in the country, died February 7, 2014 at age 81 in Austin, Texas from a lingering illness after breaking his hip the previous year.
His father opened his first restaurant in San Antonio, Texas in 1952. After he passed away in 1956, family members took over and in 1962, when the chain ran eight San Antonio restaurants, son Bill Church Jr. became the top executive, eventually building the company into a national Fortune 500 company.
In 1980, he resigned and was replaced by a childhood friend. Starting in 1989, there was a lot of corporate wheeling and dealing, bankruptcies, etc. which are not important to our story.
After leaving the company, Bill Church Jr., who enjoyed the study of physics, invested in alternative energy research and pursued his hobbies. He was an accomplished and passionate golfer and a self-taught chess player with a Class A (Elo 1800-1999) rating.
In 1972, Church sponsored an international tournament in San Antonio that included European and Soviet grandmasters pitted against grandmasters and masters from the Americas. To view the tournament crosstable see Wikipedia HERE.
While Fischer did not play, he did visit it. Also present was an Expert (Elo 2000-2199) named William Scott, a well-known Atlanta, Georgia publisher and important figure in Atlanta chess.
When Fischer was signing autographs Scott handed him a program and asked him to sign it. As Fischer was signing, Scott told him that they had both played in the US Open in 1956 where Scott had finished ahead of him. Fischer handed the signed program back then got snarky and said, “Oh yeah. Well, what’s your rating now?” Scott mumbled something about being only an Expert and Fischer replied, “Um huh”, turned and walk away.
The loser of this game was Kenneth Smith, the man who advocated 1.e4 c5 2.d4 for amateur players when facing the Sicilian. When it comes to amateurs the truth is that one opening is probably as good as another, but that’s not the point. On the 1972 USCF rating list Ken Smith had a hefty 2398 rating which placed him at #28 in the country, yet Larry Evans, an International Grand master (2520, #7 in the country) handled him with ease. It’s hard to imagine how incredibly strong Grandmasters really are!
By the way, today’s ratings are greatly inflated compared to 1972. The #2 ranked Samuel Reshevsky was rated 2566. Bobby Fischer? He was #1 with an astronomical rating of 2824...he truly was that much better than everybody else!
[Event "Church's Fried Chicken, San Antonio"]
[Site ""]
[Date "1972.11.30"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Kenneth Smith"]
[Black "Larry Evans"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B21"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 17.1"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "1972.11.19"]
{B21: Sicilian: 2 f4 and Morra Gambit} 1. e4 c5 2. d4 {Smith advocated that
amateurs play gambits and this was the one he espoused against the Sicilian.}
cxd4 3. c3 dxc3 {Good for Evans! He wrote that the only way to refute a gambit
is to accept it and here he follows his own advice.} 4. Nxc3 Nc6 5. Nf3 d6 {
Evans plays the most popular move.} 6. Bc4 a6 {Black develops as if playing a
Najdorf. 6...e6 is usually seen.} 7. O-O Nf6 8. Bg5 {This natural move is not
so good because black gains a lot of time by harassing the B. Either 8.Bf4 or,
possibly, 8.h3 seems better. But...would you believe Bobby Fischer actually
reached this position once? Yes, Fischer once played the Smith-Mora and it was
against no less a figure than Viktor Korchnoi in what was, for readons not
associated with chess, Fischer's worst tournamet result ever.} e6 9. Qe2 h6 (
9... Be7 10. Rfd1 Qc7 11. Rac1 O-O 12. Bb3 h6 13. Bf4 e5 14. Be3 Qd8 15. Nd5
Nxd5 16. Bxd5 Bd7 {The position is equal and was soon drawn. Bobby Fischer,
R-Viktor Kortschnoj Buenos Aires 1960}) 10. Bh4 {After this white's game
starts a downhill slide that there is no stopping. Black would have have only
a slight advantage after 10.Bf4} g5 {This may seem like a bad move becase it
loosens the K-side and black has not yet castle and his K remains in the
center. It also looks like black's d-Pawn could become a target. However,
black's next move highlights the true situation.} 11. Bg3 Nh5 {By eliminating
white’s dark squared B Evans has eliminated Smith’s attacking chances.
Even though white has a nice looking setup it's hollow.} 12. Rfd1 (12. Rad1
Nxg3 13. hxg3 Qf6 14. Nh2 Be7 15. f4 gxf4 16. gxf4 Qg7 {was played in Lendwai,
R (2410) -Lutz,C (2550) Graz 1993. White lost that game, too.}) 12... Nxg3 13.
hxg3 g4 14. Ne1 {After this it's evident that white doesn’t have any real
prospects.} (14. Nd4 {Even after this white only lasted a handful of moves.}
Ne5 15. Rac1 Bd7 16. Bb3 Rc8 17. Nc2 Qg5 18. Ne3 h5 19. Na4 Rxc1 20. Rxc1 Bc6
21. Rd1 h4 22. Nb6 h3 {0-1 (22) Sanchez Maya,S (2203)-Arenas,D (2266) Medellin
2009}) 14... Ne5 15. Bb3 h5 {Note how smoothly Evans has acquired an attack
and a decisive advantage!} 16. Nd3 Bg7 17. Nf4 h4 {Destroying the residence of
white's K.} 18. Qd2 hxg3 19. fxg3 {It's imstructive to see how Evans brings
his Q into the attack.} Qb6+ 20. Kf1 Bd7 {Evans calmly completes his
development and passes up the inviting, but weaker, check on h1.} 21. Rac1 Rd8
22. Ke2 {Smith hopes to ease the pressure by trading R’s on the h-file.} Nf3
{[%mdl 512] Alert play...watch this N which can't be raken because of ...Rh2+}
23. Qd3 Nd4+ 24. Kd2 Nxb3+ 25. axb3 Qf2+ {Now that the N has done its job, the
Q invades.} 26. Nce2 Bb5 27. Qe3 Qxe3+ 28. Kxe3 e5 29. Nd5 Bh6+ {The Q did its
job and now the B takes over.} 30. Kf2 Bxc1 31. Rxc1 Bc6 32. Nec3 Kd7 {Even
the K is going to enter the action.} 33. Nf6+ Ke6 34. Nxg4 f5 35. exf5+ Kxf5
36. Ne3+ Ke6 37. g4 d5 38. Ne2 d4 39. Nc4 Rdg8 40. Kg3 Rg5 {With the time
control having been reached, Smith resigned.} 0-1
