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| Jul-18-08 | | Strongest Force: GM Pal Benko would often tease Zuck about his book knowledge by asking him: "is this book?", whenever the two of them where analyzing somebody's game at a tournament. Zuckerman, a little pissed, would give some cryptic remark... Zuck had much respect for his superior players. Bernard was know as a excellent blitz player but seldom played...unlike his childhood friend Asa Hoffman. |
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| Jul-18-08 | | myschkin: another one:
Sep-01-05
Bishoprick: Drunkenknight, I can give you an early Bernard Zuckerman story. I used to go to the Manhattan Chess Club on Sunday mornings (then located at the Woodrow Hotel, on W65th St), and one Sunday a teenaged Bernard Zuckerman walked in for the first time. We played about ten games, all of them the same variation of the Spanish Opening, and I won every one of them. He asked me for my name, and kiddingly I told him it was Raskolnikov. The following Sunday, the young man returned, but markedly improved. I only won half the games we played. Obviously he had studied. The Sunday after that, we played again, and he murdered me. I didn't win a single game or even come close. Years later I attended a US Championship in which he was playing (among other notables were R. Fischer and the soon-to-be murdered Abe Turner). He noticed me in the crowd, and between moves walked over to me and asked, "Your name isn't really Raskolnikov, is it?" Bernard had a fantastic memory which soon made him one of our outstanding opening experts. Unfortunately, he was not equally expert in other parts of the game.
Rossolimo vs P Reissmann, 1967 |
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| Jul-18-08 | | myschkin: more <Zuck>:
http://www.365chess.com/players/Ber...
(needs a closer look, for someone more familiar with this real character) |
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| Jul-23-08 | | Lutwidge: Does anyone remember a player on the old Internet Chess Server (before the split) named "Birchbeer"? I used to speculate as to his well guarded identity, and Zuckerman seemed always high on the list of who it might have been. |
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| Jul-24-08 | | Strongest Force: I use to talk to Birchbeer... no way was Bernie Birchbeer. Birch was a free-spirit when it came to openings while Zuck always played the popular stuff. |
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| Jul-24-08 | | Strongest Force: More importantly, "Zuck The Book" didn't even like computers... i use to talk with him alot. |
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| Jul-24-08 | | Petrosianic: <humanehuman> <I think Larry Evans said that Fischer played a session(s) of five minute chess with B Zuckerman, with Zuck getting 5 minutes to fischers 30 seconds, and "Fischer won game after game, his hands were a blur...."> And Irina Krush swore that Fischer was cheating?
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| Jul-24-08 | | Lutwidge: Hmm. Actually, I used to talk to Birchbeer too, but didn't really know much about Zuckerman and figured maybe he was just goofing off on the net. Anyhow, I agree that computers and/or crazy openings don't seem his style. Oh well. :) |
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| Jul-24-08 | | Lutwidge: Btw, my favorite opening that Birch and I played was probably: e4 e6 Qe2 e5!? Nf3 Nc6 Qb5?!
The Spanish Queen. :)
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| Jul-24-08 | | lorker: My friend told me that Zuckerman was once caught in the bathroom with opening moves written out on his hand. If this is true then it would greatly lower Zuckerman's impressive " photographic memory". Can anyone confirm this? |
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| Jul-24-08 | | JonathanJ: how should that work? you don't know what your oppenent plays |
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| Jul-24-08 | | Petrosianic: Never heard that story, and I'd be hesitant to believe a story so devoid of detail. |
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| Jul-09-09 | | BogusAurelius: how do i get ahold of this guy? I once played the 'Book' in a U.S.Junior championship and lost the score but won the game.
i've emailed USCF to see if i can get in touch with him that way, but they haven't replied. It was a good game, as i remember it...I do remember his buddy asa hoffman was looking on, and after i moved, they would laugh at my move, which naturally made me fight harder... I had the black side of a KIndian, and sacrificed a bunch of pieces to drive his king around and finally mated him. |
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| Jul-09-09 | | Granny O Doul: Don't know, but I think your chances of getting him to help reconstruct your old game are considerably smaller than of just getting hold of him. |
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| Jul-09-09 | | parisattack: I would like to know what happened to Zuck. My first love has always been openings and I enjoyed his games/articles in CL in the 1960s... |
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| Aug-06-09 | | BogusAurelius: actually have high hopes of getting him to 'reconstruct' the game. he probably has the score in his back pocket...i just know he has been waiting all these years to get his revenge by showing all the ways he shoulda,coulda, woulda won. |
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| Aug-06-09 | | AnalyzeThis: Either that, or he's forgotten about you. |
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| Mar-31-10 | | wordfunph: <myschkin: <pazzed paun> International Master who was playing in the 1975 Cleveland International when a spectator became loud. Zuckerman (Zook the Book) told him to shut up. When that didn't work, he hurled a captured bishop at the spectator. Zuckerman was reprimanded for his "unsportsmanlike" conduct..> lol!
happy birthday Bernard.. |
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| Feb-26-11 | | wordfunph: 1974 U.S. Championship:
Based on GM Walter Browne's CL&R 1974 article, Bernard Zuckerman's voice could be heard throughout the playing room each game as he blitzed his way through the openings and found himself without ideas in the middle games. Competitors at his next tournament
should be warned and equipped with earplugs!
:-) |
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| Jan-02-12 | | jackpawn: Anyone have any idea what Zuckerman is doing nowadays? It's like he fell off the face of the earth. |
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Jan-02-12
 | | HeMateMe: ....from Wiki: He's 68 years old.
<Zuckerman has not played in a serious open chess tournament since 1990. He still plays occasionally in Zsuzsa Polgar's blitz tournaments in Queens, and Zuckerman still wins almost every game, except that he loses to Zsuzsa. He currently lives in Brooklyn Heights, New York.> That bit might need an update, as Susan Polgar now lives in Texas. Does anyone know if her chess club in Queens, New York is still in business? |
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Jan-02-12
 | | Phony Benoni: Before anybody else notices, the first game was actually played by Josef Cukierman. Even modern day science has trouble picking up the brain waves of an infant a decade before it is even a twinkle in its parents' eye. |
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| Jan-03-12 | | jackpawn: <HeMateMe> Yeah, Polgar has been down in Texas for several years now. I'm just curious how Zuckerman supports himself nowadays. Hustle tourists at Washington Square, etc? I haven't heard a thing about him in years. |
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| Jul-29-14 | | jerseybob: Concerning the Myschkin post of 7-18-08 about Zuckerman, "Roskolnikov" and Abe Turner(assuming the whole thing's not a joke): Abe Turner died in 1962, long before Bernard Zuckerman ever played in the U.S. Championship(his debut came in 1965). Zook may have been ATTENDING the Championship, but he wasn't playing. |
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| Mar-31-16 | | TheFocus: Happy birthday, Bernard Zook the Book Zuckerman. |
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