A few additional recollections:

In the early seventies, Smith published a biweekly "Chess Newsletter". I'm not sure of the title; I still have them but they are in storage. This was a timely and eagerly awaited source of top chess news for its day. It may have only consisted of four pages but perhaps at times it was six or eight.

AFAIK the Chess Digest magazine always had the same cover -- a depiction of the same Knight (USCF's French Wood style or very similar) but the cover images varied in color from month to month.

At the Church's Fried Chicken Open (or similar name) held in conunction with the famous GM tournament in San Antonio in 1972, Ron Aplanap (Abplanalp?), who I was told was Smith's son-in-law and a chess player, manned an extensive book stall which blew the mind of this wide-eyed chess newbie from rural west Texas.

Smith's instructional writings (mentioned in the obit) seemed highly practical to me. One of the things he advocated was playing over a lot of master level games quickly but pausing briefly at each turn to think what move you would instinctively play.

I have this game for him from February 1964 Texas state championship <

[Event "Texas State Championship"]
[Site "Rice University, Houston TX, USA"]
[Date "1964.02.14"]
[Round "1"]
[White "William Bills"]
[Black "Kenneth R. Smith"]
[Result "0-1"]
[EventDate "1964.02.15"]
[Notes1a "Rice Thresher, V51 N17, ed1, Wed 1964-02-05"] [Notes1b "Tournament Feb 15-16, 1964 - director Robert Brieger"] [Notes2a "Rice Thresher v51 n19 ed1 Wed 1964-02-19"]
[Notes2b "Winner of 5-round tournament is Kenneth R. Smith"] [Notes2c "Houstonian William Bills tied for 2nd w Blake Stevens of San Antonio by defeating Eric Bone in last round"]

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c5 4.cxd5 cxd4 5.Qxd4 Nc6 6.Qa4 exd5 7.Nf3 d4 8.Nb5 Nf6 9.Bd2 Ne4 10.Nbxd4 Nxd2 11.Kxd2 Bc5 12.e3 O-O 13.Bd3 Bxd4 14.Nxd4 Nxd4 15.Qxd4 Qa5+ 16.Qc3 Qg5 17.h3 Bf5 18.Ke2 Rac8 19.Qb3 Bxd3+ 20.Qxd3 Rfd8 21.Qe4 Qb5+ 22.Kf3 Rc4 23.a4 Qa6 24.Qe5 Qc6+ 25. Kg3 Rc5 26.Qf4 g5 27.Qg4 h5 28.Qxh5 Qd6+ 29.Kf3 Rf5+ 30.Kg4 Rf4+ 31. exf4 Qxf4# 0-1

>

Actual location was basement of RMC (Rice Memorial Center).

http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67...

The question I have is is this William Bills the same as this one, William A Bills?

! :)>

He came joint 2nd in the British Lightning championship in 1953:

I couldn't find any of him playing chess, but here he is at the poker table:

http://www.birkenfelds.lv/allfiles/...

http://www.worldcat.org/search?q=kw...

Was Smith's first Chess Digest book really this one?

<Canadian centennial grand masters chess tournament 1967>

Your blog page would be dandy!

State Championship:
1951, 1955, 1956, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1967

For me, this is the most interesting part of his biography.

I think I could turn this into a good screenplay. I would make the tourny schedule 1 round per day, so interesting shenanigans could occur before (or after) the games each day.

See, Smith is a professional chess player in America in the early 1960s. So the Fischer effect of increasing prize money is only just getting underway.

Thus, Smith ain't exactly doing well financially. He calls up his buddy, Mac, who has a car (A '58 Sunbeam Rapier, maybe).

"Hey Mack! Ken here."
"Hey Ken! What are you up to these days?"
KS: I'm solving chess puzzles. In fact, I won the annual Mexico City Tribune & Intelligencer puzzle solving contest. First prize is free entry in this years' Mexican Chess Championship!" Mac: lemme guess - you need a lift?
KS: You know it, my friend! It's in Mazatlan this year. Are you up for a road trip? Mac: Sure thing... only 1 condition.
KS: Somehow, Mac, I knew you would say that.... And I already know what it is. We need to leave Thursday.

<DrNyet> Thank you for that link to the Kenilworthian article.

Here is something notable: