Game Of the Week:GM Browne vs. GM Benjamin

GM Browne vs. GM Benjamin

Opening: B01: Pirc: Ufimtsev-Pytel variation

Player(s): Browne, Benjamin

Three-time U.S. Champion GM Joel Benjamin brings you a new show every Friday at 15:00 Server Time. Joel is regarded by many as one of the best commentators and analysts' we have in the game today -- so if you want to get ahead of the game, get ready to tune-in!

This week's show will be a tribute to grandmaster Walter Browne, who recently passed away at the young age of 66. Walter's self-appointed sobriquet, 'Six Time US Champion,' proved unlucky as he could not add to that total once the reference came into common usage. Nevertheless, only Reshevsky and Fischer have done better. Walter was the dominant American player in the second half of the seventies. When I came on the scene, all the kids wanted his scalp... and many of us got it too. He was so uncompromising as a player that he thought he could win any position, and would take foolish risks against players he thought he should beat. I selected a game that is not well-known, and perhaps not one of his best, but it shows a lot about the kind of player he was. At age 45, he was a good decade past the end of his prime, but he still had a thing or two to show to a younger, overconfident opponent.