Hugh Myers

Hugh Edward Myers ( born January 30, 1930 in Decatur ( Illinois), † December 22, 2008 in Davenport (Iowa) ) was an American chess players and opening theoreticians.

Life

Myers graduated in 1951, studied history and political science at Millikin University in Decatur from. After 1954 he worked as a sales representative in tax and pension matters in the public service. In 1965 he went to work with the Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic, where he worked as a teacher for several years. Later he returned to the United States and focused on his work as a chess journalist. Myers had two sons and two daughters.

Chess career

The game of chess learned Myers at the age of 10 years, in 1946 he played his first tournament. In 1951, he was tied for first in the National Championship of Illinois, 1955, he won the state championship of Wisconsin. In 1957, he then lived in New York and was a member of the Manhattan Chess Club. From 1960 to 1961 he lived in Spain, where he played for various chess clubs. After his return to the United States in 1962, he won the state championship of Missouri. In the years 1968 and 1976 he played for his former adopted country, the Dominican Republic, at the Chess Olympiads in Lugano and Haifa each on top board. Here, Myers scored 11 points from 26 games. In 1983, he was tied for first in the state championship of Iowa. For health reasons, he then played very little tournament chess and focused on his opening theory works. In 1986, he campaigned for the reelection of Florencio Campomanes as President of FIDE.

Myers bore the title of " National Master" of the U.S. Chess Federation. His best ( subsequently calculated ) historical Elo rating was 2322 in December 1969.

Opening theoretician and chess journalist

Myers was known for his unconventional ideas Opening. Among his favorites was the Nimzowitsch defense, which he in 1973 the book The Nimzovich Defense wrote. It was repeatedly reprinted and translated into French. He also wrote the books New Strategy in the Chess Openings (1968), Reversed King Pawns, Mengarini 's Opening ( 1977) and Exploring the Chess Openings (1978). From 1979 to 1988 published 38 books of which he edited the journal The Myers Openings Bulletin, 1992-1996 nine double issues as a continuation under the amended title New Myers Openings Bulletin. In it, he treated often eccentric ideas, such as 1 Sg1 - h3 ( with the idea of ​​2 f2 - f4) or 1 e2- e4 c7 - c5 2 a2 -a4. The magazine had a stimulating effect on Stefan Bücker, who called the partially similar aligned chess magazine Kaissiber into being in 1996.

The extensively analyzed by him Myers Opening 1.c2 - c4 g7- g5 is mentioned in the English section Myers ' Defense. The train g7- g5 he used as a response to 1 g2 - g3. In 2002 he published an autobiography entitled A Chess Explorer that contains 130 of his games.