Pierre Macy, 1951

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March 26 1951

The Charlotte Observer, Charlotte, North Carolina, Monday, March 26, 1951

DR. PIERRE MACY, president of the Charlotte Chess Club, is shown here looking over the prizes which will be awarded during the North Carolina Chess association open championship tournament to be held in the Hotel Selwyn April 7 and 8.—(Observer Staff photo—Dumbell.)

The Charlotte Observer, Charlotte, North Carolina, Monday, March 26, 1951

CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNEY SET FOR APRIL
North Carolina Chess Aces Will Converge On Charlotte BY WINK LOCKLAIR
Observer Staff Writer
Chess, apparently one of the few games in the world which has not so far been the subject of a probe or a scandal will attract a large number of visitors to the city during the first week end in April when the open championship tournament of the North Carolina Chess association gets under way in the Hotel Selwyn.
Host for the two-day event will be the Charlotte Chess club, a fairly new organization whose members gather every Tuesday evening at 7:30 in room 111 of the Y.M.C.A. The clubs roster is made up of businessmen, lawyers, and salesmen as well as some of the younger crowd, all in all a pretty staid, gentle group of men.
The game itself is considered the most cosmopolitan of all games having been invented in the East, introduced into the West, and now played all over the world. “It has often been said that life is just a game of chess and those who have made a study of the game and its history can well agree: it represents the battle of life of here and hereafter.” says George Goodwin one of the game's local enthusiasts, treasurer, and acting secretary of the Charlotte Chess club.

NOAH'S ARK TRAP
“There is an ancient story that goes back to the days of the great flood when Noah built his ark. The story goes that, to while away the dreary hours on the ark and to steel themselves against the raging waters, Noah and his sons got into the habit of playing chess. One of the games which was recorded and used as a warning for the future has since become known as the Noah's Ark Trap. This is a warning that could be well used today.
“As many folks know the Russians are the world champion chess players, Uncle Joe Stalin and his men are trying every way they know to lead the United States into the Noah's Ark Trap. If they could have their way we would all be slaves and subjects of Russian dictatorship. But we are now awake and if the Russians don't watch out they'll walk into another kind of trap more severe than Noah's Ark.” warns Mr. Goodwin.
The trap Mr. Goodwin was referring to is known as the Legal's Trap in which greed overcomes judgment and a complete checkmate comes about with strokes from the bishop and the knight.
Because of its relation to the movements of armies chess has been highly regarded by military men since the reign of Emperor Charlemagne and even rulers before him. A complete set, including pawns, can represent the Crusaders and the Saracens, with the white pieces symbolic of the Christians and the black ones symbolizing the Turks. Tables for the local tournament will be set up with various kinds of sets some very valuable with hand carved pieces, others carved from rare wood representative of ancient wars when knights in armor went out with their armies to fight for the protection of their king and country.
Strategy in chess has been handed down for generations. There are many planes of attack and maneuver both as to openings middle game and end play. In some of the tournaments many hours are necessary for the completion of one move. However the local contest will require 50 moves in two hours.
“Chess players resemble two generals fighting it out. It is a form of battle for life between those who would dominate and those who refuse to submit,” Mr. Goodwin points out.

YOUNGSTER TO PLAY
If this is the case, one of the generals is going to be considerably younger than most commanders. He is 15-year-o1d Kit Crittenden, a high school student from Raleigh, who, in 1948, became the nation's youngest state chess champion. He has been a member of the Raleigh club for some time and is expected to give most of the old-timers stiff competition.
The local tournament was arranged by Henry A. Gaede, vice president of the club and Ephraim Solkoff, president of the North Carolina Chess association. Entries have been coming in from Raleigh, Durham, Wilmington, High Point, Greensboro and Winston-Salem, as well as from Charleston, Greenville, Spartanburg, and Rock Hill in South Carolina. Entries from Michigan and Maryland have also been received. All in all it will be an interesting two days of battle for the prizes which include a handsome chess set, a set of clocks, and a copy of the book “Royal Masters in Battle Royal”.

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Pierre Macy, 1960

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1960

Dr. Pierre Macy, estimated 1960.

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Pierre Macy, 1990

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June 29 1990

The Charlotte Observer, Charlotte, North Carolina, Friday, June 29, 1990

UNCC French Professor Pierre Macy Dies
By Ted Mellnik
Staff Writer
Dr. Pierre Macy, a French professor who was the first full-time UNC Charlotte faculty member to hold a doctoral degree, died Wednesday, June 27, 1990, at Anderson, S.C., Memorial Hospital.
He was 90.
Dr. Macy came to Charlotte in 1949 from William and Mary College, where he was chairman of the foreign language department for eight years.
He came to be a partner with his brother in the Devonde Macy dry cleaners on West 6th Street uptown. But he also began teaching at three-year-old Charlotte College. The school was the forerunner of UNCC and held classes at the old Central High school.
Dr. Macy, a short man with thick glasses and a charming manner, was head of UNCC's Romance languages department until 1966.
“He was tactful, considerate, hardworking person,” said foreign language Professor Paul Saman. “He was very professional, and very dedicated.”
Dr. Macy in 1965 became UNCC's first commencement marshal, leading the procession of professors and guests each spring at graduation.
He retired from the university in 1969, then moved to Clemson, S.C.
UNCC's language building, originally known as L Building, was named the Dr. Pierre Macy Building in 1971. In a tribute, the faculty committee said the language department was “clearly one of the solid blocks of foundation of the new university.”
Dr. Macy, a native of Nancy, France, fought in the French army in World War I. He first came to the United States in 1920, then returned to France in the 1930s.
He was educated at universities in Nancy, Dijon and Paris.
Dr. Macy served in the French Underground in 1940 during the German occupation, helping slip Allied pilots out of France by way of Spain and Portugal.
He was captured by the Gestapo, but he managed to flee Europe with his family on a boat from Portugal in 1941.
Survivors are his wife, Charlotte of Clemson; son, Jacques Macy of Pendleton, S.C.; daughter, Mrs. Nicky Stange of Savannah; brother, Roger Macy of Nice, France.
Memorial service is private. Duckett Funeral Home of Clemson is in charge.

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Gerald Abrahams, 1962

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November 24 1962

Abrahams (White) Knox (Black) 24 Nov 1962, Sat Nantwich Chronicle (Nantwich, Cheshire, England) Newspapers.com

Nantwich Chronicle, Nantwich, Cheshire, England, Saturday, November 24, 1962

Below is a game between young Victor Knox and the British Championship player, Gerald Abrahams, taken from last season's Lancashire Championship, semi-final round. Knox is Black.

Gerald Abrahams (white) vs. Victor Knox (black)
Catalan Opening

Descriptive 1. P-Q4 N-KB3 2. P-QB4 P-K3 3. P-KN3 P-QB4 4. P-Q5 PxP 5. PxP P-Q3 6. B-N2 P-QN4 7. P-QR4 PxP 8. RxP QN-Q2 9. N-QB3 P-KN3 10. B-N5 B-N2 11. Q-B1 O-O 12. R-KR4 R-K1 13. N-R3 Q-N3 14. O-O R-QN1 15. N-R4 Q-R3 16. N-B3 Q-N2 17. P-QN4 PxP 18. N-K4 NxN 19. BxN N-B1 20. B-R6 BxN 21. BxB KxB 22. Q-R6ch K-N1 23. R-QN1 RxB 24. RxR QxP 25. P-KB3 B-B4 26. RxP RxR 27. R-K8 Q-Q5ch 0-1

Algebraic 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 c5 4. d5 exd5 5. cxd5 d6 6. Bg2 b5 7. a4 bxa4 8. Rxa4 Nbd7 9. Nc3 g6 10. Bg5 Bg7 11. Qc1 0-0 12. Rh4 Re8 13. Nh3 Qb6 14. 0-0 Rb8 15. Na4 Qa6 16. Nc3 Qb7 17. b4 cxb4 18. Ne4 Nxe4 19. Bxe4 Nf8 20. Bh6 Bxh3 21. Bxg7 Kxg7 22. Qh6+ Kg8 23. Rb1 Rxe4 24. Rxe4 Qxd5 25. f3 Bf5 26. Rxb4 Rxb4 27. Re8 Qd4+ 0-1

Knox, with many examinations and cricket matches to occupy him, defaulted the final.

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Gerald Abrahams, 1961

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December 06 1961

Liverpool Daily Post, Liverpool, Merseyside, England, Wednesday, December 06, 1961

Liverpool’s most distinguished chess-player Gerald Abrahams is also a distinguished chess writer His “The Chess Mind” opened new vistas in what might I suppose be called the philosophy of chess and he has also to his credit at least one other chess book in a more routine vein. Now comes Technique in Chess (Bell, 18s 6d) which must stand somewhere between the orthodox and the exotic in chess literature.
In purpose it is clearly austere. It seeks to examine those necessary but not always sparkling passages of the game which depend on exactitude and information rather than flair and inspiration. But Mr. Abrahams himself is so much a player of flair that all his illustrations are illuminated with comments that arise not from bare technique but from chess imagination of a high order. If the effect of this is to make apparent rich potentialities in apparently routine positions that surely deserves our gratitude.
WHITE KNIGHT.

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Gerald Abrahams, 1958

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April 20 1958

Corpus Christi Caller-Times, Corpus Christi, Texas, Sunday, April 20, 1958

Chess Players I Have Met by George Koltanowski
The principal English players of the present day can hardly be accused of having polychromatic personalities—in fact they are decidedly sub-fuse. But there is one rousing and pleasing exception, and that is Gerald Abrahams.
He is a lawyer and practices in Liverpool. He played for Oxford against Cambridge in 1927 and two years later was considered good enough to take part in the first of many British Championships that he has adorned. “He played,” we are told, “with a youthful vigor that aroused admiration even when it failed to succeed.” His style of play, it is clear, was already formed, and the passing of years has not changed it in the least.
“Toujours l'attaque” is his motto. Curiously enough, he generally plays rather stolid openings, though, as we shall see, he sometimes makes incursions into Tartakower's preserves. But after some Queen's Pawn game has dragged its weary length for some 15 moves or so, Abrahams spies an opportunity for a demonstration. A few more moves and all is changed; there are alarums and excursions; Bishops and Knights hurry to KN5 or KR6; Rooks are left en prise with the utmost abandon—in short, there is a devil-may-care melee. Very often it succeeds, for Abrahams has imagination and resource; but there are occasions when he will look round a shattered field and say, in almost an injured tone, “Why, I'm two pieces down—it's hardly worth my going on, is it?” “Talent without discipline” is how Golombek once described his play. He will never, I think, win the British championship, but he will always be one of the most dangerous of opponents.

A Genial Player
In appearance Abrahams has retained most of his youthful slimness, and his curly black hair is only beginning to grey above his plump and cheerful face. He is one of the most genial of chess players. He has the shining good humor that accompanies self-contentment; for he knows all the answers, and is “assured of certain certainties.” He beams optimism over the chess-board. In the Hastings Premier of 1952 he was in the rear of the field. “That Abrahams did badly,” wrote Golombek, “the tournament table shows. But so powerful and full of color is his personality that throughout the tournament I had the impression that either he was in the lead or else engaged in some super-Premier tournament conducted way up above my head at a speed faster than sound and with a brilliance too dazzling for the human eye.”
It is not only a player that Abrahams has won renown at chess. He is the inventor of the Abrahams variation in the semi-Slav Defense to the Queen's Gambit Declined. It runs:
1. P-Q4 P-Q4 2. P-QB4 P-K3 3. N-QB3 P-QB3 4. N-B3 PxP 5. P-QR4 B-N5 6. B-Q2 P-QR4 7. P-K3 P-QN4 8. PxP BxN 9. BxB PxP 10. P-QN3 B-N2 11. PxP P-N5 12. B-N2 N-KB3 It has been much under a cloud, however, since Abrahams played it against Gligoric in 1952 and never recovered. For though Black has established two dangerous passed pawns on the Queen's side, White has an excellent opportunity for a King's side attack with two ranking Bishops, of which Gligoric made good use.
Abrahams's other contribution to chess is as a writer. His book “The Chess Mind” was published in 1951. Written in a fresh and racy style, it is most readable; and though its incursions into psychology are sometimes a little naive, some of the illustrative games—and their annotating—are a delight.
Two of his own games follow. I include his defeat by Dr. Euwe at a Congress at Bournemouth in 1939 because it seems such an amusing example of “Dignity and Impudence.” Dignity opened with 1. P-Q4, and Impudence replied with 1. … P-QN4, which is known as the Polish Gambit and usually confined to skittles. The sequel was speedy annihilation.

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Gerald Abrahams, 1947

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1947

Gerald Abrahams watching the opening at the 1947 Hastings Chess Congress 1947.

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Gerald Abrahams.

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Gerald Abrahams, 1933

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August 21 1933

Gerald Abrahams by Lafayette, whole-plate film negative, 21 August 1933. Given by Pinewood Studios via Victoria and Albert Museum, 1989. Original b/w photo via National Portrait Gallery. For fair use, all credits must be kept intact. Color photo version created by the developer (me, yours truly) of https://best-in-chess.blogspot.com/p/gerald-abrahams.html https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw177191/Gerald-Abrahams

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