By Christie Aldrich and Vincent Brattin With Special Thanks to Virginia Vandenburg

Virgil (V.E.) Vandenburg born in 1904, in a little town called Hillsdale right here in Michigan, started the whole thing. He began playing chess at the tender age of 11, (that was 1915). His uncle showed him a small chess set and explained the basics. He found himself so enamored with the game that he headed down to the local library and spent days researching the history and strategy of chess. Then with no funds to buy a set of his own he fashioned the pieces out of nails wrapped in paper soaked in flour paste. Here a chess legend was born!

Al Baptist (1913-1998) told a charming story about an encounter on a train. He was traveling from Detroit to Chicago, looking for work, as it was during the depression. He was playing chess with a friend, and another passenger stopped by to watch the game. Baptist and this new gentlemen fell into conversation about the game, and Baptist told him that there was a fairly new organization call the Michigan Chess Association, and they held an annual championship and sponsored other tournaments and served as a liaison between clubs (which was where the vast majority of chess activity was to be found in those days). The new acquaintance was intrigued and said he’d look into it when he returned from Chicago.

Well, when Baptist returned to Michigan several years later, he got back into the chess scene and found that his train acquaintance, a certain Vandenburg, was running the whole show!

In 1944, Van, as he’s known, began a little thing called the Lansing Chess Club. He served as president for 28 years the first time. In 1947 he was elected secretary of the MCA, and then was elected president the following year. He went on to hold this position for the next 23 years. By nature a very friendly and personable man, a quiet encourager, he was the ideal leader for his time, which was a period of relatively quiet growth for the MCA. He readily stepped down in 1971 in favor of younger leadership when the entire chess scene was to go through major jumps and drops in the coming years. He continued to serve, though, usually in the position of “Appointed Director.” And even after he stopped serving on the MCA Board, he was a regular and welcome fixture at the annual meetings.

When Van stepped down as MCA president, he didn’t leave without making an impact. Previous to 1949 the Michigan Championship was determined by a round robin system. This allowed only the state’s top players to compete. Van had the idea of using a little know thing called the Swiss system, opening the field to the average player. This is where the Michigan Open was born. Changing the championship into an open format resulted in many more players, many more games, and much more excitement about the outcome. In the coming years, there would be people who wouldn’t have even been invited to a closed tournament ending up with the title. The Open is now the largest non-scholastic tournament in the state and usually draws more than 150 players each Labor Day weekend. Van also developed the Michigan Amateur and Michigan Class Championships.

In 1949 he founded the Michigan Chess Bulletin, which was more of a newsletter than a magazine. He served as editor for 23 years, retiring in 1971. He then came back as editor of the Michigan Chess magazine in December of 1976 to serve yet another 13 years.

The Van years of Michigan Chess would see a lot of contributions from a lot of sources, with the occasional article written by Van himself, such as his latest experimentations with computers (Van was always “ahead of the curve”), or the occasional historical article, highlighting someone from MCA’s misty past.

If the Van issues of Michigan Chess weren’t very professional looking (his experimentations with color made the magazine hard to read at times), they certainly were fun. In addition, Van had a talent that no other Michigan Chess editor has ever had, and that’s the gift of responding to letters from the readership. One time, he responded to an irate reader who had four blank pages in his magazine. Van, who was a professional journalist and printer in his younger days, calmly explained how the printing mechanism worked, and noted that he sent a new copy of the magazine “to ease those frustrations.”

Van also found a way to interject chess into his personal life. His first wife, Fjola, was a founding member of the Michigan Chess Association and many times Women’s champion. His current wife, Virginia, was the 1991 Michigan Open Reserve champion.

In 1983, he was awarded the U.S. Chess Federation’s Distinguished Service Award, the organization’s highest honor, for “long and faithful service to chess in the United States.” In 1989, he was recognized by the State of Michigan in a special tribute for his service of 45 years to chess in Michigan.

Unfortunately, he has never held the title of Michigan Open Champion, he claims he has spent “too much time promoting and not enough time studying” the game. In 1988, the MCA Hall of Fame was founded with Van as one of the original six inductees. Former MCA President Mike Duweck introduced him, concluding with “while he may never have been Michigan chess champion, there is no doubt that V.E. Vandenburg is the champion of Michigan chess.” Van’s acceptance speech was typical: humorous, modest and forward-looking (“Someone asked me if I’ve played chess my whole life; I said ‘not yet’.”)

In the meantime, Van had returned the presidency of the Lansing Chess Club a couple of years before his second retirement from the magazine. This is when the monthly Lansing Mini-Swiss tournaments reached their height of popularity. With Lansing being centrally located, it would draw players from both sides of the state and often brought in more than 60 players for the Sunday one-day tournament. He served as club president until sometime in the late nineties.

During his service to the Lansing club and the MCA Van continued to play in tournaments throughout the state. He also was one of the founders of what came to be known as the Lansing Labor News. Which he published and edited for 15 years. He began his own printing company in 1962.

From Vincent Brattin

With my semi-retirement from chess, I’ve seen little of Van the last several years. We dropped in on his 95th birthday celebration and made sure to get pictures of him with our then 3-month-old. As usual, he was delighted: “Look what I won!” he said to his new wife, Virginia.

Congratulations, Van, and thank you for all you’ve done for Michigan chess! You’re a warm, genial, modest, and funny man, and it’s a joy to be able to say that you’ve been a great influence on me. On behalf of all the chess-playing Brattins, all our best!

Van’s Games
By Jeff Aldrich

Here are a couple games from different eras. Van shows off his favorite opening, P-QN4, which he played from both sides of the board.

In this game from the Michigan Open 40 year ago, Van scores the biggest upset of the tournament. This win helped Van capture the clear first place for class B. Sandrin was a top player at the time, who had recently won the 1964 Western Open in Milwaukee. At the time, Van said of defeating the master: “I couldn’t believe it was happening. I constantly expected a brilliant combination or major trap to tear me apart, but it never came. I especially enjoyed playing Sandrin. He is one of the finest persons I have ever met and has a genuine sense of humor even when losing – which he hardly ever does. For me, it was one of those thrilling once-in-a-lifetime things that I thought could happen only to other people, not me.”

V.E. Vandenburg (1735)
Al Sandrin (2273)
Michigan Open
Battle Creek, September 1964
Sokolsky, A00

1.b4 e5 2.Bb2 e4 3.b5 Nf6 4.c4 a6 5.a4 axb5 6.axb5 Rxa1 7.Bxa1 d5 8.e3 Nbd7 9.cxd5 Nb6 10.Nc3 Bb4 11.Qb1 Bf5 12.Qxb4 Qe7 13.Qb3 0–0 14.Nge2 Nfd7 15.Ng3 Bg6 16.Be2 Nc5 17.Qc2 f5 18.0–0 h6 19.Nh5 Bh7 20.Nxe4 Nxe4 21.Bxg7 Rf7 22.Bxh6 f4 23.d3 Nxd5 24.dxe4 Bxe4 25.Qd2 f3 26.gxf3 Rxf3 27.Bxf3 Bxf3 28.Qd4 Kh7 29.Qg7+ Qxg7+ 30.Nxg7 Kxh6 31.Nf5+ Kh5 32.Nd4 1–0

In what is an incredible piece of irony, Van was my first opponent at my first Michigan Open. At the time, I doubt that I understood the significance of whom I was sitting across the board from. I was still in high school and had just gotten my driver’s license. I drove back and forth from Flint to Lansing each day of the tournament. Van was “only” in his eighties at the time. Even though he falls victim to a tactic, he shows that, even at the time, a player could not relax against him.

V.E. Vandenburg (1686)
Jeff Aldrich (1440)
Michigan Open Reserve, Round 1
Lansing, September 1988
Sokolsky, A00

Notes by Jeff Aldrich

1.b4

I am sure that this first move came as quite shock to me. I develop sensibly, probably doing a better job then than I would do now.

1...d5 2.Bb2 Bf5 3.e3 e6 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.a3 Bd6 6.c4

A key move with this opening. White wants counter Black's central control with glancing blows, not straight on.

6...c6 7.Be2 Nbd7 8.0–0 0–0 9.cxd5 cxd5 10.Nd4 Be5?!

Obviously, if 11.Nxf5 Bxb2 12.Ra2 Bxa3 and Black wins a pawn. But, Van plays the correct move and gains the bishop pair.

11.f4 Bxd4 12.Bxd4 Ne4 13.d3 Nd6 14.Nd2 Nb5 15.Bb2 Rc8? 16.Rc1?

Missing a chance to trap the bishop: 16.e4! Qb6+ 17.Kh1 Bg6 18.f5 exf5 19.exf5

16...Qb6 17.Rf3 f6 18.Kh1 d4?!

Giving up a key square to knight. Black wasn't prepared to make this break anyway.

19.Nc4 Qd8 20.a4 Nc3

The best way to give up the pawn. 20...Nc7 is even worse: 21.Nd6 Rb8 22.Bxd4

21.Bxc3 dxc3 22.Rxc3 Nb6 23.e4

23.a5 is acceptable.

23...Bg4 24.Rg3 Bxe2 25.Qxe2 Nxa4

Now, I have come back to take a small advantage.

26.Ra3 b5 27.h3 Qd7 28.Qd1?

Letting Black find a shot.

Black to Move

28...Rxc4! 29.f5 exf5??

Getting cute. Now, Van goes up the exchange due to the counter-pin. The rest is desperation and a few missed mates.

30.Qb3! f4 31.Rf3 Nb6 32.dxc4 Nxc4 33.Qa2 Qd1+ 34.Kh2 Kh8 35.Rxa7 Ne3 36.Ra8 Rd8 37.Rxd8+ Qxd8 38.Rxf4 g5 39.Rf3 Qd6+ 40.g3 Nc4 41.Qa8+ Kg7 42.Qb7+ Kg6 43.Qd5 Qxb4 44.Qf5+ Kg7 45.Qxf6+ Kg8 46.Qxg5+ Kh8 47.Qd8+ Kg7 48.Qd7+ Kg8 49.Qd8+ Kg7 50.Qf6+ Kg8 51.Rf5 Qd2+ 52.Rf2 Qb4 53.h4 Qc5 54.Qg5+ Qxg5 55.hxg5 b4 56.Rf3 Nd2 57.Rd3 Nxe4 58.Rd4 Nxg5 59.Rxb4 Kg7 60.g4 Kg6 61.Rb6+ Kg7 62.Kg3 Nf7 63.Kf4 h6 64.Kf5 Nh8 65.Rb7+ Kg8 66.Kf6 Ng6 67.Rg7+ Kh8 68.Rxg6 Kh7 69.Kf7 1–0

I grew up as a chess player at the Lansing Mini-Swiss tournaments that Van organized, regularly attending throughout high school and college. Van’s influence on chess in Michigan will continue for many years through those of us who had the opportunity to get to know him and his passion for chess. We will pass that passion on to the next generation.

THANK YOU, Van