MICHIGAN
CHESS ASSOCIATION
Paul Poschel |
[This information is taken from an article in Michigan Chess magazine by Paul Poschel that appeared first in 1974, then was updated and reprinted in 1994 when Poschel was inducted into the Michigan Chess Hall of Fame]
I learned the game from my father in September of 1943 when I was 14. he introduced me to chess literature, and I remember in November of that year I read my first chess book, Lasker’s Common Sense In Chess. Soon thereafter, he purchased a game collection for me, Golombek’s little book Fifty Great Games of Modern chess. I remember the awe with which I played over the first games in this book and how I had to work out for myself the meaning of the symbols 0-0 and 0-0-0.
About a year later, my dad and I joined the Austin Chess and checker Club in Chicago, and here I was introduced to the world of tournament chess. My progress was rather rapid. The main highlights of these early years were the following:
Since that time I have played in a good many other tournaments and to date have won, by my count, a career total of 83 of them (not counting speed events). At the time I was developing as a chessplayer, it was completely impossible to consider chess as a career––especially for a Chicago kid, since at that time New York was the only place where this might be remotely possible. Perhaps if I had the present chess climate to develop in, I would have made the attempt to become a chess professional. Instead I chose to become an academician and research scientist. Up until 1951 I had always attended universities in Chicago, and, because studies came easily to me, I had a reasonable amount of time to play and study chess. But in September of 1951 I entered graduate school at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana, located about 150 miles south of Chicago. Strong competition was no longer available to me. Besides, our professors worked us so hard that I had no time for serious chess. In 1955 I received my Ph.D. (in clinical and experimental psychology) but I remained at Illinois for another two years doing postdoctoral research and publishing. In 1957 I came to Michigan, joining the faculty of Wayne state University as an assistant professor. Two years after that I resumed a full-time research and publishing career when I joined Parke-Davis & Company in Ann Arbor. I remained there for the rest of my scientific career.
After the move to Michigan in 1957, strong chess opponents again became available to me. Moreover, I now had somewhat more time for chess. therefore, I slowly resumed regular chess activity. but I had been out of chess for nearly six years. Then too, many openings were rather different than what I was used to.; openings like the Boleslavski and Najdorf were all the rage. So I had to learn new ideas in the openings, and learn to play against strong players again. The above history shows why and how my chess career had three phases. Phase 1 was 1943-1951 when I first learned the game, had considerable time to devote to chess, and when chess was the most important thing in my life. Phase 2 was 1951-1957 when I had to give up chess study and regular play. Phase 3 was 1957 up to the present when I again took up regular serious study and play, but only as an amateur and only when it did not interfere with my professional work. This history also shows that I was a Michigan player for most of my career. Below I list my major successes in each of these times.
Poschel’s impressive list of chess accomplishments does not mention his most famous one of all; holding U.S. Chess Champion Bobby Fischer to a draw in the 1963 Western Open in Bay City. This was the year before chess legend Fischer made the cover of Sports Illustrated Magazine by going 11-0 in the 1964 U.S. Championship. The game itself was typical Poschel when playing white against a strong player; he played the Four Pawns Attack against Fischer’s Kings Indian Defense, but instead of playing a sharp sub-variation, Poschel sensibly forced Fischer to enter an endgame that had little play for either side.
Poschel played a greater role in my own chess style than any other player. With white, stay positional and try for a space advantage, allowing little counterplay. With black, play sharp chess to get an unbalanced position. So with white, the English; with black, the Sicilian.
My personal record against Poschel speaks volumes about the solid way he played chess. I faced him 22 times in tournament play during the sixties and seventies, and never beat him a single game, even though there were quite a few draws.
© 2003 Michigan Chess Association