A Timeline
1970 – The Adventure Begins
What was the world like in 1970, when I emerged into the light of this strange world? Well:
- The #1 Billboard Hot 100 song was “Bridge Over Troubled Waters” by Simon & Garfunkel
- At #9 was my mom’s favorite song, “Let it Be.”
- Oh, and Paul leaves The Beatles.
- At #9 was my mom’s favorite song, “Let it Be.”
- The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty was signed, but it didn’t stop me from being traumatized by films like The Day After.
- The highest-grossing films were Love Story (meh), Airport (yes!) and M*A*S*H (yes, though the title song that became the television version theme song, has haunted me for my whole life.
- The most popular television shows? Marcus Welby, M. D. and The Flip Wilson Show. I’ve seen clips of the former, which was pioneering.
- Unix “epoch time” (00:00:00 UTC) was reached. Everything geek dates from here.
- The Boeing 747 debuts. I will be a passenger on them many times. I have worked with many Boeing employees who remember the company’s better days.
The chess world was a different place:
- At 2720, Bobby Fischer is at the top-rated player, though still two years away from defeating number 2 on the same list, Boris Spassky (2670), who became the world champ the year before. Third is Kranky Korchoi, who wins the USSR Championship that year.
- Incidentally, this is the first year of FIDE using the Elo rating system.
- The first game of chess is played in space aboard Soyuz 9. The cosmonauts face the ground support staff and the game—a Queen’s Gambit Accepted—ends in a draw (which I’m sure Fischer believed was scripted).
- The first Match of the Century, aka The USSR vs the World, is held featuring 20 players including a few you might have heard of, such as Tal, Botvinnik, Gligorić, Najdorg, Petrosian, Bent Larsen (the US Open winner that year), Geller, Keres, Taimanov and others (including the world Top 3 mentioned above). The USSR wins 20.5-19.5
- Perhaps the most notable game of the year was played in this tournament, in which Spassky, playing black, crushed Larsen in just 17 moves! That’s what Larsen gets for using his own Larsen Attack, 1.b3.
- Other notable games of 1970: Fischer-Andersson in Siegen,
- Max Euwe becomes FIDE President (the good old days!).
- Oh, and born that year, among others, Xi Jun, Tiger Persson, Karsten Muller, and Boris Alterman.
1975 – I Learn How the Pieces Move