Byrne Robert Eugene (20.04.1928- 12.04 2013)
U.S. Grandmaster (1964) who won the 1960 U.S. Open and came 2nd in the U.S. Championships of 1959/60 and 1961/2, but who concentrated on his college teaching career (Philosophy professor) until he turned chess professional in the late 1960s. Co-U.S. championship winner with Pal Benko in 1967, Byrne finished in a three-way tie, with Samuel Reshevsky, behind Bobby Fischer, in 1965 was perhaps a more meritorious result.
Winning the 1972 U.S. Championship, he reached his peak when he finished third in the 1973 Leningrad Interzonal behind Viktor Korchnoi and Anatoly Karpov. Qualified as Candidate, he lost his quarter-final match to Boris Spassky (+0=3-3) in 1974. In the next Interzonal, Biel 1976, Byrne again did well, finishing fifth (+6=11-2) equal with Vassily Smyslov and Robert Hubner, but half a point out of contention for a Candidate place. In the 1976, he did his best winning in Torremolinos, got a fourth place at Baden bei Wien 1980 and equal three at New York 1983.
From 1973 until 2006, Robert Byrne edited the New York Times chess column with distinction. He has, since 1952, played on many US Olympiad teams and at Leipzig in 1960 he was awarded a gold medal for the best third-board score (+9=6).
Other best results: Mar-del Plata 1961, joint 2nd; Santa-Fe 1961, 1st; Buenos-Aires 1964, 3rd; Hastings 1971/72, 3-4th; Las-Palmas 1976 and Baden 1980, 3-4rd; Harare 1983, joint 1st. Best ELO: 2580 in 1977.
