A Boxing Day century for the ages – Part 1

Kim Hughes

In this week’s edition of In Search of West Indies Cricket, Roger Seymour begins to examine an oft overlooked aspect of the West Indies streak of not losing a Test series from the summer of 1980 to February 1995

Recently I was rummaging through my library when I stumbled across Edmar Mednis’ How to beat Bobby Fischer. Mednis’ classic book documents the 61 losses incurred by Bobby Fischer, one of the greatest chess players the world has ever seen, in the 576 games he played in tournaments and matches between 1958 and 1972.

Mednis was born in the Baltic state of Latvia and moved to the USA at the age of 13 with his parents. Educated as a chemical engineer, he worked as a stockbroker, but later became a professional chess player and author. He finished tied for third in the 1961-62 USA Chess Championship and in the 1962-63 Tournament, whilst playing with the black pieces, he achieved the enviable feat of being the first player to beat Fischer in the USA Championship tournament.