Donald Byrne (June 12, 1930–April 8, 1976) was one of the USA's strongest chess players during the 1950s and 1960s.
Born in New York City, he won the U.S. Open Chess Championship in 1953, was awarded the International Master title by FIDE (English: World Chess Federation) in 1962, and played for or captained five U.S. Chess Olympiad teams between 1962 and 1972. His older brother, International Grandmaster Robert Byrne, was also a leading player o...
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Donald Byrne (June 12, 1930–April 8, 1976) was one of the USA's strongest chess players during the 1950s and 1960s.
Born in New York City, he won the U.S. Open Chess Championship in 1953, was awarded the International Master title by FIDE (English: World Chess Federation) in 1962, and played for or captained five U.S. Chess Olympiad teams between 1962 and 1972. His older brother, International Grandmaster Robert Byrne, was also a leading player of that time.
Byrne lost to a 13-year-old Bobby Fischer in the Game of the Century in 1956.
Byrne was a professor of English. He taught at Penn State University from 1961 until his death, having been invited there to teach and to coach the varsity chess team.
Byrne died in Philadelphia of complications arising from lupus. He was inducted into the U.S. Chess Hall of Fame in 2002.
In the following game, Byrne beats perennial world championship contender Efim Geller:
Geller-D. Byrne, Moscow 1955 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3...
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