All had seemed rosy. His latest book, Secrets of Modern Chess Strategy:
Advances since Nimzowitsch, had just been released and was already being
hailed worldwide as one of the great books on strategy ever to be
published. But then as this unassuming American IM was beginning to
receive the recognition he so richly deserved, a horrible twist of fate
changed everything. At the end of May, the chess world was stunned by
the news: John Watson, active player, author and reviewer, had been
felled by a paralyzing stroke at the relatively young age of 47. And to
add insult to injury, he had no insurance to cover the staggering medical
costs that were sure to follow. 

We first learned the sad news from private email messages received
from Jeremy Silman and John Donaldson, and the postings that were
then made to The Chess Cafe Bulletin Board have in fact resulted in
some funds being raised. But more help is needed. In an attempt to keep
the issue before the chessplaying public, we asked John Donaldson to
prepare an item for The Skittles Room. He graciously provided us with
the following article...

By now I'm sure you've heard about International Master John Watson's
plight. Do to a series of freak occurrences he finds himself fighting a
two-pronged battle. John is trying recover from paralysis on his right
side, the result of a recent stroke. He is also having to deal with
monstrous medical bills that threaten to top $300,000 as he doesn't have
medical insurance. Those who wish to help defray John's expenses may
do so by sending checks made payable to the John Watson Medical Fund
to his sister Barbara Watson, at 143 River Road, Gill, MA 01376 USA.

When Hanon Russell asked me to write an article about John, I didn't
realize what a challenge it would be. I've known John for close to a
quarter of a century, but sometimes you don't know everything about a
person you think you do. In this case I learned how hard it is to find a
game that John annotated and won! Believe me the annotated games can
be found, but you would be hard-pressed to find another American
player who has annotated more of his losses (a really painful one to GM
Sigurjonnson is etched in my memory).

Of course anyone who has ever read any of John's books, from the
opening tomes on the English and French to his recent classic Secrets of
Modern Chess Strategy, knows that he is a perfectionist. A more
pragmatic view would probably have led to the Grandmaster title (John
had one GM norm long since expired), but pragmatism is not a word in
John's vocabulary The number of beautiful games that he has lost or
drawn in time pressure numbers in the hundreds. Anyone who has ever
listened to him in a post-mortem realizes that this is a guy who really
understands chess. His friends just wish he would move a little faster!

John is not a materially motivated individual. While some authors seem
to belong to the book of the month club, churning out potboilers left and
right, John puts his heart and sole into everything he writes. Check out
his 6...Nc6 in the Saemisch King's Indian or his work on the Chigorin
(long before it became fashionable). The guy could have made better
money flipping burgers at McDonald's, but John never cut corners and
never complained. Watching him write a long book review over the
course of several days earlier this year, it dawned on me that he might
well be spending more time on his review than the author did writing his
book.

Writing outstanding books may be what John is best known for, but it's
hardly the only area in which he has made major contributions. John was
the first National U.S. High School Champion in 1969. In the next three
decades he won many tournaments and showed little sign of slowing
down. Last year at the U.S. Open in Hawaii he nearly beat Judit Polgar.
Their draw was one of two she made in the entire event. John's score of
7-2 tied for sixth with GMs Benjamin, Kacheishvilli, Gufeld etc...

John has long been known for being an excellent teacher who truly cares
about his students. Several years ago he started working with a young
2200 rated master from Tucson. A few years later Tal Shaked was not
only a Grandmaster, but also the World Junior Champion. His latest
success story is Las Vegas teenager Patrick Hummel who recently won
the National High School Championship as a ninth grader. This past
Memorial Day Weekend Hummel defeated former FIDE Candidate Jaan
Ehlvest in fine positional style which prompted International Master
Jeremy Silman to ask if the names on the scoresheets hadn't been
switched. Truly John has made contributions to chess in many ways.

I first saw John Watson at the Vancouver 1975 tournament, better
known today as the last event Paul Keres played in.  The Estonian great
blitzed the field with a 8« from 10 score in a fitting ending to a brilliant
career. The image of a squirming Walter Browne, desperately needing a
win, having his attack calmly repulsed by Keres in the last round is still
clear in my mind.

Keres finishing first was no big surprise, but some of those tied for
second at 7-3 were. Hungarian Grandmaster Gyozo Forintos, one of the
pre-tournament favorites, ended up according to where he belonged on
the form charts, but National Masters Elod Macskasy of Canada and
John Watson had outstanding events to finish ahead of Grandmasters
Browne, Duncan Suttles, and Istvan Bilek as well as many strong
masters.

Back in the 1970s norm chances for Americans were all but impossible
to find. Many strong masters didn't even have FIDE ratings. John was
clearly of International Master strength by the mid-1970s, but it was
only in 1982 that he got the IM title. To this day he is one of only a
handful of players from the Heartland (others are Michael Brooks of
Missouri, Walter Morris of Iowa and William Martz of Wisconsin) to be
awarded the International Master title. John was born in Milwaukee
(September 5, 1951), but grew up in Omaha, Nebraska.

The first time I actually spoke to John was at the Paul Keres Memorial
in 1976. Grandmaster-soon-to-be James Tarjan won the event and if
memory serves me right John tied for second with Kevin Spraggett,
Leslie Leow and John Peters. Having just graduated from high school, I
played John in round six.

The following game is hardly John's best, but it happens to be the only
decisive result of the three that we have played. After the game John
spent a long analyzing with a no-name kid from the Pacific Northwest
patiently explaining how I might have been able to defend better at the
end.

John Donaldson (2043 USCF) - John Watson (2376) Paul Keres
Memorial 1976 Pirc Classical

1.d4 g6 2.Nc3

I was a real Veresov (1.d4 Nf6 2.Nc3 d5 3.Bg5) fan at the time and
would try to play it against everything. It gave me my first win against
an IM in the first round of the event: Donaldson-Formanek, 1.d4 f5
2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Bg5 c5 4.Bxf6 exf6 5.d5 Bd6 6.Qd3 f4 7.Nf3 O-O 8.g3 a6
9.Bh3 Qe7 10.gxf4 Bxf4 11.Rg1 g6 12.d6!  Qxd6 13.Qc4+ Kg7 14.Rd1
Qc7 15.Nd5 Qa5+ 16.b4 cxb4 17.Qxf4, 1-0 in 51.

2...Bg7 3.e4 d6

In the ninth round Steven Spencer essayed the bizarre 3...a6 4.a4 d6
5.Be2 Nc6 6.Be3 f5 7.d5 Nb4 (...a6 and a4 have been included for a
purpose) 8.a5 e6 with sharp complications. Extreme time pressure - 20
moves in two minutes - led to a weird situation. At one point I set a trap
and Spencer fell for it. He grabbed a pawn and I then checked his King
while attacking a Rook. The next thing I knew his King was out of check
and his Rook was no longer attacked. I couldn't figure it out and with my
flag hanging instantly made a move. Later, after the game ended in a
draw, I asked my opponent what had happened at the critical moment
and he started to laugh very strangely. Calming down he explained he
simply made two moves at the same time. I was young.

I might add that Spencer played in the US Junior Closed in the late
1960s and was praised as a talent by no less than Bobby Fischer. By the
time I played Spencer a life on the road had taken its toll. Anticipating
the Grand Prix he had spent several years cris-crossing the country
trying to eek out a living. There were no Russian ‚migr‚s to battle, but
there wasn't much in the way of prize money either. Spencer was a great
hitchhiker and had a knack for finding student dorms to crash in, but
when I saw him attack a half-eaten slice of pizza in a Shakey's in
Bowling Green, Ohio, I realized I had better go to college after all.

4.Be2 Nf6 5.Nf3 c6 6.O-O Qc7 7.a4 e5 8.dxe5

My old Tacoma Chess Club teammate Bob Bunge sold me on this
treatment after playing over several nice wins by Walter Browne. White
play's for a small advantage based on his slightly better development and
control of the center.

8...dxe5 9.h3 O-O 10.Bc4 Nh5

John prepares to put his Knight on f4. Browne-Evans, Sparks 1973, went
10...Nbd7 11.Be3 a5 12.Qd2 Nb6?! 13.Bb3 Rd8 14.Qe2 Nbd7??
15.Bxf7+! and White won shortly.

11.Qe2

12.a5 Ndf6? 13.Qe2 Nf4 14.Bxf4 exf4 15.e5 Nd7 16.Rfe1 Nc5 (White
was threatening to go after the f4 pawn with Qe4.) 17.Ne4 Qe7 18.b4
Nxe4 19.Qxe4 Be6 20.c3 Bh6 21.Bxe6 Qxe6 22.a6! with a sizeable
advantage for White in Donaldson-Ludgate, Manchester 1980.

11...Nd7

Black needs to have e5 under control as 11...Nf4? runs into 12.Bxf4 exf4
13.e5 with 14.Qe4 going after the f-pawn an immediate and unpleasant
threat.

12.Be3?!

More logical is 12.Re1 intending 12...Nf4 13.Bxf4 exf4 14.e5 (once
again!).

12... Nf4 13.Qd2

If 13.Bxf4 exf4 14.Rfe1 Black has time for 14...Ne5 cutting out any
plans based on e4-e5.

13...Nb6 14.Bxb6?!

Another second-rate move prompted by worries of an impending ...Rd8.
Here the cure is certainly worse than the disease as White loses his prize
dark-squared Bishop. Correct was 14.Bb3 and if 14...Rd8 then 15.Qc1
intending 16.a5 as well as 16.Bxf4 exf4 17.e5.

14...axb6 15.Rad1 Ne6 16.Bxe6?!

Another controversial decision. The Knight is heading to d4 but 16.Ne2,
intending c2-c3 and meeting 16...Nd4 with 17.Nexd4 exd4 18.e5, looks
much better.

16... Bxe6 17.Qd6

White is groveling. He will soon be driven out of d6 and Black's Bishop
pair will become the main topic of discussion.

17...Qxd6 18.Rxd6 Rfd8 19.Rfd1 Rxd6 20.Rxd6 Bf8 (See Diagram)

21.Rd3 f6 22.b3 Kf7 23.Kf1 Bc5 24.Ke2 Ke7 25.Nb1?!

This is not a good idea. Despite several inaccuracies by White it's still
not easy for Black to break through. This makes undoubling the b-pawns
and opening the a-file much easier to accomplish. The problem for
White is that there is nothing really constructive to do.

25... Bb4 26.Nbd2 Ra5! 27.Ne1

White should have tried to make sense of Nb1-d2 by throwing in 27.c4.
Yes, Black can still play 27...b5, but one more pair of pawns would be
exchanged.

27...b5 28.axb5 Rxb5 29.c4 Ra5

Mission accomplished. Black has undoubled his pawns and has control
of the a-file.

30.Nc2 Bd6 31.Rc3 b6 32.Kd3 Ra8 33.b4?!

This weakens the c-pawn. Now White's time pressure causes an
immediate collapse.

33...Kd7 34.f3 (See Diagram)

34...Ra4!

Finding the soft spot, John learns the pawn forward where it will be
more vulnerable.

35.c5 bxc5 36.bxc5 Bb8 37.Nc4 Ba7 38.Nb2 Ra5 39.Ne3 Bc5 40.Nec4
0-1

White's flag fell, but of course I was lost on the board as well.