One of the first Sicilian Defense: Wing Gambit games Richard Shorman showed me was played by Charles Maddigan. Mr. Shorman described Charles Maddigan as a talented young man from Oakland who “played chess the right way.” Apparently, Maddigan went to the University of California at Berkeley in the early 70’s but dropped out to chase the dream of becoming a chess professional. He followed this dream all the way to New York City where, in 1974, he defeated Boris Spassky in a simultaneous exhibition. But that’s another story…
The starting point for the Sicilian Defense: Wing Gambit.
In the game which Richard Shorman showed, it took Charles Maddigan only ten moves to deliver a checkmate with the Sicilian Wing Gambit (1.e4 c5 2.b4). It is worth noting that Mr. Shorman asked my opinion on what Black should have played instead of blundering checkmate with 9… Qxb1. I believe I lsuggested 9… e6 or even 9… f6 to which we both agreed that white would still maintain an advantage.
Chris Torres is a nationally renowned scholastic chess coach working in the San Francisco Bay Area. His classes have attracted players of strengths ranging from rank beginners to world champions. A chess professional since 1998, Chris is widely recognized as one of the main driving forces behind the explosion in popularity and sudden rise in quality of scholastic chess in California. Chris Torres served as the President of the Torres Chess and Music Academy from 2005-2020 and currently is recognized as a correspondence chess master with the United States Chess Federation. Since 1998 Chris Torres has taught 6 individual national champions as well as led multiple school teams to win national championship titles. In addition, Chris Torres has directed and taught at 10 different schools which have been California State Champions at chess. In 2011 and 2012, several former and current students of Chris Torres have been selected to represent the United States at the World Youth Chess Championships. Mr. Torres’ hobbies include playing classical guitar and getting his students to appear on the national top 100 chess rating lists.
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2 thoughts on “California Dreamin’ on Such a Wing Gambit Play”
2 thoughts on “California Dreamin’ on Such a Wing Gambit Play”