[Interview] The Marshall Spectator: "Across the Table"

Across the Table with Noah Zucker

Q: When did you start playing chess and how did you learn?

Like many of us, I learned to play chess from my mother when I was 5 or 6 years old. She taught me the rules, how the pieces move, and gave me a copy of Illustrated Chess for Children, by Harvey Kidder. I re-read that book many, many times. Since I no longer have the original, for nostalgia's sake I recently bought a used copy off Amazon

As a teenager, I saw the film Searching for Bobby Fischer in theaters during its original 1993 run. My favorite scene is the one where IM Kamran Shirazi (playing himself!) tries to hustle Vinnie (Lawrence Fishburne) in Washington Square Park. That movie inspired me to buy my own tournament chess set, a chess clock from The Village Chess Shop, and books like Batsford's Chess Openings and Chess Tactics for the Tournament Player by Lev Alburt. I even snuck in a few visits to the Manhattan Chess Club and Marshall, peeking in on tournaments. However, competitive chess quickly went on the back burner after I came to grips with how much study - and memorization - it requires. Family, career and fencing took priority. That was over 25 years ago! Finally, around 2020 (ok, yes, after watching The Queen's Gambit!), I decided I wasn't getting any younger and it was time to follow my dream of having a USCF rating and experiencing NYC chess culture as I had seen in the movies.

Q: How long have you been a member of the club?

For two years now. I played in a few Sunday Beginner / Unrated Tournaments and saw that membership is required for most other tournaments. Aside from the tournaments, the book signings, lectures, and other events have been fantastic.

Q: What is your favorite memory from the Marshall Chess Club?

The first ALTO (Adult-Only) tournament, held a year ago this month in conjunction with Ben Johnson's book signing for Perpetual Chess Improvement. The turnout for that inaugural event was really great, and I really hope we can keep them going, promote them more and increase registration. As much as I enjoy playing precocious 10-year-olds at the weekend G50 tournaments, it's great to meet new people closer to my age! Something I love about chess and Marshall in particular is the diverse backgrounds of people I meet through the game.

Q: Who is your favorite historical player, and why?

I'm partial to Mikhail Tal. He was such an interesting character and played attacking, improvisational chess - something I aspire to. If I had to choose winning a game through slow, crushing positional pressure or a dramatic, unexpected combination - of course I'd choose the later. On a whim, I bought Mikhail Tal: The Street Fighting Years, which is a chess biography by his coach Alexander Koblencs - filled with many great anecdotes. Of course, I know I should read Tal-Botvinick 1960 and Life and Games - but I decided that I had to improve my chess a bit before I could really get the most out of those collections.

Q: What's your favorite opening trap?

I'm not an opening traps guy, but I always enjoy reviewing the Scotch Gambit line where black's dxc3 loses the queen: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d4 exd4 5. O-O Nxe4 6. Re1 d5 7. Bxd5 Qxd5 8. Nc3 dxc3?? 9. Qxd5!
If I ever got this over-the-board in a real game, I'd be pretty happy.

Q: Any great game you've played at the Marshall you'd like to share?

I don't feel I've come close to a "great game" just yet, but in August I managed to upset an opponent rated ~700 points higher than me. It was gratifying to confirm later that Stockfish approves of my exchange-sacrifice on move 26.

I try to put all my OTB games in public Lichess studies and publish recaps on my Lichess blog. If we played a game, you'll find my analysis there.

Q: What about yourself would you like other members to know, that we may not know! Any surprising facts?

Fencing is the main reason it took over 25 years for me to get serious about chess. I fenced epee at Columbia, where I was team captain, All-Ivy four times and All-American twice. I never stopped fencing after college, actively training and competing at national-level tournaments the entire time (with some pauses when my children were born, of course). My wife fences - we met on the team in college - and now all three of my kids fence, too. However, I should mention that my son also plays chess, attending the Eastern Chess Congress with me last month and a G50 tournament here at Marshall just this past weekend.

Two years ago, in 2022, I finally won a USA Fencing Individual National Championship in the Epee 40-49 Age category. Now I'm training to make USA's first ever 40-49 team for the 2025 World Championships in Tunisia. But I'm still going to make time for chess!

- Noah Zucker, Marshall Chess Club Member

Originally published in The Marshall Spectator, Nov 27 2024 edition.