The Mechanics’ Institute Chess Club of San Francisco held the Third Imre Konig Memorial on September 22-23, to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the death of International Master Konig, the first top-rate player to reside in San Francisco.
The event, sponsored by Tibor Weinberger, was a seven-player round-robin, featuring a rapid time control of Game in 25 minutes, with a 15-second increment from move one.
Top six rated players from the Bay Area were invited – Grandmasters Sam Shankland, Nick de Firmian, Vinay Bhat, Jesse Kraai and Walter Browne, and International Master Daniel Naroditsky.
The last player, Grandmaster Emil Anka of Hungary, pays respect to Konig’s ancestry as an international cosmopolitan who was born in the time of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in Kula, in today’s Serbia.
Final standings:
1-2. GM Sam Shankland 2601 and IM Daniel Naroditsky 2483 – 4/6
3-4. GM Jesse Kraai 2514 and GM Nick de Firmian 2510 – 3,5
5. GM Emil Anka 2382 – 3,0
6. GM Vinay Bhat 2511 – 2,0
7. GM Walter Browne 2449 – 1,0
GM Sam Shankland
Prizes: 1. $2000 2. $1500 3. $1000 4. $900 5. $800 6. $700 7. $600
Imre König (Koenig) aka Mirko Kenig represented Yugoslavia in the 4th Chess Olympiad at Prague 1931 (+5 –1 =2), the 6th Chess Olympiad at Warsaw 1935 (+5 –2 =8), and in 3rd unofficial Chess Olympiad at Munich 1936 (+7 –4 =7).
In 1938, Imre König emigrated to England. In 1948/49, he took 2nd, behind Nicolas Rossolimo, in the Hastings International Chess Congress. In 1949, he became a naturalized British citizen. However, in 1953 he moved to the United States.
König was awarded the International Master title in 1951.
