Everest Tucker, Jr. 1949-2017
It has recently come to my attention that Everest Tucker, Jr. of Farmington, New York had passed away earlier this year in April. We played a couple of times and had a few amicable and lively exchanges online. He had missed a few World Opens and when I saw him in 2006, he told me he had been ill. I remembered Everest name from the list of Black Masters Jerry Bibuld had produced and was surprised when paired against him. I won our first game when he collapsed in a flurry of moves. He won the second encounter when I could not adequately shelter my centralized king. The games are featured below.
Everest had earned his National Master’s title and reached a high rating of 2209 back in December 1982. He was a very personable man with a gift for the gab and enjoyed social interaction. His comments left on The Chess Drum were always positive and engaging. His last World Open was in 2007 and last played in 2009. In 2010, he posted the following message to The Chess Drum’s blog.
Everest Tucker 07 Jul 2010 at 1:40 pm
Hey, Daaim! I certainly miss being able to go to the BIG Open anymore, but I’m hopeful that when my health is restored, I’ll be down in Philly for future World Open with the rest of you guys! I was surprised that Gata Kamski didn’t have a better showing, and I was also wondering where Naka was? I hope you had a great time this year, and now I’m gonna go and checkout the photos you took…!
Everest Tucker, Jr. at the 2004 World Open
Photo by Daaim Shabazz
Here are our two games…
Everest lived in the upstate New York area with his wife (Cynthia) of 44 years. He was also survived by four sons, Phillip, Andre, Paul and Dylan, his mother Mrs. Louise Tucker, brother Derrick “Bob” Tucker and sister Brenda Tucker Johnson. He was 67 years old.
Obituary: Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
my uncle was the greatest
He was certainly a great person to know. I enjoyed my interactions with him.
Dennis,
Your uncle was a great guy. I used to see him all the time in the late 80s at the Danbury, Ct tournaments held by Leonard Robinson. He was also active in the now defunct Southbury Chess club. I played him only once in a rated action game held in Waterbury, Ct in either 1988 or 1989. At that time G/30 was new and it was an exciting game. He won the game , although he told me I had drawing chances. My condolences on your loss ( actually all of our loss ) and I’m going to really miss the guy.
Daaim,
Thanks for posting this…. I had wondered many times how he was doing.
Daaim – Thank you for this wonderful write-up. My father loved chess and the truth the game brings… intellect and strategy wins, unlike some many other things in life – chess allows persons for any background, race or social-economic position to compete on a level playing field. One of the things I remember most was his view on the game itself, which I think is also true in life: “just because you know the rules, doesn’t mean you know how to play.”
Thanks Phil!
I enjoyed communicating with him at chess tournaments and online. We had spirited discussions. He got away from me in one of our two games, but it was great to have competed against him.
I never played him. But, it was always nice to talk with him about chess at the world open.
I often think of a comment he made to me about people who are unpleasant analyzing after a game, especially if they won. He talked about losing and having your opponent treat the analysis like a competition.
He said that for some people it wasn’t enough to win the game, they had to win the post mortem, too.
I’ll miss seeing him at tournaments.
He’s 100% right on that. We call it “analysis by result.” Some players will win a game and swear that every variation they offer in post-mortem was correct merely because they won the game. When you refute their analysis, they deflect and try to affirm the result. This happens even in cases where the winner was in a totally losing position and either won by a swindle or some fluke. They’ll claim they had everything under control. You simply cannot analyze with these types of players. Excuse yourself politely and say you have to leave.