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Byrne remembered

Robert Byrne was awarded the international grandmaster title in 1964, when it was a very rare event — no other American got the GM title for another 12 years.

Byrne was a 36-year-old college professor when he became a GM, and the title seemed to cap a career as one of the world’s top amateurs.

But at an age when most GMs begin to lose their tournament touch, he became a chess professional — and got much stronger.

He was one of the world’s best at preparing openings, In perhaps his finest game, he unleashed a two-piece sacrifice that he hoped would refute a key line in the trendy Najdorf Variation of the Sicilian Defense.

He planned to catch Bobby Fischer with his diabolical preparation. Instead, he had to settle for crushing GM Larry Evans with it, in the 1965 US Championship.

After finishing third in the 1973 Interzonal, he continued to improve and was briefly among the world’s dozen best players.

Byrne, who became the New York Times chess columnist, died this week at age 84. He had been working for years on a collection of his best games.

Byrne was inducted into the US Chess Hall of Fame in 1994. The 2013 inductees will be Gregory Kaidanov and Mona May Karff, it was announced this week.