Kim Commons (23 July 1951 — 23 June 2015) was an American chess International Master (IM) and Chess Olympiad winner.

Biography

In 1971, Kim Commons won California State Chess Championship, ahead of

James Tarjan James Edward Tarjan (born February 22, 1952 in Pomona, California) is an American chess Grandmaster. Tarjan was 17 when he was selected to the American team for the 1969 World Students' Olympiad, at Dresden. He was a member of the winning American ...

. In 1974, he tied with

Peter Biyiasas Peter Biyiasas (born November 19, 1950) is a Canadian chess player who holds the FIDE title of Grandmaster (chess), Grandmaster. He was Canadian champion in 1972 and 1975, represented Canada with success on four Olympiad teams, and played in two ...

for the American Open title. In 1976, he won three International Chess Tournaments in Bulgaria:

Varna Varna may refer to: Places Europe *Varna, Bulgaria, a city in Bulgaria **Varna Province **Varna Municipality ** Gulf of Varna **Lake Varna **Varna Necropolis *Vahrn, or Varna, a municipality in Italy *Varniai, a city in Lithuania * Varna (Šaba ...

Plovdiv Plovdiv ( bg, Пловдив, ), is the second-largest city in Bulgaria, standing on the banks of the Maritsa river in the historical region of Thrace. It has a population of 346,893 and 675,000 in the greater metropolitan area. Plovdiv is the c ...

and

Primorsko Primorsko ( bg, Приморско ) is a town and seaside resort in southeastern Bulgaria, capital of homonymous municipality, part of Burgas Province. A well-known resort on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast, it is located 52 km south of Burgas ...

. Commons played for the United States in the

22nd Chess Olympiad The 22nd Chess Olympiad ( he, אולימפיאדת השחמט ה-22, ''Olimpiada ha-shachmat ha-22''), organized by Fédération Internationale des Échecs, FIDE, took place between October 26 and November 10, 1976, in Haifa, Israel. For the firs ...

in Haifa, winning team and individual gold medals with six wins, three draws and no losses. He also played for United States in two World student team championships: * In 1972, on the second reserve board in the 19th World Student Team Chess Championship in

Graz Graz (; sl, Gradec) is the capital city of the Austrian state of Styria and second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. As of 1 January 2021, it had a population of 331,562 (294,236 of whom had principal-residence status). In 2018, the popul ...

(+6, =3, -2), * In 1977, on first board in the 22nd World Student Team Chess Championship in Mexico City (+3, =3, -2). In 1976, he was awarded the FIDE International Master (IM) title. Commons stopped playing chess in later years. He received a bachelor's degree in physics from University of California. For the second half of his life he lived in Arizona, where he was the founder and owner of ''Club Red'', a Mesa music club.

References

External links

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Kim Commons
chess games at 365chess.com 1951 births 2015 deaths People from Lancaster, California Chess International Masters American chess players Chess Olympiad competitors University of California, Los Angeles alumni {{US-chess-bio-stub