Mark Carl Diesen (born September 16, 1957 in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

, died December 9, 2008 in

Conroe, Texas Conroe is a city in and the county seat of Montgomery County, Texas, United States, about north of Houston. It is a principal city in the metropolitan area. As of 2021, the population was 98,081, up from 56,207 in 2010. Since 2007, the ...

) was an American

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...

player. He earned the

International Master FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...

title in 1976 by winning the World Junior Championship at

Groningen Groningen (; gos, Grunn or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen province in the Netherlands. The ''capital of the north'', Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of the northern part of t ...

, ahead of such noted players as

Ľubomír Ftáčnik Ľubomír Ftáčnik (born October 30, 1957 in Bratislava) is a Slovak chess grandmaster and a former European Junior Champion. Chess career He became European Junior Champion in 1976/77 and was awarded the International Master title shortly ...

and

Oleg Romanishin Oleg Mikhailovich Romanishin ( uk, Олег Михайлович Романишин, translit=Oleh Mykhailovych Romanyshyn; born 10 January 1952) is a Ukrainian chess Grandmaster (chess), grandmaster and former European junior champion. Care ...

. It was the first time an American had won the World Junior since

William Lombardy William James Joseph Lombardy (December 4, 1937 – October 13, 2017) was an American chess grandmaster, chess writer, teacher, and former Catholic priest. He was one of the leading American chess players during the 1950s and 1960s, and a contem ...

in 1957. Other achievements included being Louisiana State Champion in 1986, 1987 and 1988. His father, Carl Diesen, was a tournament chess player as early as the mid-1940s, which resulted in strong family support for Mark's chess career. He grew up in

Potomac, Maryland Potomac () is a census-designated place (CDP) in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, named after the nearby Potomac River. Potomac is the seventh most educated small town in America, based on percentage of residents with postsecondary deg ...

, a suburb of

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, which afforded him numerous opportunities to play. It also allowed Mark to become a student of Grandmaster Lubosh Kavalek, who was one of the strongest players in the world. While Kavalek was noted as a tactician, Diesen was a player with a positional style that made him a difficult opponent for even the most experienced IMs and GMs. Among the top players he defeated in his short career were Larry Evans,

Borislav Ivkov Borislav Ivkov (12 November 1933 – 14 February 2022) was a Serbian chess Grandmaster. He was a World championship candidate in 1965, and played in four more Interzonal tournaments, in 1967, 1970, 1973, and 1979. Ivkov was a three-time Yugos ...

John Nunn John Denis Martin Nunn (born 25 April 1955) is an English chess grandmaster, a three-time world champion in chess problem solving, a chess writer and publisher, and a mathematician. He is one of England's strongest chess players and was former ...

, and

Eugenio Torre Eugenio "Eugene" Torre (born November 4, 1951) is a Filipino chess player. In 1974, at 22 years old, he became not just the first Filipino but also the first Asian to qualify for the title Grandmaster. Torre did this by winning the silver meda ...

. Diesen played in the 1980 U.S. Championship—his only appearance in the Closed Championship—but had to withdraw after three rounds after injuring himself in a fall. A graduate of the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state, ...

, Diesen had a degree in chemical engineering. After dropping out of chess, he worked as a reservoir engineer for

Shell Oil Shell plc is a British multinational oil and gas company headquartered in London, England. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and secondary listings on Euronext Amsterdam and the New Yor ...

Pennzoil Pennzoil is an American motor oil brand currently owned by Shell plc. The former Pennzoil Company had been established in 1913 in Pennsylvania, being active in business as an independent firm until it was acquired by Shell in 2002, becoming a bra ...

and

Noble Energy Noble Energy, Inc. was a company engaged in hydrocarbon exploration headquartered in Houston, Texas. In October 2020, the company was acquired by Chevron Corporation. The company was known as Noble Affiliates, Inc. until 2002. As of December ...

. He continued to influence and inspire through IM with Mark Diesen and coaching in the Conroe-Houston area. Diesen was married with three daughters (Gina, Amy, and Sarah).

References

External links

Mark C Diesen rating card at FIDE
* 1957 births 2008 deaths American chess players Chess International Masters World Junior Chess Champions 20th-century chess players {{US-chess-bio-stub

References

Further reading

External links