Donald Byrne (June 12, 1930–May 6, 1976) was one of the USA's strongest chess players during the 1950s and 1960s. He won the U.S. Open in 1953, was awarded the International Master title from FIDE (English: World Chess Federation) in 1962, and played for or captained five U.S. Chess Olympiad teams between 1962 and 1972. His brother, International Grandmaster Robert Byrne, was also a leading player of that time.

Byrne lost to Bobby Fischer in "The Game of the Century" in 1956.

Byrne was a professor of English. He taught at Penn State University from 1961 until his death, having been invited there to teach and to coach the varsity chess team, the first in the country.

Byrne died of complications arising from Lupus. He was inducted into the U.S. Chess Hall of Fame in 2002.

In the following game, Byrne beats perennial world championship contender Efim Geller:

Geller-D. Byrne, Moscow 1955 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 Nc6 8.Qd2 O-O 9.O-O-O Be6 10.Kb1 Rc8 11.g4 Qa5 12.Nxe6 fxe6 13.Bc4 Nd8 14.Be2 Nd7 15.Bd4 Ne5 16.f4 Ndc6 17.Bxe5 dxe5 18.f5 Nd4 19.fxg6 hxg6 20.Rhf1 Rf4 21.g5 b5 22.Bd3 Rcf8 23.Qg2 b4 24.Ne2 Qc5 25.Qh3 Rf3 26.Rxf3 Rxf3 27.Qg4 Rxd3 28.Rc1 Rd1 29.c3 Rxc1+ 30.Kxc1 Nxe2+ 31.Qxe2 bxc3 32.Qg2 cxb2 33.Kxb2 Qb4+ 34.Kc2 a5 35.Qg4 Qc5+ 36.Kb3 Qb6+ 37.Kc3 a4 38.h4 Qd4+ 39.Kc2 Qf2+ 40.Kd3 Qxa2 41.h5 Qb3+ 42.Kd2 gxh5 0-1

External links

• "Former chess coach named to Hall of Fame" - remembrance in a Penn State publication
• Inductee Biography - at the Chess Hall of Fame
• Database of 62 of Byrne's games from 1949-81 at chessgames.com