William Lombardy

From Chesspedia, the Free Chess Encyclopedia.

William James Lombardy (born December 4, 1937) is an American Grandmaster of chess.

In 1957, Lombardy became the first American to win the World Junior Chess Championship. He won the tournament with a perfect score of 11-0, the only time such a result has ever been achieved. Lombardy drew a two-game match with World Chess Champion Mikhail Botvinnik. Because of these results, Lombardy was awarded by FIDE the Title of International Grandmaster without ever receiving the International Master title. He became the only player ever to receive the international grandmaster title without ever being an international master first.

Lombardy played first board for the US Team that won the 1960 World Student Team Championship in Leningrad, USSR, the only time the US Team has ever won that event. Lombardy defeated future World Chess Champion Boris Spassky in their individual game. Lombardy won the gold medal for best result in that event.

Lombardy represented his country in several Chess Olympiads and played many times in the US Chess Championship. Lombardy finished second in the 1960-61 US Chess Championship behind Bobby Fischer and ahead of Raymond Weinstein and a star-studded field. With this result, Lombardy qualified to compete in the World Interzonal tournament in Stockholm for the World Chess Championship. However, Lombardy decided instead to retire from chess to become a Roman Catholic priest.

In 1972, Bobby Fischer was scheduled to play a match against Boris Spassky for the World Chess Championship. However, Fischer had a falling out with Grandmaster Larry Evans who had been Fischer's second in his successful matches against Tigran Petrosian and Bent Larsen. Therefore, Fischer remembered and called upon his old friend William Lombardy to help him out with the match. Although Lombardy was still a Roman Catholic Priest, he was allowed to take time off from the Priesthood to go to Reykjavik, Iceland to serve as the official "second" to Robert James Fischer during the World Championship match, the Match of the Century, between Fischer and Boris Spassky. Fischer won the match and became World Chess Champion.

A former Catholic priest, William Lombardy is now retired and lives in New York City, where he is writing a chess book and sells chess lessons online.

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