William Lombardy
| William Lombardy | |
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William Lombardy (Leipzig, 1960)
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| Full name | William James Joseph Lombardy |
| Country | United States |
| Born |
December 4, 1937 New York City |
| Title | Grandmaster (1960) |
| Peak rating | 2540 (1978) |
William James Lombardy (born December 4, 1937) is an American chess grandmaster, chess writer, teacher, and a former Catholic priest. He was one of the leading American chess players during the 1950s and 1960s, and a contemporary of Bobby Fischer, whom he coached from the time Fischer was aged 11½ through the World Chess Championship 1972. Lombardy led the U.S. Student Team to Gold in the 1960 World Student Team Championship in Leningrad. He was the only World Junior Champion to win with a perfect score.
Lombardy received his B.A. in Philosophy, an M.A. in Ethics, and an M.Div., all from Saint Joseph's Seminary (Dunwoodie). He attended CUNY, and studied Educational Psychology at Saint Louis University.
Lombardy grew up at 838 Beck Street, Bronx, New York City, in an apartment with his parents and two other families. "Bill recalls that his family had financial problems when he was young. His parents both worked and they all shared an apartment with his grandmother, an aunt and a cousin, until his second year in grammar school, when they moved to their own apartment." Shortly after World War II, Lombardy and his family moved to 961 Faile Street, Lombardy recalled of his new apartment:
I remember the winters were very tough in that apartment. My room used to sweat from the cold. The moisture used to seep through one wall. I used to have to get extra blankets to cover me at night so I wouldn't wake up with pneumonia in the morning.
It was at his new home that Lombardy became friends with an Orthodox Jewish boy named Eddie Garlerter who taught Lombardy how to play chess. When Lombardy was about 10 he went to Lion's Square Den Park to play stronger chess players. It was there that a kind, old, Jewish man gave Lombardy a booklet "that would change [his] life." Lombardy elaborated on this:
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Wikipedia