All the right moves
Chess Grandmaster Susan Polgar helps Robert Lappin celebrate his 85th birthday at The Breakers
By MARGIE KACOHA
Daily News Staff Writer
Palm Beach Daily News
Monday, February 12, 2007
Robert Lappin had the time of his life Saturday afternoon celebrating his recent birthday, but the casual passerby wouldn’t even have noticed.
The seasonal resident of The Breakers spent 31/2 hours in the hotel’s courtyard seated directly across from Susan Polgar, one of the world’s top chess champions.
The match up was a gift from his two sons: Andrew and Peter.
“They didn’t know what to get him that he didn’t already have,” said Lappin’s wife of 61 years, Mimi.
Lappin, 85, was flanked by his friends and daily chess buddies Herb Gray and Zen Yonkovig. Polgar, chess Grandmaster and founder of the Polgar Chess Center in Queens, took each of the men on simultaneously.
“This is an historic moment in my life,” said Lappin, inventor of the Shetland vacuum cleaner who spent many years in the small appliance business. He served as a naval officer in World War II, and was part of the fleet that accepted the surrender of the Japanese.
Lappin continues to work, managing real estate and financial investments. He is also the founder of the Robert I. Lappin Charitable Foundation. The seasonal resident returns to Swampscott, Mass., during the spring and summer months.
The foursome remained quiet during play, with Polgar recording her moves during the games as she deftly went from one opponent to another across the three boards.
“I guess she can probably do it blindfolded,” Gray said.
It wasn’t the first time the Hungarian-born Polgar visited Palm Beach or took on multiple opponents.
In 2005, she broke four international records during a single match by playing 326 simultaneous games, winning 309 of them. She also went into the books for most consecutive games played at 1,131, the highest number of games won and the highest percentage of wins at 96.93 percent.
Click here to read the full story and click here to listen to the full story.
Everyone is going to Palm Beach except me!!
My wife will be there in 10 days to entertain clients and escape the foot of snow we are getting tommorow night.
What a great birthday present for him!
Guess I’ll have to “settle” for the Budapest Chess extravaganza for my 50th 😉
Happy Birthday Mr. Lappin!
Great story
Wow, can I make reservation in 30 years from now, I am just 55.
A nice afternoon this 85 year young strong guy had I am sure.
Susan
Funny thing, I was reminiscing about my early years in Brooklyn and was looking up the old TV shows. I always remembered in the back of my head the commercial “Call before midnight tonight and get a free Shetland Vacuum Cleaner or a 9×12 rug, that’s Murry-Hill 7-1212″…I did a yahoo search and your blog was the only thing that came up. Give my regards to Mr. Lappin. Tell him happy birthday and thanks for the memories, ask him if he remembers that commercial
J Fitz