Guillermo Vassaux
Guatemalan chess player
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Guillermo Vassaux (25 June 1909 – 31 May 2006[1]), full name Guillermo Enrique Vassaux Estévez, was a Guatemalan chess player, teacher, and writer, and fourteen-time winner of the Guatemalan Chess Championship from 1934 to 1973.
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | June 25, 1909 |
| Died | May 31, 2006 (aged 96) Guatemala City |
| Chess career | |
| Country | Guatemala |
Biography
Guillermo Vassaux was one of the founders of the Guatemalan National Chess Federation in 1939.[1] In 1953 he was called one of the three great Guatemalan chess figures of the time along with Enrique Hidalgo and Carlos Enrique Salazar.[2] He won the Guatemalan Chess Championship fourteen times over a 40-year span, in 1934, 1935, 1936, 1938, 1939, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1970, and 1973. In 1936 he lost a match in San Salvador against Antonio Salazar, who later became the first Salvadoran chess champion.[3]
In international play, Guillermo Vassaux represented Guatemala in a match against El Salvador in 1930, the first chess match contested by two Central American countries.[4] He participated in the Chess Olympiad once, representing Guatemala at first board in the 8th Chess Olympiad in 1939 in Buenos Aires, scoring five wins, two draws, and eight losses.[5]
Later, Guillermo Vassaux participated in the first Canadian Open Chess Championship in 1956.[6] He played for Guatemala in the CACAC Team Chess Championships (1968, 1971) and won an individual gold medal in 1971.[7]
Guillermo Vassaux authored three chess books and wrote a regular chess column in the Prensa Libre from 1974 to 1991. From 1971 to 1991, he ran a chess program "Ajedrez bajo los árboles" in Minerva Park in Zone 2 of Guatemala City. His students there included future national champions Carlos Juárez, Carlos Reyes and Pablo Rodas.[4] In recognition of his dedication to Guatemalan chess, he was awarded a Medal of Honour by the Ministry of Culture and Sports and the Presidential Medal by Óscar Berger shortly before his death.[1]