FM Orest Popovych

[Simon Rogers]

The sad news was reported recently that American FIDE Master Orest Popovych, passed away at home in Howell, New Jersey, USA on 15th March 2023, at the age of 90.
Orest was born in Lviv, Ukraine in 1933. He then emigrated to New Jersey, USA, when he was 14 years old.
He won the New Jersey Open four times and the New England title twice, including winning all seven games in 1958.
In the 1956 U.S. Open, Orest played against a 13 year old from Brooklyn, New York, called Bobby Fischer, Orest was offered a draw which he turned down and lost.
He also wrote a number of books in Ukrainian.
Orest will be known as a very attacking player with a bias for double-edged positions. He studied how to attack the Dragon Variaton of the Sicilian Defence, while making a sharp weapon of both sides of the Najdorf Sicilian.
He even risked playing the King's Gambit against Boris Spassky. Orest never played the queen's pawn openings with white, with black against them Orest played a sharp King's Indian Defence.
RIP

[James Plaskett]

He played the Benko Gambit Vs me at Gausdal 1985... and the game even made it into Informator!

[BogdanLalic]

It was an interesting game 5.e3 Hungarian System against Benko Gambit.