IM Dave Vigorito and his fiancee Heather Kroll pulled off a wedding June 14, 2009, in Topsfield MA. It went swimmingly (it was raining at the start but cleared up, the word ‘swimmingly’ is just a coincidence).
Here is the nice venue:
The Willowbrook Estate in Topsfield MA
Many chess people were in attendance. For example, Vesna Dimitrijevic. Her hubbie, Bill Kelleher, had a good reason to be absent: A FIDE meeting in Krakow, Poland!
Vesna
Also visible on the left in the back is Chris Bird and on the right Joe Fang. Joe Fang! This name brought back chess memories. In one encounter, Joe was white and bamboozled me with 1. d4 g6 2. c4 Bg7 3. e4 Nc6 4. Be3 e5 5. dxe5
Bamboozled
Here I played the lazy man’s poor move
5…Nxe5? 6. Bd4! and now I could find nothing better than 6…f6 7. f4 Nf7 with a horrible game – I lost without much resistance. On a sharper day, I would have found the clever 5…d6! exploiting the g7-b2 pin. In another game, I was white and played the bizarre 1. f4 and Joe quickly played 1…e5!. Not wishing to be attacked, I pondered and then retorted with 2. d3! – a reversed Balogh! I got the attack instead and Joe lost without much resistance. These games were from the 80s and 90s but it’s funny how things come back.
Also spotted were Paul MacIntyre, Mike Casella, Dean Ippolito and his wife, Denis Shmelov, Eugene Yanayt, Braden Bournival, Kevin Coutreau, and more! Unfortunately Jim Rizzitano was ill and unable to attend.
All in all a smashing good time – excellent venue, flawless ceremony, good eats and drink…. all the chessplayers were quite satiated and happy! And now Dave and his new wife are off to Italy on their honeymoon!
Dave and Heather
Viva Italia.
Closeup
As the groom points out, closeups are available. Here is one.
Fluffy 'n Bride
Tags: Dave Vigorito, Heather Kroll, Italia, Italy, Joe Fang, Topsfield
IM Mark Ginsburg Presents A Personal Chess History 
June 25, 2009 at 10:37 am |
I’ve only met Dave once, but I wish him all the best.
Do you know if any chess players have ever significantly improved after getting married? It seems to me that getting married, like joining the workforce, is one of those compromises that one makes with Real Life that put a glass ceiling on one’s chess career.
I definitely have heard of the converse…. when marital strife causes a complete bomb-out. Cases in point: Shirov, van Wely.
There’s also the following deleterious chess scenario: marriage then baby. Taking care of baby causes precipitous ELO drop. Case in point, Frias once lost to Smejkal from a completely winning ending because his diaper-clad baby started raising a fuss near the board.
Of course, I think the trade is completely worth it … Lifetime love and companionship or 200 rating points? I’d take the former any time. 400 rating points, now I’d have to think. 😉
June 26, 2009 at 4:38 pm |
[…] David Vigorito, aka “Fluffy,” one of my fellow lecturers at ChessLecture, got married. Mark Ginsburg has pictures in his blog, and he mentions several prominent New England chess players who were at the ceremony. I […]
June 27, 2009 at 6:29 am |
[…] David Vigorito, aka “Fluffy,” one of my co-conspirators at ChessLecture, got married. Mark Ginsburg has pictures in his blog, and he mentions several prominent New England chess players who were at the ceremony. I […]
June 29, 2009 at 5:20 am |
[…] For the MACA announcement, click here. IM Mark Ginsburg has some photos of the wedding on his blog here. Other photos can be found here and on their wedding page […]