Bernard Zuckerman

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Bernard Zuckerman (b. March 31, 1943 in Brooklyn, New York) is an International Master of chess.

For more than forty years Zuckerman has been a well known authority on chess openings. At the 1959 US Open Chess Championship in Omaha, Nebraska Grandmaster Arthur Bisguier, who won the tournament, often asked Zuckerman, then a Class B Chess Player, what opening to play and then followed his advice. Zuckerman became known as "Zook the Book" or "Zuckerbook" because he knew more about opening theory than could be found in any book.

Zuckerman is 22 days younger than Bobby Fischer, and sometimes jested that when he got as old as Fischer he would be just as strong. Zuckerman was one of Fischer's few close friends, and taught him much about the Sicilian Defense and other openings. Fischer used Zuckerman's advice successfully; see the 1962 game Bilek-Fischer for one example.

By 1964, Zuckerman was strong enough to play in the U.S. Chess Championship. He would play about 12-15 moves, get a clear advantage, and offer a draw which was usually accepted. When it wasn't, he would often go on to win, as in his game with grandmaster Robert Byrne.

Tournament organizers knew Zuckerman's games frequently resulted in short draws, and despite his obvious strength stopped inviting him to tournaments. Hence he never got a grandmaster title, because, among other reasons, in order to get a grandmaster title it is necessary to defeat other grandmasters.

Although his rating was never high in tournament chess, Zuckerman was a fantastically strong blitz chess speed player, displaying the same mastery of openings, and winning, rather than drawing as draws are much less common in blitz chess.

Zuckerman has not played in a serious open chess tournament since 1990. He still plays occasionally in Zsuzsa Polgar's blitz tournaments in Queens, and Zuckerman still wins almost every game, except that he loses to Zsuzsa. He currently lives in Brooklyn Heights, New York.