Duncan Suttles

Duncan Suttles (born 21 December 1945) is a chess grandmaster.

Canada's second grandmaster after Abe Yanofsky, Suttles was recognized internationally for the originality of his strategic play in the mid-1960s and 70s.

Suttles championed the Modern Defence from the mid-1960s, showing that the line, which had previously been regarded with skepticism, was a fully playable universal defence against any White opening move.

Suttles was 15 when made his first appearance in the Closed Canadian Chess Championship at Brockville, 1961, scoring 3/11.

Suttles won the British Columbia Championship in 1963 and 1966.

In his second Closed, he scored 8½ from 15 games at Winnipeg 1963, finishing just above the middle of the strongest and youngest field yet seen in a Canadian final.

Suttles tied for 3rd–5th places in the 1964 Canadian Open Chess Championship in Toronto, and as the top junior, qualified for the 1965 World Junior Chess Championship.

At 18, Suttles was chosen for the Canadian Olympiad team in Tel Aviv, 1964, the first of his eight appearances, including six in a row over a period of 20 years.

He frequently played a large number of games in these team events, near the maximum.

His totals for Canada in the Olympiads were +49 −30 =43, for 57.8 percent.

He took part in the Gijon International Chess Tournament (1965), placing 2nd behind Luis Bronstein.

At home in Vancouver for the 1965 Canadian Championship, Suttles scored 8/11, finishing second behind eight-time champion Abe Yanofsky.

Suttles represented Canada at the Junior World Chess Championship, Barcelona, 1965.

He scored 1½/4 playing in a strong preliminary group which included the eventual winner, Bojan Kurajica.

He did win the B final, however, ahead of Raymond Keene.

As a dual citizen (he became a Canadian citizen in 1966), Suttles was also eligible for the US Championship in New York City in 1965–66, where he finished last with 2½/11; Bobby Fischer won.

Suttles attended the University of British Columbia and represented the school in inter-university chess competition.

He earned his undergraduate degree in mathematics and began to study for a doctorate, but eventually quit the program to work in private industry.

He represented Canada in the qualifying Interzonal event for the World Chess Championship at Sousse, 1967, scoring 9½/21 for 15th place.

Instead, Suttles settled for the International Master title earned at the Sousse Interzonal in 1967.

He married his wife Dobrila in 1968.

Suttles was already of grandmaster strength by 1968, and in fact qualified for the grandmaster title at the Lugano Olympiad.

However, he was denied the title on the basis of a technicality, namely that he had played (and won) one more than the required number of games in the event.

Suttles won the Canadian Chess Championship held at Pointe-Claire 1969, after a playoff match against Zvonko Vranesic in Toronto, which Suttles won 2½–1½.

This qualified him for the Interzonal at Palma de Mallorca, 1970, where he tied for 15th-16th place with a 10/23 score.

He also played Board 1 on the Canadian team at the 1971 Student Olympiad that won the bronze medal.

He finally achieved the grandmaster title at the San Antonio tournament of 1972, gaining the last half-point needed by drawing his game against the former world champion, Tigran Petrosian.

He won the Canadian Open Chess Championship at Ottawa 1973.

He also won the 1973 La Presse Open in Montreal.

Suttles tied for first place in the U.S. Open Chess Championship at Chicago 1973, scoring 10/12 and defeating GM Walter Browne in the last round.

Suttles placed clear second in the 1974 Canadian Open Chess Championship in Montreal with 9½/11, losing only to the winner, Ljubomir Ljubojević.

That same year, Suttles finished third in a strong field at an international tournament in Venice.

While taking a break from over-the-board chess, Suttles won a major international correspondence chess tournament, the Heilimo Memorial, played from 1978–1981.

He won the International Open at the Vancouver International Chess Congress in 1981, defeating Tony Miles and Yasser Seirawan in the final two rounds.

Awarded the title of International Grandmaster of Correspondence Chess in 1982, he is one of the few players in chess history to hold both over-the-board and correspondence GM titles.

In his youth, Suttles was strongly influenced by Aron Nimzowitsch, and became, like Nimzowitsch, well-known for his unorthodox treatment of hypermodern openings.

The 1984 Vancouver Futurity marked Suttles's final Canadian event.

He retired from competitive chess in 1985.

Born in San Francisco, Suttles moved to Canada at age 8 when his father began teaching at the University of British Columbia.

Mentored by Elod Macskasy, he was of national master strength by his mid-teens, which was unusual for Canadian chess at that time.