Duncan Suttles
Encyclopedia
Duncan Suttles is an International Grandmaster
of chess
who was the strongest Canadian player between the eras of Abe Yanofsky and Kevin Spraggett
. He is one of the few over-the-board grandmasters who also holds the title of Grandmaster of Correspondence Chess
. Suttles has been inactive in over-the-board play since the mid-1980s. He currently serves with the software firm Magnetar Games, as President and Chief Technologist.
. He was of National Master strength by his mid-teens, which was unusual for Canadian chess at that time. His early mentor was mathematician
and master Elod Macskasy.
Suttles made his first appearance in the Closed Canadian Chess Championship
at Brockville, 1961, at age 15, and scored 3/11. Suttles won the British Columbia
Championship in 1963 and 1966. In his second Closed, he scored 8.5 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 Junior World Chess Championship. At home in Vancouver for the 1965 Canadian Championship, Suttles scored 8/11 and finished second, behind eight-time champion Daniel Yanofsky
. As a dual Canadian-American citizen, Suttles was also eligible for the United States Championship, New York
1965-66, in which he finished last with 2.5/11, an event won by Bobby Fischer
.
Suttles attended the University of British Columbia
, and represented the school in interuniversity chess competition. He earned his undergraduate degree in mathematics
, and began doctoral-level studies, but did not complete his PhD.
, Barcelona
1965, but was drawn into a strong preliminary group which included the eventual winner Bojan Kurajica
, and could only score 1.5/4, failing to advance to the finals. Suttles did manage to win the 'B' final, ahead of Raymond Keene
. Suttles represented Canada in the qualifying Interzonal
event for the World Chess Championship
at Sousse
1967, scoring 9.5/21 for 15th place. Suttles won the Canadian Chess Championship
held at Pointe-Claire 1969, after a playoff match with Zvonko Vranesic
in Toronto
, which Suttles won by 2.5-1.5. He took another crack at the Interzonal
level at Palma de Mallorca
1970, scoring 10/23 for a tied 15th-16th place, but did not qualify for the final Candidates' matches that would choose the title challenger.
, for the first of his eight selections, including six in a row, over a period of 20 years. He usually played a large number of games in these team events, close to the maximum. Here are his complete results; his totals for Canada in Olympiads are: (+49 =43 −30), for 57.8 percent. He also played board one for Canada on its bronze medal winning team at the 1971 Student Olympiad.
Suttles was already of Grandmaster strength by 1968, and in fact qualified for the title at the Lugano
Olympiad. However, due to Cold War
politics he was denied the title on an absurd technicality; he had supposedly played too many games, and several established Europeans complained about his 'ugly' chess. This technicality was fixed for the future. He had to settle for the International Master title, earned in 1967 at the Sousse Interzonal. He finally achieved the Grandmaster title at the San Antonio tournament of 1972, ironically gaining the last half-point he needed against the Soviet Grandmaster 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 9.5/11, losing only to the winner Ljubomir Ljubojevic
.
He won the Western Canadian Open, Vancouver
1981, defeating Tony Miles
and Yasser Seirawan in the final two rounds. He won his final Canadian event, the 1984 Vancouver Futurity.
While taking a break from over-the-board chess, he won a pre-computer era high level correspondence chess tournament, the Heilimo Memorial, played from 1978–1981. He was awarded the title of International Grandmaster
of Correspondence Chess
in 1982, making him one of the very few players to hold GM titles both for over the board chess and chess by correspondence.
, and became well known due to his preference for hypermodern openings
. He was perhaps the world's leading advocate of the Modern Defence from the mid-1960s, and showed that this line, a universal defence against any White opening move, was fully playable, which had not been the case before his time. The line was nicknamed the 'Rat', for the Black fianchettoed bishop
which kept dodging around in its holes! As White, Suttles favoured 1.e4, with a predilection for the Closed Variation against the Sicilian Defence
, and the baroque Vienna Game
after 1.e4 e5. He occasionally played the English Opening
(1.c4) as well. By the early 1970s, he was frequently opening with 1.g3 as White, aiming for a reversed Modern Defence, another new opening idea. His unique skills – such as the avoidance of main opening lines, use of a defensive king-side fianchetto
, development of knights
to unusual squares, and sudden eruption of tactics – are well illustrated by the selection of games listed below, which are all characteristic of Suttles at his best.
Suttles was the leader in a group of strong young British Columbia
masters, mentored by the veteran Macskasy. The players competed hard head-to-head, but also worked together, learned from each other, and employed original playing styles to largely dominate Canadian chess for the better part of a decade. Other members of this group from the late 1960s included Peter Biyiasas
, Bruce Harper, Jonathan Berry
, and Robert Zuk.
In the book The World of Chess (1974), authors Anthony Saidy
and Norman Lessing
described Suttles as the 'most original strategist since Nimzowitsch'.
A significant project, entitled Chess on the Edge, includes the largest annotated collection of his games, more than 600 in all. Simultaneous publication of the three volumes took place in March, 2008, with the publisher being the Chess'n Math Association
. FM Bruce Harper, one of Suttles' students, led the effort, with assistance from GM Yasser Seirawan, Dutch
IM Gerard Welling, and GMC Jonathan Berry
.
International Grandmaster
The title Grandmaster is awarded to strong chess players by the world chess organization FIDE. Apart from World Champion, Grandmaster is the highest title a chess player can attain....
of chess
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
who was the strongest Canadian player between the eras of Abe Yanofsky and Kevin Spraggett
Kevin Spraggett
Kevin Spraggett is a Canadian chess grandmaster. He is the fourth Canadian to earn the grandmaster title, after Abe Yanofsky, Duncan Suttles and Peter Biyiasas. Spraggett is the only Canadian to have qualified for the Candidates' level, having done so in 1985 and 1988...
. He is one of the few over-the-board grandmasters who also holds the title of Grandmaster of Correspondence Chess
Correspondence chess
Correspondence chess is chess played by various forms of long-distance correspondence, usually through a correspondence chess server, through email or by the postal system; less common methods which have been employed include fax and homing pigeon...
. Suttles has been inactive in over-the-board play since the mid-1980s. He currently serves with the software firm Magnetar Games, as President and Chief Technologist.
Early years
Suttles was born in San Francisco, California, but moved to Canada at a young age, spending his formative years in VancouverVancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
. He was of National Master strength by his mid-teens, which was unusual for Canadian chess at that time. His early mentor was mathematician
Mathematician
A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
and master Elod Macskasy.
Suttles made his first appearance in the Closed Canadian Chess Championship
Canadian Chess Championship
This is the list of all the winners of the Canadian Chess Championship, often referred to as the Canadian Closed Championship to distinguish it from the annual Canadian Open tournament. The winner of the Canadian Closed advances to the next stage of the FIDE World Chess Championship cycle...
at Brockville, 1961, at age 15, and scored 3/11. Suttles won the British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
Championship in 1963 and 1966. In his second Closed, he scored 8.5 from 15 games at Winnipeg
Winnipeg
Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...
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
Canadian Open Chess Championship
The Canadian Open Chess Championship is Canada's Open chess championship, first held in 1956, and held annually since 1973, usually in mid-summer. It is organized by the Chess Federation of Canada....
in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, and as the top junior, qualified for the 1965 Junior World Chess Championship. At home in Vancouver for the 1965 Canadian Championship, Suttles scored 8/11 and finished second, behind eight-time champion Daniel Yanofsky
Daniel Yanofsky
Daniel Abraham Yanofsky, OC, QC was Canada's first chess grandmaster, an eight-time Canadian Chess Champion, a chess writer, a chess arbiter, and a lawyer.-Life in chess:...
. As a dual Canadian-American citizen, Suttles was also eligible for the United States Championship, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
1965-66, in which he finished last with 2.5/11, an event won by Bobby Fischer
Bobby Fischer
Robert James "Bobby" Fischer was an American chess Grandmaster and the 11th World Chess Champion. He is widely considered one of the greatest chess players of all time. Fischer was also a best-selling chess author...
.
Suttles attended the University of British Columbia
University of British Columbia
The University of British Columbia is a public research university. UBC’s two main campuses are situated in Vancouver and in Kelowna in the Okanagan Valley...
, and represented the school in interuniversity chess competition. He earned his undergraduate degree in mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
, and began doctoral-level studies, but did not complete his PhD.
Represents Canada
Suttles represented Canada at the Junior World Chess ChampionshipWorld Chess Championship
The World Chess Championship is played to determine the World Champion in the board game chess. Men and women of any age are eligible to contest this title....
, Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
1965, but was drawn into a strong preliminary group which included the eventual winner Bojan Kurajica
Bojan Kurajica
Bojan Kurajica is a Croatian-Bosnian chess grandmaster .Kurajica grew up in Split. He earned the International Master title in 1965 by winning the World Junior Championship...
, and could only score 1.5/4, failing to advance to the finals. Suttles did manage to win the 'B' final, ahead of Raymond Keene
Raymond Keene
Raymond Dennis Keene OBE is an English chess Grandmaster, a FIDE International Arbiter, a chess organiser, and a journalist and author.p196 He won the British Chess Championship in 1971, and was the first player from England to earn a Grandmaster norm, in 1974. In 1976 he became the second...
. Suttles represented Canada in the qualifying Interzonal
Interzonal
Interzonal chess tournaments were tournaments organized by FIDE, the World Chess Federation, and were a stage in the triennial World Chess Championship cycle.- Zonal tournaments :...
event for the World Chess Championship
World Chess Championship
The World Chess Championship is played to determine the World Champion in the board game chess. Men and women of any age are eligible to contest this title....
at Sousse
Sousse
Sousse is a city in Tunisia. Located 140 km south of the capital Tunis, the city has 173,047 inhabitants . Sousse is in the central-east of the country, on the Gulf of Hammamet, which is a part of the Mediterranean Sea. The name may be of Berber origin: similar names are found in Libya and in...
1967, scoring 9.5/21 for 15th place. Suttles won the Canadian Chess Championship
Canadian Chess Championship
This is the list of all the winners of the Canadian Chess Championship, often referred to as the Canadian Closed Championship to distinguish it from the annual Canadian Open tournament. The winner of the Canadian Closed advances to the next stage of the FIDE World Chess Championship cycle...
held at Pointe-Claire 1969, after a playoff match with Zvonko Vranesic
Zvonko Vranesic
Zvonko Vranesic is a Croatian–Canadian International Master of chess, and an International Master of Correspondence Chess. He is an electrical engineer, a university professor, and a developer of computer chess software....
in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, which Suttles won by 2.5-1.5. He took another crack at the Interzonal
Interzonal
Interzonal chess tournaments were tournaments organized by FIDE, the World Chess Federation, and were a stage in the triennial World Chess Championship cycle.- Zonal tournaments :...
level at Palma de Mallorca
Palma de Mallorca
Palma is the major city and port on the island of Majorca and capital city of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands in Spain. The names Ciutat de Mallorca and Ciutat were used before the War of the Spanish Succession and are still used by people in Majorca. However, the official name...
1970, scoring 10/23 for a tied 15th-16th place, but did not qualify for the final Candidates' matches that would choose the title challenger.
Olympic stalwart
Suttles appeared at age 18 on the Canadian Olympiad team for Tel Aviv 196416th Chess Olympiad
The 16th Chess Olympiad, organized by the FIDE and comprising an open and women's tournament, as well as several events designed to promote the game of chess, took place between November 2 and November 25, 1964, in Tel Aviv, Israel.-References:* OlimpBase...
, for the first of his eight selections, including six in a row, over a period of 20 years. He usually played a large number of games in these team events, close to the maximum. Here are his complete results; his totals for Canada in Olympiads are: (+49 =43 −30), for 57.8 percent. He also played board one for Canada on its bronze medal winning team at the 1971 Student Olympiad.
- Tel Aviv 196416th Chess OlympiadThe 16th Chess Olympiad, organized by the FIDE and comprising an open and women's tournament, as well as several events designed to promote the game of chess, took place between November 2 and November 25, 1964, in Tel Aviv, Israel.-References:* OlimpBase...
: 1st reserve, 5.5/10, +4 =3 −2; - Havana 196617th Chess OlympiadThe 17th Chess Olympiad, organized by the FIDE and comprising an open and women's tournament, as well as several events designed to promote the game of chess, took place between October 23 and November 20, 1966, in Havana, Cuba.-References:* OlimpBase...
: 4th board, 10/18, +8 =5 −5; - Lugano 196818th Chess OlympiadThe 18th Chess Olympiad, organized by the FIDE and comprising an open and women's tournament, as well as several events designed to promote the game of chess, took place between October 17 and November 7, 1968, in Lugano, Switzerland.-References:* OlimpBase...
: 2nd board, 11.5/17, +7 =9 −1; - Siegen 197019th Chess OlympiadThe 19th Chess Olympiad, comprising an open team tournament and the Annual Congress of the Fédération Internationale des Échecs, took place between September 5 and September 27, 1970, in the small town of Siegen, West Germany.-Tournament report:...
: 2nd board, 8/16, +3 =10 −3; - Mayagüez Student Olympiad 1971: 1st board, 6.5/11, +6 =1 −4, team bronze;
- Skopje 197220th Chess OlympiadThe 20th Chess Olympiad, organized by the FIDE and comprising an open and women's tournament, as well as several events designed to promote the game of chess, took place between September 18 and October 13, 1972, in Skopje, Yugoslavia ....
: 1st board, 9.5/17, +6 =7 −4; - Nice 197421st Chess OlympiadThe 21st Chess Olympiad, organized by the FIDE and comprising an open and women's tournament, as well as several events designed to promote the game of chess, took place between June 6 and June 30, 1974, in Nice, France.-References:* OlimpBase...
: 1st board, 10.5/19, +8 =5 −6; - Valletta 198025th Chess OlympiadThe 25th Chess Olympiad, organized by the FIDE and comprising an open and women's tournament, as well as several events designed to promote the game of chess, took place between October 29 and November 16, 1982, in Lucerne, Switzerland.-References:...
: 2nd board, 3/8, +2 =2 −4; - Thessaloniki 198426th Chess OlympiadThe 26th Chess Olympiad, organized by the FIDE and comprising an open and women's tournament, as well as several events designed to promote the game of chess, took place between November 18 and December 5, 1984, in Thessaloniki, Greece.-References:...
: 1st board, 5/11, +4 =2 −5.
Grandmaster
Suttles became a Canadian citizen in 1966, and married his wife Dobrila in 1968; they have been together ever since.Suttles was already of Grandmaster strength by 1968, and in fact qualified for the title at the Lugano
Lugano
Lugano is a city of inhabitants in the city proper and a total of over 145,000 people in the agglomeration/city region, in the south of Switzerland, in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino, which borders Italy...
Olympiad. However, due to Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
politics he was denied the title on an absurd technicality; he had supposedly played too many games, and several established Europeans complained about his 'ugly' chess. This technicality was fixed for the future. He had to settle for the International Master title, earned in 1967 at the Sousse Interzonal. He finally achieved the Grandmaster title at the San Antonio tournament of 1972, ironically gaining the last half-point he needed against the Soviet Grandmaster Tigran Petrosian
Tigran Petrosian
Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian was a Soviet-Armenian grandmaster, and World Chess Champion from 1963 to 1969. He was nicknamed "Iron Tigran" due to his playing style because of his almost impenetrable defence, which emphasised safety above all else...
.
He won the Canadian Open Chess Championship
Canadian Open Chess Championship
The Canadian Open Chess Championship is Canada's Open chess championship, first held in 1956, and held annually since 1973, usually in mid-summer. It is organized by the Chess Federation of Canada....
at Ottawa
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
1973. He also won the 1973 La Presse Open in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
. Suttles tied for first place in the U.S. Open Chess Championship
U.S. Open Chess Championship
The U.S. Open Championship is an open national chess championship that has been held in the United States annually since 1900.-History:Through 1938, the tournaments were organized by the Western Chess Association and its successor, the American Chess Federation .The United States Chess Federation ...
at Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
1973, scoring 10/12 and defeating GM Walter Browne in the last round. Suttles placed clear second in the 1974 Canadian Open Chess Championship
Canadian Open Chess Championship
The Canadian Open Chess Championship is Canada's Open chess championship, first held in 1956, and held annually since 1973, usually in mid-summer. It is organized by the Chess Federation of Canada....
in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
with 9.5/11, losing only to the winner Ljubomir Ljubojevic
Ljubomir Ljubojevic
Ljubomir Ljubojević is a Grandmaster of chess. He was born on November 2, 1950, in Titovo Užice, Yugoslavia . Ljubojević was awarded the International Master title in 1970 and the GM title in 1971. He was Yugoslav champion in 1977 and 1982. He won the 1974 Canadian Open Chess Championship...
.
He won the Western Canadian Open, Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
1981, defeating Tony Miles
Tony Miles
Anthony John Miles was an English chess Grandmaster.- Early achievements in chess :Miles was born in Edgbaston, a suburb of Birmingham...
and Yasser Seirawan in the final two rounds. He won his final Canadian event, the 1984 Vancouver Futurity.
While taking a break from over-the-board chess, he won a pre-computer era high level correspondence chess tournament, the Heilimo Memorial, played from 1978–1981. He was awarded the title of International Grandmaster
International Grandmaster
The title Grandmaster is awarded to strong chess players by the world chess organization FIDE. Apart from World Champion, Grandmaster is the highest title a chess player can attain....
of Correspondence Chess
Correspondence chess
Correspondence chess is chess played by various forms of long-distance correspondence, usually through a correspondence chess server, through email or by the postal system; less common methods which have been employed include fax and homing pigeon...
in 1982, making him one of the very few players to hold GM titles both for over the board chess and chess by correspondence.
Playing style and legacy
In his youth, Suttles was strongly influenced by Aron NimzowitschAron Nimzowitsch
Aron Nimzowitsch was a Russian-born Danish unofficial chess grandmaster and a very influential chess writer...
, and became well known due to his preference for hypermodern openings
Hypermodernism (chess)
Hypermodernism is a school of chess that emerged after World War I. It featured challenges on the chess ideologies presented by central European masters, such as on Wilhelm Steinitz’ approach to the centre. It also challenged in particular the dogmatic rules set down by Siegbert Tarrasch...
. He was perhaps the world's leading advocate of the Modern Defence from the mid-1960s, and showed that this line, a universal defence against any White opening move, was fully playable, which had not been the case before his time. The line was nicknamed the 'Rat', for the Black fianchettoed bishop
Bishop (chess)
A bishop is a piece in the board game of chess. Each player begins the game with two bishops. One starts between the king's knight and the king, the other between the queen's knight and the queen...
which kept dodging around in its holes! As White, Suttles favoured 1.e4, with a predilection for the Closed Variation against the Sicilian Defence
Sicilian Defence
The Sicilian Defence is a chess opening that begins with the moves:The Sicilian is the most popular and best-scoring response to White's first move 1.e4...
, and the baroque Vienna Game
Vienna Game
The Vienna Game is a chess opening that begins with the moves:White's second move is less common than 2.Nf3, and is also of more recent vintage; a book reviewer wrote in the New York Times in 1888 that "since Morphy only one new opening has been introduced, the 'Vienna.The original idea behind...
after 1.e4 e5. He occasionally played the English Opening
English Opening
In chess, the English Opening is the opening where White begins:A flank opening, it is the fourth most popular and, according to various databases, anywhere from one of the two most successful to the fourth most successful of White's twenty possible first moves. White begins the fight for the...
(1.c4) as well. By the early 1970s, he was frequently opening with 1.g3 as White, aiming for a reversed Modern Defence, another new opening idea. His unique skills – such as the avoidance of main opening lines, use of a defensive king-side fianchetto
Fianchetto
In chess the fianchetto is a pattern of development wherein a bishop is developed to the second rank of the adjacent knight file, the knight pawn having been moved one or two squares forward....
, development of knights
Knight (chess)
The knight is a piece in the game of chess, representing a knight . It is normally represented by a horse's head and neck. Each player starts with two knights, which begin on the row closest to the player, one square from the corner...
to unusual squares, and sudden eruption of tactics – are well illustrated by the selection of games listed below, which are all characteristic of Suttles at his best.
Suttles was the leader in a group of strong young British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
masters, mentored by the veteran Macskasy. The players competed hard head-to-head, but also worked together, learned from each other, and employed original playing styles to largely dominate Canadian chess for the better part of a decade. Other members of this group from the late 1960s included Peter Biyiasas
Peter Biyiasas
Peter Biyiasas is a Canadian chess grandmaster. He was Canadian champion in 1972 and 1975, represented Canada with fine success on four Olympiad teams, played in two Interzonals. He moved to the United States in 1979, settling in California. He has been retired from competitive play since the...
, Bruce Harper, Jonathan Berry
Jonathan Berry
Jonathan Berry is a Canadian International Correspondence Chess Grandmaster, an International Arbiter, a FIDE Master over-the-board, and a chess journalist and author...
, and Robert Zuk.
In the book The World of Chess (1974), authors Anthony Saidy
Anthony Saidy
Anthony Saidy is an International Master of chess. He has played many times in the U.S. Chess Championship. He won the 1960 Canadian Open Chess Championship. He is the author of several chess books, including The Battle of Chess Ideas, and The World of Chess...
and Norman Lessing
Norman Lessing
Norman Lessing was an American television screenwriter and producer, playwright, chess master, and chess writer.-Biography:...
described Suttles as the 'most original strategist since Nimzowitsch'.
A significant project, entitled Chess on the Edge, includes the largest annotated collection of his games, more than 600 in all. Simultaneous publication of the three volumes took place in March, 2008, with the publisher being the Chess'n Math Association
Chess'n Math Association
The Chess'n Math Association is a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing chess into Canadian schools...
. FM Bruce Harper, one of Suttles' students, led the effort, with assistance from GM Yasser Seirawan, Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
IM Gerard Welling, and GMC Jonathan Berry
Jonathan Berry
Jonathan Berry is a Canadian International Correspondence Chess Grandmaster, an International Arbiter, a FIDE Master over-the-board, and a chess journalist and author...
.
Notable chess games
- Gyozo Forintos vs Duncan Suttles, Tel Aviv Olympiad 1964, Modern Defence / Queen's Pawn Game (A40), 0-1 White responds in quiet and unusual fashion, but the game soon intensifies to Black's advantage.
- Milan Matulovic vs Duncan Suttles, Sousse Interzonal 1967, Modern Defence, Averbakh Variation (A42), 0-1 The strong Yugoslav Grandmaster is seemingly perplexed by Black's unusual strategy.
- Bent Larsen vs Duncan Suttles, Sousse Interzonal 1967, Modern Defence (B06), 0-1 Larsen was the Chess Oscar winner for 1967, so this win was perhaps the biggest so far for the young Canadian.
- Hans-Joachim Hecht vs Duncan Suttles, Belgrade 1969, Modern Defence (B06), 0-1 Another Modern execution of a strong European; the game is finally decided after a very long endgame.
- Duncan Suttles vs Borislav Ivkov, Belgrade 1969, Modern / Hungarian Opening (A00), 1-0 One of the first games for this new variation, and it turns out successfully for White.
- Larry Evans vs Duncan Suttles, San Antonio 1972, Modern Defence (B06), 0-1 The many-time American champion gets schooled in new ways.
- Ken Rogoff vs Duncan Suttles, Canadian Open, Ottawa 1973, Modern Defence (B06), 0-1 Two young stars debate leading edge opening ideas.
- Duncan Suttles vs Kevin Spraggett, Canadian Open, Ottawa 1973, Sicilian Defence, Closed Variation (B26), 1-0 Spraggett was one of the top young Canadians of the next generation at this stage; he would go on to become Canada's strongest-ever player.
- Walter Browne vs Duncan Suttles, U.S. Open, Chicago 1973, Modern Defence (B06), 0-1 The rising star Browne, an eventual six-time American champion, learns painfully about Suttles' exploitation of weak squares.
- Duncan Suttles vs Pal Benko, Hastings 1973-74, Modern / Hungarian Opening (A00), 1-0 It was Benko himself who had first introduced this variation in the early 1960s, but here Suttles shows off a few new twists.
- Karl Robatsch vs Duncan Suttles, Nice Olympiad 1974, Modern Defence (A41), 0-1 Suttles shows he is still among the world's best with the Modern.
- Lubomir Kavalek vs Duncan Suttles, Nice Olympiad 1974, Pirc Defence (B08), 0-1 The top American board has to concede defeat.
- Duncan Suttles vs Bent Larsen, Canadian Open, Montreal 1974, English Opening (A13), 1-0 Suttles takes off the many-time Candidate Larsen again, this time on home soil.
- Duncan Suttles vs Samuel Reshevsky, Lone Pine 1975, English Opening (A26), 1-0 Reshevsky was the epitome of orthodox play in chess, so this game is a fascinating contrast of styles.
- Duncan Suttles vs Tony Miles, Vancouver 1981, Modern / Hungarian Opening (A00), 1-0 Miles, after losing this game, would go on to use this variation himself with success.
- Yasser Seirawan vs Duncan Suttles, Vancouver 1981, English Opening (A21), 0-1 Seirawan was one of the world's top young players, and he would develop a style which resembled that of Suttles.
- Pal Benko vs Duncan Suttles, Boston 1964, Modern Defence, 1-0 Suttles loses this game due to an oversight at the end but it is a wonderful game is full of tactics and plays like one long combination. This game was chosen by Canadian IM Lawrence DayLawrence DayLawrence Day is a Canadian chess International Master, author, and journalist. He has represented Canada at 13 Chess Olympiads.- Early life :...
as his favourite game in Learn From The Grandmasters.