Chess in the 80s 11: Tears in rain (Wilder interview - 03/1989)

I can’t say I remember Michael Wilder, but I do remember the photograph on the cover of the January  1989 Chess, taken after he’d won that year’s US Championship. The tournament report and interview with the champ appeared a couple of months later.

Wilder obviously didn’t expect to be too long for the chess world and indeed it seems he did retire from the game soon after his championship win. At least he got his GM title before he went.

Looking back, it’s certainly interesting to read theinterviews with the all-time great chessers - Tal, Kasparov and Karpov - from the perspective of the late 1980s. A time, lest we forget, when the Soviet Union was still a thing.

Still, there’s something special reading about somebody like Wilder too. One of those chess players who got lost in time. Like tears in rain.