In the spring of 1975, because there weren't any chess clubs in the area, and I was a rising young "C" player riding on the Fischer boom, I decided to start a chess club. I coerced two of my friends into joining me in setting up the club. One of them, Bob, was interested in chess, but was unrated. The other, Bill, was more or less dragged into it. We each contributed some money (probably about $20 each) and bought some basic supplies. Later, out of dues money, we bought sets, clocks and a few other things for the club (the club still has most of these). On February 28, 1975, I drew up a constitution, we all signed it and the club was born. I even designed a coat of arms for the ocassion: The signers of the constitution were: Mike Henebry, President; Bill Williams, Vice President, Bob Mercy, Secretary, and Arika Henebry (my wife), Treasurer. The other two guys faded pretty quickly. Arika hung in there for a year or two. She was never really interested in chess anyway.

We were originally the "Cerritos Chess Club" and met at Stowers Elementary School in Cerritos on Friday nights. The first meeting we had 8 players, 16 the following week and were up to 28 by the third week. I did a lot of promoting and spent a lot of time on the phone drumming up players in those days. Another important aspect to our growth was the fact that Ron Gross, a strong master, lived in Cerritos. I didn't know Ron then (he eventually became a very good friend of mine), but I managed to get him interested. As a regular member, his strength attracted other strong players. The club grew very quickly.

On July 11th of 1975, Ron did the first lecture and simul at the club. He played 24 boards winning all the games except for 3 draws (to Tom McCleary, Walt Ostroff and Mike Brady). Also, in 1975, we began a correspondence match with the Marshall Chess Club in New York. They had a lot of strength there, including GMs, headed by Andy Soltis. We had mostly Ron Gross. I don't recall the exact outcome of the match (one of these days I'll dig out the information from an old carton of memorabilia packed away in the garage) and update this, but I'm pretty sure we were leading when it fizzled out.

In December of 1975, we had GM Walter Browne give a simultaneous exhibition at the club. The charge was $7.50 a board! I made a homemade magnetic demonstration board for the lecture. On the night of the event, we had over 100 people in attendance. Walter was late. Jerry Hanken, a friend and blooming chess dignitary, did an impromptu lecture until Walter showed up (about an hour late because of a host of traffic problems). He played 62 boards. This was the largest simul on Walter's 50-city tour. Second was Denver with 48 boards. His last game finished at 4am! His score was 55 wins, 4 draws (Mark Duckworth, Terry Koen, Anthony Grauso, and Dewain Barber), and 3 losses (John Lycklama, Jim Pelletier, and Mike Henebry). This was the best score for any club (worst for him) on his 50- city tour.

By that time, the club had over 75 members (we had paid memberships at the time). Some of our current members were members of the club in those early days (Mike Brady, Brian Scanlon, and Jan Muilenburg). The first Club Champion (1975) was Walt Ostroff (rated 1673 at the time). Ron Gross didn't play in the championship that year.

In 1976 (March 19th), we had former World Champion, Vassily Smyslov for a simultaneous exhibition. Here is an excerpt from my book, Chess Words of Wisdom, that chronicles that event (Smyslov, who recently passed away, was alive when I wrote the book):

"On March 19, 1976, I (the author) had the great pleasure of meeting Vasily Smyslov. As the president of the Cerritos Chess Club (in California) at the time, we had the honor of having him do a simultaneous exhibition at our club. I had the additional pleasure of having him spend the night at my house. The most prominent impression of the man was what a complete gentleman he was. I have very fond memories of this man (who was about my father's age). He was (and I am sure still is) a very personable and charming guy with a great sense of humor.

Two weeks before the event, Isaac Kashdan (who was then the chess editor of the Los Angeles Times and the director of all of the Lone Pine tournaments) called me and told me that two Russian former World Champions, Tigran Petrosian and Vasily Smyslov, were going to be in town for the Lone Pine tournament. Petrosian would be going to New York after the tournament, but Smyslov would be staying in town for a while. Kashdan asked me if I would like to have Smyslov do a simul. I think I said "yes" before he finished the question!

Then, a few days before the exhibition, Kashdan called again and said that Smyslov would like to limit the number of boards to 45, but he (Smyslov) would bring his friend, GM Leonid Shamkovich, along to pick up the overflow, if any. He asked if that would be okay. Again, I was wondering if this was a trick question! As a result, we had not only Smyslov, but also Shamkovich both in the same night!

Between the players and spectators, we had about 200 people in attendance. My longtime friend, the late Jerry Hanken (of Chess Life) was there and, after about two seconds of arm twisting; he agreed to make the introductions of not only Smyslov, but of several other VIP's in attendance. My good friend Ron Gross introduced Shamkovich. Ron is a USCF master, winner of the US Junior Speed Championship in 1955 (beating Bobby Fischer in the process), 4th place in the US Open 1966, one-time California Junior Champion and former California Collegiate Champion.

Smyslov played 46 boards (one guy sneaked in; we caught him, charged him, and let him continue anyway!) and Shamkovich played 12 boards. Finishing at about 1:00 am, the final scores were Smyslov: 39 wins, 7 draws (including Gross and Hanken), and no losses, Shamkovich: 10 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss. When Smyslov got down to the last game, someone offered him a clock (customarily, the last player is put on the clock). He waved it away, pulled up a chair, and let his opponent (Brian Scanlon) take all the time he needed to eventually lose a tough endgame (tough for Brian, anyway).

After the event, Ron took Shamkovich to his home to spend the night with him and his wife, Marilyn. Smyslov, Hanken, my wife (Arika) and I, and three others, went to a local restaurant. Smyslov, whose English was not that good at the time, told us some stories about several great chess players, and he told some chess jokes. He told us about his trip to Disneyland and Jerry told us of a picture he had of Averbakh and Stein on the Matterhorn ride (what a great Chess Life cover that would have made!).

We were all having a fantastic time, and we did not notice what time it was when we ordered some beer. A few minutes after receiving the beers, the waitress told us that she would have to collect the glasses in five minutes. We explained to Smyslov that, in California, alcohol cannot be served after 2am. He looked at his watch and said, "Oh, then I am in time-trouble!" The waitress stood by as he chugalugged his beer while looking at his watch and smiling at her between swallows.

After the restaurant, Smyslov came home with my wife and me to spend the night. He went straight to the piano (he was also a professional opera singer who would have sang for the Bolshoi Opera if he had not been so valuable to his country as being a chess player). He looked around and gestured, as if to ask, "Is there anyone that my playing and singing would disturb?" Of course, we said "no." In reality though, at 3:30 in the morning, I am sure we had a few startled and irate neighbors.

First, he sight-read Schubert's Serenade in Dm (which was on the piano when he came in) and then he sang, from memory, three Russian Arias while accompanying himself on the piano. He was a tenor, and he sounded a lot like Caruso to me. It was breathtaking! It was a true performance. He obviously loved the music. He was making passionate gestures between the notes on the keyboard; his body swayed as he sang. His range of dynamics was from pianissimo to triple forte. It was the triple fortes that worried me when I thought about the neighbors! What an incredible experience it was!

The next morning I was able to play a skittles game with him. First, I hung a knight, which he gave back to me. Then, a few moves later, I put my queen en prise. He said to take it back. I argued politely that he should take it, that I had lost it. Then, he smiled, offered his hand and said "then it is a draw."

I drove Smyslov and Shamkovich to the airport. Kashdan, and his wife Helen, met us there. We all had breakfast together. I had known Kashdan casually for a couple of years, but he was always reluctant to talk about himself (he was a modest man). At that breakfast, he talked about his heyday when he played people like Alekhine, Capablanca, Marshall, and Nimzovich. He had even scores against Alekhine and Capablanca, and beat Nimzovich both times he played him! He had wins against such illustrious players as Euwe, Colle, Horowitz, Santasiere, Marshall, Pinkus, Kmoch, Flohr, Samisch, Mieses, Bogolyubov, Stahlberg, Grunfeld, Vidmar, Maroczy, Steiner, Yates, Milner-Barry, Koltanowski, Reshevsky, Tartakower, Denker, Reinfeld, Elo, Hanauer, Chernev, Byrne, Collins, Pilnik, Yanofsky, Wade, Bisguier, Mednis, Evans, and Kotov (to name only a few).

Saying goodbye to Smyslov and the Kashdans that day ended a huge two- day episode in my life! Mowing the lawn, later that day, was a reality check!"

In April of 1977, the club moved to Artesia and became the Artesia Chess Club. There we had simuls by the late GM Larry Evans, Woman's World Champion Nona Gaprindishvelli, and GM Dimitry Gurevich. We also set the California record for the most players in a one-round-a-week tournament. We had 104 players in one of our weekly tournaments. I believe this record still stands.

That same year, I bought a semi truck and trailer and became an 18-wheel truck driver. My wife and I went on the road for about 4 years. Brian Scanlon was gracious enough to take over the club at that time. He served in that capacity almost continuously from then on (with, I think, a brief episode of Anthony Hopson as President in 1979). During Brian's watch, he moved the club to La Palma. I moved back to the area in the 80s, but didn't play much again until the 90s when I rejoined the club, but Brian was firmly in charge and doing a great job.

Brian moved to North Carolina a few years ago, and I took over again. This time, though, I had a lot of help. In fact, a better way to put it is that I became part of a team that was already in place and running the club. The team included Leigh Hunt, Chris Roberts and Mike Brady. I did most of the tournament directing and publicity, while Leigh was an assistant TD and alternate TD, Mike the Treasurer, and Leigh and Chris did the web site. The four of us usually worked out financial things and other executive things as needed. Recently, I have been trying to sell my business and retire (in which case I will be moving away from the area). Just as we were all trying to figure out what we would do, Brian moved back to town! Since I don't know when I'll be leaving, and he was agreeable to doing it, we all agreed it would be best for Brian to resume his role as the President.