Duncan Suttles - Grandmaster

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 Olympiad. However, he was denied the title on a technicality. Instead, Suttles settled 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, 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 Ljubojević.

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.