Get-well wishes to Brian Wall

Brian Wall, ex-Colorado champion, inventor of such crazy openings as the Fishing Pole and the Full Metal Jacket, occasional reader of this blog, and a guy who apparently has no other life than chess because he manages to post several times a day to his BrianWallChess newsgroup and play zillions of bullet games on ICC,

(deep breath)

yes, that Brian Wall is in the hospital, apparently having suffered a heart attack. I don’t know anything about it except what I read on the BrianWallChess discussion list this morning. The best information seems to come from DuWayne Langseth, who writes:

I talked to Brian Wall this afternoon on the phone and he sounded better than ever. He said “this has made me humor enhanced”. If you know Brian, besides being a walking encyclopedia set of chess, he is a funny, entertaining guy. Well, I laughed most of the time we talked.

We were scheduled with him to meet at our hotel next Friday to have him motivate our kids and do a group chess lesson the night before the big Scholastic State Championship, and I assumed this would completely derail that plan. He said, “I’ll be there!”. I was skeptical, but he left nodoubt that he’s  up to it. It sounds like he’s had some great medical attention and they have a plan to help him recover.

If I hadn’t heard he had a heart attack, I would not have
known from talking to him. I’m encouraged and hopeful
that he’ll be with us for a long time to come. At the
end of our conversation, he said “I can dodge bullets,
baby!”. I knew he could on the chess board.

DuWayne Langseth

Even though I have not had the pleasure to meet Brian in person or over the chessboard, I hope to have the chance to do so soon. For that to happen, we need him to make a full recovery. Get well soon, Brian!