William Lombardy

In March 2016, The New York Times reported that Lombardy was embroiled in an eviction battle against his landlord, allegedly being several thousand dollars behind in rent. In 2016 he was evicted and left homeless, living on the subways and in various chess clubs. The Archdiocese of New York was made aware of his plight and agreed to house him and provide long-term care even though he had left the priesthood. Lombardy accepted the offer but soon thereafter he left New York to live with a friend, Ralph Palmieri, in Martinez, California. He died of a suspected heart attack at Palmieri's home on October 13, 2017.

On September 16, 2015, the American biographical film Pawn Sacrifice was released, starring Tobey Maguire as Bobby Fischer, Liev Schreiber as Boris Spassky, Lily Rabe as Joan Fischer, and Peter Sarsgaard as Lombardy.

In November 2011 Lombardy self-published his autobiographical game collection: Understanding Chess: My System, My Games, My Life.

By 2010, Lombardy was retired from chess and lived in the East Village of New York City, where he focused on his writing and offered chess lessons by appointment.

In 1984, Lombardy took second place in Neskaupstaður, Iceland, scoring 7/11.

In 1982, Lombardy took "equal first in Caracas", Venezuela.

Lombardy left the priesthood in 1980. In 1982, he met a woman at a chess tournament in the Netherlands whom he married and later had a son.

In 1979 Lombardy equaled his earlier score at Lone Pine, tying for fifth–tenth, and winning an upset against tournament favorite (and then World Number 2 player) Victor Korchnoi.

In 1978 and 1979, Lombardy served as the lead instructor at an "all day", week-long chess camp at Michigan State University. This was perhaps the first camp of its type in the United States and attracted juniors from all over the country.

Lombardy tied for fifth–sixth place with 6/9 in The Lone Pine Open in 1977.

In 1976, Lombardy was on the U.S. team that won a gold medal at the 22nd Chess Olympiad in Haifa.

Lombardy tied for first with Pal Benko in The USA Open Championship in Lincoln, Nebraska, in 1975.

In 1974, Lombardy tied for second in The USA Open Championship, with 9½/12, going undefeated.

Fischer was scheduled to play a match against Spassky for the World Chess Championship 1972. However, Fischer had a falling out with Larry Evans, who had been Fischer's second in his successful matches against Bent Larsen and Tigran Petrosian.

In 1971, Lombardy gave a simultaneous exhibition and lecture at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

In 1969, Lombardy tied for second with Vlastimil Hort, going undefeated at Monte Carlo, scoring 7/11. In the same year, Lombardy tied for second with Benko and Mato Damjanović at Netanya, Israel.

Lombardy was ordained as a Roman Catholic priest in June 1967.

In 1966, Lombardy took clear first at the Southern Open in Atlanta, and tied with Ivkov for second at the Canadian Open.

In 1965, Lombardy tied with Byrne for first at the Western Open in St. Louis, and shared first place with Pal Benko at the USA Open Championship in Puerto Rico.

In 1963, Lombardy won the U.S. Open Chess Championship, along with Robert Byrne, scoring 11/13. Lombardy also became U.S. Speed champion.

In 1962, Lombardy tied for second at the U.S. Open, then won the New England Championship, and, shortly thereafter, gave a lecture at the Manhattan Chess Club in which he analyzed the game: Lombardy–Lyman, New England Championship, Haverhill, September 1962 Ruy Lopez [C93](1–0).

In 1960, he was awarded the title of International Grandmaster.

Lombardy finished second in the 1960–61 U.S. Championship behind Bobby Fischer and ahead of Raymond Weinstein in a star-studded field. With this result, Lombardy qualified to compete in the Interzonal tournament to be held in Stockholm for the right to advance to a match for the world championship. However, Lombardy decided to retire from tournament competition and become a Roman Catholic priest. Before retiring, he lost a match to Larry Evans by the score of 5½–4½. At the 1961 Zurich Chess Tournament, Lombardy tied for fourth place with Svetozar Gligorić, scoring 6½/11

Lombardy played first board for the U.S. Team that won the 1960 World Student Team Championship in Leningrad, USSR. Lombardy defeated future world champion Boris Spassky in their individual game. Lombardy won a gold medal for best result on first board in that event with a score of 12–1, and led the team to a Student Team winning percentage of 78.8, the highest winning percentage in the history of the World Student Team Championships.

In 1959, he took first place in the U.S. Log Cabin Invitational, scoring 7/10.

In 1958, he played in the Mar del Plata tournament and went "undefeated in second place", scoring 11/15.

In 1957, Lombardy became the first American to win the World Junior Chess Championship. He won the tournament in Toronto with a perfect score of 11–0. He was the first U.S. citizen since Steinitz to win an individual world chess title. Based on his performance, he was automatically awarded the International Master title.

In the first round of the 1957 World Junior Championship, Lombardy defeated the Soviet representative Vladimir Selimanov in a variation of the Ruy Lopez that Lombardy invented: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 0-0 9.h3 Na5 10.Bc2 c6. Lombardy essayed the move in at least nine official tournament games, scoring three wins, two losses, and four draws:

According to Jack Collins, "Bill's chess ability developed rapidly." Lombardy won the 1954 New York State Championship with a score of 9/11 (+7−0=4), and tied for first with Larry Evans at the 1956 Canadian Open Chess Championship. He then played and lost a match versus grandmaster Samuel Reshevsky by the score of 3½–2½, and, in the same year, played second board for the World Student Team Championship in Uppsala, Sweden, going undefeated, and scoring 7/9.

William James Joseph Lombardy (December 4, 1937 – October 13, 2017) was an American chess grandmaster, chess writer, teacher, and former Catholic priest. He was one of the leading American chess players during the 1950s and 1960s, and a contemporary of Bobby Fischer, whom he seconded during the World Chess Championship 1972. He won the World Junior Championship in 1957, the only person to win that tournament with a perfect score. Lombardy led the U.S. Student Team to Gold in the 1960 World Student Team Championship in Leningrad.