The photos below are from the March 1964 simultaneous exhibition that Bobby Fischer gave at the Wachusett Chess Club in Fitchburg.  The first 3  were supplied by Lester Garbicz who won the club championship in 1965 (go to the bottom of the 3rd photo to read about the remaining photo).  In the top photo , Fischer is making his move against Lester (wearing glasses). In the foreground with a crewcut is former club member Dick McMaster.  In the middle photo, Fischer is making his move against McMaster, while Garbicz - with a pen between his fingers - appears to be touching one of his black pieces.  In the bottom photo Fischer is making his move against Garbicz, who has his back to the camera.

   The simul in Fitchburg took place on Monday evening, March 2, 1964, at the First Parish Unitarian Universalist - at the Upper Common - which was the club site in the mid-1960s. Fischer played 56 boards. He lost five games - to Harold Dondis of Belmont, who was president at the time of the Massachusetts State Chess Association; Clarence Barber of Holden; George Bart of Concord, NH; Dave Scheffer of Cambridge; and Harvard University student Edward "Ted" Martin. Two games ended in draws against Stephen Brandwein of Boston and Leland Hamilton of Clinton. Fischer won 49. Of the total of 56 players, 12 were from the Wachusett Chess Club. The longest game was by 1960 Wachusett Chess Club champion Frank Hacker, who lasted 60 moves before he resigned.

-George Mirijanian

   The photo below was donated by Jean LeBlanc, daughter of J. Camille LeBlanc who is holding a cigarette in the photo.  To his right is Robert Fortier, a former club champion.  Jean says "The man standing behind my dad looks an awful lot like my grandfather (my mom's dad), Paul Raatikainen."

   J. Camille LeBlanc died on October 18, 1989, in Fitchburg. He was born on Dec. 12, 1916, in Sherbrook, Quebec, Canada, and had lived most of his life in Fitchburg. He was a charter member of the Wachusett Chess Club, being very active in the early 1960s. He is buried in Evergreen Cemetery in Leominster.