ICCM, NM Dr. Steven R. Tennant, DDS, 1948-2017

On December 4th of last year, we lost Dr. Steve Tennant, a chess player of note and some notoriety in Illinois.  Steve was 69 years old.

The earliest records of Steve's playing career seem to be lost to history, but he seems to have first made a USCF master rating around 1970.   Steve was a dentist by profession, and he ran a dental office in the Palos/Orland area for over 35 years. 

Those who knew Steve knew him as an intellectual force, who claimed he had a photographic memory.  We knew not to doubt him, as he could recall entire games from decades earlier and play them over.  Steve was a big fan of trivia on many subjects and could be counted on to quiz those around him as a matter of course.  Steve's personality could be abrasive at times, and his life and chess history is filled with episodes of long standing contention with various personalities.

As for making his mark on the game of chess, Steve was capable of beating grandmasters in tournament games and did so in five different decades.  His USCF rating peaked somewhere over 2380, and his FIDE rating was over 2200 for four decades.  Steve was also one of those rare birds who was a master in both OTB (over the board) chess AND correspondence chess.  Steve held the National Master, Original Life Master, USCF Correspondence Master, and International Correspondence Chess Master (ICCM) titles. 

Steve Tennant playing in the Greater Peoria Open, 2014

Steve's peak years in chess seem to have been the 1970s and 1980s.  During these years Steve played in numerous National Opens, Western Opens, World Opens, state championships, and at least one Midwest Masters, and he had a list of games against players that were basically a who's who of the US. chess scene in those days.  It should be noted that Steve had wins and draws against many of them, and so many years later, it seems shocking that Steve remained without a FIDE title.  Steve came in second in one National Open, and placed highly in many of the other tournaments, including winning the 1977 Illinois Open Championship, to be state champion.

Steve Tennant, date unknown

In correspondence chess, Steve did even better, winning the 1977 U.S. Absolute Correspondence Championship, placing highly in others and in several Golden Knights.  Steve was the #2 ranked correspondence player in the U.S. in 1979, and later achieved the ICCM title, becoming one of only five ICCMs in the U.S. at that time (alongside the only postal GM, ICGM Hans Berliner).

Steve was the champion of numerous Illinois clubs at various times, including the legendary H-F Chess Club, the Orland Park Chess Club, and the South Suburban Chess Club.  Steve often played a top board on various teams in leagues, and in fact was the CICL West Division MVP on Board 2 in the 2016-2017 season.

In the 1980s and 1990s, Steve was known to be monstrous as a blitz player.  Club members remember such events as a "loser gets up" situation where he beat a GM and an FM five times each without getting up.  Steve was the Orland Park blitz champion for years, and at one point had a 115 game in a row streak without a loss against competition averaging well over 2000.  We recall a round robin blitz tournament with numerous experts, two masters and two FMs, where Steve won 13.5-.5.  In more recent decades, Steve had admitted that age was catching up to him, although his last USCF blitz rating was 2146, placing him comfortably highly on the top seniors over 65 list.

Steve was also a skilled tournament Backgammon player, he played competitive Bridge, and he excelled at blindfold chess, winning the South Suburban club title as recently as 2012 (the last time it was held).

Steve Tennant playing for the Midway Chess Team in the Chicago Industrial Chess League, 2010

Steve was no stranger to controversy, having had rows with some individuals, the ICA, ICCF-US, and several governmental entities.  Steve was one of those who only saw the world as right or wrong, black and white, yes or no.  Some regarded him as having a rough bedside manner, and as a result, he had very few formal chess students in his career. 

In his personal life, Steve was married twice, but had no children.  We heard from some of his seven nieces and nephews about holiday visits where his trivia and correct pronunciation of words in multiple languages were subjects at the fore.  A little-known fact about Steve is that he had a sincere respect for people with disabilities, whereupon his usual sharp edge would soften noticeably when the subject was spoken of in conversation. 

Unfortunately, most of Steve’s original game scores were lost.  If anyone has unpublished games of Steve Tennant, please send them to South Suburban chess club, as we are planning to write a book and to feature as many of the best games as we can.

Dr. Steven Tennant was a mover and shaker on the chess scene for many years, having in his time stomped a large footprint in Illinois chess.  Steve was the benchmark against which several subsequent generations would measure themselves.  Steve was not unbeatable, but to beat him you generally had to play very well.   Steve believed in excellence, and he expected it from himself, and he expected it from you, too! 

And so we have seen the final flag fall for an Illinois original, a controversial native son, a standard bearer of chess excellence, Dr. Steven Tennant.