Original photo of Lubomir Kavalek receiving the bronze medal and diploma for 3rd place at the Czechoslovak championship in Prague 1963. The man congratulating Kavalek in the photo is Bedrich Thelen. Size 17,3 x 11,4 cm.

Kavalek describes the funny incident regarding his sweater in the photo in his book "Life at Play" (and in much more detail in the Czech version "Rozehraný život"). In 1959, Bobby Fischer played in the Candidates Tournament in Yugoslavia wearing jeans and a heavy sweater. Kavalek showed his photo to his mom and joked: "If I had a sweater like that, maybe I would play as well as him". Then he forgot about it, but his mom remembered it and in 1962 gave him a beautiful hand-knitted sweater under the Christmas tree. Shortly thereafter, in February 1963, Kavalek played in the national championship in Prague, and it was this sweater that he wore to the games. His mother used to come to watch him, but once when Lubosh came home after a game, he found her sitting at the table in tears. She said that during the round, one of the chess officials, Bozetech Vranek, had taken her aside and said: "Mrs. Kavalek, tell Lubosh not to wear that imperialist sweater here!"

Lubomir (Lubosh) Kavalek (August 9, 1943 – January 18, 2021) was a Czech-American grandmaster. He won two Czechoslovak and three U.S. championships and was ranked as the world's no. 10 player in 1974. Kavalek was also a chess coach, organiser, teacher, commentator, author and award-winning columnist.

Condition - Still Good: a few folds and small tears at the edges.