One of the most impressive virtues that a man can show is unselfishness. Another is sacrifice. Yet another is charity. Phillip O’Neal Taylor demonstrates all three of these traits with the remarkable support that he has shown the Georgia Chess Association (GCA) since 2014. There has been no reason for this support, other than the pure goodness of his heart.

What sort of person is kind enough to show the support that Phillip has shown the GCA? Well, he is graciously sharing with us not only his chess story, but also his attitude about life itself.

 

Phillip first learned how to play in tenth grade in Fayette, Alabama in 1952 from a couple of eleventh grade high school friends.After they taught him how to play, Phillip beat them both. Neither of them ever played another game with Phillip.

Phillip relates, “Before Bobby Fischer made international news by beating the Russians and becoming world champion, I found very few people with any interest in playing chess. I did not play chess from 1952 until 1960.” After graduating from high school, he spent some time at the University of Alabama. He worked repairing small appliances and air conditioning. He also worked in Alabama traveling from one cotton mill to another with his crew to overhaul equipment. On April 1, 1960, Indiana Wire Die Co., Inc. hired Phillip to manage a southern shop for them and sent him to Fort Wayne, IN for three months of training. His boss asked him if he played chess. He replied something like “I do know the moves. It is a fine game.”  Over the next few weeks, they played eight games. Phillip won them all. His boss declared, “I do not play games I cannot win.”  He never invited Phillip to play chess again.

 

Phillip does not recall playing a single chess game during the next fourteen years. After working at Alabama Wire Die, Inc. and Indiana Wire Die, Inc., Phillip founded his own company in Atlanta, GA. He designed and built his own production equipment. After two years he moved his plant and equipment to his hometown of Fayette, Alabama. There he built a new building, built a new home, “mentored” four children, and incorporated his business in 1973. Phillip also helped found Fayette Academy, a private school in his hometown. He served as Chairman of the Board for the school for one term.

 

Around 1980, he got an unexpected phone call from a fellow Alabaman, Charles Anthony, who wanted to found a chess club in Fayette. He asked Phillip if he would be interested.Phillip responded with an emphatic, “Yes!” Charles thought they might have eight to twelve members and would meet weekly for an evening of chess. Their members were far more experienced than Phillip, and his perfect record of no losses was “at once trashed”. This opportunity to play chess came at the perfect time for him. He was almost 44 years old and had just had neck surgery to remove bone spurs from the fifth vertebrae in his cervical spine. Phillip “was feeling my mortality and was looking for something to do that would be just for myself. Chess fit the bill perfectly.”

 

From 1980 through 1989 Phillip played a great deal of tournament chess. He played because he “loved this game of analysis and challenge. I did study for about two years during the 1980’s. I wanted to see if I had enough time, talent, and determination to achieve a National Master rating. My conclusion was, possibly so, but for me it changed the game from play to work. No thanks. My decision was, I will play chess for fun. I won about nine tournaments in Alabama and Mississippi. I also won one in Dallas, TX. My performance rating topped out at 2335.” One of Phillip’s best tournaments was The Lone Star Open in Dallas, TX, “where I played one ‘C’ player, one ‘A’ player, and three candidate masters/experts. The tournament director had combined sections and used accelerated pairings. I overheard a chess player inquire to the tournament director, ‘Why does he get the [Class B] trophy? My score is the same as his.’  The TD replied, ‘You didn’t play anybody.’ ”

 

“During the 1980’s I played hundreds of rated chess games in roughly 150 tournaments. I played chess from Massachusetts to Florida, and West to Texas, and eight states in between. In fact, one year I played forty weekend tournaments.”Phillip was also a Local Tournament Director, and he directed many tournaments in Fayette during the 1980’s. He also served as Vice President for the Alabama Chess Federation for one term. In the 1980’s, Phillip successfully won the bid one year for Fayette to host the Alabama State Chess Championship Tournament. “My late wife, Fannie, finally gave me an ultimatum, ‘Phillip, it is either me or chess!’ ” Phillip “played little chess from 1990 to 2009.”

 

Phillip’s first wife, Fannie, “had died in the early fall of 2007 after we had celebrated our 50^th wedding anniversary in the spring of that same year.” In 2009, Phillip remarried. “I moved to Metro Atlanta in 2009 to be with my new wife, Marianne. Atlanta has an extraordinarily strong chess community and Marianne encouraged me to take chess up again. I decided to limit social or club chess to no more than twice weekly and to limit weekend tournament chess to once monthly or twelve tournaments annually.”

 

“Charles Anthony and I have a friendly but competitive chess history. For instance: his peak published rating was 1917 and mine was 1914. He won clear first in the ‘Queen of Hearts Amateur’. I later won the trophy for first place in ‘Alabama Reserve State Championship’ but tied another player in points. I won the Fayette Chess Club Championship a couple of times. He later won the same championship. I did win it one more time after Charles had won but I do not recall if he played. I do not know what Charles’ top performance rating is, but I suspect that at 2335, I have him on that score. On one count he has clearly bested me. He has sustained a genuinely nice rating. My rating has drifted down to my floor of 1500. On another count I have him. I have played far more rated chess games than he, and no doubt I have lost far more rated games than he. Still, we like to play each other. We play when our paths cross and schedules permit. Fun, fun, fun!”

 

“I support chess locally (Metro Atlanta area). I still play for fun, but recently wondered if I might have more fun if I won more often? My win loss percentage hovers around 40%. Therefore, I once again resumed chess studies. I cannot yet say if studying will improve my win/loss percentage.”

 

“About mid-2021 I decided to become a National Chess Master.” Phillips’ rating at that time was 1500. “My goal is 2200. If I achieve my chess goal I will make history. That thought excites me. I am now well into my 88^th year of life with no chess progress to report. I still play at least one rated tournament each month. I still sponsor chess. My rating is still 1500. I am fully engaged in my goal to become a National Chess Master.” Phillip took lessons for a while from NM Spencer Finegold, but no longer does so. “I am an incredibly old student. I still study about three hours each day. So do my competitors. The difference is that they are from 20 to 80 years younger than me. Their portal through which knowledge gets into their brains and psyche is wide open. I can say without doubt that the portal through which knowledge gets into my brain and psyche is much smaller than it was when I was 16 years old. I require a great deal of effort to get any new knowledge into my brain. Effort like hours of study, practice, and repetition. It is unimportant if I fail. It is particularly important that I struggle to achieve. If Don Quixote is in the heavens, I am confident that he is looking down with an exceptionally large smile on his face.”

 

“I recognize three types of success. Accomplishment success based on societies’ values, accomplishment success based on personal values, and involvement success which can have little to do with accomplishment. I am truly fortunate to enjoy a measure of all these three types of success. I am healthy and happy.”

 

Phillip is a familiar sight to most Georgia chess players that frequent tournaments. He does indeed still play regularly. He is well known for his warm, friendly manner; his sharp mind; his even temper, and his keen wit. Unfortunately, he is also still quite capable of playing a good, solid game of chess. I outrate him by 300 points, but in the two or three games that we have played, we have always drawn.

 

Phillip has given out free T-shirts to people at chess tournaments for several years. These shirts bear a message showing Phillip’s philosophy on life. His shirts say:

 

                           Life Liberty Pursuit

                        Love Elevate Emulate

>Life = Living, loving, pursuing, elevating, emulating, solving, and feeling.

>Liberty = Freedom to appropriately Love Elevate, Emulate, Pursue, and Feel.

>Pursuit of what? Anything of personal or social interest or value so long as any resulting interference with the life of others is not deliberate.

> Love who? Appropriately love everyone whose actions, skills, habits, and attitudes do not make                     them unlovable.

>Elevate who or what? Elevate everyone whose attitudes, actions, and skills warrant elevation if they are amenable to it. Elevate what? Everything that enhances Life, Liberty, Pursuit, Beauty, and Love.

>Emulate who? Seek to emulate the attitudes, actions, and skills that enhance Life, Liberty, Pursuit, Beauty and Love from all people you know whether in life, literature, or history.

    (My t-shirt philosophy) By Phillip O’Neal Taylor

 

Phillip has indeed demonstrated substantial support to the GCA. Since 2014, he has donated thousands of dollars to the prize fund for the GCA State Championship Tournament each year. In grateful appreciation of his generous gifts, in 2015 the GCA renamed this annual event “The Phillip O’Neal Taylor Georgia State Championship Tournament”. It is a high honor to have a tournament named after oneself. After twelve years of donations, it is time for the GCA to formally recognize its colorful benefactor with a higher honor.

 

 

Sources:

Phillip O’Neal Taylor, personal document;

Tennessee Chess News;

Alabama Chess Antics;

Phillip O’Neal Taylor, personal interview, 7/07/2025;

Kent Meadows, personal recollections.