Jacqueline Piatigorsky | |
|---|---|
 Piatigorsky in 1966 | |
| Born | Jacqueline Rebecca Louise de Rothschild (1911-11-06)November 6, 1911 |
| Died | July 15, 2012(2012-07-15) (aged 100) Brentwood, Los Angeles, California |
| Spouses | |
| Children | Jephta Piatigorsky (b. 1937) Joram Piatigorsky (b. 1940) |
| Parent(s) | Édouard de Rothschild and Germaine Alice Halphen |
| Relatives | Daniel B. Drachman (son-in-law) |
Jacqueline Rebecca Louise Piatigorsky (néede Rothschild; November 6, 1911 – July 15, 2012) was a French-Americanchess player, author,sculptor,philanthropist, and arts patron.[1] She was a member of theRothschild banking family of France.[1]
The daughter of the wealthy and influential bankerÉdouard Alphonse de Rothschild, and Germaine Alice Halphen, she was the sister ofGuy de Rothschild andBethsabée de Rothschild.[2] She was born in Paris, France. De Rothschild was raised in theChâteau de Ferrières in the country inÎle-de-France, and at a home in the city in what is known as the "Talleyrand Building," a mansion at 2rue Saint-Florentin that today is part of theUnited States Embassy complex inParis.[2]
According to her 1988 memoirJump in the Waves, her parents were cold and distant and left her upbringing to an indifferent nanny.[3] As a result, she grew into a timid, near-reclusive, young woman who at age 19 married publisherRobert Calmann-Lévy (1899–1982), a distant relative.[2] This marriage ended after five years in 1935, and two years later she married the renownedcellistGregor Piatigorsky.[1] Their daughter Jephta was born in France in 1937.
The family had to flee France in the wake of theNazi occupation during World War II. Piatigorsky and her husband settled in a houseElizabethtown, New York, in theAdirondack Mountains which Gregor had bought before.[4] It also became the first residence in the US for her parents and her sister Bethsabee after their flight from France to the US, and it was the place where their sonJoram was born in 1940.[5] They lived in Philadelphia for several years before moving to Los Angeles in 1949, where her husband taught at theUniversity of Southern California. According to her autobiography they moved to California because the doctor had advised them to move to a better climate to stop Joram's constant colds and ear infections. Gregor Piatigorsky also favoured Los Angeles, because many of his friends such asRubinstein,Heifetz andStravinsky lived there.[6]
As an American citizen, Piatigorsky was a chess player of note, and was competitive at the national level. Her passion for the game of chess led to a second career during which she trained seriously, with coach IMHerman Steiner. She represented the United States in the firstWomen's Chess Olympiad atEmmen 1957, where she scored 7.5/11 on second board and won a bronze medal. In the 1960s, she was the highestUSCF-rated female chess player inCalifornia and was ranked #2 in the United States, competing successfully in several U.S. Women's Championships.
In addition to participating in the game, Piatigorsky became an important patron and tournament organizer. She sponsored the famous 1961 match betweenSamuel Reshevsky andBobby Fischer, the top two American players.[1] It was held jointly in New York City and Los Angeles, but was abandoned after 11 of the planned 16 games because of a scheduling dispute, with the score tied at 5.5 points apiece.
In 1963 at theAmbassador Hotel she staged the firstPiatigorsky Cup[1] in which world championTigran Petrosian andPaul Keres tied for first place. TheCalifornia Chess Reporter called it the greatest tournament held in the United States since the 1920s. In 1966, in Santa Monica,Boris Spassky won the second Piatigorsky Cup Tournament, with second place going toBobby Fischer; this event had an even stronger field. She served as patron for many young California players, providing funds for travel to tournaments, and organized junior tournaments in the Los Angeles area.
Piatigorsky was also a patron of the arts, and in 1985 created an endowment for theNew England Conservatory of Music to provide the "New England Conservatory/Piatigorsky Artist Award" which gave the recipient a cash prize and a series of concert engagements.
In her 40s, she developed an interest insculpting, and arranged to take lessons from Anthony Amato. A Los Angeles-area gallery put on the first exhibition of her works in 1976. Widowed at the age of 65, she continued working and playing tennis into her 90s. As of 2003, she was still actively sculpting[7] and sheturned 100 in November 2011.[8]
Piatigorsky died from complications of pneumonia on July 15, 2012.
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