Reshevsky, Bobby Fischer, and Pal Benko) to qualify for the Candidates Tournament (part of the world chess championship process). Byrne lost his first-round Candidates' match to former world champion Boris Spassky by 1½–4½ at San Juan, Puerto Rico, in 1974. As a 1974 Candidate, Byrne was seeded directly to the 1976 Biel Interzonal, where he performed very strongly, but missed a playoff berth by only half a point, sharing 5–6th places with 11½/19, behind Larsen (first with 12½), Tal, Portisch and Petrosian (2–4 with 12). At the Olympiads Byrne played nine times for the United States, with a total of (+51−12=53), for 66.8 per cent, and won seven individual and team medals. His detailed results follow. Helsinki 1952, board 3, 10½/15 (+8−2=5), board bronze; Leipzig 1960, board 3, 12/15 (+9−0=6), board silver, team silver; Varna 1962, board 4, 8½/13 (+7−3=3); Havana 1966, board 2, 6½/13 (+3−3=7), team silver; Lugano 1968, board 4, 7½/12 (+4−1=7); Skopje 1972, board 2, 9½/14 (+6−1=7); Nice 1974, board 2, 12/16 (+8−0=8), team bronze; Haifa 1976, board 1, 7/10 (+5−1=4), team gold; Buenos Aires 1978, board 4, 4/8 (+1−1=6), team bronze. Later career and legacy When he became the columnist for the Times in 1972, he became less active as a player. He did, nevertheless, win tournaments at Torremolinos (1976–77), Harare (1983), and Lagos (1993). He has also been a frequent contributor to Chess Life magazine, the publication of the United States Chess Federation. He has chaired USCF's committee on masters' affairs and been one of its vice presidents. Byrne was inducted into the U.S. Chess Hall of Fame in 1994. Throughout his career, Byrne improved his results level by level in major competitions, at the U.S. Open, the U.S. Championship, the Olympiad, and the Interzonal. He made original contributions in several opening systems. He was the first to play 6.Be3 against the Najdorf Variation of the Sicilian Defense (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3); this system has been named for him and has been very popular since the mid-1980s. He developed the Byrne Variation of the King's Indian Defense against the Saemisch Variation, with a quick queenside expansion by Black. He used the Dutch Defense with success when that opening was rarely seen at the top level. His opening repertoire was wide with both colors, and featured both Open and Closed games, which made him a challenge to prepare for.