Bruce was a well-known Chess enthusiast and philanthropist in the Bay Area for decades.
Despite being in his 90's, Bruce was an active player until the Summer of 2025. He was a strong player with a peak rating of over 2000 and a dynamic, attacking style that led to many upsets. One of those upsets was a win against Max Euwe during a simul match in 1980. Euwe was World Chess Champion from 1935 to 1937 after defeating Alekhine. The later "Game of the Day" of 1/8/09 on chessgames.com can be found here: Max Euwe vs Bruce Matzner (1980) "Matzner no Patzer". Bruce was an active chess coach until around 2019/2020 until classes shut down due to COVID. Bruce was Hied by BAC in the months leading up to Covid, though sadly never got to see a classroom due to the shutdowns and worsening health conditions.
Bruce had a big collection of chess books at home which he graciously donated to the community. Despite medical issues and worsening vision, Bruce always put a positive spin on things and found something meaningful or enjoyable in his games. He passed in 2025, in Los Gatos CA.
Bruce ha previously worked as an engineer for General Electric, innovating on the geometry of nuclear reactor cores to increase cooling and efficiency. He had over 50 patents in his name.
Bio Credit to Kolty Chess Club