On Larry Christiansen's 70th birthday US grandmaster Larry Mark Christiansen was born on 27 June 1956 in Riverside, California. As a child, he was enthusiastic about swimming and water polo, but then he saw older children playing chess at the swimming pool in his home town and watched their games with fascination. Larry Christiansen was nine years old at the time. From that point on, he spent a great deal of time playing chess and checkers with his brother Jim.