Notice to commercial publishers seeking use of images from this collection of chess-related archive blogs. For use of the many large color restorations, two conditions must be met: 1) It is YOUR responsibility to obtain written permissions for use from the current holders of rights over the original b/w photo. Then, 2) make a tax-deductible donation to The Gift of Chess in honor of Robert J. Fischer-Newspaper Archives. A donation in the amount of $250 USD or greater is requested for images above 2000 pixels and other special request items. For small images, such as for fair use on personal blogs, all credits must remain intact and a donation is still requested but negotiable. Please direct any photographs for restoration and special request (for best results, scanned and submitted at their highest possible resolution), including any additional questions to S. Mooney, at bobbynewspaperblogs•gmail. As highlighted in the ABC News feature, chess has numerous benefits for individuals, including enhancing critical thinking and problem-solving skills, improving concentration and memory, and promoting social interaction and community building. Initiatives like The Gift of Chess have the potential to bring these benefits to a wider audience, particularly in areas where access to educational and recreational resources is limited.
• Robert J. Fischer, 1955 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 1956 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 1957 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 1958 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 1959 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 1960 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 1961 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 1962 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 1963 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 1964 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 1965 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 1966 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 1967 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 1968 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 1969 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 1970 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 1971 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 1972 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 1973 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 1974 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 1975 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 1976 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 1977 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 1978 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 1979 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 1980 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 1981 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 1982 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 1983 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 1984 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 1985 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 1986 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 1987 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 1988 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 1989 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 1990 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 1991 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 1992 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 1993 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 1994 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 1995 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 1996 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 1997 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 1998 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 1999 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 2000 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 2001 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 2002 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 2003 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 2004 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 2005 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 2006 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 2007 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 2008 ➦
Times Problem 2271 by F. Gamage (Honorary Mention). White mates in two.
FEN n1nQ3K/2b1r2p/PPk1r2R/1N1N4/PP1p4/1p6/2b5/q1R3BB w - - 0 1
Times Problem 2272 by U. Bachman. White mates in three.
FEN 5B2/5K2/6p1/N1pN3p/1p1kPp1r/bp4p1/6P1/2n1R2Q w - - 0 1
Hollywood Chess Group of Los Angeles Vs. Capablanca Chess Club of Havana, Cuba
Los Angeles was the scene of the first international team match between members of the Capablanca Chess Club of Havana and the Hollywood Chess Group of Los Angeles a week ago. The match was arranged by Alexander Bisno, a leading contributor to chess and president of the California State Chess Association, as well as the Manhattan Chess Club of New York. The first of these matches was played on nine boards in Bisno's home and was won by the home team, which the return match, played in the gardens of the Hollywood Chess Group, the following day, was won by the visiting team.
The teams were entertained by Mr. Bisno with a banquet at the famous Romanoff restaurant in Beverley Hills. Incidentally, Prince Romanoff is a chess enthusiast and a fine player. One may often see him play with some of the movie stars who frequent his beautiful establishment.
The Cuban team was led by its Minister of Education, Dr. Aureliano Sanchez Arango. They were guests on arrival of the well-known producer and director, Gottfried Reinhardt at MGM Studios. Culver City, for lunch and a tour of the studio where they watched the shooting of a scene from Mr. Reinhardt's first directional venture entitled, “The Invitation.” In this picture Van Johnson, Dorothy Macguire and Janet Leigh are starred. The line-up of the Cuban team was as follows: Dr. Juan Gonzales, Sr. Rogelio Ortega, Sr. Eldis Cobo, Sr. Eleazar Jimenez, Sr. Alberto Lopez, Sr. Otto Estenger, Sr. Carlos Rivera, Sr. Jose Florido, Sr. Bravo.
It is the opinion of your editor that the poor showing of the first half of the match was due to fatigue of the players after the long and strenuous plane flight from Cuba, but their real strength was shown in the second encounter. After the closing ceremonies, his excellency, Dr. Sanchez Arango, graciously extended an invitation to the Hollywood Chess Group to visit Cuba as his guest. It is hoped that in the near future this will become a reality.
Times Problem 2269 by Sven Almgren (3rd Prize). White mates in two.
FEN 5R2/3Nn1K1/1p6/r2n1bpB/2QN1k2/5P2/3R1B2/b7 w - - 0 1
Times Problem 2270 by Julius Buchwald (1st Prize). White mates in three.
FEN 1N6/p7/2KP4/k7/p1B5/P2P4/1N5r/B7 w - - 0 1
P-Q4/d4
Sherwin Wins
New York State Championship
James T. Sherwin won the recent New York State championship tournament.
The style of the new champion is direct and fearless. His success is traceable to a close study of the openings and to tactical skill which sees him through mis-game difficulties. It was he who first stopped Herbert Seidman in the fifth round at Syracuse. The full score of this pivotal game follows.
Times Problem 2267 by F. Gamage (2nd Prize). White mates in two.
FEN n3r2b/qNN4R/Bpk1p1b1/5n2/8/3R1P2/7B/4K1Q1 w - - 0 1
Times Problem 2268 by Otto Wurzburg (Comm.) White mates in three.
FEN 3k4/2pNp3/8/3R4/7B/3B4/8/2K5 w - - 0 1
New State Champion
Arthur Spiller decisively won the State championship of California for 1951 last Monday with a brilliant score of 5½-½. Most of the six rounds of play took place at the Santa Monica Chess Club where the two State champions of last year met those qualifying in the north and south preliminaries.
Climax of the finals came in the sixth round. Spiller had four wins and Irving Rivise, his nearest competitor, had three points. Rivise had to play to win the sixth-round game from Spiller to have any chance at first place. Against a king pawn opening Spiller headed for his favorite defense, the Sicilian, which Rivise too him right out of with P-QN4. Rivise continually tried for combinative complications, but Spiller always countered with quiet positional play, until Rivise found himself in extreme hot water on the clock: 18 moves made in 1:50. He made the next 22 moves in eight minutes, but came out of it with two pawns down in a lost end game. Spiller pushed through his advantage to attain the crown.
Times Problem 2265 by F. Gamage (1st Prize). White mates in two.
FEN 6k1/1bR2pBN/3P3K/2r4p/8/8/6Q1/b7 w - - 0 1
Times Problem 2266 by Nathan Rubens. White mates in three.
FEN 8/Q7/1p4R1/4p2K/8/8/5k2/1B6 w - - 0 1
Steiner Game
One of the thrilling games played in the Schlecter Memorial Tournament in Vienna last July was this convincing victory by the United States champion.
Milan Vidmar (white) vs. Herman Steiner (black)
Dutch Defense: Classical Variation, Stonewall Variation, Botvinnik Variation
A loss to Dr. A. Mengarini in the seventh round of the United States Championship played in New York City cost Samuel Reshevsky the national title, which Larry Evans won. It was the first time Reshevsky has missed taking the championship in the six time he has entered these events.
The game was a lively encounter with the onetime boy prodigy on the black side of a Sicilian Defense. Risky play on his seventh move involved him in considerable trouble and Mengarini pressed home the attack in forceful style.
One of the most active chess masters of the older generation is undoubtedly Savielly G. Tartakower. He has been playing in international tournaments for more than 45 years and has been a prolific writer, mainly for foreign chess magazines.
He was born in 1887 in Rostov-on-Don, then part of Austria-Hungary, of Russian parents. After World War I he became a Polish citizen, living mostly in Paris. During World War II he was in England, working with the Free French. He has since returned to Paris, and he still takes part in important tournaments all over Europe.
At Southsea last spring he shared first honors with another Parisian, N. Rossolimo, in spite of this third-round loss.
Times Problem 2257 by Nicholas Gabor (2nd Prize). White mates in two.
FEN 2Qb2Bn/q1NR1p1K/8/2p1P3/Ppk5/3N3R/P2PP3/1b6 w - - 0 1
Times Problem 2258 by H.M. Huse (1st Prize). White mates in three.
FEN b7/3pK2Q/8/P4Np1/Pr2k3/4p3/1rP1NnP1/6bn w - - 0 1
State Preliminaries
After the fourth round of the southern preliminaries of the annual State Tournament to be held over the Labor Day week end, Irving Rivise leads with four wins and no losses, clinching his present lead with a victory over Sam Geller. Morris Gordon had a fairly certain win over Blumenfeld, but overlooked a discovered check, the death of many a chess player, and lost. William Steckel came fighting back into the battle in a game with George Hunnex which tried to capture the record for sacrifices and number of checks.
Following are the results after the fourth round of play:
W L
Rivise .......... 4 0
Almgren ......... 3 1
Blumenfeld ...... 3 1
Geller .......... 3 1
Jacobs .......... 3 1
H. Gordon ....... 2½ 1½
Steckel ......... 2½ 1½
Weiss ........... 2½ 1½
Bersbach ........ 2 2
M. Gordon ....... 2 2
Wheeler ......... 2 2
Banning ......... 1½ 2½
Hunnex .......... 1 3
Johnson ......... 1 3
Namson .......... 1 3
Paliwoda ........ 1 3
Here are two games from the preliminaries. In the following game from Round 4, Steckel had a psychological victory long before the game's conclusion.
Times Problem 4060 by M. Forti. White mates in two.
Today's problem is another valued contribution, composed especially for The Times, by Mario Forti of Los Angeles. It is a lightweight, featuring interferences by the black pawn and bishop.
FEN 3NRK2/2rp4/Q1q2k2/6R1/6pP/8/8/5b2 w - - 0 1
Multiple Ties In Western Tourneys
Three separate tournaments involving 222 participants were held last weekend at the Airport Marina Hotel, without a clear winner in any of them.
The major event was the Western High School Chess Championship, with 138 entries from all parts of California and Arizona.
Three Riverside students, Larry Christiansen, Ross Stoutenborough and Robert Newbold, won the top individual trophies, tying with six points out of seven games.
Others with the same score were Dave Oppedal of Sacramento and David Sewell of Salinas. They finished in the order listed on tie-breaking points.
All five will receive part of their expenses to travel to the National High School Championship, to be held in New York City from April 2 to 2.
Just behind the leaders, tying with totals of 5½-1½, were Mike Pollowitz, Van Nuys; Robert Snyder, Garden Grove; Joachim Van Leeuwen, El Monte; Jeff Spindler, Huntington Beach and Richard Gordon, San Jose.
A high school team championship was also held, with the results based on the scores of the leading four players for each school.
Piedmont Hills High School of San Jose won the title with an aggregate of 20 points. Sonora of La Habra and Marina of Huntington Beach tied for second with 18½ points, and Grand High School of Van Nuys followed with 17½ points.
A number of junior high school students also competed. The best were Mike Carlson of Anaheim of Christopher Strong of Los Angeles, who tied with 4½-2½.
The Western Intercollegiate Championship had 39 players. The winners were Julius Loftsson of UCLA and Andy Sacks of San Fernando Valley State College, who tied with scores of 5-1.
Loftsson lost to Sacks, winning his other five games. Sacks was undefeated, but drew with Ronald Larsen of Inglewood and James Woodward of San Diego.
There was another multiple tie for third place. Finishing with 4½-1½ were Larsen, Woodward, John Davidian of Sun Valley and Jeff Kent of Northridge.
The third tournament, with 45 participants, was the Western Senior Open, to which all non-students were eligible.
Here there was a three-way tie among Bruce Haisfield and Frank Thornally of San Francisco, and James Ulrich of Beverly Hills. All had 4½-½.
The tournaments were organized and sponsored by the Continental Chess Association of New York. William Goichberg or New York was the director.
Following are games from the tournaments:
Master Zuckerman
Bernard Zuckerman, in an article in the January issue of Chess Life & Review, tells how he won the title of international master.
According to the regulations of the International Chess Federation, this can be done by a very good result in the strongest type of tournament, or by two successes in tournaments of somewhat lower category.
This poses a particular problem for American players, as very few international tournaments are held in this country. Anyone seeking a major title practically has to compete in European tournaments, and generally more than once.
When a player has the time and funds, he must still get the invitations. This is not easy for the untitled player, as the tournament organizers are looking for international masters and grandmasters to build up the status of their events.
Sometimes a bit of trading is involved. If an invitation comes for Bobby Fischer or another of the U.S. grandmasters, our federation may reply that they will do their best to get the player desired, if an untitled player is also invited.
To get back to Zuckerman, he already had one “leg” on the international master title, and was invited to a tournament in Bari, Italy, late last year.
This was a 15-man round robin, of category 2A. Zuckerman could clinch the title if he could get eight points or more.
The winner was Janosevic of Yugoslavia, with a score of 10-4. He won six games and drew eight, without a loss. Janosevic is perhaps the most erratic grandmaster, as likely to come near the bottom as to win. This time he was in top form.
Barczay and Dely, both of Hungary, tied for second with 9-5. They were also undefeated, each winning four games and drawing nine.
The favorite, Unzicker of West Germany, lost in the first round to Cosulich of Italy, and never fully recovered. Unzicker and Honfi of Hungary tied for fourth with 8½-5½.
Zuckerman, with three rounds to go, had 6½points. He concentrated on his major goal, drew his remaining games, and assured the title with a final score of 8-7. He tied with Cosulich, for whom this was the first result toward the same title.
The following game is from the tournament.
Sicilian Defense Nikolic (white) Yugoslavia vs. Wolfgang Unzicker (black) West Germany
Sicilian Defense: Kan Variation, Modern Variation
Chess Problem No. 193 by Frederick Gamage. 1st Prize. Tidskrift, 1911. White mates in 2 moves.
FEN 2Q5/1P1p3B/KNq4B/np6/1R1R4/p1k5/P7/1n6 w - - 0 1
R-KR4/Rh4
Times Problem 4059 by E. Mullner. White mates in three. It is difficult to visualize pin mates in this position, but they are the main theme of the problem, occurring in three variations.
FEN 8/B2Rn3/2k2N1Q/K1p1r2b/2B3p1/2n4r/2N5/b7 w - - 0 1
Threat, 2 B-N5ch; If R-K5, 2. N-N4ch; if KN-Q4, 2. N-Q4ch
Q-B1/Qc1
'til the world understands why Robert J. Fischer criticised the U.S./British and Russian military industry imperial alliance and their own Israeli Apartheid. Sarah Wilkinson explains:
“What a sad story Fischer was,” typed a racist, pro-imperialist colonial troll who supports mega-corporation entities over human rights, police state policies & white supremacy.
To which I replied: “Really? I think he [Bob Fischer] stood up to the broken system of corruption and raised awareness! Whether on the Palestinian/Israel-British-U.S. Imperial Apartheid scam, the Bush wars of ‘7 countries in 5 years,’ illegally, unconstitutionally which constituted mass xenocide or his run in with police brutality in Pasadena, California-- right here in the U.S., police run rampant over the Constitution of the U.S., on oath they swore to uphold, but when Americans don't know the law, and the cops either don't know or worse, “don't care” -- then I think that's pretty darn “sad”. I think Mr. Fischer held out and fought the good fight, steadfast til the day he died, and may he Rest In Peace.
Educate yourself about U.S./State Laws -- https://www.youtube.com/@AuditTheAudit/videos
After which the troll posted a string of profanities, confirming there was never any genuine sentiment of “compassion” for Mr. Fischer, rather an intent to inflict further defamatory remarks.
This ongoing work is a tribute to the life and accomplishments of Robert “Bobby” Fischer who passionately loved and studied chess history. May his life continue to inspire many other future generations of chess enthusiasts and kibitzers, alike.
March 9, 1943 - January 17, 2008
The photograph of Bobby Fischer (above) from the March 02, 1956 The Tampa Times was discovered by Sharon Mooney (Bobby Fischer Newspaper Archive editor) on February 01, 2018 while gathering research materials for this ongoing newspaper archive project. Along with lost games now being translated into Algebraic notation and extractions from over two centuries of newspapers, it is but one of the many lost treasures to be found in the pages of old newspapers since our social media presence was first established November 11, 2017.
Chess by Herman Steiner Sun, Oct 7, 1951 – 48 · The Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, California) · Newspapers.com
