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Chess by Isaac Kashdan 09 Aug 1959, Sun The Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, California) Newspapers.com
Bisguier Wins In U.S. Open Tourney
Arthur B. Bisguier of New York captured the U.S. Open Chess Championship in the tournament in Omaha, according to a report in the New York Times. He defeated Olaf Ulvestad of Seattle in the final round to finish with a score of 10-2.
Bisguier owed his success in large measure to the first loss sustained by Paul Benko of New York, who was checked by Raymond Weinstein of Brooklyn, former national junior champion.
Benko, who had been leading the tournament most of the way, was overtaken by Weinstein. The two divided the second and third prizes with scores of 9½-2½. Just below, in a tie at 9-3, were Eliot Hearst of Arlington, Virginia and Hans Berliner of Littleton, Colorado.
Leading Californian in the tournament was Gilbert Ramirez of San Francisco, who was in a group tied at 8½-3½. Others reaching that total were Ulvestad, Robert Steinmeyer of St. Louis, Curt Brasket of Minneapolis, James T. Sherwin of New York, Charles Henin of Chicago and R. Ault of Cranford, N.J.
Following is a selection of games from the event.
Curt Brasket vs Arthur Bisguier
60th US Open (1959), Omaha, NE USA, rd 4, Jul-23
Sicilian Defense: Kan Variation. Wing Attack (B43) 0-1
Dario Vissepo vs Arthur Bisguier
60th US Open (1959), Omaha, NE USA, rd 1, Jul-20
Queen's Gambit Accepted: Central Variation. McDonnell Defense (D20) 0-1
Hans Jack Berliner vs Jeremiah F Donovan
60th US Open (1959), Omaha, NE USA, rd 2, Jul-21
Queen's Gambit Accepted: Central Variation. Modern Defense (D20) 1-0
Pal Benko vs Charles Henin
60th US Open (1959), Omaha, NE USA, rd 7, Jul-27
Queen's Indian Defense: Spassky System (E14) 1-0
John L Alexander vs Walter Litwinczuk
60th US Open (1959), Omaha, NE USA, rd 10, Jul-30
Formation: King's Indian Attack (A07) 1-0
BOROCHOW TO EXHIBIT
Harry Borochow, former California state chess champion, will lecture and conduct a simultaneous exhibition at the City Terrace Chess Club, 3875 City Terrace Drive, starting at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 19.
Anyone wishing to play must belong to or join the U.S. Chess Federation. Enrollment may be made at the exhibition. To register in advance call Bernard Oak at AN. l-6567. Spectators are welcome.
BARRETT WINS IN FINALS OF EXPERT CANDIDATES
Gordon Barrett of the City Terrace Chess Club, who was the leader throughout, took first prize in the finals of the Expert Candidates Tournament, sponsored by the Southern California Chess League.
Barrett, who had led in the preliminary section with a score of 6-0, won two games and drew two in the final rounds, which were held at the Department of Water and Power Chess Club. His total score was 9-1.
Neil Hultgren of City Terrace and R. Bagley of the Lincoln Park Chess and Checker Club of Long Beach tied with tallies of 8-2. Hultgren, who made the best showing in the finals with 3½-½, was awarded second place on the tie-breaking system.
Charles Henderson of the Santa Monica Bay Chess Club finished in fourth place with 7½-2½. He compiled 5-1 in the preliminaries and 2½-1½ in the finals.
Other final scores were: Kurt Smith, Fritz Leiber, W. Colby and Jack Freed, 7-3; R. Loveless, Andrew Kempner and J. Mortz, 6½-3½; Paul Klaus, 5½-4½, and H. Milner, 5-5.
The 13 finalists are all qualified to enter the Southern California Championship Tournament, which is to start Sunday, Sept. 13, at the Herman Steiner Chess Club. The preliminaries had started with 86 players in five sections.
SANTA MONICA TOURNEY
Irving Rivise, with a 5-0 score, is setting a fast pace in the invitational tournament of the Santa Monica Bay Chess Club, Lincoln Park clubhouse in Santa Monica.
T. Weinberger and George Soules are tied for second at 4-1. Ray Martin and Stephen Sholomson follow with 3½-1½. Three more rounds are to be played in the Swiss system event, in which 19 players are participating.
The following game is from the tournament:
Emil Bersbach (white) vs. Gordon Palmer (black)
French Defense: Tarrasch Variation, Closed Variation
SO. CALIF. CHAMPIONSHIP
The qualifying rounds of the Southern California chess championship are being contested in several sections at leading chess clubs. Each section is a six-round Swiss system tournament, with one player to qualify for each eight entrants.
At the San Gabriel Chess Club, with 26 taking part, Kakimi and Tiluks were leading with 3-0 after three completed rounds. Amneus and Carpenter followed with 2½-½.
At the Steiner Chess Club, which started with 12 players. M. Gordon and Patterson led the field with 2-0 after two rounds. H. Gordon and Rubin had 1½-½.
The Santa Monica Bay Chess Club had 19 starters. Winners in the first round were B. Mintz, George Sturgis, Danny Price, Kyle Forrest, Anthony Loera, Andrew Kempner, John Jaffray and Jack Freed.
The Los Angeles Times, Chess by Isaac Kashdan, Sunday, August 09, 1959, Los Angeles, California Times Problem 3091 By...
Posted by Bobby Fischer's True History on Sunday, June 5, 2022
Times Problem 3091 By M. Forti
Black 4
White 6
White mates in two.
FEN 2K1N3/bR1N4/1Bkp4/1n6/2B5/8/8/8 w - - 0 1
Solution: B-B5; 1. Bc5 Bxc5 2. Nb8#
The Los Angeles Times, Chess by Isaac Kashdan, Sunday, August 09, 1959, Los Angeles, California Times Problem 3092 By...
Posted by Bobby Fischer's True History on Sunday, June 5, 2022
Times Problem 3092 By C. S. Kipping
Black 11
White 6
White mates in three.
FEN 8/1Q6/7K/5B2/6p1/1Pp2pNb/pprp1B2/1rbk4 w - - 0 1
Solution: Q-R6; 1. Qa6 a1=Q 2. Qg6 Bg2 3. Bxc2#
Mario Forti has again favored us with a problem specially composed for The Times. It has a good key and neat play without a duel.
The three-mover is by the veteran problem editor of the British magazine Chess. The promotion defense is the main point.
SOLVERS' LIST
Five points— W. S. Aaron, J. F. Brown, W. A. Byler, M. Chutorian, T. A. M. Clemens, Mrs. W. A. Gerth, J. Gotta, A. A. Rothstein.
Three points— H. Holmes, J. Kaufman, E. E. Penter, J. Perler.
Two points— F. Aks, Dr. B. R. Berglund, N. Lesser, P. J. Rak, Maj. H. Triwush, R. Young.
One point— L. G. Bulaich, J. P. Foley, A. P. Hickling, N. Kempsky, F. Lesemann, E. T. Mason, R. S. North Jr., F. J. Wirt, D. Whorf.
A number of solvers submitted 1. QxR as their answer to 3085. It is defeated by B-B6.
Concentration 09 Aug 1959, Sun The Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, California) Newspapers.com
CONCENTRATION—Steve Kilston, left, winner of city-wide chess championship in junior division, plays Ronald Adler, winner of senior division, in post-tournament game. Both represented Robertson Playground in West Los Angeles. Times photo
11 Aug 1959, Tue The Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, California) Newspapers.com
Conversation Piece
A Champion Who Baffled Rivals By Rudolf Flesch
If the name Emanuel Lasker means anything to you, you probably know that he was a chess champion.
But if you would ask Lasker himself what he was, he would have told you he was a philosopher and mathematician. Chess? Oh yes, he played chess, but strictly to make ends meet. That he was the world's leading chess player for almost half a century was purely incidental.
There's a new book about Lasker's fascinating life (Simon & Schuster). He started out in grueling poverty. (When he and his brother were students in Berlin, they had for a time only one pair of pants between them and had to take turns going out.) The only way he knew to make money was to play chess. He played his way up through several tournaments. By 1894, at 27, he was world champion.
He kept the title for an amazing 26 years, until at 53 he lost to Capablanca. But that wasn't the end of his chess career at all. He staged a comeback, and then another comeback, and then another. At 68, at the Nottingham tournament of 1936, he still wound up among the winners, together with Capablanca, Capablanca's successor Alekhine, Alekhine's successor Euwe, and Euwe's successor, the present (1959) world champion, Botvinnik. Not one of those younger champions managed to beat the fabulous old man.
However, as I said, Lasker never considered himself a chess pro. Far from it. There were seven or eight periods in his life when he stopped playing chess altogether for years, devoting himself to his beloved philosophical and mathematical studies. Then he would have to scrabble up some money or defend his title or something, and off he'd go to another match or tournament, mowing everybody down.
His opponents could never figure him out. He had no system, he left no theory, he was unique. He played every game so as to beat a particular man at a particular moment, uncannily spotting psychological weaknesses and playing wild, immensely dangerous hunches.
Afterward the dum-founded losers would analyze the games and write despairingly about “Lasker's incredible luck.” It wasn't luck, though it was sheer chessmanship, developed to the point of genius.
The book about his life contains a few glimpses of his philosophy. It matched his life exactly. He believed in life as a game, life as a perennial struggle. We are here on earth, he said, to take chances, to solve one problem after another as they come up.
Don't waste your life on unessentials; concentrate on whatever matters at the moment. Don't live by theories, but conserve your energies for the decisive moments.
And his conclusion was: “I deny that there is any problem of any importance that would prove to be insoluble.”
