ALansing State Journal, Lansing, Michigan, Sunday, May 31, 1959
TEEN ETIQUET
Tips From 15-Year-Old Champion
Keep Other Thoughts Away, Says Fischer
By Kitte Turmell
When you're playing chess—and other competitive games —you have to learn to keep all other thoughts out of your mind. That's a tip from Bobby Fischer, who recently became the youngest player ever to win the title “International Chess Grand Master.”.
Fifteen years old, and a junior at Erasmus Hall high school in Brooklyn, N.Y. Bobby has been described by the secretary of the Manhattan Chess club, one of the largest organizations of its kind in America, as the “most interesting chess personality in the world.”
Already United States champion, Bobby traveled to Yugoslavia to compete in an international tournament. By tying for fifth place, he qualified for the next Challenger's Tournament—which, in turn, will decide who will meet the Soviet Union's Mikhail Botvinnik in 1960 for the world title.
FOLLOWS OWN ADVICE
Bobby, obviously, follows his own advice. Reporters covering the Yugoslavian tournament noted that in a difficult game he sits for hours hunched over the board. Although he often plays with speed and imagination, according to the experts, in one match he pondered for an hour and a half before making the move that saved him from defeat.
“You've got to concentrate on the game you're playing—not on anything else—not even the game you won or lost yesterday,” he declared.
“I feel upset if I lose a game—I don't like to lose. But I just try to play the next won to win. You can't let one defeat get you. Some players fall apart when defeated, but I know that if I'm still thinking about the game I lost yesterday, I'm going to lose today's game, too.”
Bobby is inclined to belittle his new title. All it means, he says, is that “you placed well in international competition.” In the old days, he adds, when there were only about five grand masters in the world, the title meant more than it does today, when there are perhaps 40. But others consider it unusual achievement for one his age.
Nowhere in the world are chess audiences quiet enough for Bobby. Watchers insist, he reports with some bitterness, on applauding at the end of a match, thereby disturbing other players who are still competing.
“In Europe nearly everyone plays chess—but especially in Yugoslavia, where it's almost a national game. They chased me for autographs the way Americans chase a baseball player.”
Bobby started his chess career at the age of six when his sister showed him the moves. By nine or 10 he was playing seriously. Anyone who is really interested can learn the game, he insists. All you need are books on the subject and an inexpensive chess set. No one who plays seriously uses an expensive or fancy set—they're too interested in the game to worry about possible damage, he says.
Where no chess clubs are available to teen-agers, experts suggest “chess by correspondence. Two of the largest organizations providing this are the Chess Review, at 134 W. 72 st., New York 23, N.Y. and the Correspondents' Chess League of America, 816 S. Cecelia st., Sioux City 6, Ia. Jack Straley Battell, executive editor of the Chess Review, reports that there are more first class teen-age players in the United States today than ever before.
