AChicago Tribune Chicago, Illinois Sunday, September 03, 1961 - Page 21
Chess Regains Foothold Here
Verber Stepping in Famed Path of Fischer
By Tom Fitzpatrick
Dick Verber has been playing chess on a serious level only two years but already the 17 year old St. Ignatius High school senior has scored enough points in tournaments sanctioned by the United States Chess association to earn the rating of master.
Regarded as one of the more promising players in the Chicago area, Dick is a husky 6 footer who looks more like a football candidate than a young man dedicated to the development of a skill of an essentially intellectual nature.
Yet in recent months Dick has won the Junior championship tournaments for the states of Wisconsin and Ohio as well as the speed championship of Chicago. Junior tournaments are restricted to entrants 18 and under but speed events are open to all comers.
Tutored by Leef
Credited with responsibility for Dick's rapid development is Harold Leef, a professional chess instructor for 30 years. Leef serves as tutor for members of the Chicago Chess and Checker club, 64 E. Van Buren st., where Dick plays almost every day.
Leef, who has seen most of the great masters perform, believes his current pupil has a bright future.
“Given the proper length of time to develop,” says Leef, “Dick will become a very strong player. This is an intelligent young man who possesses great imagination. He reacts well to the extreme pressure of tournament competition and perhaps, just as importantly, he is able to accept defeat and even derive valuable lessons from it.”
Leef's assessment is shared by Larry Radin, the club's public relations director. Radin, himself an excellent chess player, believes the story of Dick's development is symptomatic of a general rebirth of interest in chess among the young people of Chicago.
Fischer Helped Cause
Principal cause of the renaissance, says Radin, is the prominent position held in world chess by Chicago born Bobby Fischer, who won the first of his four United States men's championships four years ago at the age of 14.
The Chess club, founded in 1870, has 160 members. This represents an increase of 30 percent over the last four years. During the 1930's when Chicago was a center of chess activity, the club had as many as 350 members.
There are 20 other clubs in the city which operate under the auspices of the Chicago Park District system, according to Tom Hackett, physical activities supervisor. He estimates that each club has about 35 members. Each year more than 1,000 persons enter the city-wide chess tournaments sponsored by the Park District.
But the Chess club is the only organization which maintains its own permanent meeting place and whose doors are open 24 hours every day. It is this which gives it a pre-eminent position in chess circles and which attracts aspiring players such as young Verber to become members.
Many Study Books
Most serious chess players study the literature of the game in the books of great masters, notably Jose Capablanca and Paul Morphy. This has not been the case with Dick.
“Some one told me that a good chess player learns by instinct and experience what the best moves are. You must, of course, study the great games of the past but they won't do you any good unless you can apply the necessary tactics when the situations develop in your own games.”
Dick is reluctant to make any claims about his skill that he can't back up on the chess board. It is only on the subject of women and chess that he is ready to make a flat statement.
Game Not for Women
“Women,” he says, “are just not cut out to be good chess players. There is something about the way they think that prevents them from becoming really adept to it.”
This is an opinion which Dick had a chance to confirm recently when he was matched against Lisa Lane, reigning United States Women's champion, during a tournament in Milwaukee. Dick defeated her handily.
Miss Lane, who is not used to being treated in so cavalier a fashion by unknowns in the game, nearly quit the tournament in a huff as a consequence.
There were those who were surprised a youngster from Chicago could score a decisive victory over a national champion but Dick wasn't one of them.
“It was like I said right from the start,” says Dick with a broad grin, “women just aren't cut out to be good chess players.”
