APittsburgh Post-Gazette Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Sunday, September 10, 1961 - Page 30
Disputed Coast Match Still In News
By T.M. Cherington
In the USCF Open Tourney at San Francisco, Pal Benko, a Grand-master, won with a score of 11-1. Zoltan Kovacs was second with 10-2 and third was divided between Arthur Bisguier and Robert Byrne. Mrs. Eva Aronson of Chicago is the new Womens USCF Open champion since she finished with a score of 7-2, highest of her sex.
The match Reshevsky vs. Fischer, which was awarded to Reshevsky after eleven games were evenly divided 5½-5½ because Robert Fischer refused to accept an adjournment from Saturday to 11 a.m. Sunday, is still very much in the chess news.
The time for resumption of play did not have Fischer's prior approval. William Lombardy, 23-year-old Grand-master presently enrolled at Saint Joseph's Seminary in Yonkers where he is studying for the priesthood, says that the officials threatened Fischer with loss of the game and further that it was well known that he objected to morning play.
Players are always under high nervous tension during important matches and officials usually take temperament into account. Four-time U.S. Champion, 18-year-old Grand-master Fischer complained that he is not given the consideration of more mature players. “They treat me like a kid,” said Fischer of the officials.
There is much in what he says for although he is still a very young man he is a seasoned tournament player, the finest in America and entitled to every consideration due an International Grand-master. Would referee Irving Revise have set a time for a postponed game without consulting a contestant if the player were Alekhine, Tarasch, Botvinnik or Lasker in their time? Obviously not.
This column has never under-rated Fischer and the record will prove to us he has never been “Bobby.” He is Robert Fischer, Grand-master of chess.
