ACourier-Post, Camden, New Jersey, Thursday, August 22, 1957
Bobby Fischer Becomes New Cleveland Open Champion
It is highly encouraging to see young American players coming to the forefront as they have been doing in the last two or three years. There could be no better augury for the future of chess in this country.
Two players still in their teens have just captured two major tournaments.
One is William Lombardy, 19-year-old master from the Bronx, N. Y., who won the World's Junior Chess Championship at Toronto with a clean untied and undefeated score in 11 rounds of play.
Lombardy, rapidly becoming a veteran in international play and a highly successful one, scored what is said to be the first such sweep in this tournament. His nearest rival was a German player who earned 9 points to Lombardy's 11. The City College of New York junior needed only 400 moves, exactly, to roll up his triumph. And be it noted that Russia was among the nations represented at the tournament, which was limited to one player from each country except that Canada, as the host, had two.
The other youthful star to gain new laurels for himself this month is Robert Fischer, sensational 14-year-old from Brooklyn.
Bobby became the new open champion of the United States in a hard-fought tournament at Cleveland. He came from behind to defeat Donald Byrne in a ninth-round game when the latter had a half-point lead on him.
Then Bobby survived a tie in the final standings with Arthur Bisguier and succeeded the latter as champion under the tie-breaking procedure, after it was first erroneously announced that Bisguier had been adjudged the victor. Both players had finished at 10 points.
Samuel Reshevsky, America's No. 1 player, and Donald Byrne drew in the first game of their 10-game match at New York's Manhattan Chess Club. Reshevsky took a full hour to make his 10th move in this game and offered his foe a draw at the 25th move. Byrne refused it but then went a bit off the beam.
The draw was agreed on after 38 moves when both players were in time trouble and one seemed probable by perpetual check. Byrne played the black side of a King's Indian Defense.
