ACourier-Post, Camden, New Jersey, Thursday, October 03, 1957
'57 National Rating List Names 915 Players
Chess Life recently published the first 1957 supplementary list of national chess ratings, as compiled by Kenneth Harkness, rating statistician of the U.S. Chess Federation.
Harkness hopes to release similar supplementary ratings every three months. Such lists will be in addition to the customary annual ratings. They will carry only the names and ratings of players who competed in matches or tournaments qualifying for rating during the period subsequent to publication of the last list.
The latest list contains the names and ratings of 915 players who competed in rated events between Jan. 1 and March 31 of this year. The next supplement will cover the period between April 1 and June 30.
Under this system, the names of only four of the 15 senior or grand masters in this country appear in the newest ratings, Grand Master Samuel Reshevsky, our only player in the top category, did not play in a rated event during the period covered. Hence his rating remains at 2663.
The four senior masters whose ratings changed were Arthur Bisguier, down to 2472 from a previous 2529; George Kramer, of Philadelphia, up to 2418 from 2404; Max Pavey (recently deceased) down to 2401 from 2429, and W. J. Lombardy, who jumped from 2349 to 2490. Lombardy's rating does not include his play abroad this year and might be still higher if it did.
Anthony Di Camillo, of Philadelphia, scored one of the biggest increases in the new list, going from 2215 to 2344, not far below the 2400 mark that is the dividing line between senior and “ordinary” masters.
The sensational young Bobby Fischer soared from a mere Class B figure of 1726 to 2298, skipping Class A altogether as he vaulted into the master division. At the age of 14, he doubtless will make the “senior” master category in the next supplementary list, when he is credited with his victory in the U.S. Open championship.
Speaking of Bobby Fischer, since his brilliant success at Cleveland and his later one in the New Jersey Open, his star continues undimmed. He has just scored a decisive triumph over 19-year-old Rodolfo Cardoso, junior champion of the Philippine Islands, in an eight game match at the Manhattan Chess Club.
Last week we published the score of their second game in which Bobby conducted the white side of a Sicilian Defense to victory over his older foe. Here is the score of their fifth game, in which Bobby was equally successful handling the black pieces in the same opening.
