The Los Angeles Times Los Angeles, California Sunday, December 29, 1957
Sherwin Leads In U.S. Title Tourney
James T. Sherwin, former New York State chess champion, is leading with a score of 4-1 after five rounds of the U.S. Championship Tournament, according to a report from the New York Times.
Sherwin is undefeated, having won three and drawn two games, in the play at the Manhattan Chess Club in New York. An equally good total has been posted by 14-year-old Bobby Fischer of Brooklyn, who has three wins, a draw and a adjourned game with Samuel Reshevsky which should also result in a draw.
Reshevsky, who, based on his success in the Dallas Tournament, is favored to win the event, has a 2-0 score, with two evenly contested adjourned games and one postponed. The only other undefeated player is Edmar Mednis of New York, with two wins and three draws.
The first round was marked by an unusual event in the game between William Lombardy and Sidney Bernstein. Lombardy's flag fell with five more moves to go. This was evidently due to fault mechanism, as Lombardy still had about two minutes before the hour was up.
Bernstein claimed the game when he noticed the flag falling. Referee Hans Kmoch, who was aware of the situation, refused to forfeit, pointing out that the time had not actually run out. During the discussion, which took place while Bernstein's clock was going, the flag on his clock fell!
Kmoch tried to solve matters by moving both clocks back to one minute before the hour, and ordering the game to proceed. Bernstein, who realized that he had a lost position, refused to continue, and was promptly forfeited. The decision was appealed to the tournament committee, which upheld the referee.
At the opening of the tournament addresses were made by Gerald Spann of Oklahoma City, president of the U.S. Chess Federation, Walter J. Fried, president of the American Chess Foundation, and Morris Steinberg, vice-president of the Manhattan Chess Club.
Following are details of the first five rounds and games from the tournament.
