AThe Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, California, Sunday, January 12, 1958
Bobby Fischer Wins U.S. Championship
Bobby Fischer of Brooklyn won the United States chess championship without the loss of a game, winning nine and drawing five against most of the leading American masters.
Fischer, who is all of 14 years old and a student at Erasmus Hall High School, is the youngest national champion in the long history of chess. He is also the holder of the open championship of the U.S. Chess Federation, a title which he acquired in Cleveland last summer.
Samuel Reshevsky of Spring Valley, N.Y., who was heavily favored to win, kept pace with Fischer through most of the tournament, each player leading at different times. A loss to James T. Sherwin in the 10th round put Reshevsky behind.
Starting the final round at the Manhattan Chess Club in New York, Fischer had a half-point margin. His opponent, Abe Turner, offered a draw after 18 moves. Fischer accepted, which gave him a certainty of a tie for first if Reshevsky should win, and the championship if the latter should lose or draw.
Reshevsky was matched with another brilliant youngster, William Lombardy, who is the world junior champion. This was an exciting game in which Lombardy developed a dangerous attack along the open King Knight's file. This succeeded and Lombardy scored the win in 41 moves.
Reshevsky's final score was 9½-3½, which was good enough for second prize. He and Fischer earned the right to represent the United States in the Interzonal Tournament this summer, which is the next stage in the process of selection of a world championship challenger.
Close behind Reshevsky was Sherwin who finished in third place with 9-4. He lost twice, to Fischer and Arthur Feuerstein. In the latter game Sherwin had a Pawn ahead and a fairly easy win after the first session. When play was resumed Feuerstein offered a second Pawn to create complications. Sherwin got short of time, after refusing the offer of a draw, then blundered and lost.
Lombardy scored 7½-5½ to take fourth prize. The only other plus score was Hans Berliner's 7-6. Following are details of last week's play, the final standing and games from the tournament.
