AThe Evening Sun, Baltimore, Maryland, Monday, January 20, 1958
Champion At 14
An even 100 years have gone by since Paul Morphy of New Orleans, at the age of 20, became chess champion of the world. He resigned four years later when there were no more unbeaten masters left to challenge him—which makes it 96 years since an American has attained that symbolic mountain peak of the intellect. Germany, Austria, Russia (as at present), the Netherlands, even Cuba has produced one or more world's champions, meantime; they were older men, too, for the legend of the youthful chess prodigy dissipates against the factual background of vast tactical knowledge and the stiff tournament-entry qualifications that a newcomer must acquire on his way up.
Visions of a new champion, or at least contender, now at last float before the eyes of American chess fans. He is Bobby Fischer of Brooklyn, who at 14 is still only a high school sophomore, yet who has just won the Marshall Cup, which is considered emblematic of the national championship. In so doing he displaced Samuel Reshevsky himself, the one postwar American who has proved himself able to take on the top-level Russians on more or less even terms. Young Fischer hasn't even played any Russians yet, let alone sat down to a board across from Vasily Smyslov, the 36-year-old world title-holder. But the day, or month, may not be far off.
This startling appearance in our midst of a new potential world grand master could argue well for American chess—various recent signs of growth and youth have been observed—but mostly it is a fortuitous event, just as it was when the amazing Morphy dazzled the spectators of his era. Russia, too, no doubt has some teen-age whizzes on the way up. And no telling what other interests could come along to deflect the amazing Fischer. There are those among his countrymen who will be content if he merely goes on to college and turns into a brilliant mathematics major.
