ADaily News New York, New York Sunday, May 01, 1960
Checkmate Mischief With Chess for Kids
By Stephen Unsino
Boys who plot moves across a chess board seldom plot mischief on the streets, according to the Chess For Youth Committee, a group recently set up in New York City. The committee intends to introduce this game of fierce skill and concentration to one million children in one year, and to promote it across the U.S.
Their first move was check—a $1,000 check from Harvey Breit of 635 Park Ave., co-author of the Broadway play “The Disenchanted.”
U.S. Champs at 14
“I heard that the committee intended to send Bobby Fischer on chess playing tours abroad, and I wanted to help,” Breit says. “Young Fischer is amazing. He became U.S. chess champion in 1958, at the age of 14, and he's still champ.”
“I think it's more important to send brilliant chess players like Bobby abroad than to send boxers to Europe or baseball teams to Japan. They play chess avidly overseas,” the author says. Breit confesses to a kibitzer's interest in chess. He and his wife are using chess as a theme in a play they are writing for next season, “The Guide.”
Exert Their Minds
“Chess can do a great deal for children,” says the white-haired, vigorous Rev. Frank Peer Beal, chairman of the Chess For Youth Committee and also of the Community Councils of the City of New York.
“Just as boys learn to pit their strength and skill openly and fairly against an opponent in the boxing ring, so they can benefit from exerting their minds against their fellows across the chess table.”
“I don't want to brag, but when I was on the Harvard chess team we beat Yale three years in a row,” says the 76-year-old clergyman. “I was low man on the team, but I'll never forget it.”
The Widow Gambit
“Now when I play with my grandson, I'm thrilled to see him use his ingenuity and strategy against me, and almost beat me,” he says.
Another gambit of the committee is to bring “chess widows” into the game. “Instead of sitting alone while the man moves into the chess club, a woman can learn the game too,” it suggests.
Jean Shepherd, radio disk jockey who became interested in chess through interviewing Fischer on his program, urges members of the committee to dramatize the tension and conflict of chess, which is usually concealed by its outward appearance—two opponents sitting motionless for hours around a checkerboard with strange-looking pieces.
Lessen Delinquency
“Plenty of intramural competition among children is our ultimate goal,” the Rev. Mr. Beal says. “The game will give them something to concentrate on besides the confusion and excitement which surround them, and should help lessen juvenile delinquency.
“It's great to work with children,” add the ruddy-faced minister, who coached junior baseball teams while a student at Harvard. “Once you've reached the youngsters, and taught them to love one another, you have something to be proud of the rest of your life.”
Headquarters of the Chess For Youth Committee are at the Community Councils of the City of New York, 1118 54th St., Brooklyn.
