The Gift of Chess

Notice to commercial publishers seeking use of images from this collection of chess-related archive blogs. For use of the many large color restorations, two conditions must be met: 1) It is YOUR responsibility to obtain written permissions for use from the current holders of rights over the original b/w photo. Then, 2) make a tax-deductible donation to The Gift of Chess in honor of Robert J. Fischer-Newspaper Archives. A donation in the amount of $250 USD or greater is requested for images above 2000 pixels and other special request items. For small images, such as for fair use on personal blogs, all credits must remain intact and a donation is still requested but negotiable. Please direct any photographs for restoration and special request (for best results, scanned and submitted at their highest possible resolution), including any additional questions to S. Mooney, at bobbynewspaperblogs•gmail. As highlighted in the ABC News feature, chess has numerous benefits for individuals, including enhancing critical thinking and problem-solving skills, improving concentration and memory, and promoting social interaction and community building. Initiatives like The Gift of Chess have the potential to bring these benefits to a wider audience, particularly in areas where access to educational and recreational resources is limited.

Best of Chess Fischer Newspaper Archives
• Robert J. Fischer, 1955 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1956 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1957 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1958 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1959 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1960 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1961 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1962 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1963 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1964 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1965 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1966 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1967 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1968 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1969 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1970 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1971 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1972 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1973 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1974 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1975 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1976 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1977 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1978 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1979 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1980 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1981 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1982 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1983 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1984 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1985 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1986 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1987 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1988 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1989 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1990 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1991 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1992 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1993 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1994 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1995 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1996 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1997 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1998 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1999 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 2000 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 2001 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 2002 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 2003 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 2004 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 2005 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 2006 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 2007 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 2008 bio + additional games
Chess Columns Additional Archives/Social Media

Chess Queen's Gambit

Back to 1960 News Articles

Fort Lauderdale News, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Sunday, March 20, 1960 - Page 120

Chess Queen's Gambit
By Neil Hickey
THE DARKLY BEAUTIFUL GIRL you see at the left is neither an aspiring dramatic actress, a cheesecake Hollywood starlet, nor a $100-an-hour high-fashion photographer's model. At 22, she's the reigning Queen of American chess players, the top-ranking woman manipulator of kings, rooks and pawns.
Lisa Lane confounds all customary notions of bookish, brainy females. She has all the equipment, all the lissome beauty of a cover girl; yet in free competition last December, she vanquished all comers and, after a five-hour bout with the defending title-holder, emerged undisputed women's national champ.
Says a chagrined male victim: “It's hard enough to concentrate on the game with her sitting across the chessboard in a floppy sweater. But on top of that, she's a killer. She plays chess like Pancho Gonzales plays tennis: always stalking, always aggressive. No doubt about it—if she continues to study, she can be the best woman player in the world.” And the best looking, we might add.
Next year, she and Bobby Fischer, 17-year-old men's champ, will trek to Yugoslavia and represent the U.S. in an international interzonal tournament. “We'll meet the Russians,” she says. “They're traditionally the best in the world and I'm anxious to see them. Of course, in Russia, chess is the national sport and players are subsidized. No wonder Americans have trouble beating them.”
Lisa, who'll be the first woman chess “master” in U.S. history, has played chess for only two years. Her opponents in the championship were women with experience ranging up to 30 years.
She was a philosophy student in her sophomore year at Temple University (she lives in Philadelphia) when a local master named Attilio DiCamillo interested her in the game. He watched her play a few times and ventured the prediction: “If you work hard you can be national champion in two years.” Lisa copped the crown right on schedule.
“I dropped out of Temple University (I wasn't much of a student anyway), and devoted eight to 12 hours a day to chess. I'd work with Mr. DiCamillo all morning; then in the afternoons and evenings I'd play at a chess club near my home, and write down every move. The next day my teacher and I would go over the previous day's games. I spent all my money on chess books.”.
Nine days after winning the title, the youngest woman ever to do so, Lisa got married. Walter Rich, a boy she had known for three years, convinced her there's more to it all than playing chess. Now she says: “If I don't win in Yugoslavia next year, I never will; the tourney won't be held again for another four years, and by that time I'll be raising a family.”
Insiders say that while Bobby Fischer is an outright prodigy and a slightly eccentric one at that, Lisa Lane is a normal 22-year-old who simply has developed through hard work. She's demure and a little shy, but in recalling past matches, she'll dramatize every move in a burst of theatrics that leaves a listener breathless.
Is she good enough to beat Fischer? “No, I don't think so,” she says. “I've never played him, but I'm sure he's better than I. But then men are better than women at most things, aren't they? That's the way it should be.”
Chicago-born Fischer, who tied for fifth place in the interzonal finals in Yugoslavia in 1958, may be the greatest natural genius since the age of six, and won the U.S. men's title at 14. Though one of his high school teachers in Brooklyn, where he moved with his divorced mother in 1948, calls him “a sure bet for the world's championship some day, none of the other great players ever accomplished so much so early.” Bobby's fiercely competitive spirit makes it tough on the people around him. He used to go to a corner after a losing match and cry.
Most topflight chess players are hard losers. “I can't even look at my opponent for hours after losing a game,” Lisa confesses. But that problem seldom arises with this curvaceous campaigner. She'll beat you fair and square or rattle your composure with a flutter of eyelids. Either way, it's almost fun to lose.

Chess Queen's GambitChess Queen's Gambit 20 Mar 1960, Sun Fort Lauderdale News (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) Newspapers.com
Duplicates ·

'til the world understands why Robert J. Fischer criticised the U.S./British and Russian military industry imperial alliance and their own Israeli Apartheid. Sarah Wilkinson explains:

Bobby Fischer, First Amendment, Freedom of Speech
What a sad story Fischer was,” typed a racist, pro-imperialist colonial troll who supports mega-corporation entities over human rights, police state policies & white supremacy.
To which I replied: “Really? I think he [Bob Fischer] stood up to the broken system of corruption and raised awareness! Whether on the Palestinian/Israel-British-U.S. Imperial Apartheid scam, the Bush wars of ‘7 countries in 5 years,’ illegally, unconstitutionally which constituted mass xenocide or his run in with police brutality in Pasadena, California-- right here in the U.S., police run rampant over the Constitution of the U.S., on oath they swore to uphold, but when Americans don't know the law, and the cops either don't know or worse, “don't care” -- then I think that's pretty darn “sad”. I think Mr. Fischer held out and fought the good fight, steadfast til the day he died, and may he Rest In Peace.
Educate yourself about U.S./State Laws --
https://www.youtube.com/@AuditTheAudit/videos
After which the troll posted a string of profanities, confirming there was never any genuine sentiment of “compassion” for Mr. Fischer, rather an intent to inflict further defamatory remarks.

This ongoing work is a tribute to the life and accomplishments of Robert “Bobby” Fischer who passionately loved and studied chess history. May his life continue to inspire many other future generations of chess enthusiasts and kibitzers, alike.

Robert J. Fischer, Kid Chess Wizard 1956March 9, 1943 - January 17, 2008

The photograph of Bobby Fischer (above) from the March 02, 1956 The Tampa Times was discovered by Sharon Mooney (Bobby Fischer Newspaper Archive editor) on February 01, 2018 while gathering research materials for this ongoing newspaper archive project. Along with lost games now being translated into Algebraic notation and extractions from over two centuries of newspapers, it is but one of the many lost treasures to be found in the pages of old newspapers since our social media presence was first established November 11, 2017.

Special Thanks