The Daily Oklahoman Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Sunday, July 29, 1956
Bisguier Wins Chess Tourney
A draw cost Arthur Bisguier of New York $250 Saturday in the final round of the U.S. Open chess tournament at the Biltmore hotel, but he still won the U. S. Open chess championship.
Bisguier drew Saturday with Edmar Mednis of New York while Jimmy Sherwin of New York beat Edgar McCormick of East Orange, N. J. That left Bisguier and Sherwin each with 9½ points under the scoring system of one point for winning and a half point for a draw.
So they split the first and second prize money of $1,000 and $500 and took $750 each. However, there is a tie-breaking system that applies only to the championship and not to the money. Under that system, which takes into account the quality of the opponents each faced, Bisguier was the winner.
13-Year-Old Ties
Robert Steinmeyer of St. Louis finished in third place with 9 points. Thirteen-year-old Bobby Fischer of Brooklyn, the U.S. junior champion, finished in a tie with four men for 4th place with 8½ points.
Bisguier, a 26-year-old accountant, already holds the U. S. championship (not the U.S. Open championship). He won the Open championship once before, in 1950.
Bisguier has been playing chess and checkers since he was six years old, and has been in Europe several times, as a chess player and also in the service.
He Visits Moscow
He attended a reception in the U. S. Embassy in Moscow a year ago—the U. S. chess team were the honor guests—which Bulganin and Khrushchev also attended.
He noted that chess players are accorded a great deal more honor in Europe than in the United States. In Yugoslavia, he recalled, people stopped him for his autograph while he walked down the street because he was the U. S. chess champion.
In Russia, he said, chess is the national game, much as baseball is in the United States. Thousands of spectators attended the games in Russia, Bisguier said, and prominent players who aren't playing in that tournament serve a commentators.
He said Russia was “fascinating” and he received much acclaim as a chess player, but he said other things about Russia were “not so good” and he definitely would never want to live there.
