Frank Ross Anderson, 1948

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The Windsor Star, Windsor, Ontario, Canada, Monday, April 05, 1948

Chess Champ In U.S. Open
Toronto Boy Learned To Play in Hospital
Toronto—Frank R. Anderson, 19-year-old chess champion of Ontario, said yesterday he was preparing to enter United States open championships at Milwaukee shortly. This is the last year Anderson is qualified for junior as well as senior play.
Anderson won the Ontario title here last week and Noel Williams, London, Ont., placed second, after each had won five and lost one match. R. B. Hayes, Kitchener, president of Ontario Chess Federation, and R. Drummond, Hamilton, tied for third with scores of 4½-1½. Hayes was leading going into the final round when he was beaten by Anderson.
Young Anderson, who learned chess while confined to a hospital bed for years with crippling arthritis, reached the final round of the Canadian championship at Toronto two years ago.

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Frank Ross Anderson, 1964

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November 21, 1964

The Montreal Star Montreal, Quebec, Canada Saturday, November 21, 1964

Russian Intelligence (Spying) Tactics Extend Even to Chess World by Lou Seligson
Tel Aviv, Nov. 21—Everybody expects the Russians to walk off with the world championship at the 16th Chess Olympiad in Tel Aviv, Israel.
The Canadian chess team expects it—but they have got the shock of their lives in the process.
It was only after they got here and watched the Russians perform that they discovered one of the reasons why the Soviet team was so overpowering.
Frank R. Anderson, one of the top men on the six-man Canadian team, got wind of on of their sources of power—the best “intelligence” system of any team in the tournament.
Fifty-one countries sent teams to Tel Aviv for this Chess Olympiad—more than ever before in the history of the tournament. With Petrosian, the world champion, and two ex-world champions, Botvinnik and Smyslov, on the main boards, it was a cinch and nobody would touch the Russians on their way to the title.
But Anderson discovered that one of their powerhouse reasons was an intelligence system that made him shudder.
“I didn't know it before I got here,” Anderson said, “but the Russians have a complete dossier on every top player in the tournament. I know that many of the other strong teams have one system or another to keep track of the opposition, but nothing like this.
“Why, they know all kinds of things — whether you brought your wife to the Games — what your hobbies are — where you were last night — where you ate and what you did.”
It seems that one of the American players befriended one of the Russians and was shown a fat dossier on a player. It was complete, not only to games, but to habits and mannerisms. Each Russian knew exactly whom he was facing.
“It's not enough just to play with a board and pieces,” Anderson said. “In a tournament like this, fatigue is important. Psychology is important. You have to play a great deal on your opponent's weaknesses, not only in a game, but considering his personality, too. SO you can see how important all this is.”
Anderson is certain that in his own dossier the Russians have a complete list of all the games he has ever played in any tournament.
“When they face me, they know every move I ever made in my life,” he grinned. “They know more than I do, for I have forgotten most of those games.”
“Of course, the Russians play chess on a professional level,” Anderson pointed out. “They've got it down to a science. We're just a group of amateurs against them.”

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Frank Ross Anderson, 1965

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February 03 1965

The Montreal Star, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Wednesday, February 03, 1965

International Chess Master Whips 37 City Opponents
International chess master Frank Anderson defeated 37 members of the Canadian National Chess Club simultaneously during an exhibition held at the CN building last night.
Mr. Anderson, the former Canadian chess champion and Canadian Olympic chess team member, awarded a “complimentary draw” to Miss Louise Guay, chosen Canadian National Recreational chess queen before the start of the exhibit.
Although it was apparent that Miss Guay would lose her match to Mr. Anderson, the master chess player awarded a draw to the only female competitor.
The CN Chess Club holds an annual exhibition where internationally known players are invited to play anywhere from 20 to 40 club members simultaneously.
Mr. Anderson, who at the age of 20 won the Toronto Chess Championship, has played as many as eight games simultaneously while wearing a blindfold.
He holds the world record for simultaneous tandem play jointly with Dr. G. Berner playing on 100 boards and making alternate moves with Dr. Berner.

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July 07 1965

The Brantford Expositor, Brantford, Ontario, Canada, Wednesday, July 07, 1965

CHESS MASTER ON TRIP—Frank Anderson, 37, of Montreal, international chess expert and hobbyist par excellence, is on a three-year round-the-world honeymoon with wife Sylvia.—(CP Photo).

Around the World For Three Years
Montreal(CP)—Somerset Maugham once wrote: “Every human being is an adventure to me.”
“The same goes for me,” says Frank Anderson.
A more appropriate slogan for the 37-year-old adventurer might read: “Everything is an adventure to me.”
Anderson overcame a crippling childhood ailment which left him with a severe physical handicap to immerse himself in a variety of fascinating hobbies including the sport of gliding.
Despite his small stature and the fact that he used crutches until two years ago, when he underwent a series of operations, he has led an intensely active life, following the motto, “Keep moving so no rust will accumulate.”
This philosophy has enabled Anderson, a specialist in all types of electronic computers, to become a self-taught expert in chess, gliding, professional magic and handwriting analysis.
Is he wearying of adventure after years of intense intellectual and physical activity? No.
“I've just discovered a new career,” he says. “Marriage.”
Recently he left on his honeymoon — “a three-year trip around the world touching 80 countries.”

Became Chess Expert
A native of Edmonton, Frank Anderson moved to Toronto where he spent almost 11 of his first 21 years in bed battling acute rheumatoid arthritis.
During these years he learned to play chess, long his first love, and progressed from regional and provincial championships to a share in 1953 of the Canadian closed title which he won outright two years later.
He has competed for Canada in two chess Olympics, the most recent at Tel Aviv, Israel, last November when Canada placed 12th among 50 countries, its highest standing ever.
Anderson, who now lives in Montreal, is rated among the world's better players and holds the coveted title of international master.
“Chess has affected my whole life and taught me the virtues of patience, perseverance, logical reasoning and modesty in victory.”
Always seeking a new challenge, Anderson has moved on from the championship matches and exhibitions in which he plays up to 40 games simultaneously against 40 opponents, to adapting chess to computers.
With a Toronto partner, one of four such teams in the world, he is trying to discover how a computer may be programmed to play chess.

Computer Can't Cope
The formula, which could revolutionize the chess world and perhaps divide the world championships into classes—man and machine—has eluded man as yet.
“The fastest computer envisaged—and some are capable of billions of operations a second—could not begin to compile all the possible moves in chess if it worked for 24 hours each day for billions of years,” he says.
“But in the future almost anything is possible.”
Anderson took up gliding a year ago when a friend described it to him as a “three dimensional game of chess.”
He won his glider's pilot license in one summer, an exceptional feat among gliding devotees.
The glider, a light, motorless plane of exceptionally long wingspan, usually is launched by catapult or tow plane.
A pilot towed to 2,000 feet may remain aloft for a considerable length of time by making use of the lift provided by columns of rising air. In favorable weather conditions, flights of 200 miles are possible.
Anderson says gliding—known to enthusiasts as soaring— is [illegible] per cent brain work and five per cent physical activity.
“A glider pilot must be able to think fast and accurately, possess a knowledge of meteorology and the air and combine a sense of daring and caution.”

Related to Chess
His other hobbies revolve around chess.
Magic and chess are related in that the psychology a magician applies to his audience must also be applied between expert chess players, he says.
“I learned that magic to be entertaining and mystifying at its best is not sleight of hand but the art of diverting people through motions and entertaining talk.
“I've always dreamed of combining chess and magic to make my opponent's chess piece disappear from the board.”
The handwriting hobby, which he described as a popular party pastime, also was self-taught.
He believes most personality traits may be revealed more accurately through handwriting than through any test yet developed.
“Of course, at a party you have to be discreet and tactful.”
He claims a 95-per-cent reliability average in determining such traits as intelligence, powers of concentration, reasoning ability, honesty, generosity and emotional characteristics.

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Frank Ross Anderson, 1956

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Aug 27 1956

The Montreal Star, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Monday, Aug 27, 1956

Canadian Champ Defeats 3 To Share Chess Play Lead
Frank Anderson of Toronto started strongly in the first Canadian open chess championship, now in progress in Montreal. He decisively defeated his first three opponents, to share first place with eight other competitors, including international Master Larry Evans of New York.
The present tournament, the first of its kind held in Canada, is considered one of the most impressive, in terms of quantity and quality of the entrants, ever to be staged in North America. Eighty-eight players, representing four provinces, seven states and Guatemala, are competing for $1,300 in cash prizes.
Mr. Anderson, who won the Canadian chess championship at Ottawa last year, was born in Toronto in 1928, and as a child was bed-ridden with arthritis. He learned to play chess during this period and soon participated in correspondence matches with experts all over the world.

Started in Wheelchair
While still a boy, he began attending tournaments in a wheelchair, eventually progressing to crutches. He now walks for the most part without assistance.
Mr. Anderson has held the Toronto championship, the Ontario championship and is currently Canadian champion.
In 1949, he tied for first place in the U.S. junior championship and in 1954 he finished with the highest individual score in the world team tournament, in which he represented Canada.
Mr. Evans is the tournament favorite. He has twice held the U.S. championship, and there have been few professional events in North America which he has not won. He is also the leading U.S. speed-chess player.
Bobby Fischer, 13, a New York prodigy who recently finished fourth in the U.S. open, ahead of 97 other experts, started well in the present tournament, winning his first-round game against Gerard Lepine, Jr., of Montreal. He faltered in the second round, however, losing to Robert Sobel of Philadelphia, but recovered in the third round, winning this match in brilliant style.

Leaders Listed
Following are the leaders to date: Frank R. Anderson, Toronto, 3-0; H. Berliner, Washington, 3-0; A. DiCamillo, Philadelphia, 3-0; L. Evans, New York, 3-0; W. Lombardy, New York, 3-0; E. Rose, Toronto, 3-0; J. Sherwin, New York, 3-0; P. Vaitonis, Hamilton, 3-0; S. Bernstein, New York, 2-0; E. Mednis, New York, 2-0.
The third round game between Sidney Bernstein and Edmar Mednis, both of New York City and both at present tied with 2-0 scores, was uncompleted at midnight Sunday. It was resumed at Redpath Hall this morning, with the winner to join the ranks of the leaders.
The tournament began Saturday evening at Redpath Hall, with the contestants moving over to the YMHA building on Mount Royal avenue for yesterday's matches. On Sunday, one game was played for nine hours without being completed.
Professional chess is an extremely exhausting game. Players have been known to lose as much as 20 pounds during a single tournament. The notion that chess is an old man's game is competely contradicted by the current Canadian championship, in which most of the contestants are under 30, with many in their teens.
The tournament will continue until Sunday, Sept. 2, with one round being played each day. Games start at 6 p.m. and adjournments are re-commenced at 11 a.m. next day.
Lionel Joyner, incumbent Montreal champion, summed up the tournament thus: “It's a strong tournament, certainly the strongest ever held in Canada, and there's no way of telling who'll win it. It would be nice, however, to have the first Canadian championship won by a Canadian.”

CAPTION: This was the position of the board as Hans Berliner of Washington, D.C., prepared to make the last two moves, which won the game against Alexander Rott of Montreal during yesterday's games. Berliner, after sacrificing his queen to divert the black bishop from the area, discovered check by moving his pawn ahead (move 1), forcing Ross to interpose the black knight (move 2), whereupon the white bishop took the knight (move 3) to effect checkmate.

Study in Concentration as Players Plan the Next Move During Chess Tournament in Montreal. Heinz Matthai of Montreal, Jim Sherwin of New York City, Antonio DiCamillo of Philadelphia, E. Schuyler Jackson, Flushing, N.Y., David Grimshaw of Toronto

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Aug 28 1956

The Montreal Star, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Tuesday, August 28, 1956

Torontonian's Streak Holds: Anderson Scores Fourth Chess Win
Frank Anderson, of Toronto, Canadian champion, scored a crushing defeat against Edward Rose of Toronto in the fourth round of the Canadian Open Chess Championship yesterday. The game, which lasted only 26 moves, saw Anderson in his best form to date, as he carried his score to four consecutive wins.
The only other leader to maintain the exhausting pace is tournament favorite Larry Evans, who defeated former Canadian Champ Paul Vaitonis of Hamilton, Ontario. Evans also won decisively, the game lasting only 30 moves.
Many of the leaders from Sunday's round fell behind, notably William Lombardy of New York and Hans Berliner of Washington. They drew against each other, thus dropping a half point behind Anderson and Evans. Jim Sherwin of New York and Antonio Di Camillo of Philadelphia were forced to adjourn their game after five hours of play. Should one of these players win, he would also share in the first place tie.
Creeping up on the top scorers is Abe Yanofsky of Winnipeg, who defeated David Grimshaw of Toronto. Yanofsky is the dark horse of the tournament, since he has not played in a professional event for several years.

Meteoric Career
His chess career has been a meteoric one. At the age of 12 he represented Canada in an international team tournament which was held in Buenos Aires in 1939. He did so well in this event that he was considered to be of master calibre.
Besides winning the Ventnor City International Tournament and the U.S. Open Championship, he is one of the few players to have defeated Mikhail Botvinnik of Russia, who is the present world champion. He has won the British championship once and the Canadian title five times and has successfully competed in almost every country in the world.
Mr. Yanofsky is a Rhodes Scholar and has devoted most of his time since 1953 to his law practice in Winnipeg. Were it not for the fact that he has not played for some time, he would be considered the tournament favorite. Only Yanofsky himself knows if he is top form for this event, and unfortunately, for his opponents, he is not talking about chances.
The leaders after the fourth round:
Frank Anderson, Toronto, 4-0; Larry Evans, New York, 4-0; Jim Sherwin, New York, 3-0 with one game to finish; Antonio Di Camillo, Philadelphia, 3-0 with one game to finish; Abe Yanofsky, Winnipeg, 3½-½; William Lombardy, New York, 3½-½; Hans Berliner, Washington D.C., 3½-½.
The most interesting game of yesterday's round was between 13-year-old Bobby Fischer and eight-time Canadian Champ Maurice Fox of Montreal. At one point, with nearly a hundred spectators crowded around the board, Bobby had a considerable advantage. It only remained for him to find the correct continuation.
In an attempt to finish it quickly, he miscalculated, however, and permitted Fox to struggle free. From then on Fox played flawlessly, winning in 50 moves. The game required over four hours to complete, with both players and spectators, some of whom had stood watching the whole time, completely exhausted. Bobby, of course, recovered quickly, and was soon busy at his favorite pastime.
One competitor who has attracted wide attention by his brilliant play is David Grimshaw of Toronto, who lost to Yanofsky. He is a protégé of Frank Anderson who has been tutoring him. Mr. Anderson is grooming him for the coming junior world championship which will be held in Toronto in 1957.
David is one of a number of junior wizards who have been developed in the Toronto youth movement, which is designed to produce future chess talent in Canada. He defeated Dr. Joseph Rauch of Montreal in the third round. Dr. Rauch, who is one of the best players in the country, was heard to comment after the game: “I've never seen so much junior talent in one tournament before. It's getting to the point where the older masters will no longer be able to rest on their laurels. The youths know everything.”

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Frank Ross Anderson, 1954

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July 06 1954

The Ottawa Citizen, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, Tuesday, July 06, 1954

First Defeat For Touring Soviets
Canadian Beats Russian Chess Expert
TORONTO (CP)—A Canadian has beaten a Russian grand master of chess.
Frank Anderson, a young Toronto university student and co-champion of Canada's chess players, became the first Canadian to beat Igor Bondarevsky by defeating him in 44 moves in an exhibition game Monday night. Bondarevsky resigned after 5½ hours of play when Anderson threatened to force a pawn into promotion.
The 26-year-old Anderson, who lost to Bondarevsky in a Trans-Atlantic match by cable last February, was happy about the victory.
“It was wonderful,” he said. “It was a fine game.”
Bondarevsky, elevated to grand master when he became champion of the Soviet Union in 1941, made no excuses for defeat. He smiled as he congratulated Anderson. Both spent nearly a half-hour analyzing their moves.
Bondarevsky said he made his mistake in the 12th move when he captured a king's pawn with his Queen's pawn. He said he should have done it with his king's bishop's pawn.
Anderson, Canadian co-champion with Abe Yanofsky of Winnipeg, won in a queen and minor piece ending. He had the white pieces and won a pawn on the queen side before adjournment. Eventually he had two connected passed pawns on that wing. The 41-year-old Russian concede shortly afterward.
In another exhibition game, Alexander Kotov of Moscow, 41 and also a Russian grand master, defeated Paul Vaitonis of Hamilton in 50 moves. Vaitonis made a mistake in the mid-game. When Kotov advanced his pawns, Vaitonis was forced to give up a rook for a knight.
The games were part of a series the Russians are playing at the invitation of the Canadian Chess Federation.
Except for Anderson's victory, both Russians have been undefeated in their tour. Bondarevsky beat Yanofsky in 60 moves in an exhibition at Winnipeg. He was simultaneously engaged in an exhibition and scored 38 wins and two draws in 40 matches.

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Frank Ross Anderson, 1951

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1951

Canadian Chess Championship 1951 Vancouver, B. C. Left to right. Front Row: D. A. Yanofsky, P. Vaitonis, F. R. Anderson, M. Fox, Dr. F. Bohatirchuk, N. Divinsky. Back Row: Dave Creemer, R. B. Hayes, H. F. Ridout, W. Holowach, A. E. Russell (Tournament Director), M. Jursevskis, C. F. Millar, J. M. Taylor. Original photo source unknown. For fair use, all credits must be kept intact. Color photo version created by the developer (me, yours truly) of https://best-in-chess.blogspot.com/p/frank-ross-anderson.html

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August 31 1951

The Province Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Friday, August 31, 1951

High School Student Leads Chess Chase
(Caption: Canadian Chess championship hung in the balance today in Hotel Vancouver, like the king and queen in the hands of likely titlist Frank Anderson. The Toronto student finished play in the lead Thursday night with a point total of 10. But Dr. Theodore Bohatirchuk, of Ottawa, and Paul Vaitonis, of Hamilton, Ont., had a chance to beat him in their final matches today, ending tourney.)
A 23-year-old Toronto high school student who plans to be an atomic scientist seemed headed today to be Canada's next chess champion.
Frank Anderson, wo learned the game from books while confined to bed with crippling arthritis, finished play Thursday night at Hotel Vancouver with 10 points.
ONE DEFEAT
In his final match of the 13-game tournament he suffered his only defeat.
The match was won in 41 moves by Dr. Feodore Bohatirchuk of Ottawa, a former all-Russian champ and one-time conqueror of World Champion Milkhail Botvinnik.
Dr. Bohatirchuk and Paul Vaitonis of Hamilton, Ont., are tied with 8½ points, and both had a slim chance to beat Anderson by winning their matches today.
Behind them in the standings came Abe Yanofsky. Canada's only chess master, 7½ points; Maurice Fox, defending champ, 5½; Dr. Nathan Divinsky and Walter Jursevskis, 5 each; Jack Taylor and Frank Yerhoff, 4 each; Walter Holowach and R. Hayes, with 3 each; Howard Ridout, 2, and Charles Millar one.
BATTLE TONIGHT
The crucial battle will come tonight, and young Anderson plans to be at the tables to watch closely.
But this morning he slept in. “It was a hard fight last night,” he said, “and I thought I had a little extra sleep coming to me.”
Was he worried about today's matches?
“No, not particularly. There's a possibility they will beat me, but I'm not worried.”
The slim young student, who is still working to complete his matric so he can go to University of Toronto, says he has no special chess ambitions.
WANTS RESEARCH
What he does want to do after high school is major in mathematics and physics and then get a post as a nuclear scientist in an atomic research laboratory.
His education has been delayed because of his long bout with arthritis, started by rheumatic fever, but he reads an average of two non-fiction books a week to make up for this.
Anderson said he has read 150 books on chess and at one time during a two-year period he was confined to bed he had 50 games going by correspondence with opponents all over North and South American.
He is the eldest son in a family of five children which includes two twin brothers. His father is wire chief in the CNR's Toronto telegraph service.
MAGAZINES, TOO
Young Anderson says that in addition to his voluminous non-fiction reading, he also reads five chess magazines and science fiction.
“The magazines keep me up to date on all the latest developments and novelty moves in chess, and the science fiction is relaxing,” he says.
And what's humanity's future in the atomic age?
“That's too big a question for me. I'll pass that one.” he said.

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