AJune 29 1959
Press of Atlantic City, Atlantic City, New Jersey, Monday, June 29, 1959
Junior Chess Champ—The N. J. junior chess champion, Robin Ault, 17, of Cranford and other top players were congratulated by E. F. Daigle, right, director, at the close of a three-day tournament at the Penn-Atlantic Hotel. The young lad in front is Jeffrey Harris of 51 N. Windsor Ave., who was awarded the tournament's “Brilliancy Prize.” Others, from left, are Ault, first runner-up Roger Pitasky, 16, of Trenton, and third place winner Leslie Ault, 18, the champion's brother. Press photo.
Cranford Boy Wins Tourney Here To Become State Chess Champion
Seventeen-year-old Robin Ault of Cranford became New Jersey's junior chess champion yesterday at the Penn-Atlantic Hotel.
Ault defeated Glenn Reitze, 16, of Jersey City in the championship match to end the three-day State Junior Chess Tournament here. His record was four wins and one draw.
Reitz and five other competitors came through the tournament with three wins, one draw and one loss. Their places were determined by a tie-breaking system based on how they played their matches, with these results:
Second place went to Roger Pitasky, 16, Trenton; third to Leslie Ault, the winner's 18-year-old brother; fourth to Reitze; fifth to William Lukowiak, 16, Belleville, and sixth to Jerome Finkelstein, 17, Long Branch.
The first six placers were awarded trophies. Pitasky also won a trophy for accumulating the highest score of any competitor under 17.
Jeffrey Harris of 51 N. Windsor Ave. was awarded the tournament's “Brilliancy Prize” for his first-round victory Friday evening over John Yehl, 19, of Hamonton.
Yesterday's competition opened with the two Aults, Pitasky and Reitze tied with two wins and one draw each. In the morning's fourth tournament round, Robin Ault beat Pitasky and Reitze defeated Leslie Ault.
Reitze lost to Robin Ault in the fifth and final round, while Pitasky and Leslie Ault were recording wins over other opponents.
July 19 1959
Omaha World-Herald, Omaha, Nebraska, Sunday, July 19, 1959
Ault (left), Gilden…Studies in concentration.
Chess Meet: Wake With Tension
The United States Junior Chess Championship Saturday had the atmosphere of a wake with tension.
The ballroom of the Rome Hotel was hushed except for a murmur of young voices. Dozens of observers moved silently from table to table. Players oblivious of all got up from their boards between moves' with sober thoughtful faces.
But filtering through the hush was a suppressed excitement. Players and observers were watching to see who would be the new champion.
Leading contenders were a study in the different ways youngsters concentrate.
Larry Gilden, 16, Washington, D. C., complained several times about noise. The Rev. Howard Ohman, tournament director, agreed and ordered the murmur back to a lower pitch.
Gilden returned to his table, shook his head nervously as if to indicate he had fathomed the strategy of his opponent, Robin Ault.
Ault, 17, Cranford, N. J., sat over the board with a classic poker face. But he sat on only a third of his chair with his right leg doubled up under him and his left foot waving up and down.
Ault was the winner and became tournament champion. Second was Gilbert Ramirez, 19, San Francisco, Cal., and third was Gilden.
Tournament rules forbid opponents to talk to one another or to discuss the game with spectators.
“But this doesn't prevent them, once the game is over, from going into the next room to restudy the moves,” the Rev. Mr. Ohman said.
“These kids play chess all the time. They finish the tournament games and play all night.”
Doesn't the pace and the excitement wear them out?
“I haven't seen any sign of it,” the Rev. Mr. Ohman said.
Monday at 7 p.m. the United States Open chess tournament, which attracts master players from over the United States, will begin at the Sheraton-Fontenelle Hotel.
