October 26 1969
The Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Sunday, October 26, 1969
Chess Champ Pawn-dering Retirement
By Ralph Miller
Hans Berliner doesn't pan off the game as chess something to kill time.
But he has put a lot of time into winning the world's chess correspondence championship.
And it looks like the 40-year-old native of Germany, here on a three-year fellowship to Carnegie-Mellon University, will retire as champ.
Preferred It To Baseball
The champ started playing chess at a summer camp because “I decided I'd rather play it than baseball.” And, after more than a couple of decades of improving his game, he won the world title in 1968.
He pointed out the next world correspondence championship will be conducted in 1971. “I'm not going to defend my title because I'm so busy on other interests now,” Mr. Berliner said, almost sadly.
“I had to give it up temporarily because of my work and studies in the field of computer science, but I have a computer program that actually can play chess,” he beamed.
It's kind of involved to explain, he continued, but hardly more complicated than the way the world chess correspondence championships are played.
For instance, an average move by one player takes as long as three days to decide … and the average game by correspondence takes “about 1½ years.”
Russians Considered Shoo-In
In the championship won by Mr. Berliner, 17 players from all parts of the world competed. Six of the opponents were Russians and were “expected to win easily.”
Mr. Berliner said the Russians “are the masters of chess by correspondence.”
But Hans won by three points over the field. “That's comparable to winning the baseball pennant by, say, 20 games,” he noted.
He's the first American to win an “open” correspondence chess championship.
The title has capped “all these years (27) of playing the game…and it's worth all the time and effort,” Mr. Berliner said.
But his wife, Araxie, isn't so sure.
“Let's say I'm mildly interested,” she smiled.
“Let's say she's very, VERY tolerant,” Hans laughed.
They both agree it's quite a game, chess the same.
