February 23 1935
Star Tribune, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Saturday, February 23, 1935
Champion Turns Kibitzer
Bert Titus Kibitzes On O. A. Holt. By Tribune Staff Photographer.
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Otto Arne Holt, 1935
Otto Arne Holt, 1941
September 02 1941
Star Tribune, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Tuesday, September 02, 1941
Holt Wins Again
O. A. Holt of Willmar, chess and checker columnist of The Sunday Tribune and Star Journal, won the state checker championship for a ninth time Monday when he defeated Olaf Thompson of Minneapolis in the finals of the two day tournament at the Minneapolis Chess and Checker club.
Ed Bartels of Frost, defending champion, was unable to compete in the event because of illness.
At a business meeting Gertrude Huntley of Coleraine, was named president and H. L. Lober of St. Paul, secretary-treasurer.
Otto Arne Holt, 1925
October 29 1925
The Minneapolis Star, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Thursday, October 29, 1925
O. A. Holt Winner of State Chess Honors
O. A. Holt won the Minnesota state chess championship yesterday when he defeated the title holder, Joseph Kandy of St. Paul. This was the third deciding match of the tournament and the match was won on the 48th move.
Otto Arne Holt, 1924
August 09 1924
The Minneapolis Star, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Saturday, August 09, 1924
Holt to Give Exhibition at Duluth Chess Tourney
Duluth, Aug. 9.—O. A. Holt, said to be tho youngest player to ever hold the Minnesota state chess championship, will exhibit his skill at a tournament to be held here soon, if plans now tinder way are completed. It is planned to have Holt play 20 simultaneous games here and play blindfolded against four players. The affair will he held in connection with the Duluth-All Range chess tournament, George L. Varney, president of the Duluth Chess club, announced.
Otto Arne Holt, 1934
March 18 1934
The State, Columbia, South Carolina, Sunday, March 18, 1934
Versatile Minnesota Man
O. A. Holt of Minneapolis, Minn., chess editor of the Minneapolis Journal, is said to be the only person in the United State who has ever held the chess and checker championship of a state at the same time. Willie Ryan had an interesting illustrated story about Holt in a recent issue of his magazine, The Checkergram. After telling about the excellence of Holt's chess column, Ryan continues as follows:
“But Holt is more than a chess authority. He knows something about checkers too. As a matter of fact he plays ten boards of checkers blindfolded and to prove it to his local friends he put on a show at the University of Minnesota recently. He dropped only one game out of the ten winning or drawing the rest. Incidentally, Holt is a graduate of the University of Minnesota.
“Back in 1925, when Holt won the checker championship of his state he challenged J. G. Kaudy of St. Paul, then the state chess champion, to a match for the state chess crown. The match came off, Holt winning two games losing one and drawing seven in a ten-game frame. By winning the chess title, Holt was the first man to ever hold both chess and checker titles of any state at the same time. He has traveled over the state of Minnesota giving exhibitions of his skill at both games.”
Asked which is the better game chess or checkers, Holt is quoted as making the following sensible reply: “Both are fine games. Both are so profound that neither one has ever been fully mastered. It's a matter of personal preference. Some like chess; some like checkers. I enjoy both games, and in this respect I am different from most chess and checker players, who praise the game they play and knock the game they don't play.”
Last summer Holt got in touch with Minneapolis playground officials and staged a checker tourney in which more than 1000 children took part.
“Checkers,” says Holt, “has a great future. But that future can only be materialized by the invasion of youth into the mysteries of the game. Let youth in, cater to them, and watch the game go skyward”.
Otto Arne Holt, 1948
January 03 1948
The Minneapolis Star, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Saturday, January 03, 1948
Newman Guttman of Minneapolis wants to know what happened to the Pawn Pusher, to-wit:
“What has happened to the chess column—the Pawn Pusher? I certainly hone the column hasn't been dropped for lack of space. The Saturday editions have been rather lean of late, but this would be an odd time to drop the column after it ran throughout the war.
“The number of active contributors to the column may be small, but there are many silent followers. I know several. Many buy the paper especially for this column. I was one of them until recently when we switched to The Star from the Times.”
COMMENT—No permanent decision has been made on the Pawn Pusher. The busy Arne Holt, who has done such a splendid job on this column for several years, asked our permission to take at least a month's vacation. During this rest period, we undoubtedly will get the reaction of the readers so that we ran know what should he done about its continuation in the future.
January 17 1948
The Minneapolis Star, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Saturday, January 17, 1948
Alain White of Summerville, S.C., moves into chess with the following:
“I have recently heard that there is a possibility that the chess column in your paper may be discontinued. I have known of the column, under its present guidance by Mr. Holt, for close on 25 years and it has done so much to encourage your local chess problem composers as well as to give pleasure to solvers and readers far afield, that I feel very distressed at this rumor.
“Please don't let The Pawn Pusher stop pushing. It means too much in the chess circles. Two of our cleverest young men today, Newman Gutman and Joe Youngs, are among its alumni not to mention many others in years past.”
February 14 1948
The Minneapolis Star, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Saturday, February 14, 1948
G. S. Barnes of Minneapolis writes: “Several months ago I noted the omission of the 'Pawn Pusher' from the Saturday column of The Star. Later I noticed a little mention of this stating that Mr. Holt was on vacation and the intimation that the 'Pawn Pusher' would be resumed when Mr. Holt returned from vacation. Unfortunately, the 'Pawn Pusher' has not made its appearance since that time. I hope this is simply a temporary abeyance.
“The good chess players throughout the state miss the 'Pawn Pusher' and unless I miss my guess, you are hearing from them. I am pulling for the resumption of the 'Pawn Pusher.'”
COMMENT—Only 104 readers have written us requesting the return of The Pawn Pusher. We are deferring final decision until after more investigating.
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'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: Tweets by swilkinsonbc |
 “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.
March 9, 1943 - January 17, 2008The 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.
