AJune 29 1974
The Vancouver Sun, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, Saturday, June 29, 1974
Former chess master 'coming back' at 20
By Roger Smith
Two years Berry was ranked internationally as a chess master.
Under a complex system set up by the World Chess Federation, Berry had accumulated the 2,200 points necessary for that ranking. But then things began to slide.
“My last published rating wasn't at a master's level,” he said. “I had a period of regression when I played poorly.
“But now I'm coming back up to that level.”
At age 20, Berry has played chess for 12 years and was recently elected president of the B.C. Chess Federation, the youngest person ever to hold that position.
But he does not think it extraordinary that someone his age should hold the position, explaining that the majority of the federation's members are under 28 or over 50.
“Chess is both a young man's game and an old man's game — a young man's because he has the energy to play and an old man's because he has the time.”
Berry takes over the federation, a group of 250 to 300 tournament chess players, at a time when worldwide interest in chess is on the upswing, mainly due to the publicity surrounding the 1972 world championship match between Bobby Fischer of the U.S. and Boris Spassky of Russia.
“Publicity of any type will help,” he said, “and Fischer, even though he gave what I consider bad publicity to chess, made people want to play.” [Overly ambitious news reporters out for a quick buck from a sensational headline, spun via collaborations with Soviet machinery, really didn't need any help from Fischer to twist the narrative! Americans were pleased knowing Soviet arrogance was taken down a notch. Still are.]
The membership of the United States Chess Federation has increased sevenfold to 70,000 in the last six years, but Berry said a Harris poll revealed that more than 30 million Americans know how to play chess.
“In Russia, it's even bigger. There are probably over one million hard-core chess players, as well as two million school children who go to tournaments.”
A “hard-core” player, he explained, is one who plays regularly and competes in tournaments.
The Canadian federation has 1,200 members.
Berry, who has completed three years of a mathematics program at the University of B.C., took the past year off to compete in tournaments. He took an eight-week hitchhiking trip to Mexico, during which he captured the Mexican Open Championship and competed in a tournament for masters in California.
He is also one of the three players left in the Vancouver Closed Championship. The winner of the 24-match tourney will travel to the Canadian Open to be held in Montreal in July.
Berry refers to chess as a “sport,” describing the physical fitness and stamina needed to endure the pressure of a tournament. It has been estimated, he said, that a grandmaster, during a five-hour match, expends as much energy as a boxer during a fight.
Admitting many people don't enjoy the competitive, element in chess, Berry pointed out several other aspects of the game.
He spoke of people who do nothing but create and work on chess problems.
“They are the real artists. Once you understand the parameters of chess, you can understand the beauty in it.”
He said an Argentinean once played 45 games simultaneously while sitting on a stage, blindfolded, listening to announcements of his opponents' moves.
He said computers are poor chess players because they lack imagination.
“When you hear of someone beating a computer, he's probably only an average player.”
Berry plans to return to school in September, and says this will adversely affect his game.
“Doing any other intellectual pursuit hurts your chess because you drain intellectual energy and imagination.”
The B.C. federation hopes to sponsor a tournament next spring with up to 1,000 players from around the world. It will also sponsor 10 smaller tournaments and step up its campaign to promote chess in schools and clubs.
