January 24 1961
Los Angeles Mirror, Los Angeles, California, Tuesday, January 24, 1961
‘Thinking Is Good For You!’ Local Chess Fancier Insists
By Carmen Gonzales, Staff Writer
Most teenagers are afraid to play chess because they're afraid to think, says Lina Grumette, national membership chairman of the U.S. Chess Federation.
“They think you must have an exaggerated brain to be good at it. That's silly, all you need is a normal amount of concentration and interest,” she says. “Of course you have to think, but thinking is good for you.”
Mrs. Grumette, a Hollywood resident, has been playing in national chess tournaments since 1948. She is determined to get more teenagers to play the game.
“A lot of youngsters would like to learn chess, but haven't anyone to play with,” she says. “I think the interest is there. We've just never catered to it.”
MRS. GRUMETTE credits 17-year-old Bobby Fischer, U.S. Chess Champion for four consecutive years, with showing many teenagers that the game isn't just for graybeards.
“You're never too young to learn chess,” she says. “In fact, I have a six-year-old niece who loves it.”
Mrs. Grumette, who has visited many of the chess clubs in the Los Angeles high schools, is presently trying to secure a clubhouse where teenagers may meet weekends to play chess and attend lectures and exhibitions on the game.
“CHESS CAN keep youngsters out of mischief,” she says. “It also helps to develop their sportsmanship and powers of concentration.
“It's more of a challenge than any sport,” she continues, “because it's a battle of the wits.”
Mrs. Grumette explains that in Russia a chess tournament attracts as many as 25,000 spectators.
“We're lucky if we get 100,” she says. “In this country people think you're an egghead if you play chess. That's not so. It's time Americans stopped fearing it.”
—MIRROR Photos by Loran Smith.
July 27 1961
