June 1992
Chess Life, June 1992
Sidney Norman Bernstein, July 11, 1911-January 30, 1992
Sidney Bernstein was always there. At least that is the way it seemed for more than 50 years. He was there in 1926, battling for the New York City H. S. Championship against the likes of Nat Grossman and the renowned Fred Reinfeld.
He was there in 1931, playing for City College with teammate Reuben Fine, in the Intercollegiate Team Championship. They took 1st place with a score of 27½-½, with Sidney scoring the only draw. After oversleeping, Bernstein made his way to the tournament site with seconds to spare—40 seconds, to be exact, according to referee and then U.S. Champion, Frank Marshall. Bernstein made 38 moves in 37 seconds before his opponent offered him a draw. Fine grumbled something about “losing a no-hitter” but this game was cited in Ripley's “Believe It or Not” column.
He was there at the Marshall Chess Club, winning the prestigious club championship in 1939 (equal 1st with Milton Hanauer), and again in 1957 and 1958. He was there at the Manhattan Chess Club and shared the club title with Fred Renfield in 1941.
He was there in Ventnor City in 1942, placing 2nd behind the Canadian Wunderkind, Abe Yanofsky.
He was there at the Metropolitan Chess League, losing only two games over a 25 year span.
He was asked to play in the 1946 return match (USA-USSR) in Moscow, but couldn't get time off from work. His teammates would have been Reshevsky, Fine, Denker, Horowitz, Kashdan, Steiner, Pinkus, Kevitz, and Ulvestad.
He took part in two World Postal Olympiads, in 1952-53 (as captain) and again in 1963-65.
He was the coach-analyst for our Olympiad team in Tel Aviv in 1964.
He scored 113 wins in U.S. Championships in 1936, 1938, 1940, 1951, 1954, 1957-58, 1959-60, and 1961-62. He was good enough to play in 1936, the first tournament held after Frank Marshall gave up his title, and he was still good enough to make the 12-player round robin event in 1961-62. Forty years' worth of staying power speaks for itself.
He crossed swords with Dunst, Lessing, Suesman, Seidman, Kupchik, Simonson, Mengarini, Adams, Avram, Kramer, Sherwin, Hearst, Platz, DeCamillo, Bisguier, Evans, Rossolimo (here, and in Paris), Pavey, D. Byrne, Collins, Santasiere, Valvo, Levy, Mednis, Soltis, Finegold, Winston, Gruchacz, Kane, Lewis, Cohen, Moskow, Kurzdorfer, Benjamin, Bonin… three generations of young turks and old pros. Sidney Bernstein was known as both and enjoyed success as both, and he will be missed.
