August 29 1956
The Montreal Star, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Wednesday, August 29, 1956
Close Play Feature Of Chess Tourney
Frank Anderson, chess champion of Canada, and Larry Evans, former U.S. champion, drew their fifth round game last night to remain tied at 4½ points for first place with two others in the first Canadian Open Chess Championship.
Abe Yanofsky of Winnipeg and William Lombardy of New York drew even with the leaders by also winning decisively.
The Anderson-Evans game was a tremendous struggle which did not finish until 11:45 p.m. Anderson had slightly the better of the game at the start, but faltered at the half-way mark, losing a pawn to his opponent. From then on he played magnificently, despite his difficult position. After 50 moves had been played, Evans realized the futility of trying to win and offered his opponent a draw, which was accepted. This was Anderson's most arduous game to date.
Yanofsky in Top Form
Abe Yanofsky served notice that he is definitely in top form for this tournament when he won what was the finest game of the tourney against Edmar Mednis of New York. Mednis is the 1955 New York state champion and is recognized as one of the leading players in America. Mednis was chosen to represent the U.S. in the junior world championship two years ago. He finished second in that event.
William Lombardy defeated Antonio Di Camillo of Philadelphia and shares the lead with four wins and one draw. Lombardy is fresh from his match with Samuel Reshevsky, one of the highest ranking players in the world. He almost achieved the upset of all time when he lost the match by a single point, losing only one game and drawing five.
Jim Sherwin of New York and Hans Berliner of Washington, agreed to a quick draw, with neither player having an advantage at the time.
Local Champion
Sidney Bernstein of New York defeated I. Zalys, a former champion of Montreal, in a well-played game to share in a tie for fifth place with Sherwin, Berliner and international master Paul Vaitonis of Hamilton, who easily beat Alexis Gilliland of Washington, D.C. All four players have a score of 4-1.
Vaitonis, whose only loss was in the fourth round, to Larry Evans, is a recent immigrant from Lithuania. His tournament record is a formidable one. He held the championship of Lithuania in 1934, '37, '38, '42, '43 and '44. He has played in international events in England, Poland, Germany, Sweden and Argentina.
In 1951 he won the Canadian title, ahead of both Anderson and Yanofsky.
The 45-year-old law graduate fled from his native land with his wife and two children in a small boat during the Russian occupation in 1944. He lived in Sweden for five years, coming to Canada in 1949, and now resides in Hamilton, Ontario.
Bobby Fischer, 13, whose games have been a feature attraction to the spectators, had an easy time of it in the fifth round, defeating Antantas Judzentavicius of Montreal. Fischer now has three wins and two losses and is tied for 19th place among the 88 competitors. The experts predict that he will finish much higher than this.
Maurice Fox, the master emeritus of Canadian chess, drew with Don Richardson of Toronto in a long and difficult game, to tie with 10 others for ninth place.
Three games went past midnight and were deferred to today.
CAPTION: Abe Yanofsky, Winnipeg chess expert, during his fifth round win against E. Mednis of New York.
