AAdditional Games
Olaf Ulvestad
October 27, 1912-August 24, 2000
August 1954
Vol. IV, No. 1, August, 1954, California Chess Reporter; Phil Smith and Olaf UlvestadSeptember 01 1958
The Kansas City Times, Kansas City, Missouri, Monday, September 01, 1958
A Reason for Chess Mastery.
What baseball is to America, chess is to Russia.
That is the way Olaf Ulvestad, United States chess master, operatic tenor and world traveler, yesterday explained Russian supremacy in chess.
Ulvestad is one of the most distinguished men ever to play here. He and 36 other players are currently competing in the Heart of America Chess tournament at the Downtown Y.M.C.A.
Competed in Russia
Ulvestad was one of 10 players selected to represent the United States against Russia in match play in Moscow in 1946.
Said Ulvestad:
“The New York Yankees could undoubtedly defeat any Russian baseball team but we on the other hand, felt the sting of a convincing defeat in the 20-game chess match. The score was in favor of the Soviet Union, 12½ to 7½. We did well, however, on certain individual boards.”
Ulvestad said the two favorite sports in Russia are chess and horsemanship.
“Chess masters in Moscow were mobbed by autograph seekers at every game, just as ball players are in this country,” Ulvestad said. “The matches we played were held in a large hall seating 1,500 persons and 500 spectators changed off with their friends to provide seats for a total audience of 2,000.
“Large billboards outside the hall displayed the names of players. The players were located on a stage before giant wall chess boards on which the moves were reproduced in view of the audience. Similar boards outside conveyed the play to the crowd gathered there. If they had held the match in an amphitheater I believe they would have filled it to capacity.
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“Extra clothing credits, bonuses in rubles for high scores and cultural esteem have done much to stimulate promising young Russian players to improve their play.”
Ulvestad said that in Russia there are 50,000 chess players of expert ability searching for new moves and procedures.
“These findings are screened and the games of well-known foreign masters are studied for weaknesses,” he said. “The results of these two areas of research are then presented to top Russian competitors for memorizing.”
Ulvestad said neither the United States, nor any other country, has an answer to such concerted effort.
“Possibly our best answer is exemplified by Bobby Fischer, 15, our current open and absolute United States champion,” he said. “The United States Chess federation and the American Chess Foundation are doing much to encourage and support young players. Perhaps soon there will be sponsorship of research comparable to that the Russians are carrying on.”
At the end of yesterday's play Ulvestad was tied with Mitchell Schweig, Chicago, for first place. The tourney ends tonight.
