AAdditional Games
Robert Sobel
January 23, 1934-unknown
September 05 1953
The Gazette and Daily, York, Pennsylvania, Saturday, September 05, 1953
State Chess Tourney Starts Here
Photo by The Gazette and Daily
Registration, Round Robin Competition Held
Thirty persons warmed up for the 15th annual Pennsylvania State Chess tournament with a round robin rapid transit tourney last night at Hotel Yorktowne. The seven-round tournament to name a state chess champion will begin today and will continue until Monday.
Above, W. M. Byland, seated left, Pittsburgh, 1949 state champion, registers for the tournament with local chairman, Attorney Jeffrey C. Bortner, also seated. Standing from left are E. A. Coons, Sewickley, secretary-treasurer of the state federation; D. A. Giangiulio, state president; William A. Ruth, Collingswood, N. J., chess master emeritus, winner of six state titles and chess columnist for Philadelphia Inquirer; and Attilio Di Camillo, Philadelphia, a chess master and two-time state champ.
Di Camillo was winner in the transit tourney by a 7½ to ½ score. Second was Saul Wachs, Philadelphia, 7 to 1. Tied for third were Robert Sobel and 13-year-old Charles Kalme, both of Philadelphia, with 5½ to 2½ scores. Only member of the sponsoring Y chess club to make the finals was Fred Block, Abbottstown. Participants moved every 10 seconds at the ring of a bell.
Participation in last night's play was the highest in any rapid transit tourney in the history of the federation, and state officers predicted at least 50 contestants in the championship sessions. Tourney awards will be made Monday at 6 p.m. State officers will be elected at 1 p.m. today.
Youngest player last night was John Yeagley, nine-year-old son of City Treasurer William B. Yeagley, president of Y Chess club.
September 09 1953
The York Dispatch, York, Pennsylvania, Wednesday, September 09, 1953
Chess Champions Receive Trophies
Robert D. Sobel, a 19-year laboratory technician from Philadelphia, center, receives the state chess traveling trophy from William B. Yeagley, president of the Y Chess Club, after the youth won senior division title of the Fifteenth Annual State Chess Tournament held over the week-end in the Hotel Yorktowne ballroom.
Mrs. Naomi Culberton, shown on the right, of 426 Lincoln street, a member of the local chess club, which sponsored the tournament, holds a $10 check she received for winning the state women's title. Mrs. Culberton also York city and county women's champion, received the undisputed state title when no other women registered in the event. She was later matched with men and won two games.
Young Sobel also won the junior division, but relinquished the title and $10 prize money to Mahlon F. Cleaver, an 18-year old from Allentown, who is a junior at Lafayette College.
In the final matches yesterday afternoon, Sobel outlasted Attilio Di Camillo, Philadelphia, the 1946-47 champion to score six in the seven-round tournament. Besides the trophy which will be returned at the 1954 tournament, he was awarded $60 and Di Camillo won $40.
Other winners in the senior division were: Vladimir Bomanov, Philadelphia, third. $25; Saul Wachs, Philadelphia, fourth $20, and William Byland, Pittsburgh, fifth, $10.
Players who came in sixth, seventh and eighth, were awarded subscriptions to Chess Review, a national publication, while ninth to fifteenth place winners received books on chess.
New officers of the Pennsylvania State Chess Federation were elected Saturday afternoon. They included T. C. Gutekunst, of Allentown, president; Attorney Jeffrey C. Bortner, treasurer of the “Y” Chess Club, vice president in charge of publications; D. A. Giagiulio, Landstowne, executive vice president; W. M. Byland, Pittsburgh, a vice president; William A. Ruth, Collingswood, N. J. a vice president, and E. A. Coons, Sewickley, Pa., secretary-treasurer.
The youngest player in the tournament was D. W. Waight Jr., an 11-year-old from Carlisle, and the oldest man registered was P. B. Driver, of Ridley Park, who is 74 years old. W. S. Harris, of Allentown, a retired minister, who is 88 years old, and an ardent chess enthusiast, appeared at the tournament but did not register to play.
Chess players from York city and county who participated in the competition were Elliot F. Laucks, president of the Log Cabin Chess Club, West Orange, N. J., whose father was founder of York Safe and Lock Company, William B. Yeagley Jr., Joseph Schatanoff, David Schatanoff, Covington A. Miller, Leroy Guthridge, Dimitro Grenda, F. R. Deardorff, Mrs. Culberton, Horst Bottstein, Attorney Bortner and Herman Bottstein.
During the Saturday business meeting the state officials did not name the date or site of the 1954 tournament. This is expected to be announced later.
August 20 1957
