Abraham Turner (1924 – October 25, 1962) was an American

chess master A chess title is a title regulated by a chess governing body and bestowed upon players based on their performance and rank. Such titles are usually granted for life. The international chess governing body FIDE grants several titles, the most pres ...

. He had a chess rating over 2400 and played several times in the

U.S. Chess Championship The U.S. Chess Championship is an invitational tournament held to determine the United States chess champion. Begun as a challenge match in 1845, the U.S. Championship has been decided by tournament play for most of its long history. Since 1936, i ...

. He was best known as a blitz chess

hustler Hustler or hustlers may also refer to: Professions * Hustler, an American slang word, e.g., for a: ** Con man, a practitioner of confidence tricks ** Drug dealer, seller of illegal drugs ** Male prostitute ** Pimp ** Business man, more general ...

, and was one of few masters who had a winning record against

Bobby Fischer Robert James Fischer (March 9, 1943January 17, 2008) was an American chess grandmaster and the eleventh World Chess Champion. A chess prodigy, he won his first of a record eight US Championships at the age of 14. In 1964, he won with an 11� ...

. The games were when Fischer was 14, which was the same year Fischer won his first U.S. Championship. In fact, his last round draw with Turner in the 1957 Championship clinched first for the young Fischer. Turner was born in

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, learning how to play chess in 1943 at a naval hospital while recovering from shrapnel wounds inflicted during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. It was said Turner played chess mostly by grabbing a pawn and swapping pieces to reach an

endgame Endgame, Endgames, End Game, End Games, or similar variations may refer to: Film * ''The End of the Game'' (1919 film) * ''The End of the Game'' (1975 film), short documentary U.S. film * ''Endgame'' (1983 film), 1983 Italian post-apocalyptic f ...

. He frequented the Chess and Checkers Club of New York in

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next to the New Amsterdam Theatre, better known as the "flea house," where anyone could play chess for ten cents an hour. Fischer also attended the club and was a student of Turner's. Turner placed second in the Manhattan Chess Club championship on five occasions. He considered his best performance to be fourth place at the U.S. Open at

Long Beach Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

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in 1955, but tied for first shortly after at San Diego with William Lombardy and

James Sherwin James Terry Sherwin (born October 25, 1933) is a corporate executive and International Master in chess. Born in New York City in 1933, Sherwin attended Stuyvesant High School, Columbia College (Phi Beta Kappa) and Columbia Law School. He gradua ...

. Turner was found stabbed to death in the basement of an

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building where he had been working as a clerk for Al Horowitz for the magazine ''

Chess Review ''Chess Review'' was a U.S. chess magazine published from January 1933 to October 1969 (Volume 37 Number 10). Until April 1941 it was called ''The Chess Review''. Published in New York, it began on a schedule of at least ten issues a year but lat ...

''. He had sustained nine wounds and his body had been placed inside a safe. He was found by the superintendent of the building later that afternoon. After the body was discovered, the police arrested a clerk-typist employed by the publication, who said he killed Turner (and dragged the body along a corridor to the safe) because

Secret Service A secret service is a government agency, intelligence agency, or the activities of a government agency, concerned with the gathering of intelligence data. The tasks and powers of a secret service can vary greatly from one country to another. For ...

agents had told him to. Turner, who was 38, never married and lived with his father.

References

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'', October 26, 1962, p. 24, and October 27, 1962, p. 51. {{DEFAULTSORT:Turner, Abe 1924 births 1962 deaths Game players from New York City American chess players United States Navy personnel of World War II 20th-century chess players Deaths by stabbing in New York (state) People murdered in New York City American murder victims