Arthur Bernard Bisguier (October 8, 1929April 5, 2017), paternal surname Bisgeier, was an American

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...

player, chess promoter, and writer who held the

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of Grandmaster (GM). Bisguier won two U.S. Junior Championships (1948, 1949), three

U.S. Open Chess Championship The U.S. Open Championship is an open national chess championship that has been held in the United States annually since . History The tournament was originally the championship of the Western Chess Association, and was called the Western Open. ...

titles (1950, 1956, 1959), and the 1954

United States 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 ...

title. He played for the United States in five

chess Olympiad The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams representing nations of the world compete. FIDE organises the tournament and selects the host nation. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, FIDE held an Online Chess Olympiad in 2020 an ...

s. He also played in two

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tournaments (1955, 1962). On March 18, 2005, the

United States Chess Federation The United States Chess Federation (also known as US Chess or USCF) is the governing body for chess competition in the United States and represents the U.S. in FIDE, the World Chess Federation. US Chess administers the official national rating ...

(USCF) proclaimed him "Dean of American Chess."

Early years

Bisguier was born in a Jewish family in New York City and graduated from the

Bronx High School of Science The Bronx High School of Science, commonly called Bronx Science, is a public specialized high school in The Bronx in New York City. It is operated by the New York City Department of Education. Admission to Bronx Science involves passing the Sp ...

. He was taught chess at the age of 4 by his father Jesse (born Jechiel Max Bisgeier), a mathematician. In 1944, aged 15, he was third at the

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Empire Chess Club. In 1946, aged 17, he came fifth in the U.S. Open at

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, followed by seventh place in 1948. Later that year, he took the U.S. Junior Championship and was invited to the

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1948–49 International Tournament. Throughout the 1940s, he was considered one of the United States' best players, with Larry Evans, George Kramer, and Walter Shipman. As he gained in strength, Bisguier was coached by

Master Master or masters may refer to: Ranks or titles * Ascended master, a term used in the Theosophical religious tradition to refer to spiritually enlightened beings who in past incarnations were ordinary humans *Grandmaster (chess), National Master ...

Alexander Kevitz Alexander Kevitz (September 1, 1902 – October 24, 1981) was an American chess master. Kevitz also played correspondence chess, and was a creative chess analyst and theoretician. He was a pharmacist by profession. Early life Kevitz was born ...

. In 1949 he retained the U.S. Junior Championship title, and also won the

Manhattan Chess Club The Manhattan Chess Club in Manhattan was the second-oldest chess club in the United States (next to the Mechanics' Institute Chess Club in San Francisco) before it closed. The club was founded in 1877 and started with three dozen men, eventually ...

Championship. In 1950 he won the first of his three U.S. Open titles, and also won at

Southsea Southsea is a seaside resort and a geographic area of Portsmouth, Portsea Island in England. Southsea is located 1.8 miles (2.8 km) to the south of Portsmouth's inner city-centre. Southsea is not a separate town as all of Portsea Island's s ...

in England. Army service interrupted his U.S. chess career during 1951 to 1953, but he managed to get leave to play in two European events. He played at the

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Olympiad 1952, and then won the third annual Christmas tournament at

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1952 with a 9–2 score. He earned the International Master title in 1950 from his Southsea victory.

U.S. Champion, Grandmaster

After a poor performance in the U.S. Open in 1953, he entered the

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Candidates' Tournament for the U.S. Championship and came through with a first-place finish and another over-2600 performance. His meteoric rise culminated in winning the 1954

at New York. He also won the 2nd

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at Los Angeles 1954. In 1956 at

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, he added the

title to his U.S. Championship. Bisguier achieved the International Grandmaster title in 1957. He tied with

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 1 ...

for first–second places at the U.S. Open at

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1957, where Fischer was awarded the title on tiebreak.

At the Olympiads

Bisguier represented the United States at five

Chess Olympiad The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams representing nations of the world compete. FIDE organises the tournament and selects the host nation. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, FIDE held an Online Chess Olympiad in 2020 an ...

s; his totals over 82 games are (+29−18=35), for 56.7 per cent. His detailed results, from olimpbase.org: * Helsinki 1952, board 4, 7/15 (+3−4=8) * Munich 1958, board 3, 8½/17 (+6−6=5) * Leipzig 1960, board 4, 11½/16 (+9−2=5), team silver medal * Tel Aviv 1964, board 4, 11½/18 (+8−3=7) * Skopje 1972, board 4, 8/16 (+3−3=10)

Further achievements

Following his U.S. title in 1954, Bisguier regularly returned to compete for the national championship, but was never able to repeat his success. The late 1950s saw the sensational rise of

, who swept the eight U.S. Championship tournaments that he contested. Bisguier and Fischer were tied for first place going into the last round of the 1962–1963 event, and they still had to face each other. Bisguier had a promising position but made a mistake, which Fischer punished spectacularly, allowing Fischer to take the game and the title. Fischer scored 8/11, with Bisguier a point back in clear second place. Bisguier also served as a second to Fischer at several international events. Most of Bisguier's play after the mid-1960s was limited to U.S. events. He won National Opens in 1970 (jointly), 1974, and 1978. He won the Lone Pine tournament in 1973, tied for second place behind reigning

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Boris Spassky in the international tournament in

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in 1969, and took first place in the first-ever Grand Prix in 1980. He took first place in the U.S. Senior Open in 1989, thus winning a U.S. championship at every age level of chess. He won the Senior Open again in 1997 and 1998. Bisguier continued to play regularly at the Metrowest Chess Club in

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until 2014. He qualified for and competed in the 2011 Metrowest Club Championship.

Chess promoter

For many years, Bisguier was hired to play in towns throughout the U.S. to give exhibitions, and to popularize chess and the USCF. For about 20 years, Bisguier was the representative the USCF chose to send to a state for one or two days to play at a hospital, college, or prison, so the public could get a chance to play the Grandmaster and former U.S. Champion. He commented: "I was delighted to do it. I was very lucky to get so much out of chess. I tried to give something back."

Victor Niederhoffer Victor Niederhoffer (born December 10, 1943) is an American hedge fund manager, champion squash player, bestselling author and statistician. Life and career Niederhoffer was born in Brooklyn to a Jewish family. His paternal grandfather Martin (M ...

, the

hedge fund A hedge fund is a pooled investment fund that trades in relatively liquid assets and is able to make extensive use of more complex trading, portfolio-construction, and risk management techniques in an attempt to improve performance, such as s ...

manager, took chess lessons from Bisguier as an adult. Bisguier was a regular contributor to ''

Chess Life The monthly ''Chess Life'' and bi-monthly ''Chess Life Kids'' (formerly ''School Mates'' and ''Chess Life for Kids'') are the official magazines published by the United States Chess Federation (US Chess). ''Chess Life'' is advertised as the "most ...

'' magazine. In 2003 he wrote a book on his best games from 1945–1960 titled ''The Art of Bisguier''. A second volume, ''The Art of Bisguier: Selected Games 1961-2003'', was released in 2008.

Notable games

The following game is Bisguier's sole win against

, their first game played. Their second game was a draw, after which Fischer won 13 straight — perhaps the longest unbroken winning streak between grandmasters in history. Fischer was aged 13 at the time of this game, but already a strong player and won his celebrated Game of the Century against

Donald Byrne Donald Byrne (June 12, 1930 – April 8, 1976) was an American university professor and chess player. He held the title International Master, and competed for his country in the Chess Olympiad on several occasions. Biography Born in New York Ci ...

in this same tournament. :Bisguier vs. Fischer, Rosenwald Memorial, New York 1956
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.f4 0-0 6.Nf3 c5 7.Be2 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Nc6 9.Nc2 Bd7 10.0-0 Rc8 11.Be3 Na5 12.b3 a6 13.e5 dxe5 14.fxe5 Ne8 15.Nd5 Rc6 16.Nd4 Rc8 17.Nc2 Rc6 18.Ncb4 Re6 19.Bg4 Rxe5 20.Bb6 Qc8 21.Bxd7 Qxd7 22.Bxa5 e6 23.Nd3 Rh5 24.N3f4 Rf5 25.Bb4 exd5 26.Bxf8 Bxa1 27.Qxa1 Kxf8 28.Qh8+ Ke7 29.Re1+ Kd8 30.Nxd5 Qc6 31.Qf8 Qd7 32.Rd1 Rf6 33.Qxe8+
Arthur Bisguier vs. Robert James Fischer, Third Rosenwald Trophy (1956)

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References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bisguier, Arthur 1929 births 2017 deaths American chess players American chess writers Jewish chess players American male non-fiction writers Chess grandmasters Chess Olympiad competitors Respiratory disease deaths in Massachusetts Deaths from respiratory failure Sportspeople from New York City The Bronx High School of Science alumni 20th-century chess players