ANew York Times, New York, New York, Monday, April 30, 1962 - Page 23
Chess: Even at Ten Seconds a Move A Master Can Work Wonders
By Al Horowitz
The first rapid-transit tournament at the new quarters of the Manhattan Chess Club in the Henry Hudson Hotel—scene of the first radio match between the Soviet Union in 1945—was an easy victory for Pal Benko. At Turner, a prominent chess master, finished second.
This event was probably the last one in which Benko participated in this country before his departure for Curaçao, Netherlands West Indies, where he and Bobby Fischer will represent the United States in the Candidates Tournament.
Rapid-transit, or ten-second, chess is part of the weekly curriculum of both the Manhattan and Marshall Chess Clubs, where speed tournaments take place on Friday and Tuesdays, respectively. An electric device rings every ten seconds and the contestants move in unison as the bell goes off.
Speed Chess Isn't New
Chess as a fast pace has been in vogue for many years. In a match of two players, a contrivance of two clocks linked together registers the time each player uses. When a player moves, he presses a button that stops his clock and starts his opponent's. Thus, at any moment, it is apparent how much time each player has used.
The clock, in conjunction with a score sheet—on which each move is recorded as it is made—serves to guide the players to a predetermined time-limit. Regular tournament chess is played at a rate of forty moves an hour thereafter. Championship chess is at a slower pace.
Recently, new variations have been introduced to make it possible for a game to take no longer than a lunch period. In 30-30 chess, for example, each player must make thirty moves in thirty minutes. Games of five minute chess last no more than ten minutes—that is, five minutes for each player.
Here, the minute hand of each player's clock is set five minutes before the 12 o'clock mark. The game ends with checkmate or when one player's clock reaches the 12 o'clock mark. The player whose clock thus runs over loses. This kind of game can also be played as ten-minute chess, twenty-minute chess, and so on.
Before the rapid-transit session there was a house-warming and buffet followed by the re-election of the incumbent club officers: Jacques Coe, president, and Morris Steinberg, vice president.
The following game was played by Pal Benko and Paul Brandts in the rapid-transit tournament. The opening is an ancient one, the Ponziani. It is unreasonable to be too critical of games played at ten seconds a move. Black's move 3, however, was too routine, and White quickly built up a hold on the center by a pawn sacrifice from which the defender never recovered.
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The following game between Otis Field and Oscar Tenner was played about a half-century ago at the same club, also at ten seconds a move. Here, despite the speed, Tenner's brilliant conception will bear the sharpest scrutiny and is classed as one of the immortal brevities in chess history. It is witty and profound.
