U.S. Chess Players Head For Olympics

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New York Times, New York, New York, Tuesday, September 11, 1962 - Page 30

U.S. Chess Players Head For Olympics
A United States chess team with Bobby Fischer at top board is on its way to Varna, Bulgaria, to participate in the Chess Olympics, which starts Saturday and is to continue through Oct. 10.
Other team members are the United States chess champion, Larry Evans; the brothers Robert and Donald Byrne, Edmar Mednis and the nonplaying team captain, Eliot Hearst.
The Olympics is the world team championship of four-man teams (with two alternates each to fill in in the event of vacancies) for the Hamilton Russell trophy. So far, thirty-six countries have placed entries.
The Soviet team has held the title since World War II. The United States team won it four times before that.
The participation of Grand Master Pal Benko, who is slated for second position on the American team, is still undecided. Should he not play, Hearst will fill the vacancy, at sixth board.
The team plans a stop-over at Warsaw, for a short exhibition match before reaching Varna, and another one at Belgrade, Yugoslavia, after the matches.
Support for this undertaking came from the American Chess Foundation and the Sadie and Arthur Lamport Foundation.