CHESS LIFE

(Volume 3, Number 1, September 5, 1948)

HERMAN STEINER U. S. CHAMPION

Long famous as chess editor of The Los Angeles Times and as chess entrepreneur extraordinary of the Pacific Coast, Herman Steiner has at last attained his goal as U. S. Chess Champion.

The new champion comes of a distinguished chess family and is a cousin of Lajos Steiner. His own tournament record is equally distinguished, although it has hitherto lacked the crown now won at South Fallsburg, N. Y.

In more recent years Steiner has devoted much energy to the promotion of chess, yet found time in 1942 to tie with Dan Yanofsky of Canada for the U.S. Open title. In 1944 he tied for third with Horowitz in the U.S. Championship. In 1945 he had a banner year, tying with Denker for third in the Hastings Tournament, and winning 1.5 points out of 2 from Bondarevsky in the Radio Match with Russia. In 1946 he continued by winning his section of the London Tournament and capturing the U.S. Open Championship. He scored one draw against Flohr in the Russian team match, and placed eighth in the U.S. Championship.

In 1947 Steiner had an off season, placing in a tie for ninth in the U.S. Open Championship. And in the 1948 U.S. Open Championship, he tied for twelfth (sixteenth in Sonneborn-Berger points).

But his recovery in the U. S. Championship indicates that he hit his stride all of a sudden, coming from behind to pass Kashdan, Ulvestad and Kramer in a climactic finish.