Arnold Sheldon Denker, a U.S. chess champion, author and philanthropist, died on Jan. 2 of brain cancer. He was 90.
The native New Yorker began playing chess in high school. He was only 15 when he won his first citywide championship and his first of six championships at the Manhattan Chess Club. After graduating from New York University, Denker gave exhibitions on military bases and aboard aircraft carriers during World War II. He won the 1944 U.S. Championship with a score of 15½ to 1½. Only chess prodigy Bobby Fischer ever surpassed it with an 11-0 victory in the 1963-64 championship tournament.
Known as the "Dean of American Chess," Denker set a world record in 1946 by playing 100 opponents in 7.33 hours. He was the first grandmaster to lose to a computer programmed to play the game. Following the 1988 match with HITECH, Denker noted that his electronic opponent had played "brilliantly."
Denker published three books on the subject of chess: "If You Must Play Chess," "The Bobby Fischer I Knew and Other Stories," and the autobiography, "My Chess Games, 1929-1976." He actually played Fischer to a draw in a national tournament in 1958; Fischer was 15 at the time.
In 1984, Denker founded the Arnold Denker Tournament of High School Champions, which awards college scholarships to five players each year. He also donated thousands of dollars to pay for the competitors' travel expenses.
The president of the North American Zone of the World Chess Federation Internationale des Echecs, Denker also served on the board of the American Chess Foundation, the U.S. Chess Federation and the U.S. Chess Trust. He was inducted into the U.S. Chess Hall of Fame in 1992.
• Watch 20 of Denker's Most Famous Matches
• Listen to a Tribute From NPR
Posted on January 16, 2005 5:02 AM