Arnold Denker, 90; Called ‘Dean of American Chess’

Arnold Denker, designated the “dean of American chess” and the U.S. chess champion from 1944 to 1946 who played competitively until two years ago, has died. He was 90.

Denker, a grandmaster since 1981, died of brain cancer Sunday at his home in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

“I’ve known thousands of chess players all over the world ... and I’ve never found one who had Alzheimer’s. Chess is great because it exercises the mind,” he said in June, when the U.S. Chess Federation gave him the “dean of American chess” title for his prowess in the game, his writings about it and his efforts to teach it to young people.

Denker wrote books including “If You Must Play Chess” and “The Bobby Fischer I Knew and Other Stories.” A mentor to Fischer, Denker played the young genius to a draw in a national tournament in 1958 when Fischer was 15.

A firm believer that chess was beneficial to people of all ages, Denker in 1984 founded the national Arnold Denker Tournament of High School Champions, which awards college scholarships to five top finishers. He donated thousands of dollars for the teenage competitors’ travel expenses.

Born Feb. 21, 1914, in New York City, Denker began playing chess as a high school freshman and by age 15 had won a citywide championship.

In 1940, he earned the first of his six Manhattan Chess Club championships.

In 1944, he won the U.S. championship with the score of 15 1/2 to 1 1/2, establishing a record surpassed in U.S. title history only by Fischer’s clean slate 11-0 victory in the 1963-64 tournament.

Denker successfully defended his title in Los Angeles in 1946, winning 6 to 4 in a 10-game match against challenger Herman Steiner, then California champion and chess editor of the Los Angeles Times. The same year, in Cleveland, Denker set a world record by playing 100 opponents in 7.33 hours.

A graduate of New York University, Denker opted to make his living in business rather than chess, and time commitments prevented him from seeking a world championship.

Denker did participate in several international tournaments, however, and was considered among the world’s top two dozen players.

Denker was inducted into the U.S. Chess Hall of Fame in 1992.

A graceful loser as well as winner, Denker said after his defeat in a highly publicized 1988 match with a Hitech computer that the electronic opponent had played “brilliantly” and that he “learned a great deal.”

A widower, Denker is survived by his daughter, Randie; two sons, Mitchell and Richard; and three grandchildren.