The Philadelphia Inquirer Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Wednesday, July 12, 1972 - Page 23
He's Only A Pawn But He Takes Up Fischer's Lead by Jeremy Heymsfeld
“So you want to learn about chess.
“What do you know about it?”
“Nothing.”
“Oh.”
Leroy Dubeck, associate professor of physics at Temple University, president of the U.S. Chess Federation and 36th-ranked player in this country, sighed. He had hoped to eat a quiet lunch at his Cherry Hill home contemplating the world championship which finally opened yesterday in Reykjavik, Iceland.
“You know, I learned this game when I was 10, maybe 11,” he said staring at the 32-year-old novice. “But I guess you could pick it up.”
DUBECK THEN put 32 pieces — 16 on a side — on the 64-square inlaid board and proceeded with a 20-minute explanation of the rudiments of chess.
He noted that each side has 8 pawns, 2 bishops, 2 rooks, 2 knights, a queen and a king. Each of the pieces has its limitations.
“The pawns are good soldiers,” Dubeck said. “They can only move forward and on the first move they can go one or two squares.”
The king can move in any direction to a square adjacent to him; bishops can move any number of spaces—forward or back—but only diagonally; rooks also can move any number of spaces but only forward, back or to the sides.
THE QUEEN has the prerogatives of both the bishop and the rook. The knight, the only piece that can jump over an opponent, makes L-shaped moves, two in any one direction and one at right angles.
The king cannot move to a square controlled by an opponent's piece. The object of the game is to “check” the king — prevent him from moving.
“That's it,” concluded Dubeck. “Once you master the moves, you can play. But to really play you have to coordinate everything, to think ahead…”
Dubeck, a quiet, scholarly type, exulted in the behavior of Bobby Fischer which preceded the opening of the world championship match.
“He (Fischer) took chess off the back pages and put it on page one. He stirred a great deal of interest in chess.
“He's the reason you're here, isn't it?”
