Hearst won the New York State Championship in 1950 and went on to become one of the best chessplayers in the USA in the 1950's.

He was a participant in the US Championship tournaments in 1954 and 1961.

He received his doctorate in Psychology in 1956 from Columbia University. Dr. Hearst has been Professor of Psychology at Indiana University, Columbia University, and the University of Arizona.

The standings at that point:

1st: Viktor Korchnoi 6.0, 2nd-3rd: Paul Keres 5.5, and Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian 5.5, 4th-5th: Pal Benko 4.5, and Efim Geller 4.5 +, 6th: Robert James Fischer 4.0 +, 7th-8th: Miroslav Filip 2.5, and Mikhail Tal 2.5

He was also pretty objective about Fischer too. In early 1964 he wrote a column called "Fischer the Invincible" describing some of the petty ways people tried to take credit away from Fischer (such as that he had a grease stain on his tie and needed a haircut while going 11-0 in the US Championship). A few months later, he wrote "The Selfmate of Bobby Fischer", which took a pretty honest look at Fischer's own culpability in some of his own problems. Here's one thing he wrote:

<After the Curacao setback, Bobby wrote articles for Life and Sports Illustrated in which he claimed that the Russians had "fixed world chess" by agreeing beforehand to draw with each other and to throw games, if necessary, to ensure a Russian victory. He then stated that he would never again compete with the Russians in tourneys of this kind. In his articles charging Russian collusion Bobby neglected to mention that he personally had achieved a minus score against the Russians in the tourney and that if he had been able to defeat then individually it would have been almost impossible for the Russians to "fix" the tournament. If Bobby weren't America's only hope for the world title, readers of his articles might have been less sympathetic and some might even have called him a sore loser. Soon after Curacao I remember suggesting to Bobby that his final showing might have been influenced by the fact that he played below his best form. His only answer was, "What? Are you a Communist, too?"

Later, at the Varna Olympiad in 1962, at the moment when it became apparent that Bobby had thrown away his winning position against world champion Botvinnik, he asked the U.S. team captain to make a formal protest that Botvinnik was receiving help during the game from Russian non-playing captain Abramov-who had been seen smiling after an exchange of a few words with Botvinnik. The idea that Botvinnik would even listen to advice from a player so vastly inferior to himself was inconceivable and no protest was lodged. After this incident several players on the U.S. team, who had previously been willing to accept Bobby's arguments regarding Russian cheating at Curacao, expressed skepticism about his claims. It seemed that whenever Bobby suffered a reversal at the hands of a Russian he blamed it on unethical practices.>

Hearst was the Soltis before Soltis. His Chess Kaleidoscope column was the best thing in Chess Life in its day. I just wish I had more of it. I have all his 1964 columns now, and read all his 1962 and 1963 stuff in high school, where the library had the Chess Life annuals for those years. Sadly, I've got no more access to it, and didn't xerox everything when I had the chance.

>< The Eight Pretenders To The Throne ><

by Eliot Hearst

During May and June a tiny island 38 miles off the coast of Venezuela plays host to the most important chess gathering of 1962 - the Challengers' Tournament to determine Botvinnik's next opponent for the world title. Assembled in Curacao are this year's slate of "candidates", who have either survived a long series of qualifying events (Fischer, Petrosian, Geller, Korchoni [sic], Filip and Benko) or have obtained a position in the select group by virtue of their top standing in the last Challengers' Tournament in Yugoslavia (Tal and Keres). Since that tournament three years ago the world championship has changed hands twice, Mikhail Tal has experienced not only the grandeur of ruling the chess world but also the torment of being an ex-champion, and Bobby Fischer has securely established himself as the Unites States' most serious threat for the world title since Russia's chess supremacy asserted itself in 1948.

< The current World Series of chess promises to be the most exciting of the lot, if only because it is the first time since World War II that a non-Russian enters the struggle as one of the pre-tourney favorites.> Wrong

Someone should have explained the difference between the Soviet Union and Russia to him.

Who is the choice between Fischer and Tal? Tal made his comeback after the Botvinnik debacle by winning the powerful Bled Tournament ahead of Fischer, Gligorich, Petrosian, Keres and Geller, but he lost for the first time to Fischer in that event. Fischer has scored 6-2 (without a defeat) against Russian opposition (Tal, Petrosian, Geller, Korchnoi, Keres and Stein) in the last six months and has just secured his greatest triumph by a 2 1/2 point margin, in the Interzonal Tournament in Stockholm. Tal has been world champion and has a tremendous desire to make up for his failure against Botvinnik; he is not so much the chess adventurer he was three or four years ago, but he is still very stubborn about certain variations and favors some lines which almost everyone else thinks are inferior (for example, 3. P-K5 and 4. P-KR4 vs. the Caro-Kann). Fischer is only 19 years old and his critics state that he has not "the maturity of outlook that the other competitors possess"; but his chess style is almost as mature as Capablanca's. Our choice - of course not influenced by sentimental or nationalistic factors - BOBBY FISCHER!

Petrosian played for first place. Accordingly he had to draw up a general plan of battle, where everything, literally everything, was accounted for. Perhaps he should attend to the advice of Fischer, who declared after the Stockholm tournament that if Petrosian played a little more courageously, he would be the strongest player in the world. Petrosian only smiled when he read these words. Well, he had played rather courageously in the Soviet championships more than once, and the results had not been bad, but was courage really the first requirement in this tournament?

Tigran had grave doubts about this. He knew that a marathon tournament in a tropical climate required stamina more than bravery, physical and psychological restraint, the ability to distribute energies in such a way that on the final straight one was still running, however slowly, and not crawling. He resolved to conduct the tournament in the manner of a skater, according to a strict graph, trying not to lag behind the leaders too much, but avoiding any sudden, exhausting spurts.

Who might theoretically be capable of doing this? Tal and Keres, and besides them, Korchnoi, Geller and Fischer - Benko and Filip did not enter into it. But shortly before the tournament Tal had undergone a serious operation, and was completely unprepared for an extended struggle, which, by the way, he demonstrated in his very first game. Keres was already 46 years old - for all his fitness, he could not hope to repeat his Yugoslav result on the shores of the Caribbean sea. Geller too was already 37, four years older than Petrosian himself, and could hardly wish to play a sharp tournament variation.

There remained only two - Fischer and Korchnoi. The first would undoubtedly throw himself at the rest; he was extremely ambitious, and after his performance in Stockholm, where he gained first place, 2½ points clear of his nearest rivals, he did not regard himself as anything other than candidate number one. But Fischer was not only ambitious, but excessively self-confident, and besides that he was also very young - 19 years old.

"The seven Invaders"

http://www.panopticist.com/graphics...

"A Gentle Glossary" (A-Z)
in the July 1962 issue of Chess Life

[Event "?"]
[Site "New York"]
[Date "1947.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Traun, E"]
[Black "Hearst, Eliot Sandford"]
[Result "0-1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 f5 4. exf5 Nf6 5. Bxc6 dxc6 6. Nxe5 Bxf5 7. O-O Bd6 8. Qf3 Be4 9. Qe2 O-O 10. f3 Bxe5 11. fxe4 Bd4+ 12. Kh1 Nxe4 13. Rf3 Nf2+ 14. Kg1 Kh8 15. Kf1 Re8 16. Qc4 Qe7 0-1

A true gentleman who has been a nice supporter of my Fischer project, as have others.

He had a great article in the Chess Life website recently (last month).

After discussion with the US Captain Jerry Spann, Hearst did not play any games at all in the second half of the tournament, instead becomng a "gofer" for the other US team members.