My Three-Year Reign as Wagar High School Chess Champion

Gary Perlman

My friend Sid Marinoff and I were in our first year of high school and we heard about a high school chess tournament. It was being run by the second-year chess-nerds.

The field of players was quickly clear: There was me and Sid, who were roughly equal, the second-year nerds, who had no apparent aptitude for chess, and someone older, Arnie Baker, who we thought might win. Every player played every other player in a round-robin format.

We won all our games against the chess-nerds. Our disdain for the chess-nerds was deep.

My game against Sid was unmemorable. Sid beat me using a new opening he had just learned.

Sid's game against Arnie was, as I recall, a great game in which Sid gradually built an advantage that, given enough time, he could play for a win. Unfortunately for Sid, the teacher in charge of the chess club had to leave, so a time limit was imposed without warning. Sid was not someone who like to be rushed, and he was not someone who liked to be surprised. Things did not go well for Sid, and his win looked briefly like a stalemate until he was so flustered that he lost. Sid was furious and fumed for days.

The final match was to be between me and Arnie. If Arnie would win, he would be the champion. But Arnie never showed up, and I won by default.

Sid declared himself to be the champion by virtue of our equal records and the fact that he had beaten me. The chess-nerds, however, insisted that we needed to play a tie-breaking game. I think there was some reference to rules, but I do not recall seeing any. My opinion of the chess-nerds was rising.

Sid was still arguing his case as we started our championship game. "I already beat him!" "I should have won that game against Arnie! I was rushed!" "He didn't really beat Arnie!" Sid was not someone who liked to be surprised by an unexpected ruling and a championship game. Sid was flustered enough that he lost the championship game quickly. So at least he was not rushed at the end. I was declared champion as Sid stormed out.

There was no chess tournament for the next two years. I retained my crown -- that's my story -- until the chess-nerds graduated and I resurrected the chess club my last year in high school. By then, we had a bona fide chess genius in the school, and Lee Kachroo won easily. Sid did not play and I placed second, but I suspect that Allen Zucker would have taken second, had he competed.