Pawn-Pushers Win Weekend Tourney

The Harvard Chess Team won the Continental Intercollegiate Tournament this weekend thus firmly establishing Harvard's dominance in the East.

Sophomores Jon Frankle and Harold Boas paced the four-man team by tying for individual first-place honors, with both players scoring four points and walking away with $150 prizes. The Harvard team also won $200.

Trailing arch-rival City College of New York through the first three rounds of play, the Crimson pawn-pushers swept the fourth-round games. Harvard finished with 14 1/2 points, one point ahead of CCNY.

Throughout the five-round tournament CCNY was plagued by time problems. Time pressure could have been the deciding factor in Harvard's victory, according to Peter Koretsky, Chess Club president.

Stolen Games

Harvard had broken the CCNY team during the third round when Frankle and Boas stole lost games from their CCNY opponents.

Playing under tremendous time pressure, Frankle blundered badly in his third game. "I could have been forced into a mate at one point," Frankle said. "I ran out of time, my [clock] flag dropped."

But Frankle's opponent, also in time trouble, had not kept a record of the moves. Technically, Frankle had not lost the game. Shattered, the CCNY opponent soon blundered and Frankle managed a draw.

Boas was in a near-hopeless position in his third game but refused to resign. Playing skillfully and with determination for over seven hours until 2 a.m., Boas eventually forced his opponent to lose the advantage and agree to a draw.

The reversals in Boas's and Frankle's games were highly disillusioning to the CCNY squad, which fell behind in the next round. Final standings for the tournament placed Harvard ahead of CCNY, Penn State, Illinois Central and Louisville.

Jon Jacobs shared the third-place spot in the tournament with a score of 3 1/2. After losing his first game, Jacobs went on to win three games straight, and to draw his last game.

Mark Saylor, coming off a very successful performance in the lvy League Invitational Tournament, faired poorly in the Continental Tournament, scoring only two points.