March 1967 'On the Cover'

As 'On the Cover' moves into its fourth year of looking back at American chess 50 years ago (see March 1964 'On the Cover', March 2014, for the first post) we find both chess magazines featuring amateur events.

Left: 'Independence Hall, Philadelphia; Come to the U.S. Amateur'
Right: 'Young Scholars'

Chess Life

HISTORIC PHILADELPHIA INVITES YOU TO PLAY IN 1967 U.S. AMATEUR by E. B. Edmondson • Philadelphia has never been the same since young Ben Franklin arrived in town. As his varied interests grew, and as the United States gained its independence, so did the city grow as he transformed It into the cultural center of the Western Hemisphere. Ben Franklin loved chess, and the game still thrives in this city which was the site of the New World's earliest chess activity. It seems most appropriate that the U.S. Amateur, which has taken its place as one of the nation's foremost chess events, should be held this May 27-30 in Philadelphia's Warwick Hotel.

Chess Review

New York. Described by the USCF as a "record-shattering event," the 1966-7 Greater New York Scholastic Championships drew an amazing horde of 614 youngsters from more than 200 metropolitan schools. Heretofore the largest crowd at an American chess meet had numbered 265. Sal Matera, a Junior at Brooklyn Prep, won the Greater New York High School title for the second straight year when he nosed out Norman Weinstein of the Bronx High School of Science after each had scored 7.5-0.5 in the field of 301 players. [...] Some of the youngest chess scholars are movingly caught in this photo by Edward Lasker.

Fortunately, there was a viewable, black-and-white copy of Ed.Lasker's photo accompanying the article. For CR's previous attempt at a color cover photo, see December 1966 'On the Cover' (December 2016) with its 'funky green cover'.