December 1972 & 1997 'On the Cover'

For the last time this year, here's our monthly look at American chess magazines from 50 and 25 years ago. For the previous post, see November 1972 & 1997 'On the Cover' (November 2022).

Left: '?'
Right: 'Another Title for Arthur Bisguier'

Chess Life & Review (50 Years Ago)

U.S. Armed Forces Champion Lt. (j.g.) Zacarias S. Chavez (right) with one of his prizes. At left is Cmdr. L. Randall Rogers, who directed the tournament. Story [inside]. (ALNS Photo.)

The story inside was titled '13th Armed Forces Championship Won By Lt. Chavez'. It started,

Lieutenant (j.g.) Zacarias S. Chavez of the U.S. Naval Coast Guard has won the 13th U.S. Armed Forces Championship. The tournament was held in the Hall of Flags at the American Legion's Washington office building. Lt. Chavez's score was 9-1 in the individual championship. Seaman Joseph Bradford was second, Electronic Technician (Radar) Charles Lawton was third, and Lt. (j.g.) Scott Liddell was fourth.

Completing the domination of this event by the Sea Services, their team scored 30 1/2 points to take team event and the Emery Team Trophy, presented in honor of Thomas Emery. Honorary Chair- man of the American Chess Foundation. Last year's winner, the Air Force, was second with 28 1/2.

The anonymous report ended,

The tournament is sponsored by the American Chess Foundation in cooperation with the U. S. Chess Federation, the American Legion, the U.S.O., and the U.S. Department of Defense. The tournament director was Commander L. Randall Rogers, a Navy chaplain.

Aside from occasional mentions about other Armed Forces championships, there's not much about Zacarias Chavez on the web. Google Books offers an excerpt from 'The Steward and the Captain's Daughter' by Ray L. Burdeos (p.92):-

But there were always those few "die-hard" chess players who would hang around the locker room and enjoy more of the challenges of the game. And we pride ourselves on having a highly rated Filipino chess player, a coastie, by the name of Zacarias Chavez.

The player placing second has numerous mentions, for example, The chess games of Joseph Bradford (chessgames.com), where in a brief bio we learn,

He was awarded the IM title in 2007. Bradford won the 1978 U.S. Open Championship.

For the previous 'On the Cover' featuring the U.S. Armed Forces championship, see January 1969 'On the Cover' (January 2019). As for Emery, see Thomas Emery (June 2017) and More About Thomas Emery (ditto).

Chess Life (25 Years Ago)

It started in 1947 when he captained the 1946 CCNY team to the Pan-American Championship. That's when he got his first cover (Chess Review, February 1947). And he hasn't stopped. Two U.S. Junior Open titles (1948, 1949), a U.S. Championship (1954), four U.S. Opens (1950, 1956, 1957 with Fischer, 1959), numerous National Open titles (1970 with Evans, 1974, 1978, 1984 equal with Walter Browne) one U.S. Class (1985 with Benjamin, Brian Hartman), one World Open (1979, seven-way tie), and now, two U.S. Senior titles (1989, 1997) -- all of which explains why Grandmaster Arthur Bisguier has made the cover of either Chess Review, Chess Life & Review, or Chess Life, at least once in each decade.

From 1947 to 1997. The amazing thing is, the older he gets, the better-looking he gets ...

For more related to that last sentence, see GM Bisguier, Catalog Model (April 2017).