US Championship 1962/63 — New York

Bobby Fischer came back to the US Championship after a year away and promptly lost the first game he played — to Edmar Mednis, his first defeat in 47 US Championship games. He then went eleven rounds without another one, caught Arthur Bisguier at the top, and beat him in the final round to win the title on 8/11. It was his fifth US Championship in five attempts, at nineteen.

◇The first round that broke a record

Round one, 16 December 1962, was brutal on the former champions: Fischer, Reshevsky and Evans all lost. Fischer's loss, with White in a Winawer French against Mednis, ended a streak of 47 US Championship games without a defeat stretching back to his debut.

He recovered immediately, winning five of the next ten and drawing the rest, while Bisguier led for much of the way. The two met with the title live in the last round, on 3 January 1963: Fischer had White, won, and finished a clear point ahead on 8. Bisguier took second on 7.

◇Byrne's ten draws, Rossolimo's second thoughts

Robert Byrne produced one of the strangest scores in the tournament's history: he won his first-round game against Nicolas Rossolimo and then drew every one of his remaining ten, finishing sixth on 6 with a record of +1 −0 =10. It extended his unbeaten run across two consecutive US Championships.

Rossolimo himself wanted to quit after a bad blunder against Bisguier in round four. He was talked into staying, and did not lose again for the rest of the event. Outside the playing hall a New York newspaper strike was under way, which may well have cut into the number of spectators at the Henry Hudson Hotel.

◇The zonal Fischer walked away from

Three players — Larry Evans, William Addison and Samuel Reshevsky — tied for third on 6½, and a play-off was arranged for the last Interzonal seat. Reshevsky won it with 2½, ahead of Evans on 1½ and Addison on 1, and the play-off was left unfinished once the single ticket at stake had been decided. Bisguier, meanwhile, put his own seat up in a match against Pal Benko and lost it 1½–4½.

Then Fischer, having won the zonal, declined to play the 1964 Amsterdam Interzonal at all, taking himself out of the world championship cycle and touring North America with simultaneous displays and lectures instead. Evans moved up into his place, and the United States went to Amsterdam represented by Reshevsky, Evans and Benko.