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Welcome to our biography page, where we will profile a new and hopefully interesting figure that stands out in chess history for one reason or another. Some of these people may not have been top chessplayers, but we hope that they will be interesting in one way or another. After all, they did do things besides chess...
--Bruce Warner
Arnold Denker
American chess champion 1944-1946
Grandmaster Arnold Sheldon Denker was born in 1914 in New York City. But when i knew him, he lived with his lovely wife, Nina in a pleasant condo with floor-to-ceiling glass windows overlooking the beach in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. When I arrived with my video crew to shoot the forward to the videos, he greeted us with pleasant enthusiasm which was consistent with much that has been written about his personality. Anyone that knew anything about Mr. Denker knew that he was a generous man with his time, much of which he devoted to promoting chess for children nationwide. Mr. Denker died at his home recently. He was 90 years old.
Arnold Denker was also a skilled boxer and a successful business man which no doubt prevented him from achieving even higher accomplishments in his chess career. But he certainly left his mark on the chess world, beating many of the world's top players of his time. He also learned the game at a relatively late age of twelve years. He and his wife, Nina were friends of President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalind. Arnold also accommodated some of the world's top players of today when they came to visit the United States, who undoubtedly enjoyed their stay at his home on the south Florida coast. He would frequently take an eight-year old boy from Brooklyn, who also had an interest in chess, to hockey games. The boy's name was Bobby Fischer.
If you've not guessed by now why I chose Arnold Denker as my first Biography sketch, it is to offer tribute to a great chessplayer, a kind and generous man who gave much to many, and to thank a friend... Arnold, thank you for your kind support to our project... thanks for the chess games we played and thank you for getting two world champs' autographs on a single postcard for me--Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov. It is inserted in a modest black frame and hanging on my wall beside my computer desk.
And the chess world respectfully thanks you for all that you have contributed to our favorite game. We will all miss you, Sir.
--Bruce Warner
Further information on this great figure in chess history
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