AThe Daily Oklahoman Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Monday, July 23, 1956 - Page 4 — Player Claims a First — The first player from India to compete in a major chess tournament outside of India said Sunday the United States is a land of plenty compared to India. “You don't have the unemployment we do in India,” Kamalakar Raut of Bombay, India, said. “We have a population of 370,000,000 in an area half that of the United States.”
Raut is doing reasonably well in the $3,000 U.S. Open chess tournament in progress at the Biltmore hotel in Oklahoma City. He is tied with a number of other players for 25th place going into the sixth round of the 12-round tournament which runs through next Saturday. There are 101 players competing.
He has run up a score of 3 in his five matches so far. A win counts one point, a draw one-half point.
“We have a pretty high standard for chess in India,” he said, “but I believe the U.S. standard is a little higher. I've been playing chess since I was a child. It is a very popular game in India.”.
Raut has been in the United States a year, studying for his doctorate in chemistry at the University of Oklahoma. He has another year to go.
Raut is 33 and received his master's degree from the University of Bombay. His wife and three children are still in India, but he hopes to spend a few more years in the United States after he gets his degree next year and hopes he will be able to bring them to this country by them.
He isn't too lonesome, though, since a nephew, Vijay Raut, and his wife, Kamal, are studying at the University of Oklahoma medical school, also as exchange students. They live at 227 N.E. 13.
Never before, Raut said, has a player from India competed in a tournament outside India, largely because of the financial problem, but the All-India Chess federation plans to send a four-man team to the international team matches in Moscow this fall.
Raut was one of the organizers of the All-India Chess federation and in 1949 helped draw up its constitution. He was a member of the federation's managing committee before he left for the United States.
He also played in the federation's correspondence chess club and was ranked fourth in the championship class.
The chess tournament keeps him working pretty hard, since he is working from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. as a research assistant at the university, then has to come to the chess tournament from 7 p.m. to midnight. He gets back home to Norman about 2 a.m.
During the regular season at the university he teaches some laboratory classes. He hopes to go into teaching for a career, either in a college or in industry.
He is a Hindu, which he said is the religion of 80 percent of the people of India. He said the people of India like Americans.
“We had our first contact with them during World War II,” he said. “Somebody would say, ‘there's a foreigner,’ but another would say, ‘no, he's an American.’ We used to hate the British before we gained our independence, but we don't hate them any more and India is part of the British commonwealth now.”
He said the big crowds turned out when Bulganan and Khrushchev visited India weren't necessarily an indication that India is inclined toward Russia.
“India is a very hospitable country,” he said. “We welcome anyone who comes. We would be just as enthusiastic if President Eisenhower would visit India.”
And he added: “The point four program has been doing miracles in India.”
In Sunday night competition Robert Steinmeyer of St. Louis, Mo. took over first place in the tournament with six points by defeating James Sherwin of New York City, who has five points.
Anthony Saidy of Douglaston, N.Y. defeated J.G. Donovan of Brooklyn, giving him second place with 5½ points. National champion Arthur Bisguier of New York City battled to a tie with Di Camillo of Philadelphia, Penn.
Geza Fuster of Toronto, Canada and Jack O'Keefe of Ann Arbor, Mich. adjourned their game until Monday morning. The 13-year-old whiz from Brooklyn, Bobby Fischer remained undefeated but four times tied, by fighting to a draw with Tony Santasiere of New York City.
National women's open champion Sona Graf of Palm Springs, Calif. defeated Mrs. May Selensky of Philadelphia, Penn.
(Caption: Kamalakar Raut of Bombay, India plays Geza Fuster of Toronto, Canada as Raut's nephew, Vijay Raut, and his nephew's wife, Kamal, watch.)
