Times Colonist Victoria, British Columbia, Canada Friday, September 07, 1956 - Page 8 — Chess Champ Here: Eugene Gained Fame By Penny Postcards — Victoria has the temporary honor of hosting the 1955 B.C. correspondence chess champion, Eugene Butkov, of 141 Robertson Street. But Eugene will be gone soon. Working for the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory during the summer here, he will be off to Montreal in three weeks time. He has lived in Vancouver for the past four years.
During those years, Eugene was Vancouver chess champion in 1954, '55, and '56. He learned his chess in Yugoslavia, where he was a citizen before coming to Canada.
To Montreal
Eugene is going to Montreal to attend McGill University on a research council scholarship to try for a PhD in theoretical physics.
In 1954, he received an Applied Science degree from UBC with a gold medal in engineering, and received his MA in mathematics this spring.
This was the first time Eugene entered the correspondence chess championship, and he won it with a score of 4½-½ in the final round. He had a 6-0 score in the preliminary round, winners of which enter the championship competition.
It took roughly a year and one-half to complete the 1955 championship tournament. It is not over yet, but Eugene has enough victories now that nobody can catch him.
The 1956 tournament, just starting, will be concluded at this time next year.
In correspondence chess, the players mail each move by penny postcard, with a 48-hour limit on each move. After receiving the postcard containing his opponent's latest move, the player then deliberates over his chess board before sending his next move off through the mails.
As Eugene says, correspondence chess gives the players a chance to study and analyze their game, and makes for a much higher brand of chess than is usually found in more orthodox tournaments, where every move is made under pressure.
- Mathematical physics. by Eugene Butkov
