Frank Anderson (chess player)

Frank Ross Anderson (January 3, 1928 in Edmonton, Alberta – September 18, 1980 in San Diego, California) was a Canadian International Master of chess, and a chess writer. He twice won gold medals at the chess Olympiads, for the best scores on his board. Anderson tied for the Canadian Chess Championship in 1953 and won this title outright in 1955.

Frank Anderson became very ill with childhood rheumatoid arthritis in Toronto, and learned to play chess while bedridden. Unable to exercise his body, he exercised his mind. He first played correspondence chess, becoming a strong player quite quickly. He was encouraged by chess promoter Bernard Freedman (who became his first sponsor), his good friend Keith Kerns and later by John G. Prentice, who served as Canada's representative to the FIDE, the World Chess Federation. Despite his physical disability, he graduated in Physics and Mathematics from the University of Toronto.

His first noteworthy result was in the 1946 Canadian Championship in Toronto. Anderson scored 10/13 in the preliminaries, just missing qualification for the top section finals; he won section 2 of the finals. Anderson won the Toronto Championship six times (1947, 1948, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1958). In 1948, he tied for first place in the U.S. Junior Championship in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, with future Grandmaster Arthur Bisguier. He won the Ontario Open Championship in 1948, 1949, and 1951 (source: David Cohen's Canadian Chess site).

He twice won Closed Canadian Chess Championships. In 1949, he tied for 3rd-4th, after Maurice Fox and Fedor Bohatirchuk, in Arvida (CAN-ch). In 1951, he took 2nd, behind Povilas Vaitonis, in Vancouver (CAN-ch). In 1953, he tied for 1st with Daniel Yanofsky in Winnipeg (CAN-ch). In 1955, he won in Ottawa (CAN-ch). In 1957, he tied for 3rd-4th with Miervaldis Jursevskis, after Vaitonis and Géza Füster, in Vancouver (CAN-ch).

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