Hans Berliner
| Hans Berliner | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Hans Jack Berliner |
| Country | United States Germany |
| Born |
January 27, 1929 Berlin, Germany |
| Died |
January 13, 2017 (aged 87) Riviera Beach, Florida, U.S. |
| Title |
International Master ICCF Grandmaster (1968) |
| ICCF World Champion | 1965–68 |
Hans Jack Berliner (January 27, 1929 – January 13, 2017) was a Professor of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University, and was the World Correspondence Chess Champion, from 1965–68. He was a Grandmaster of Correspondence Chess and an International Master for over-the-board chess. He directed the construction of the chess computer HiTech, and was also a published chess writer.
Berliner was born in Berlin. When he was eight years old, his family, which was Jewish, moved to America to escape Nazi persecution, taking up residence in Washington, D.C. He learned chess at age 13, and "it quickly became his main preoccupation."
Berliner is mentioned in "How I Started To Write", an essay by Carlos Fuentes, where he is described as "an extremely brilliant boy", with "a brilliant mathematical mind". "I shall always remember his face, dark and trembling, his aquiline nose and deep-set, bright eyes with their great sadness, the sensitivity of his hands..."
In 1949, he became a master, won the District of Columbia Championship (the first of five wins of that tournament) and the Southern States Championship, and tied for second place with Larry Evans at the New York State Championship. He also won the 1953 New York State Championship (the first win by a non-New Yorker), the 1956 Eastern States Open directed by Norman Tweed Whitaker in Washington, D.C., ahead of William Lombardy, Nicolas Rossolimo, Bobby Fischer (at age 13) and Arthur Feuerstein, and the 1957 Champion of Champions tournament.
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