Anthony Santasiere

Anthony Edward Santasiere (December 9, 1904 – January 13, 1977) was an American chess master and chess writer, who also wrote extensively on non-chess topics. Santasiere was a middle school mathematics teacher by profession. Santasiere won the 1945 U.S. Open Chess Championship, four New York State championships, and six Marshall Chess Club championships. He competed in four U.S. Chess Championships, with his best finish being a tie for third in 1946. He was a chess organizer.

Early life, education, professional career Santasiere, of French and Italian ancestry, was born and raised in New York City, the 12th of 13 children, and grew up in extreme poverty. He graduated from City College with a degree in mathematics. His studies there were financed by Alrick Man, a wealthy chess enthusiast who had served as president of the Marshall Chess Club. Santasiere represented CCNY in intercollegiate chess. Following graduation, beginning in 1927, Santasiere taught mathematics at the Angelo Patri Middle School in the Bronx. He also taught mathematics and home room at P.S. 92 in the Bronx. He retired to South Florida in 1965.

Chess career

Santasiere wrote extensively on chess in the magazine American Chess Bulletin, from 1930 to 1963; he served as Games Editor, working with Editor Hermann Helms.

1920s In 1922, at age 17, Santasiere won the first of his six Marshall Chess Club Championships.

1930s In 1930, he tied for first with Norman Lessing at Utica (New York State Championship). In 1946, he won the New York State Championship for the third time. In 1956, he won the New York State Championship for the fourth and final time.

1960s Santasiere tied for 9-13th places at the 1960 Canadian Open Chess Championship in Kitchener, with 6/10; Anthony Saidy won.

On Saturday, May 11, 1968, at the Miami Beach Chess Club in Miami Beach, Florida, Santasiere, billed as "The American Chess Champion", competed in a marathon simultaneous exhibition versus 21 opponents. Santasiere scored 12 victories (including a victory over Barry Moss), three draws, four defaults wins, and lost to Hank Bergman and Irving Lynch.

Personal life, later years He was an amateur painter, painting over 400 oil paintings, and a prolific poet and creative writer on non-chess topics. He played piano, and frequently hosted dinner parties. He organized many small-size Master events in his apartment in New York.

In 1965, he retired to south Florida, where he continued to play tournament chess for a while, and won several local tournaments. A gay man, he lived with a younger man, Hector; friend Arnold Denker recalls a loving but turbulent relationship between those two, characterizing them as "Felix and Oscar". On his death Santasiere left his estate to his partner.

Non-chess writing Denker and Parr describe Santasiere's strong spiritual interests; he advocated what Henry Adams called "conservative Christian anarchy". During his life, Santasiere wrote three novels, 13 books of essays, 14 collections of short stories, and 30 volumes of a personal journal.

Playing strength Santasiere was among the top 15 U.S. players from the late 1920s into the mid-1950s. He never earned an international title in chess, and had minimal international competition. The website chessmetrics.com, which ranks chess performances on a retrospective basis, calculated a peak rank of No. 53 in the world for May 1931.