Archie Waters, mentor to chess prodigy Bobby Fisher, dead at 83

This report is from the Associated Press. All rights reserved.

11/7/01 4:44 AM
EL PASO, Texas (AP) -- Archie Waters, a mentor to chess prodigy Bobby Fischer and an El Paso Times columnist, died Monday after suffering a stroke a month ago. He was 83. Waters befriended the teen-age Fischer in Brooklyn in the 1950s and accompanied the chess genius to Iceland during his landmark world title match against Russian Boris Spassky in 1972. Waters played ping-pong with Fischer between his matches with Spassky. Born in Brooklyn, he attended Columbia University and later became the first black member of the prestigious Marshall Chess Club of New York. Waters worked for 11 years at the Long Island Daily Press in New York and served as a civic affairs columnist for the New York Daily News. He moved to El Paso, Texas in 1980 and was a columnist for the El Paso Times for about 20 years, writing about community affairs, particularly the black community. During his Army service in World War II, Waters became interested in Spanish pool checkers, which was popular on the East Coast, particularly in black communities. Waters co-wrote two books on the subject. Waters is survived by his daughters, Jean Waters and Onilaja Waters, and sister, Osceola Simmons. Memorial services are pending.