Aleksander "Alex" Edelsburg (1906-1972)
1952, 1956 (co), 1960 (co), 1965 (co), 1967 (co) South Carolina Chess Champion
Aleksander "Alex" Edelsburg was a Polish-born attorney, World War II veteran, and a leading chess player in South Carolina, known for his intellectual achievements and resilience. Born in Warsaw, Poland, to Aaron and Eva Edelsburg, he earned a doctorate in criminal law from Warsaw University, along with multiple degrees in sociology, mathematics, and other fields, spoke 12 languages fluently, and was Poland’s youngest barrister before the war. During the Holocaust, his family suffered immense loss: his brother Henri was arrested by the Germans as a member of the French underground, and never heard from again, and his brother David was killed in a concentration camp, and his parents, Aaron and Eva, died in the Treblinka concentration camp, an extermination camp where over 800,000 Jews were murdered. His sister Janka Balicka was sent to a forced labor camp in Poland but escaped from a train headed to a German concentration camp, surviving the war in hiding in Poland. Another sister, Sabina Czyzyk, lived through the war and later settled in Tel Aviv, Israel.
Edelsburg served in the Polish Army under General Montgomery during World War II, fighting in the North African and Italian campaigns, including the Battle of Monte Cassino, for which he received the Monte Cassino designation among other honors. After the war, he married Andree in France in 1947, lived briefly in England, and immigrated to the United States, settling in Columbia, South Carolina, in 1950. Initially a salesman, he later joined the Jack F. McGuinn law firm, became a member of the Richland County Bar Association, and was admitted to the South Carolina Bar in 1964.
Edelsburg was a chess prodigy in South Carolina, particularly with the Palmetto Chess Club in Columbia, where he served as president. He won or shared the South Carolina State Closed Chess Championship five times: as the sole champion in 1952 (August 22-24, Wade Hampton Hotel, Columbia), co-champion with Lanneau Foster in 1956 (November 23-25, Foster School of Dance, Columbia), tied with Foster and Peter Grant in 1960 (November 25-27, YMCA, Sumter), co-champion with John Chalmers in 1965 (November 26-28, Foster School of Dance, Columbia), and co-champion with Lee Hyder in 1967 (December 1-3, Columbia YWCA). He also won the Columbia city-wide chess tournament in 1955, the Palmetto Chess Club championship (remaining undefeated from 1952 to at least 1956), and the Peter Grant Memorial tournament in 1967, showcasing his strategic skill and dedication.
Edelsburg passed away on September 9, 1972 and was buried at the Hebrew Benevolent Society Cemetery in Columbia, SC.
Rea Bruce Hayes (1915–2001)
1953 and 1954 South Carolina Chess Champion
Rea Bruce Hayes, born on October 31, 1915, in Weston, Ontario, Canada, was a distinguished chess player and organizer who left a lasting legacy in the chess world. He first learned chess at age 11, quickly mastering the game by studying an encyclopedia, and went on to become a prominent figure in Canadian chess. At the University of Toronto, Hayes served as president of the Hart House Chess Club from 1935 to 1937, revitalizing the club with new activities. He competed in the Canadian Championships, achieving a notable third-place finish in 1947 with a score of 10.5/13, and famously defeated Canada’s first grandmaster, Abe Yanofsky, in 1951.
Hayes moved frequently due to his career as an actuary, including a brief stint in Los Angeles in 1945, before settling in Greenville, South Carolina, in 1953. There, Hayes won the South Carolina State Chess Championship in 1953, earning two trophies—one as the Open Champion and another as the highest-scoring resident—and successfully defended his title in 1954. He also tied for third in the 1953 Southern Open and placed fourth in the 1954 Southern Open.
After two years in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where he won the 1955 Southern Chess Association Championship with a 6-1 score, Hayes moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1956, where he lived for 30 years. In Cincinnati, he worked as an actuary for Union Central Life, organized the Parkway Chess Club and City League, revived the city championship, and won the Ohio State Championship in 1963. He was honored as Chessman of the Decade (1958–1968) by his club. Hayes also won the first U.S. Senior Open in 1981 in Sun City West, Arizona, earning a wristwatch for upsetting the favorite, Eric Marchand.
In 1990, Hayes returned to Chattanooga, where he won the Tennessee State Championship in 1992 at age 76, scoring 4.5/6. A dedicated chess enthusiast, he served in various roles at the Chattanooga Chess Club, which named him a Life Member and established the annual Rea Hayes Open in his honor that is still played annually to this day. Hayes was also a passionate collector, amassing a vast chess library that he donated to US Chess, earning the Koltanowski Award in 1982. Additionally, he and his wife Kay shared a love for folk and square dancing, hosting dance events in Greenville. Hayes passed away on February 15, 2001, leaving behind a legacy in chess and community engagement.
Ernest Edward Hoenck (1931-Living)
1955 South Carolina Chess Champion
Ernest Edward Hoenck, born on August 12, 1931, is a distinguished chess player who won the South Carolina State Chess Championship in 1955, scoring four wins and one draw in Swiss match play at the Hotel Wade Hampton in Columbia held on Nov. 25-27, 1955, with Alex Edelsburg as the runner-up. A prominent member of the Charleston Chess Club, Hoenck won the Charleston Chess Club Championship in 1960, defeating Tad Lisicki after being the runner-up in prior years, and successfully defended the title in 1961 and 1962. He lost the championship to Adriano G. Gitana in 1963 but reclaimed it in 1964. Hoenck remained competitive, tying for second place with Mrs. Shirley Strickland in the 1970 Charleston Naval Shipyard Fall Chess Tournament, won by Lt. Robert Bliss. Beyond chess, Hoenck was actively involved with Aldersgate Methodist Church in North Charleston, South Carolina. As of April 3, 2025, Hoenck, now 93, is the oldest living South Carolina State Chess Champion.
Lanneau Lide Foster (1908-1967)
1956 (co), 1960 (co) and 1962 South Carolina Chess Champion
Lanneau Lide Foster won the South Carolina State Chess Championship as co-champion in 1956 and 1960, and as sole champion in 1962 where he was the only player to win all five games. He grew up in Marion, SC, and earned an AB degree from the University of South Carolina in 1929. After several years as a teacher and principal in Bennetsville, SC public schools, he moved to Columbia in 1934 and obtained a master's degree in psychology from the University of South Carolina. He was one of the 11 original members of the Columbia Chess Club when it was re-organized in 1942 after a period of inactivity. Foster eventually became president of the successor Palmetto Chess Club when those two clubs merged in the early 1950s.
Foster also served as President of the South Carolina Chess Association for 15 years, was President of the Southern Chess Association, and was Regional Vice-President of the United States Chess Federation. A prolific chess patron, he won over 30 trophies, including several Columbia city-wide titles. Upon his passing, his memorial in the SCCA newsletter noted that he "had done more than any other South Carolinian to keep alive tournament activity, arrange inter-club and interstate matches and provide playing accommodations, enabling players to meet and thus improve playing ability."
Beyond chess, Foster was active in theater, art, psychology, air navigation, ballet, dance instruction, chess, tennis, and fencing. He founded the Foster School of Dance and the Carolina Ballet Co., establishing branches across the state and training students for major ballet corps. He held state ranking as a senior tennis player, was senior doubles co-champion, a squash player, and fencer, and was a charter member of Sherwood Tennis Club and a member of First Baptist Church of Marion. Foster’s legacy endures through his multifaceted contributions to South Carolina’s cultural and intellectual life.
RAMES GRADY BROWN (1922-1992)
1957 and 1958 South Carolina Chess Champion
Born on September 15, 1922 in Rock Hill, South Carolina, Grady Brown graduated from Rock Hill High School and the University of Michigan with a bachelor’s degree in music, playing first bass in the university’s Marching, Concert, and Symphonic Bands. A World War II U.S. Marine Corps veteran, he won the South Carolina State Chess Championship in 1957 and again in 1958, both championships held at the Foster School of Dance in Columbia. By 1964, he had moved to Charlotte, North Carolina where he captained several North Carolina teams in an annual NC vs. SC match, organized the Groundhog Open and Carolinas Open tournaments, and served as president of the North Carolina Chess Federation. Notably, in 1979, he drew against Viktor Korchnoi in a simultaneous exhibition in North Carolina. At the time of his state championship victories he was serving as band director at Hartsville High School, and by the the end of his teaching career in the Charlotte-Mecklenberg schools in 1981 he had taught music to over 10,000 students.