Walter Harris (chess player)

Walter Harris (September 28, 1941 – October 12, 2024) was an American chess player.

Walter Harris
Country	United States
Born	(1941-09-28)September 28, 1941 Staten Island, New York, U.S.
Died	October 12, 2024(2024-10-12) (aged 83) Arlington, Virginia, U.S.
Title	National Master (1960)

Life and career

Harris was the first African-American chess player to earn the USCF title of National Master.^[1] He had a remarkable 5th-place finish in the 1959 U.S. Junior Open. At that tournament, he was unable to rent a room at the tournament's hotel (Sheraton-Fontenelle Hotel) due to racial segregation. Despite his and Anthony Saidy's protests, the hotel managers were adamant, forcing Harris to go to another hotel for accommodations.^[2]

Harris, along with Frank Street Jr., Leroy Jackson (Muhammad), and Kenneth Clayton, have been regarded as pioneers of African-Americans in chess in the 1960s.^[3]

Harris studied physics at University of California, Los Angeles,^[2][4] and was a career physicist at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory.^[5]

Harris died on October 12, 2024, at the age of 83.^[6][7]