Carol H. Jarecki (

né A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth reg ...

e Fuhse; February 13, 1935 – June 13, 2021) was an American chess organizer, an International Arbiter, and a chess writer. She served as director or deputy director of many national and international tournaments, including the women’s division of the

40th Chess Olympiad The 40th Chess Olympiad ( tr, 40. Satranç Olimpiyatı), organised by the Fédération Internationale des Échecs and comprising an open and women's tournament, as well as several events designed to promote the game of chess, took place in Istan ...

in 2012; the Women’s World Chess Championship 2013; and the

U.S. Chess Championship The U.S. Chess Championship is an invitational tournament held to determine the United States chess champion. Begun as a challenge match in 1845, the U.S. Championship has been decided by tournament play for most of its long history. Since 1936, i ...

in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2016 and 2017. She was the arbiter and referee for the 1997 match between Garry Kasparov and the IBM supercomputer program

Deep Blue Deep Blue may refer to: Film * ''Deep Blues: A Musical Pilgrimage to the Crossroads'', a 1992 documentary film about Mississippi Delta blues music * Deep Blue (2001 film), ''Deep Blue'' (2001 film), a film by Dwight H. Little * Deep Blue (2003 ...

.Dylan Loeb McClain
"Carol Jarecki, Respected Chess Referee, Dies at 86,"
''The New York Times'', June 14, 2021.

Early life

Jarecki was born in Neptune, New Jersey, on February 13, 1935. Her parents owned a

chicken farm Poultry farming is the form of animal husbandry which raises domesticated birds such as chickens, ducks, turkeys and geese to produce meat or eggs for food. Poultry – mostly chickens – are farmed in great numbers. More than 60 billion ch ...

. After graduating from Asbury Park High School, Jarecki studied anesthesia at the University of Pennsylvania, then became a nurse in New Jersey.

Chess career

Jarecki first became involved with chess as a "ChessMom", taking her son John to chess events across the country; John became the youngest ever

chess master A chess title is a title regulated by a chess governing body and bestowed upon players based on their performance and rank. Such titles are usually granted for life. The international chess governing body FIDE grants several titles, the most pres ...

in U.S. at the age of 12 in 1981 (a record soon surpassed by a slightly younger

Stuart Rachels Stuart Rachels (born September 26, 1969) is an American philosopher and International Master of chess. He is the son of the philosopher James Rachels (1941–2003). He tied for first place in the 1989–90 U.S. Chess Championship. Although he is n ...

). She later started working at those tournaments, eventually obtaining certification as a tournament director at the highest National Tournament Director level. She continued directing tournaments after her son retired from competition during his teenage years. Jarecki directed many prestigious chess events: she served as Head Tournament Director at several

s, SuperNational Scholastic Championships, National Elementary Championships, and World Opens in Philadelphia, as well as many other national tournaments large and small. She was the chief arbiter at the Bermuda International Open and associated invitationals for over 20 years. Jarecki was recognized as an International Arbiter by the World Chess Federation (

FIDE The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( Fédération Internationale des Échecs), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national c ...

) in 1984. She regularly worked at the World Chess Olympiad, sometimes as the Head Arbiter. She also served as the Delegate from the British Virgin Islands to the FIDE Congress. Jarecki was the Chief Arbiter at the PCA World Chess Championship match in

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

between World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov and challenger Viswanathan Anand, which was held in New York City at the top of the World Trade Center. Jarecki was the arbiter and referee for the second match between Kasparov and the IBM supercomputer program

in 1997 in New York City, as well as the two Intel Grand Prix matches held there. She was the head arbiter for the HB Global Chess Challenge, Minneapolis 2005, which had the richest prize fund ($500,000) for an Open tournament in chess history.

Personal life and death

Jarecki was married to physician Richard Jarecki from 1964 until his death in 2018. They had three children: John, Divonne, and Lianna. In the 1970s, she and her husband became known for a very successful run of

roulette Roulette is a casino game named after the French word meaning ''little wheel'' which was likely developed from the Italian game Biribi''.'' In the game, a player may choose to place a bet on a single number, various groupings of numbers, the ...

winnings. They played in casinos in Monte Carlo and Sanremo, using a system on roulette wheels they found biased by mechanical imperfections. The couple won more than $1.2 million (more than $8 million adjusted for inflation in 2021) before a Sanremo casino discovered their scheme and had them barred from returning to Italy. This ban was later overturned. Jarecki was a licensed pilot, revealing at one point that she had flown for a cumulative total of over 4,200 hours. She lived in Las Vegas and

Boulder, Colorado Boulder is a home rule city that is the county seat and most populous municipality of Boulder County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 108,250 at the 2020 United States census, making it the 12th most populous city in Color ...

. Jarecki announced in December 2020 that she had been diagnosed with

pancreatic cancer Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of t ...

. She died six months later on June 13, 2021, at age 86.

Books

* ''Official Rules of Chess'' (Fourth Edition) (with

Bill Goichberg William Goichberg (born November 11, 1942) is a chess master and chess tournament organizer and director. He founded the Continental Chess Association (CCA), which runs the annual World Open and other large tournaments. He is also a former pre ...

and Ira Lee Riddle)

References

External links

Chess Tournament Directing Record of Carol H. Jarecki
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jarecki, Carol 1935 births 2021 deaths 20th-century American women writers American chess writers American women aviators American female chess players American chess players American information and reference writers American women nurses Asbury Park High School alumni Chess arbiters Deaths from pancreatic cancer University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing alumni 21st-century American women