Sam Sloan's Love of Chess Led to a Successful Career

    BRONX, NY, October 17, 2022 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Sam Sloan has been included in Marquis Who's Who. As in all Marquis Who's Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process.

In a career spanning five decades, Sam Sloan has notably established himself within multiple industries, including banking, publishing and politics. Alongside such achievements, his career has ultimately been fueled by his love for chess.

Intellectually advanced from a very young age, Mr. Sloan picked up the study of chess when he was seven years old. He took to it so naturally that he became the youngest competitor in the National Capital Open Chess Tournament in Washington, D.C. in 1959 and frequently attended a series of lectures by chess master Bobby Fischer. Later, in 1972, he would be with Bobby Fischer when he won the World Chess Championship by defeating Boris Spassky in Reykjavik, Iceland and when he received the Key to the City at New York City Hall from Mayor John V. Lindsay.

Upon graduating from high school, Mr. Sloan went on to study mathematics at the University of California, Berkeley from 1962 to 1965. During his time at Berkeley, Mr. Sloan served as captain of the Chess Team that won the U.S. Intercollegiate Chess Championship in 1967, which led him to be featured on the Joe Pyne Show, which was a popular television talk show. Featured for his chess accomplishments, he also discussed his efforts as president of the Campus Sexual Freedom League, also known as the Campus Sexual Freedom Forum. At Berkeley, he also met Richard Bozulich, who, in 1968, founded Ishi Press in Japan.

Mr. Sloan commenced his professional career in 1968 with the over-the-counter trading department at Hayden, Stone & Co., a Wall Street investment banking firm. Shortly after that, in 1970, he established Samuel H. Sloan & Company, a registered broker-dealer primarily trading over-the-counter stocks and bonds. In addition to his entrepreneurial endeavors, Mr. Sloan gained notoriety for being the last non-lawyer to argue a case pro se before the U.S. Supreme Court over allegations from the Securities and Exchange Commission that he had failed to maintain adequate books and records. The Supreme Court ultimately ruled in his favor in 1978.

About one decade later, Mr. Bozulich turned Ishi Press over to Mr. Sloan in 1986. For the past 36 years, Mr. Sloan has excelled as the sole proprietor and president of Ishi Press, which has published more than 100 books about the Chinese board game known as Go. Ishi Press has also published books about other board games, such as chess and Chinese chess. Go and Chinese chess, also known as Xiangqi, are more than 2,000 years old and are believed to be among the oldest board games in existence. Additionally, Mr. Sloan wrote the instructional book "Chinese Chess for Beginners," published by Ishi Press in 1989, and a chess column in a newspaper distributed by the United Arab Emirates.

Simultaneously, Mr. Sloan excelled as an adviser for Don Dailey, a leading chess researcher and programmer. The pair collaborated to create the chess program Rex, which eventually competed in the North American Computer Chess Championship and World Computer Chess Championship. Over the past 10 years, Mr. Sloan has competed in the World Championships of Xiangqui on four occasions in Indonesia, China, Germany and the Philippines. He also earned a Silver Medal in the senior division of the World Memory Championship, which took place in China in 2011. In recognition of his prowess at Xiangqi, Mr. Sloan has been named a Foreign Master by the World Xiangqui Federation.

Today, Mr. Sloan remains active with the United States Chess Federation, having been elected to the executive board in 2006. Civically, he has been engaged as a political candidate since 2010, emerging as a Libertarian candidate in the race for governor of New York that year. He went on to run as a Libertarian candidate for president in 2012, an independent candidate in the New York City Mayoral Election in 2013, a Democratic candidate for president in 2020 and a Democratic candidate for New York's 15th, 13th and 14th Congressional Districts in 2014, 2016 and 2020, respectively.

Looking toward the future, Mr. Sloan plans to continue working on a court case on behalf of his late friend, who was also an international chess player. Driven by his passion for chess, he aims to continue championing the game and work to reach an even wider global audience.

About Marquis Who's Who®
Since 1899, when A. N. Marquis printed the First Edition of Who's Who in America®, Marquis Who's Who® has chronicled the lives of the most accomplished individuals and innovators from every significant field of endeavor, including politics, business, medicine, law, education, art, religion and entertainment. Today, Who's Who in America® remains an essential biographical source for thousands of researchers, journalists, librarians and executive search firms around the world. Marquis® now publishes many Who's Who titles, including Who's Who in America®, Who's Who in the World®, Who's Who in American Law®, Who's Who in Medicine and Healthcare®, Who's Who in Science and Engineering®, and Who's Who in Asia®. Marquis® publications may be visited at the official Marquis Who's Who® website at www.marquiswhoswho.com.

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