Robin Ault

      Robin Ault was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey on December 23, 1941 and was the first person to win the U.S. Junior Championship three times in a row (1959, 1960, 1961). He won the 1959 Championship on tiebreak over Gilbert Ramirez, won outright in 1960 and the 1961 Championship on tiebreak over Bernard Zuckerman. He was the first person ever to have won three years in a row.
      On the basis of his performances in the Junior Championship he was invited to the 1959-60 U.S. Championship based in the USCF rule that the American Junior Champion was automatically qualified for the adult title competition.  His results in the 1959-60 Championship were a disaster...he lost all 11 games. After this the USCF no longer allowed the top junior player to be invited to the U.S. Championship and Ault dropped out of chess and went on to a successful career in other fields.  Unfortunately, Ault passed away at the early age of 52.
      His brother, National Master Leslie, was US Intercollegiate Champion. The both played for Columbia University, which won the nation Intercollegiate Team Championship.
      Here is his obituary taken from the Cranford Chronicle dated October 19, 1994.

Robin Ault, math professor Social justice activist; was 52 :
CRANFORD — Robin Ault, 52, a college mathematics professor, computer software engineer, and social justice activist, died Sept. 16, 1994 at Newton-Wellesley Hospital, Newton, Mass.

      He was born in Elizabeth, raised in Cranford, and had lived for more than 20 years in Newton, Mass. Dr. Ault earned a bachelor's degree from Columbia University and a doctorate in mathematics from Brandeis University. During his college years he won the U.S Junior Chess, Championship three times, something no one has yet matched. He was a professor of mathematics at Boston State College in Massachusetts from 1965 until the school was closed in 1981, and more recently was a senior software engineer with MicroLogic Inc.
      He was active in the New University Conference, an organization of university professors involved in human rights and anti-war issues. Dr. Ault volunteered his time to the Quaker church as a draft counselor during the Vietnam War. He also was active in Newton Action for Nuclear Disarmament in Newton, Mass., one of the first disarmament organizations in the country. Dr. Ault was a longtime member of Mass Choice, the Massachusetts affiliate of the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League. He joined Mass Choice at its founding in 1970 and worked in nearly every volunteer capacity: grassroots organizer, volunteer coordinator, board officer, political action committee board member. He was recognized by Mass Choice on its 20th anniversary in 1990 for his work with the organization. It will dedicate the Robin Ault Volunteer Award at Mass Choice's 25th-anniversary celebration in 1995. He also was prominent in his Massachusetts city on political campaigns for alderman, school board, and state representative. A delegate to the Massachusetts Democratic Party convention
      Dr. Ault was the secretary of his ward's Democratic Party committee and was active in a bicycle-pedestrian task force in his city. Surviving are his mother, Margaret Ault of Cranford; two brothers, Leslie Ault and David Ault, both in New Jersey; three nieces and two nephews."

In the game below he defeats veteran master Jeremiah Donovan in a short, sharp Dragon.