World War II, scoring 9.5 out of 19 and securing draws against Botvinnik and Smyslov, and losing after achieving a winning position against Max Euwe. David Hooper and Ken Whyld note that Denker may have been unfortunate in that his best years came during World War II, when very little competitive chess was being played . In 1947 Denker produced an autobiographical game collection in his book: If You Must Play Chess. Denker was never a full-time professional player. His peak results were scored from 1940 to 1947, in U.S. Championships and on his trips to Europe for tournaments at London, Hastings and Groningen. International ratings were introduced by FIDE only in 1970, more than a generation after Denker's best years. The website chessmetrics.com retrospectively places Denker as high as 27th in the world in the mid 1940s, but this site is missing several of Denker's most important results. Later life In 1981 FIDE made Denker an honorary Grandmaster. In later years, he was an important chess organizer, serving on the boards of the American Chess Foundation, the United States Chess Federation (USCF), and the U.S. Chess Trust – the driving force behind the prestigious Denker Tournament of High School Champions (named in his honor). He also served as a FIDE official. Denker also continued to play chess, though at well below his earlier strength. (His last FIDE rating was 2293.) He wrote many chess articles and in 1995 the book: The Bobby Fischer I Knew and Other Stories (co-authored by Larry Parr; Hypermodern Press). In 1992 Denker was inducted into the U.S. Chess Hall of Fame. He received America's highest chess honor on June 11, 2004, when he became only the third person to be proclaimed "Dean of American Chess" by the USCF. A graduate of New York University, he married the former Nina Simmons in 1936, a marriage lasting 57 years until her death in 1993. They had three children: Richard, Mitchell and Randie. Denker died of brain cancer on January 2, 2005, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Sample game The following is Denker's favorite game, a brilliancy he played at age 15: Denker–Feit, New York 1929 Dutch Defense 1.d4 f5 2.Nf3 e6 3.g3 b6 4.Bg2 Bb7 5.0-0 Nf6 6.c4 Be7 7.Nc3 d6 8.d5 e5 9.Ng5 Bc8 10.e4 0-0 11.f4 exf4 12.Bxf4 fxe4 13.Ncxe4 Nxe4 14.Bxe4 Bxg5 15.Qh5 Rxf4 16.Qxh7+ Kf7 17.Bg6+ Kf6 18.Rxf4+ Bxf4 19.Qh4+ Bg5 20.Qe4 Be3+