Out of a desire to be closer to his brother Harry, who was 16 years older, Mr. Feuerstein started playing chess when he was 14 years old; he saw his brother playing with his friends.
He got into the game. He quickly organized a chess club at William Howard Taft High School and began challenging other schools for matches. After graduating in 1953, he attended Baruch College in Manhattan where he received a degree in business. During this time, he participated in local tournaments whenever he could.
It was a golden age for the game in the United States, especially in New York, which produced a generation of future stars. These included William Lombardi, who won the World Junior Championship in 1957 with the only perfect score in the history of the tournament; the Byrne brothers, one of whom, Robert, later became a world championship contender and chess columnist for The New York Times; and Bobby Fischer, the most outstanding talent of all.
Mr. Feuerstein might have been lost or overwhelmed in such company, but he kept to himself.
At the 1956 U.S. Junior Championships, he placed third behind Mr. Fisher. He then overtook Mr. Fisher in the U.S. Junior Blitz Championship, in which each player had five minutes for the entire game.
The third Rosenwald tournament, played in October 1956 at the Manhattan Chess Club, is usually remembered for Mr. Fischer’s remarkable victory over Donald Byrne, Robert’s younger brother. But Mr. Fischer finished eighth, and Mr. Feuerstein was third, just behind Arthur Bisguier, another New York prodigy who had won the US Championship two years earlier.
Then, in the 1957-58 championship, Mr. Feuerstein shared sixth place with former champion Arnold Denker and future grandmaster Edmar Mednis. Mr. Fischer, then only 14 years old, won the championship, defeating Mr. Feuerstein for the first and only time. During his career Mr. Feuerstein has had one win, one loss and three draws with Mr. Fischer.