Born May 15, 1929 in Brooklyn, New York, George Mortimer Kramer began playing chess and competing at a young age. By 1945, he had won the New York State Chess Championship. In 1950, he traveled to Dubrovnik in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia as a member of the US Olympiad team, earning bronze for his individual performance on the reserve board. The team finished fourth out of 16 competing federations, only a half-point behind third-place West Germany.