Chapter Six The Reshevsky Ye ars (1936-1942) "The advantage of a tournament seems The idea of a tournament was a logical to lie in the factthat several aspirants forthe one but also a necessary way out of the prob­ title can have their opportunity to win it and lem posed by Marshall's age and the hard times that the issue will necessarily be decided in a of the Depression. Since 1931, when 26-year­ comparatively short time. A tournament also old Isaac Irving Kashdan was placed ahead of is distinctly more interesting .... " With these Marshall on first board of the U.S. Olympic words in December 1935, Frank Marshall re­ team, it had become obvious that the holder signed as U.S. champion and urged the adop­ of the championship citle was no longer che tion of regularly scheduled tournaments to best player in the country. Attempts to arrange choose his successors. The idea of a tourna­ a Marshall-Kashdan match were periodically ment had been kicking around American chess launched and abandoned, all victims of the circles foryears but no one had a clear idea of economic climate and the champion's condi­ what such an event would mean. How many tions. Marshall wanted a guaranteed prize fund of the nation's best players would be willing to of $5,000. After all, Emanuel Lasker had de­ compete - to give up jobs and family for sev­ manded - and gotten - arrangements for his eral weeks in hopes of winning a $600 first last world championship match such that he prize? How would the entrants be chosen? How went home with 55 percent of the $20,000 could the event be financed? And, perhaps most prize fundeven though he resigned the match important, wouldn't it mean a new champion halfway through it. Didn't Marshall deserve a every time a tournament was held- a revolv­ comparable retirement fund, he wondered? ing door title? But the Marshall-Kashdan match orga­ The last question was pertinent because nizers could raise no more than $900. And the revival of tournament championships co­ with the sparkling successes in Europe by Sammy incided with one of those periodic explo­ Reshevsky in 1935 and the quick progress of sions - like the 1920s and lacer the 1980s - of young rivals such as Reuben Fine and Arthur native chess talent. There was not just one Dake, it made sense to drop the match com­ claimant to Marshall's tide, but several. Ac pletely and devote the organizers' energies and least three young masters were considered the treasury towards the first modern champion­ Old Swindler's equal. Another half dozen were ship tournament. In late 1935 Harold Phillips, raced of international caliber - the kind who a veteran Manhattan Chess Club leader whose could very easily win a strong round-robin personal relations with top players stretched championship tournament if they were the back to a close friendshipwith Wilhelm Stein­ beneficiaries of a strong start and a bit ofluck. itz, helped persuade Marshall to step aside and 45 46 The United States Chess Championship relinquish his title. The title, and a "Frank eral hours a day, seven days a week during his Marshall championship trophy, " would go to high school years. A restless energy character­ the winner of a round-robin tournament to be ized his play and it was also revealed by his held the following spring. constant walking back and forthacross a tour­ All of the contenders on the eve of the nament hall ("sentry-wise" as it was described) March, 1936, event were relatively young. while his opponent was chinking. Kashdan was 30, Reshevsky gave his age as 25, But if there was a slight favorite in 1936 Fine was only 21. They were the grandmaster it was neither Kashdan nor Fine but Sammy elite of U.S. chess and each would have a se­ Reshevsky. He had been the best-known of the ries of European successes and some world American players ever since his highly publi­ championship hopes. Just below them in stat­ cized tours as a reputed nine-year-old chess ure were another crop of young masters - 22- prodigy shortly after his family brought him year-old Arnold Denker, 26-year-old Dake, fromPoland to America in 1920. The boy had 28-year-old I.A. "Al" Horowitz and 30-year­ met President Harding, played members of old Herman Steiner. Of the few others who Congress and, as recorded in one memorable could be considered of possible champion cal­ photograph, played 20 West Point cadets si­ iber were Marshall, 58; his 1923 challenger, multaneously. (Sammy, dressed in a sailor suit, Edward Lasker, then 50; and Abraham Kup­ didn't lose a game.) chik, 44, a Manhattan Chess Club regular In his new country Reshevsky went into nearing the end of a vigorous career. Marshall a brief chess retirement and graduated from and Lasker declined invitations to play in the college with a degree in accounting. Almost tournament, leaving their places to a younger all the leading masters held at least part-time generation that would dominate the champi­ jobs - Kashdan sold insurance, Horowitz sold onship for15 years. insurance and edited Chess Review, and Re­ Of the tournament entrants, the young shevsky was preparing for a business career. magazine Ch ess Review wrote, "none can boast Ye t when Sammy began to play again in 1934 of as imposing a record as Isaac Kashdan." Up he seemed to have hardly been away fromthe to then "Kash" had played in 11 international board. Because so many of the championship tournaments, scoring fourfirst-places and five contenders lived in and around New Yo rk City, seconds. He led the U.S. Olympic team four his winning a first prize ahead of chem in, the times, twice to the gold medals, and had racked state congress at Syracuse in 1934 established up a remarkable personal record in team Reshevsky as one of the two or three best play­ play - 40 wins, 20 draws and only fourlosses. ers in America. Sammy added international He was being talked of as a challenger to laurels a year lacer when, on his first return to champion Alexander Alekhine for the world Europe in 14 years, he won a solid tournament title, and had scored six draws and only one at Margate, England, ahead of Capablanca. loss in his seven meetings with the then almost Physically small, Reshevsky was a scrappy unbeatable Alekhine. fighter atthe chessboard - and a worthy match On the other hand, Reuben Fine, fresh forFi ne's own aggressive nature. Later in 1936 out of college, had played just once as an in­ at the great international tournament in Not­ dividual abroad. But his easy victory at Hast­ tingham, England, their individual game ings, England, three months before the 1936 dragged on with Reshevsky holding the better national tournament was no less impressive of a draw while Fine sarcastically commented than any ofKashdan's victories. Fine, who had on the position. Eventually tournament won the championship of the Marshall Chess officials had to intervene to avoid what they Club three times and the Western Open once, feared would end up in a fistfight between the liked to say he had never read a chess book two American representatives. Kashdan, on the until he had become a master. But he made up ocher hand, seemed calm and cool, and many forhis lack of book knowledge by playing sev- of his colleagues would agree with Sidney The Reshevsky Years (1936-1942) 47 Bernstein who called Kash a "great player, bur would have been interested most in the play lacking in the iron determination of a Re­ oftwo unheralded New Yo rkers and of a some­ shevsky." time resident of the city. The New Yo rkers So Reshevsky was a slight favorite in the were George Nelson Treysman and Albert C. first modern championship. But who could say Simonson. Treysman, then 55, had never played with certainty how a single 15-round event in a tournament before but was in fact prob­ would turn out? Also, it would be followed ably the most experienced player in the event. two years later by another championship, and He was a professional coffeehouse player, earn­ then another two years after that. Perhaps the ing dimes at speed and offhand games- often rapidly improving Fine would win the first after concedingup to queen odds - at one of event. Or maybe Reshevsky in 1936 and then the many rundown East Side clubs that flour­ Kashdan in 1938. Or one of the others such as ished in Manhattan. Simonson, the youngest Dake, Steiner, Denker or Horowitz? Who would player in the tournament, was an unknown have thought that one man would dominate who had played almost half of his chess at the the championships, winning every tournament Manhattan Chess Club and was recognized as (and one title match) that he entered in the one of the better bridge and backgammon next 10 years? players in the city. The third attraction was Dake. While Treysman and Simonson eventually finished 1936· Th e First Last Round surprisingly well, Dake appeared destined to finishnothing short of clear first. The dapper The first modern championship set the Portland, Oregon, master already had earned tone and many of the recurring themes of the an international reputation (and a special medal) tournaments of the 1930s and '40s. The orga­ when he amassed the best score -13 wins, 5 nizers had planned fora substantial number of draws - in the Olympiad team tournament entries, to be split into preliminary round­ the previous year in Warsaw.