A Clock Anecdote Denker Never Told

     The 1942 US Championship was controversial for a couple of reasons. It was the tournament that was almost won by Isaac Kashdan and it was also the tournament where the director, L. Walter Stephens, incorrectly forfeited Denker after Reshevsky exceeded the time limit then refused to change his decision.  There was another clock incident in the tournament that Denker never mentioned.
     Prior to the start of the tournament the director, L. Walter Stephens who was also the vice president of the USCF, had called a players' meeting that was attended by only half of the players. At the meeting it was agreed that the clocks must not be stopped under any circumstances. 
     The third round game between Arnold Denker and Norman Lessing, which was won by Denker, resulted in Lessing filing an appeal. As there was no official referee to make a decision, the appeal went to the USCF president George Sturgis. At that time the USCF's headquarters was in Boston. Sturgis' decision would be important because if he reversed Stephens' decision it would affect the standings. 

Lessing

     Although players were required to keep score, as Herman Helms put it in the New York Times, “there (was) no power short of a sergeant-at-arms to make this compulsory.” Both Denker and Lessing were in time pressure and weren't recording their moves; they were putting check marks on their scoresheets. Still, neither of them were sure of exactly how many moves had been made. 
     After what was most likely his 42nd move, Denker said to Lessing, “That's the 45th move, Lessing, isn't it?” Apparently Lessing knew it wasn't the 45th move as claimed by Denker. Instead of stopping the clocks and summing the director, Lessing continued to play until they reached what he thought was move 45. 
     In the scramble, he blundered away a piece and lost. Lessing then claimed that his blunder wasn't due to time pressure, but rather that Denker's remark at a critical moment had interfered with his concentration. Stephens wouldn't allow the claim and Lessing appealed to Sturgis, who eventually denied Lessing's claim. 
     Norman Lessing (June 24, 1911, New York City – October 22, 2001, Santa Monica, California) was a television screenwriter and producer, playwright, chess master and chess writer. Lessing grew up in New York City and played a great deal of chess as a youth, reaching national master strength. 
     At the age of 19, in the 1930 New York State Championship he scored 6.5-1.5 to tie for first with Anthony Santasiere who was awarded the title on tiebreaks. 
     Lessing played mostly at the Stuyvesant Chess Club, on the lower east side of Manhattan.  But, there was a May, 1941 Brooklyn Daily Eagle mention about Lessing, who was described as “formidable ace of the Steinitz Chess Club” taking on 50 opponents in a simultaneous for a one dollar fee. 
     After moving to California he won the 1967 Santa Monica Chess Club championship and the 1967 United States Senior Open at which time he had a rating of 2207. He was the Senior champion at the American and National Opens several times in the 1960s. His last tournament appears to have been the Santa Monica Masters Invitational in 1971. 
     Lessing wrote for television from its pioneering days in 1950 in New York and moved to California to continue his career until 1979. Shows he wrote screenplays for include: 
Hawaii Five-O 
The Fugitive 
Lost in Space 
Bonanza 
The Nurses 
The F.B.I. 
Baretta 
Cannon 
Dragnet 
Eight is Enough 
Shirley Temple's Storybook 
The Adventures of Ellery Queen 
The Man from U.N.C.L.E. 
He also wrote the play 36 which was performed all over the United States. 

     In the following game against Reshevsky, Lessing almost succeeded in hanging on for a draw, but the game also demonstrates Denker's observation that playing Reshevsky was like having a bulldog hanging on to you pant leg; he just wouldn't let go. 
     Lessing, along with IM Anthony Saidy, wrote the book The World of Chess, published in 1974. It was a coffee-table chess book, featuring many photos players and exotic chess sets and a chapter by each writer about their chess experiences. It was not a great book. 
    He died at his home at age 90 of congestive heart failure and complications from Parkinson's disease. At the time of his death Lessing was working on a book about his chess experiences to be titled The Stuyvesant Chess Club. Upon his death the USCF called him “the last link to the Golden Age of Coffeehouse Chess." 

Final Standings 1943 US Championship:
1-2) Isaac Kashdan and Samuel Reshevsky 12.5-2.5 
3-4) Arnold Denker and Albert Pinkus 10.5-4.5 
5) Herman Steiner 10.0-5.0 
6) Al Horowitz 9.0-6.0 
7) Herbert Seidman 7.0-8.0 
8-9) Jacob Levin and Louis Levy 6.5-8.5 
10-11) Irving Chernev and Carl Pilnick 6.0-9.0 
12-13) Harry Baker and Norman Lessing 5.5-9.5 
14-16) Boris Altman, Matthew Green and Harold Hahlbohm 4.0-11.0 
Green withdrew and forfeited 7 games 
Reshevsky won the playoff 7.5-3.5