On January 27, 1921 Samuel Rzeschewski paid his first visit to Cleveland, Ohio at the invitation of the City Club of Cleveland, one of the most influential organizations in the State and with headquarters at the Hollenden Hotel, a luxury hotel that was demolished in 1989 and replaced by the Bank One Center, now known as Fifth Third Center.
Francis T. Hayes, secretary of the City Club of Cleveland, was mostly the one responsible for getting Rzeschewski to town and he arrived in the evening to meet twenty opponents who had to date only heard of the boy’s prowess in the East; now they were going to test him for themselves. They failed.
His opponents were Irving Spero (city champion), Henry Lapidas (13-year old champion of the Jewish Orphan Asylum), John D. Fackler (president of the City Club of Cleveland), E.C. Hopwood (editor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer), C.A. Mills (one time Pacific Coast champ), S.H. Shapiro (Ohio champion in 1914 and 1915), Elliott Stearns (a former Ohio Champion) and Raymond Clapp, A.M. Chatham, J.J. Hoornstra, Stanley Koch, B.F. Loeffler, Walter Peters, E.D. Pickering, E.N. Moore, I. Laufman, Alfred Tozer, J.E. Weil, James Walton and M.A. Goldsmith.
There was an audience seated on rising tiers around the walls of the room and two large demonstration boards, eight feet square, showed the games of Spero and Lapidas.
Rzeschewski scored 17 wins, 2 draws and a loss. Mills and Stearns got the draws while the referees awarded Moore the win after the game was stopped so Rzeschewski could catch his midnight train back to New York City.
Sammy was back in town on February 3rd, appearing at the Globe Theater where he met 17 opponents.
Irving Spero and Aaron Schwartz were referees as Sammy skunked the opposition 17-0.
His opponents were: King, Heimlich, S. Dworkovitz, S. Ravinson, Louis Neimark, Biskin, J.L. Lowenberg, Pocus, Dr. B.M. Becker, Dr. H. Tabakin, Frank Zucker, L. Garvin, N. Kochman, B. Eisner, Dr. Laufman, Henry Lapida and S.H. Shapiro. It’s safe to assume that Louis Neimark was related to the obscure girl prodigy Celia Neimark.
Before returning to New York, Rzeschewski was invited to play at the Union Club where on February 5th a team of 10 players made a comparatively good showing by scoring a point and a half against him.
His opponents were: Elliott Stearns, A.E. Christian, J.B. Clogh, Henry Corning, Dr. A.C. Mills, A.W. Thompson, C.H. Royon and E.N. Moore; they were all defeated. A.D. Hillyar got a draw and Irving Spero won.
Irving Spero (June 15, 1892-August 17, 1955) was born in Poland and was Ohio and Cleveland champion in 1921. Spero eventually moved to California. His name appears in this clipping from the Los Angles Times. Note: Less than a year later columnist Clif Sherwwod committed murder and suicide!
I also found mention of him in the Southern California Chess League’s Western Chess Chronicle dated 1935:
It was my intention to publish Spero's win over Rzeschewski, but I was surprised to find no record of it; I am sure it was published somewhere, but none of my sources had it. Spero's loss shows up several places, but it's not worth looking at because blundered away a N on simple oversight at move 19! He played on until move 33, but it was a waste of time. So, instead here is E.N. Moore's win.As far as I know, E.N. Moore's name only shows up in the 1921 Ohio Championship.
[Event "Simul Cleveland Ohio"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1921.1.27"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Sammy Rzeschewski"]
[Black "E.N. Moore"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteELO "?"]
[BlackELO "?"]
%Created by Caissa's Web PGN Editor
{Ruy Lopez: Berlin Defense} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 {The Berlin Defense
has long had a reputation for being solid and drawish and is commonly referred
to as the Berlin Wall. It was played in the late 19th century and early 20th
century by Emanuel Lasker and others, but it eventually fell out of favor.
Arthur Bisguier played it for decades, but he was about the only one. It
wasn't until Vladimir Kramnik successfully used it as a drawing weapon against
Garry Kasparov in their 2000 World Championship match that the Berlin
experienced a remarkable comeback.} 4. O-O {Also popular is 4.Nc3.} 4... Nxe4
5. d4 exd4 {This move has not resulted in any great success for black and so
5...Nd6 is considered much better.} 6. Re1 {Rozentalis-Kaminski, Krynica 1997
continued 6...f5?! 7.Nxd4 Nxd4 8.Qxd4 c6 when white wasn't able to prove he
had any advantage and the game was drawn in 21 moves.} 6... d5 7. Nxd4 Bd6 {If
8. Nxc6 Bxh2+ 9.Kh1 Qh4 10.Rxe4+ dxe4 11.Qd8+ Qxd8 12.Nxd8+ Kxd8 13.Kxh2 and
white has a B and N vs a R and two Ps. According to Stockfish this represents
a considerable advantage, but Komodo 10 only gives him a slight advantage. In
Borisov,P-Dyshlevoy,F/Dniepropetrovsk 2003, the game ended in a draw.} 8. Qf3
Bd7 9. Bxc6 {Black is slightly better. White should have exchanged on c6, but
with the N, not the B. Now black has the two Bs and is better developed.}
9... bxc6 10. Nd2 f5 11. Nf1 O-O 12. Bf4 Qf6 13. c3 Rf7 {Moore intends to lift
this R to e7.} 14. Ng3 Re8 15. Bxd6 {White has succeeded in eliminating any
potential threats the two Bs may have represented and at the same time black
is left with a bad B. But, as will soon become apparent, black dominates the
position and so has a considerable advantage.} 15... cxd6 16. Re2 Rfe7 17.
Rae1 g6 {Black appears to be in no hurry to play ...c5.} 18. Nb3 Bc8 19. Qd3
Nc5 20. Nxc5 dxc5 21. Rxe7 Rxe7 22. Rxe7 Qxe7 23. Qe2 Qxe2 24. Nxe2 Ba6 {As
mentioned, Rezeschewski had to catch a midnight train to New York, so one does
not know how much time he devoted to this move, or even if he had a lot of
time, would he have realized his next move loses?} 25. Nf4 {After 25.Nc1
keeping the N close to the action he might have had drawing chances after
25...d4 26.f4! In Shootouts black scored two wins and 3 draws.} 25... d4 26.
g3 {Here the game was abandoned so Sammy could catch his train and the judges
correctly awarded black the win. After 26...d3 white has to give up the N to
stop the P leaving black a B ahead.} 0-1
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