Revisiting David Gladstone

Gladstone (left) with Frank Marshall in 1923

     Several years ago I did a post on David Gladstone (1907 - June 15, 1964, 57 years old) that referenced a brief article that appeared in the September, 1923 issue of Boy’s Life magazine about a couple of young men attending New York University and Gladstone was one of them. 
     That was about all that I could find on him, but the other day I accidentally came across a couple of brief articles on him in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle in 1922 and 1923.
     One article describing him as “precocious” informs us that the 15-year old Gladstone was a graduate of Barringer High School in Newark, New Jersey and was probably the youngest player who ever represented a college in the U.S. when he played for New York University in the Inter-collegiate Chess League.
     The article added that he started out well by drawing a much older opponent and “In doing so the little fellow kept a level head throughout and displayed excellent generalship. He disclaimed any relationship to the great British statesman, but gave every evidence of a precocious ability to handle complicated situations.” 
     The January 8, 1923 issue of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle carried a headline article reading A New Chess Prodigy. It says the 15-year old Gladstone learned to play chess from his father only 2-1/2 years previously and he was soon able to give give his father considerable odds thanks to his experience in high school and college play. It added that “the little fellow will, in time, develop into an expert player."
     He played in the 1944-45 U.S. Championship (won by Arnold Denker), but finished 17th out of 18 with a +2 -14 =1 score.
     In 1930 and he was president of the Queens Chess Club and he also played for the Manhattan Chess Club. At the age of 57, Gladstone suffered a fatal heart attack near his home on June 15, 1964.
     According to his N.Y. Times obituary Gladstone was among the youngest persons ever to be enrolled at New York University. He entered at 15 and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. After his graduation he went to Harvard for his law studies. For many years he maintained an office in Brooklyn until around 1949 when he went to work for the State Rent Commission and later when it became the City Rent Commission. 
     Here is an early Gladstone game from his inter-collegiate days that does not appear in the Chessgames.com database. 

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[Event "Inter-Collegiate Match"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1923.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Casciato (U. of Pennsylvania"]
[Black "Gladstone (NYU)"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteELO "?"]
[BlackELO "?"]

%Created by Caissa's Web PGN Editor
{Queen's Gambit Declined} 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e3 Nbd7
6. Nf3 O-O 7. Bd3 dxc4 8. Bxc4 b6 {Unusual. If black wants to play this he
would do better playing the Tartakower variation where black plays 6...h6 and
7...b6. In the Tartakower black avoids ...dxc4.} 9. O-O Bb7 10. Bd3 {The main
alternative is 10.Qe2} 10... Rc8 11. Rc1 {Black loses a P on 11...Nd5 after
12.Bxe7 Qxe7 13.Nxd5 Bxd5 14.Ba6 and 15.Rxc7.} 11... c5 12. dxc5 Nxc5 13. Be2
Nd5 14. Bxe7 Qxe7 15. Nd4 Rfd8 {This position looks harmless enough and with
16.Nxd5 it is.} 16. Bf3 {This move rates two question marks. Gladstone starts
out on the right track to refute it, but then misses the best continuation.
Do you see the refutation? Hint: it involves a pin on the g-Pawn and a
discovered attack on white's Q.} 16... Nxc3 17. Rxc3 e5 18. Nf5 {Now black
could wrap it up with 18... Qg5. If the Q goes to c2 then 19...Bxf3 steals
the B. And if the Q goes to e2 the N is lost.} 18... Qe6 {AFter this black's
advantage is only minimal.} 19. Qc2 Bxf3 20. gxf3 e4 21. fxe4 g6 {Using good
judgment in not playing the enticing which loses a R to 22.Rxc8.} 22. Ng3
Qxa2 23. Ra3 Qe6 24. Rxa7 Re8 25. Rd1 Qg4 26. Kg2 Nxe4 {White's next move
looks reasonable as it attacks the b-Pawn, but in reality it should have lost.
White's best defense was 27.Qe2, but after exchanging Qs and playing his R to
c2 black would have had a considerable advantage.} 27. Qb3 {Black could have
gotten a strong attack with 27...Ng5! Just one example: 28.Qd3 Qh3+ 29.Kh1
Nf3 30.Nf1 Rcd8 31.Qb3 Ng5 and there is no defense against the threat of
...Nf6. If after 27...Ng5! 28.Rdd7 Qf3+ 29. Kf1 Rc1+ white gets mated.}
27... Qe6 {This allows white to reach a drawn ending.} 28. Qxe6 {White has a
mate threat} 28... Rxe6 29. Rdd7 Nd6 30. Ra6 Nc4 31. b3 Na5 32. Raa7 Rf8 33.
Rd3 Re5 34. Rc7 Rc5 35. Rxc5 bxc5 36. Ne4 Rc8 37. Rc3 c4 38. b4 Nb3 39. Nd6
Rc6 40. Ne4 Kf8 41. b5 Rb6 42. Rxc4 Rxb5 43. Rc7 Rf5 1/2-1/2