In 1945 the minimum wage was $0.40 an hour,
or about $5.70 today. People were listening to Perry Como croon Till The End of
Time and Billy Hollday’s Lover Man (Oh Where Can You Be?).
At the start of the tournament, the 30-year old Perry Ellis was
the dark horse. In the Preliminaries he breezed through with a score of 6.5-0.5
and except for a hiccup against one of the tailenders, he was equally
unstoppable in the finals.
On July 28th, Betty Lou Oliver set the Guinness World Record for the longest
survived elevator fall when a B-25 Mitchell bomber hit the Empire State Building
while she was in the elevator. She fell 80 floors, or almost 900 feet, broke a
few bones and had other injuries, but survived. Read more...
In one of
the most amazing stories of the year, a farmer chopped off a chicken's head,
missed the jugular vein, a clot formed and some of the brain stem survived which
provided basic homeostasis functions...meaning the chicken’s body was able to
maintain a stable internal environment (regulating hormones, body temp, water
balance, etc.). As a result, Mike the Headless Chicken toured in sideshows for
18 months and earned the farmer $4,500 a month at the peak of his
popularity...that’s over $64,000 a month in today's dollars! You can read Mike’s
story HERE.
Also, in 1945 the
following unbelievably cute little fellow was born in July.
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| Tartajubow circa 1950 |
Paul
R. Ellis became the new US Amateur Champion by virtue of his victory in the
National Amateur Championship held in October-November at the Marshall and
Manhattan Chess Clubs.
Chess Review gushed about how the tournament “unearthed
promising material for the next US Championship.” Nothing was further from the
truth except for the rise of Arthur Bisguier (October 8, 1929 – April 5, 2017)
who went on to become a US Chess Hall of Fame member and remained active for
over 6 decades.
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| Ellis |
Ellis learned to play chess at the age of 12 from
other kids in his neighborhood. In 1932 he captained his high school team, but
didn’t play any serious chess during his City College of New York days. During
the period 1933-1936 he played for the Empire City Chess Club in the
Metropolitan Chess League matches in which he scored very well. In those matches
he scored wins over Arnold Denker and Oscar Tenner and drew with Abraham
Kupchlk.
After his college days, Ellis went on a ten year hiatus and played no
tournament chess. His interest was rekindled after he discovered some old
copies of Chess Review and it was this US Amateur that was his first re-entry
into tournament chess. Being unfamiliar with the most recent opening analysis,
he was not too sure of himself in the openings. This uncertainty almost cost him
the tournament in his final round game against E.S. Jackson, Jr. Coming out of
the opening with the advantage, for a long time Jackson held a grip on the
position, but managed to lose it and with it the game.
 |
| Bisguier |
Jackson, the defending
champion, was an aggressive player who always produced interesting games. His
losses to Ellis and a 16-year old Bisguier, who made a favorable impression,
knocked him out of the running.
The unheralded 19-year old Marcy Hanft was in
the running for first place almost to the very end. Hanft learned chess from his
older brother and played for his high school team which won the New York
Interscholastic title in 1942 and the Park Department Senior Championship in
1943. At the time of the tournament Hanft was a civil engineering student at the
City College of New York and played first board on their chess team.
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| Hanft |
Without a
rating list it’s hard to know exactly how good the participants were in 1945,
but it’s interesting to note that on the first USCF rating list published in
November of 1950, Paul Ellis was listed as an Inactive Expert with a rating of
2395. His 2385 rating was a Master’s rating, but at that time he was not rated
as such, having played in only one rated tournament. To be a Master you had to
average a 2300+ rating in at least two tournaments. On that same 1950 list
Jackson had a Master rating (2345) as did Arthur Bisguier (2396). Marcy Hanft
was an Inactive Class A player with a rating of 1967.
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Marcy Hanft - Paul Ellis
Result: 0-1
Event: US Amateur
Date: 1945
Queen's Gambit Declined
[...] 1.c4 ♘f6 2.♘f3 e6 3.d4 d5 4.♘c3 ♘bd7 5.♗g5 ♗e7 6.e3 O-O 7.♕c2 At the time this game was played the Classical QGD was the norm. 7...c6 8.♗d3 dxc4 9.♗xc4 ♘d5 10.♗xe7 ♕xe7 11.a3
34.♖ed1 ♖d5 At this point black's advantage is minimal. Luckily for him, white, after his blunder on move 20 , has played quite well, but his next move allows a fatal intrusion by black's Q. 35.♕b1 This loses. He absolutely had to play 35.Qf2 with equality. 35...♕g3 Niow everything is back on track. 36.♖e1 ♘g5 37.♔f1 f4 Equally good was the immediate 37...Nxh3. Ellis now does a fine job of polishing off his opponent. 38.exf4 e3 39.♕c2 ♖f8 40.♔e2 ♖xf4 41.♕xc6 White finally wins the backward P that was created at move 27! The problem is that white has a mate in 3. 41...♕f2 42.♔d3 ♖fxd4 43.♘xd4 ♕d2# A very nice game by both players.
11.♘e4 ♘5b6 12.♗b3 h6 13.O-O e5 14.♘g3 exd4 15.♘xd4 is equal Tella,J (2425) -Hokkanen,P (2250)/Jyvaskyla FIN 2001
11...♖e8
11...♘xc3 12.♕xc3 ♖e8 13.♖d1 c5 Roensch,I-Knoch,L/Schwerin 1969 is even,
12.♖d1 ♘5b6 13.♗a2 In these position white plays this quite often with the idea of setting up a B+Q battery aimed at h7. 13...e5 Black has freed his game but he still has not solved the problem of his Bc8B. For this reason engines prefer white. 14.♘e4
14.dxe5 only helps black. 14...♘xe5 15.♘xe5 ♕xe5 16.♕e4 ♗f5 Problem solved. 17.♕xe5 ♖xe5 18.O-O The position couldn't be more equal.
14...♘d5 15.♗b1 Black has to think about how to meet the threat to h7. 15...f5 This is best as it attacks the N and is the beginning of K-side maneuvers. 16.♘g3 e4 17.♘d2 ♕g5 18.O-O ♘7f6 19.♖fe1 White has adapted a do nothing policy and while the position might technically be evalutaed at dead equal by the engines, practically speaking black has the better chances because he can actually undertake something. 19...♘g4 20.h3 This move is a tactical blunder. 20...♘gxe3 After this white probably wanted to kick himself! 21.fxe3 ♕xg3 White is to be admired...after losing a P to a stupid mistake he now puts up a manly resistance. 22.♘f1 ♕g5 23.♗a2 A nice little move aimed at improving the position of what has become a poorly placed B. 23...♗e6 24.♗c4 ♖ad8 25.b4 White has dreams of creating play on the Q-side with a minority attack with a4 and b5. 25...a6 Ellis takes time out to stifle any counterplay. 26.♖b1 ♖d6 27.a4 b5 Creating a backward P that will eventually be lost. See move 41. 28.♗a2
28.axb5 This opens up the a-file but there's not really anything white can accomplish with it. 28...axb5 29.♗xd5 ♗xd5 Black is left with a bad B, but it's of no significance. Potentially it could go to c5 or after ...f5 it could go to e6. 30.♖a1 ♖f6 31.♖a7 ♖ef8 32.♖ea1 f4 and black is winning.
28...♕d8 Black patiently awaits further developments. He has an interesting try with 28...f4 though.
28...f4 29.exf4 ♘xf4 30.♖xe4 ♘xh3 31.♔h1 With a rather curious position. Clearly black is better, but there is no way to land an immediate knockout.
29.a5 After this all hope of creating any counterplay has disappeared. Therefore he should have at least tried 29.axb5. 29...♘c7 30.♘d2 ♔h8 31.♗xe6 ♘xe6 32.♘b3 Black needs to put his N on d5 so now he should play 32...Nd7. 32...♕c7 33.♖bc1 Black has become overly concerned about defending his c-Pawn and the result of this needless twiddling he allows white to equalize. 33...♖c8
33...♘g5 This was his only chance of gettin g back on the right track. the threat is ...Nxh3+ 34.♕f2 (34.♘c5 ♘xh3 35.gxh3 ♖g6 36.♔h1 ♕g3 with a winning attack.) 34...♖g6 The only correct move.
34...♘xh3 35.gxh3 ♖g6 36.♔f1 and white has reasonable defensive resources.
35.♔h1 ♖h6 36.h4 ♕e7 The threat is ...Nf3 37.♘d2 ♘e6 and white's position is very difficult. Powered by Aquarium
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