Yanofsky Wins At Ventnor City 1942

     In politics, based on real, but unreasonable fear, by Executive Order of President Roosevelt the year 1942 saw more than 120,000 Japanese and persons of Japanese ancestry living in western US moved to "relocation centers," some for the duration of the war. 
     A curious bit of trivia: from 1942 through the end of the war, Hawaii had its own unique US banknotes. In case of Japanese invasion, the US government would have declared the notes worthless to prevent use by Japanese troops. 
     More trivia: In the original cut of the film To Be or Not To Be, actress Carole Lombard's character spoke the line, "What can happen on a plane?" The line was removed before the movie was released, because in the interim Carole Lombard (October 6, 1908 - January 16, 1942) died in a plane crash. 
     At the end of 1941, Lombard had traveled to her home state of Indiana for a war bond rally with her mother, Bess Peters, and Clark Gable's press agent, Otto Winkler. Her party had initially been scheduled to return to Los Angeles by train, but Lombard was anxious to reach home more quickly and wanted to fly by a scheduled airline. Her mother and Winkler were both afraid of flying and insisted they follow their original travel plans. Lombard suggested they flip a coin; they agreed and Lombard won the toss. In the early morning hours of January 16, 1942, the three of them boarded a Transcontinental and Western Air flight to return to California. 
     After refueling in Las Vegas, the plane took off at 7:07 p.m. and crashed into "Double Up Peak" near the 8,300-foot level of Potosi Mountain, 32 miles SW of the Las Vegas airport. All 22 aboard, including 15 soldiers, were killed instantly. The cause of the crash was determined to be linked to the pilot and crew's inability to properly navigate over the mountains surrounding Las Vegas. 
     As a precaution against the possibility of enemy Japanese bomber aircraft coming into American airspace from the Pacific, safety beacons used to direct night flights were turned off, leaving the pilot and crew of the flight without visual warnings of the mountains in their flight path. 
    In an even more curious bit of trivia, the BBC banned the song Deep In the Heart of Texas during work hours. Why? They did it on the grounds that its infectious melody might cause wartime factory workers to neglect their tools while they clapped in time with the song. Amazing! 


     
     In another tragic event the Coconut Grove nightclub fire in Boston killed 492. The Coconut Grove was a premier nightclub during the post-Prohibition 1930s and 1940s. On November 28, 1942, it was the scene of the deadliest nightclub fire in history, claiming a total of 492 lives (which was 32 more than the building's authorized capacity) and injuring hundreds more. The scale of the tragedy shocked the nation and briefly replaced the events of World War II in newspaper headlines. It led to a reform of safety standards and codes across America, and to major changes in the treatment and rehabilitation of burn victims internationally. 
     Official reports stated that the fire started at about 10:15 pm in the dark, intimate Melody Lounge downstairs. Goody Goodelle, a young pianist and singer, was performing on a revolving stage surrounded by artificial palm trees. The lounge was lit by low-powered light bulbs in coconut-styled sconces beneath the fronds. 
     A young man, possibly a soldier, had unscrewed a light bulb in order to give himself and his date privacy. Stanley Tomaszewski, a 16-year-old busboy, was instructed to put the light back on by tightening the bulb. He stepped up onto a chair to reach the light in the darkened corner. Unable to see the bulb, he lit a match to illuminate the area, tightened the bulb, and extinguished the match. Witnesses first saw flames in the fronds, which were just below the ceiling, immediately afterward. Though the lit match had been close to the same fronds where the fire started, the official report determined that Tomaszewski's actions weren’t responsible and so the cause of the fire was listed as being of unknown origin. 
     Even with a World War going on, life went on...unless you were one of the unfortunate chessplayers who didn’t make it that year. 
     Russian master Samuil Vainshtein (1894-1942) died of starvation during the siege of Leningrad as did problem composer Karl Leonid Kubbel (1891-1942). Another Russian master, Ilya Rabinovich (1891-1942) died from malnutrition after the siege of Leningrad. He was evacuated from Leningrad, but died of malnutrition in a hospital in Perm. Alexey Troitzky (1866-1942), the founder of the modern study composition who is considered to have been one of the greatest composers of chess endgame studies also died of starvation during the siege of Leningrad. 
     The famous Russian master Peter Romanovsky survived the siege of Leningrad, but his wife, their three daughters and their housekeeper all died of hunger and sickness. The promising Russian master Sergey Belavenets (1910-1942) died in combat at Staraya, Russia at the age of 31. Russian master Sergey Lebedev (1868-1942) died in Russia at the end of the year. The Russians also lost Nikolai Ryumin (1908-1942) who died of tuberculosis in Omsk, Siberia at the age of 34. 
     Other famous players who perished in 1942 were: The Polish master Henryk Friedman (1903-1942) who died in a Nazi concentration camp as did Austrian mater Simon Rubinstein (1910-1942). Czech master Emil Zinner (1909-1942) died in the Majdanek, Poland concentration camp at the age of 32. Polish-Frenchmaster Leon Schwartzmann (1887-1942) died in Auschwitz. 
     1942 also saw the deaths of Alexander Wagner (1868-1942), a Polish correspondence master and theoretician who died in Eastern Galicia. The German master Reinhold Bluemich (1886-1942) died in Falkenberg, Germany and Russian-Finnish master Anatol Tschepurnoff (1871-1942) died in Helsinki at the age of 70. Hungarian master Istvan Abonyi (1886-1942) died in Budapest, Hungary at the age of 55. Uruguayan master Julio Balparda (1900-1942) died in Montevideo. 
     In late December 1942, Alekhine fell ill and nearly died from scarlet fever in Prague. He was treated at the same hospital that Richard Reti died in 1929 from scarlet fever. Alekhine claimed that as soon as he was out of the hospital, he was obliged to take part in various German exhibitions and tournaments otherwise his ration cards would be withdrawn.  
     Two other famous players did die for real in 1942. On March 8, 1942, Capablanca died in Manhattan at the age of 53 after he collapsed at the Manhattan Chess Club the day before. He never regained consciousness after collapsing and he was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he died the next morning from "a cerebral hemorrhage provoked by hypertension". 
     Then on August 20, 1942, Rudolf Spielmann (1883-1942) died in Stockholm at the age of 59. One source says he starved to death and another says he died in a hospital suffering from Parkinson’s disease. 
     The US lost three well known players. On February 17, 1942, attorney Walter Penn Shipley (1860-1942) died in Philadelphia at the age of 81. He was a well-known organizer and chess patron who wrote a chess column in the Philadelphia Inquirer. 
     On August 16, master Leon Rosen (1869-1942) died in New York and a few days later, on August 21, Russian-American master Vladimir Sournin (1875-1942) died in Baltimore at the age of 67. He was the Washington D.C. champion in 1932 and 1933, and 1938. 
     In chess action in 1942, Mona Karff won the US Women's championship. The first U.S. Speed Championship was held in New York and it was won by Reuben Fine. 
     The 1942 US championship which was held September-October that year will forever be remembered because Arnold Denker lost the championship when Reshevsky overstepped the time limit and the tournament director, L. Walter Stephens, walked up behind the clock and flipped it around, looked at it backwards and declared that Denker’s flag had fallen. He refused to acknowledge his mistake and change his decision, and so Reshevsky eventually won the title. 
     In 1942 Canada's young champion, 18-year old Abe Yanofsky, outplayed some of America's leading masters and captured first prize at Ventnor City's 4th annual Invitational Tournament, held at the new Municipal Pier, Ventnor City, N. J., from June 20th to 28th. A couple of months later, in August, Yanofsky tied for first with Herman Steiner in the US Open, held in Dallas. 
     Yanofsky had just concluded a Canadian tour during which he gave 25 simultaneous exhibitions and piled up the spectacular score of 106 wins, 8 losses and 26 draws. 

     Yanofsky scored easy wins in the first two rounds, but was soundly trounced by Jacob Levin and Louis Levy in Rounds 3 and 4. After that he settled down and went undefeated in the remaining rounds, clinching first and $106 in prize money by defeating Walter Suesman in the last round. 
     Philadelphia's Jacob Levin, who won the Ventnor tournament the previous year, took the second prize as the result of his defeat of Sidney Bernstein in an adjourned game from the final round. 
     Ex- champion of the Manhattan Club, Jacob Moscowitz surprised everybody by losing his first two round games on time. Moscowitz was famous as a lightning player who won scores of rapid transit events and he had never been known to have lost on time before. 
     In the first game he was a Rook up against Jeremiah Donovan and had an easy win. Donovan was also in time trouble and in the scramble, Moscowitz actually started to offer condolences to Donovan for having lost on time, but then realized it was himself who had overstepped the time limit! 
     According to Moscowitz, his time forfeits could be attributed to a young ragamuffin known locally as "Donald Duck" who had attached himself to Moscowitz as he was walking to the venue on the first day of the tournament. Moscowitz tried to shake off the kid by telling the kid that he was on his way to keep an appointment with the “Bogeyman." After Moscowitz’ loss, as he was leaving the site, Donald Duck was waiting for him and wanted to know if the "bogeyman had beaten him up." The answer was yes. 
     The same routine was repeated the second day when Moscowitz lost to Levin on time. Thereafter. he took a different route to avoid meeting Donald Duck. His strategy was successful because he lost no more games. 
     Albert Pinkus, another ex-champion of the Manhattan Chess Club, was brilliant but erratic. At Ventnor the previous year he won the brilliancy prize and did so again this year for his win against George Shainswit. 
     Shainswit was capable or playing interesting. even brilliant chess. but he seldom really let his imagination have full reign. Jeremiah Donovan was out of practice and Louis Levy was a disappointment. The general feeling was he needed more experience. 
     Southern Champion L. Russell Chauvenet, of Esmont, Virginia and Walter B. Suesman, or Providence. Rhode Island were just outclassed in this tournament. 

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[Event "Ventnor City"] [Site "?"] [Date "1942.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Albert S. Pinkus"] [Black "George Shainswit"] [Result "1-0"] [Annotator "Stockfish 11 64 (12s)"] [ECO "D26"] [EventDate "1942.??.??"] [PlyCount "55"] {Queen's Gambit Accepted} 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. c4 {Nowadays attention has shifted to the old move 4.Bd3 as a good way to meet the Caro-Kann.} 4... Nf6 5. Nc3 e6 6. Nf3 dxc4 7. Bxc4 Be7 8. O-O O-O 9. Bf4 Nc6 10. Re1 a6 (10... Na5 11. Bd3 b6 12. Qe2 Bb7 13. Rad1 Rc8 14. Bb1 Nd5 15. Qd3 g6 16. Bh6 Re8 {with equality as in Tregubov,P (2575)-Vallejo Pons,F (2707)/Riyadh 2017.}) 11. Rc1 Bd7 (11... b5 {leads to equality after} 12. d5 {Always be alert for this move in these kinds of positions!} 12... Nxd5 13. Nxd5 bxc4 (13... exd5 {loses} 14. Bxd5 Bb7 15. Bxc6 {winning a piece})14. Nxe7+ Nxe7 15. Rxc4 Qxd1 16. Rxd1) 12. Ne5 Rc8 13. Bb3 {Here black has several good coices that keep the position even: 13...b5, 13...Bb4 and 13...Na5.} 13... Nxe5 {The problem with this is almost immediately apparent.} 14. dxe5 {Now he loses a P after 14. ..Nd5, so there is only one square available.} 14... Ne8 15. Qg4 {This is advantageous to white, but it wasn't the most forceful continuation.} (15. Re3 {leads to a tremendously strong attack.} 15... Bc6 16. Qh5 {and the threat of Rh3 and Bc2 can't be met in any satisfactory way.}) 15... Bc6 16. Red1 Qa5 {This looks reasonable, but 16...Qc7 was a better defense.} (16... Qc7 {and now white must continue his attack with moves like 17.h4 or possibly repositioning his N with Ne2-d4 or maybe even 17.Ne4, but he must avoid 17.Nd5 that he can play after 16...Qa5.} 17. Nd5 exd5 18. Bxd5 Rd8 19. e6 Qa5 20. exf7+ Rxf7 21. Bxf7+ Kxf7 {and black has the advantage.}) 17. Nd5 {White has already established a winning position, but this is the beginning of the fireworks. Black has to take the N.} 17... exd5 {White has a superior position and this is the beginning of the fireworks. The N must be taken.} 18. Qxc8 Nc7 19. Bd2 { Eliminating Qs woudl do black no good as white would have a won ending.} 19... Qb6 20. Be3 Qa5 21. Qg4 Ne6 22. f4 {Beginning a decisive attack on the K.} 22... d4 23. Bd2 Qd8 24. f5 {Threatening Bh6.} 24... h5 {Deflecting the Q.} 25. Qxh5 Nc5 26. f6 gxf6 27. exf6 Nxb3 28. Qg5+ {It's mate next move so Shainswit resigned.} 1-0