Due to perceived discrimination and the unpopularity of the Vietnam War, the draft became a major social issue. There were numerous demonstrations and many young men, including a couple of future Presidents, evaded the draft through technicalities or fraud; thousands fled to Canada or went to prison. In 1973 the draft was abolished in favor of an all-volunteer army.
The first Social Security benefit checks were paid out on January 30, 1940. Fortunately, they have not yet been abolished. The Pennsylvania Turnpike,the first multi-lane U.S. superhighway opened as did the first Los Angeles freeway. The first McDonald’s opened in Pasadena, California. The turnpike is still there and the freeways have proliferated as has the infestation of McDonald’s with their nasty tasting hamburgers.
It’s a modern marvel that something that tastes so bad can be so popular. It has to be due to the relentless, omnipresent, life-long barrage of advertising we are exposed to. In all fairness though, I think their breakfast menu isn’t bad and they have the best coffee around.
The 1940 US bi-annual championship was played the Astor Hotel in New York City April 27th to 19th. The following were invited to play without having to qualify in preliminary events: Reshevsky, Marshall, Simonson, Denker, Hanauer, Kupchlk, Fine, Kashdan, Horowitz, Dake, Littman, Adams, Polland, plus one player to be selected from the Chicago area chess clubs and one from those In California.
Former champion Frank Marshall decided not to compete and injuries from a bad auto accident prevented Horowitz from playing. See my post on Horowitz’ accident HERE.
Preliminary tournaments were played at the Marshall, Manhattan and West Side clubs with the following players: Group A: Shainswit, Pinkus, Saltzburg, Jackson, Hallman, McCormick, Winkler and Bernstein. Group B: Treysman, Bernstein, Green, Soudakoff, Friend, Murdoch, Forster, Banister and Barron. Group C: Reinfeld, Seidman, Ulvestad, Feldman, Frere, Battell, Khotinlansky, Fulop and Miss Adele Raettig. E.S. Jackson and George Treysman ultimately withdrew.
Adele Raettig (1889-1972) lived in Hoboken, New Jersey and was also the only female in the 1936 and 1940 US Championships. She also played in several women’s championships with modest results. Raettig held a patent issued in 1940 for a simple to use and inexpensive device for dividing angles into any number of predetermined parts. She was also issued a patent in 1946 for a magnetically operated switch used for energizing or otherwise influencing any one of several circuits.
Group A was won by George Shainswit and Albert Pinkus. Group B by Sidney Bernstein and Matthew Green (after a tie with Jack Soudakoff). Group C was won by Herbert Seidman and Fred Reinfeld (after a tie with Olaf Ulvestad). The only non-New Yorkers qualifying from the prelims were Weaver Adams from Boston, Gustave Littman from Miami and Philip Woliston from Los Angeles.
In one of the most bitterly fought contests in the history of the championship, Samuel Reshevsky won for the third successive time, but he needed all of the technical skill for which he was noted.
Reshevsky was in poor health during the tournament, but in spite of that he didn’t lose a game. He was a half point ahead of Fine going into the last round and needed only a draw to keep his title.
Fine and Reshevsky met in the last round. Fine had white and the opening was a Two Knights Defense in which Reshevsky seemed unable to find his bearings and after 26 moves Fine was a Pawn up with the better position, but inexact play allowed Reshesvky to escape with a draw and keep his title.
Reshevsky was widely regarded as a positional player and that’s how he described his own play. However, both Arnold Denker and Reuben Fine, disagreed. Both wrote that his true strength was in his phenomenal tactical ability. Unlike great attacking players, Reshevsky generally used his tactical ability to find hidden defensive resources or win endings. It was said he could calculate tactics “like an adding machine” and Denker described playing Reshevsky was like trying to shake a pitbull off your leg.
Naturally, with Reshevsky, Fine and Kashdan playing the tournament produced a number of great games, one of which was Weaver Adams crush of Gustave Littman. Little is known of Littman except that in the mid-1930s he served as secretary of the Miami Chess Club.
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