The Labour Party said it would call for a general strike if the United Kingdom declared war on Russia.
But it wasn't all bad news. The Blind Persons Act passed. It was the world's first disability-specific legislation and it provided a pension allowance for blind persons aged between 50 and 70 years of age and it directed local authorities to make provision for the welfare of blind people and regulating charities.
Mid-August saw the first night bus services in London. And, excitement was generated when the first games in the new Football (soccer to some of us) League Third Division were played by the 22 clubs who were elected to the new division from the Southern League.
On September 1st, the Yorkshire Evening Post reported that the talk of the day among Yorkshire chess players was the amazing skill of an eight-year-old Jewish boy from Poland named Szmul Rzeszewski.
On the previous night "Sammy" as he was called, who was was visiting Leeds and Harrogate which is up the road about 17 miles with his father, appeared at the Queens Hotel in Leeds where he engaged in 15 simultaneous games with the best local players; he won eleven, lost one and drew three. The game he lost was that against Mr. S. Leader who was considered one of the best players in Yorkshire.
By the way, today the Queens Hotel, one of the most spectacular in Leeds, is a four star hotel near the train station and features conference and meeting facilities and a wonderful restaurant, all accompanied by classic 1950s Art Deco-style bedrooms.
According to the paper everybody who saw the little fellow flitting from board to board and making moves that puzzled most of the players agreed that he was one of the marvels of the age.
The paper commented on the fact that the boy looked extraordinarily intelligent, adding that he was "old for his years."
Additionally, it's likely that young Sammy had a big head for his age. The paper reported that he took something over a size seven in hats. I am not sure, but hat sizes probably have not changed since then and a size 7 and 7.125 is considered medium, a 7.25 and 7.375 large and anything over that and you're getting into the XL and XXL category.
According to the paper Reshevsky had two brothers and three sisters, but I was unable to locate even a scrap of information on any of them. His obituary only referenced that he was survived by his wife, a son and two daughters. The paper's account of the visit only stated that the other siblings were "just ordinary children with none of Samuel's precocity."
At the time he was being schooled by a tutor and the plan was to "withdraw" him from chess before it "had the effect of making him one-sided" and he would be trained for "one of the professions."
The exhibition lasted nearly four hours and at the finish he had to allow three games to be drawn even though he thought he could beat his opponents.
You can read an interview with Reshevsky starting on page 8 in the November 1991 issue of Chess Life HERE.
The following game was played in the Leeds simul and Gerald Abrahams claimed Reshevsky regarded the game a "quite meritorious," but it was not included in his book of best games. However, Fred Reinfeld supposedly ghosted the book and that may explain its omission.
Samuel Reshevsky–G. W. Beaumont1–0C34Simultaneous, Leeds, EnglandLeeds ENG31.08.1920Stockfish 14.1
King's Gambit Accepted 1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.f3 d6 4.c4 e6 Black is
taking no chances. Usual is 4...h6 or 4...g5 5.xe6 fxe6 6.d4 g5 Already a
mistake that should have given white a nice advantage. 6...e5 7.c3 d7 8.g3 fxg3 9.hxg3 c6 is completely equal. 7.0-0 This allows black to seize
the initiative. 7.h4 gives white an advantage. e7 7...gxh4 is better. 8.c3 h6 9.xh4 with only a modest advantage for white. 8.xg5 xg5 9.h5+ d7 10.hxg5 e7 11.xf4 White is winning, technically at least.
Gardner,R (2185)-Czebe,A (2340) Budapest II 1995 7...h6 7...g7 as in
Georgiev,G (2155)-Hesselbarth,K (1952) Berlin 2005 was a good plan. 8.c3 d7 9.g3 e5 Better was 9...g5 10.dxe5 dxe5 with equal chances. 7...d7
was played in Xuereb,J-Feger,D Manila 1992 which continued 8.c3 a6 9.b3 e7 10.h3 0-0-0 with an excellent game. 8.e2 a6 Rather pointless. 8...Bg7
was good. 8...g7 9.b5+ winning the b-Pawn is very bad. He should ignore
it and play 9.c3 c6 10.xb7 xd4 11.xd4 xd4+ 12.h1 e5 This position
is winning for black. 9.e1 Better was the immediate undermining of
black's Ps with 9.g3 e7 10.g3 e5 11.c3 f6 11...exd4 is a a serious
error because after 12.d5 g7 13.xf4 A nasty surprise that leaves white
with a near winning position. Note that the B cannot be taken. gxf4 14.h5+ d7 15.d3 f6 16.f5+ c6 17.3b4+ c5 18.xf6+ b6 18...xb4 19.a3+
mate next move 19.e8 g5 20.d5+ a7 21.xf4 White is clearly winning. 12.dxe5 dxe5 13.d3 c6 14.d5 xd5 After this the
evaluation is back to equal. 14...g7 leaves white at a loss for a really
good continuation. 15.b4 0-0-0 16.c4 16.b2 xd5 17.exd5 xd5 16...d4 Black is winning. 15.exd5 d4 16.h5+ d8 17.d2 f6 This looks
harmless, but it actually a mistake. Correct was 17...e4 18.xe5 Flashy,
but not the best. 18.ae1 d6 19.gxf4 gxf4 and only now... 20.xe5 xe5 21.xe5 g8+ 22.h1 g7 23.h4+ d7 24.h3+ g4 25.xg4+ xg4 26.c3 b5 27.xf4 with good winning chances in the ending. 18...h7
This results in total collapse. 18...xe5 19.ae1 e2+ 20.xe2 c5+ 21.g2 xd5+ 22.f3 with equal chances. 22.f3 xf3+ 23.xf3 fxg3 gives
black slightly the better chances in the ending. 22...c8 19.ae1
White is now clearly winning. d6 20.gxf4
c5 21.h1 c6 22.fxg5 d6 23.f7+ xf7 24.xf7 xd5+ 25.xd5+ cxd5 26.gxh6 c7 27.h7 h8 28.f7+ b8 29.f4+ a7 30.e5 Black resigned. 1–0
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