A Sammy Simul Over A Hundred Years Ago

     August of 1920 was a newsworthy month in Great Britain. The first Congress of the Communist Party of Great Britain opened. There were Catholic riots in Belfast in protest of the continuing British Army presence. After two weeks the Restoration of Order in Ireland Act received Royal backing and the bill provided for Irish Republican Army activists to be tried by court-martial rather than by jury in criminal courts. Even so, on August 29th eleven died and forty were injured in street battles in Belfast. 

     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.

[Event "Simultaneous, Leeds, England"] [Site "Leeds ENG"] [Date "1920.08.31"] [Round "?"] [White "Samuel Reshevsky"] [Black "G. W. Beaumont"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C34"] [Annotator "Stockfish 14.1"] [PlyCount "59"] [EventDate "1920.??.??"] {King's Gambit Accepted} 1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 d6 4. Bc4 Be6 {Black is taking no chances. Usual is 4...h6 or 4...g5} 5. Bxe6 fxe6 6. d4 g5 {Already a mistake that should have given white a nice advantage.} (6... e5 7. Nc3 Nd7 8. g3 fxg3 9. hxg3 c6 {is completely equal.}) 7. O-O {This allows black to seize the initiative.} (7. h4 {gives white an advantage.} Be7 (7... gxh4 {is better.} 8. Nc3 Bh6 9. Nxh4 {with only a modest advantage for white.}) 8. Nxg5 Bxg5 9. Qh5+ Kd7 10. hxg5 Ne7 11. Bxf4 {White is winning, technically at least. Gardner,R (2185)-Czebe,A (2340) Budapest II 1995}) 7... h6 (7... Bg7 {as in Georgiev,G (2155)-Hesselbarth,K (1952) Berlin 2005 was a good plan.} 8. Nc3 Nd7 9. g3 e5 {Better was 9...g5} 10. dxe5 dxe5 {with equal chances.}) (7... Nd7 { was played in Xuereb,J-Feger,D Manila 1992 which continued} 8. Nc3 a6 9. b3 Qe7 10. h3 O-O-O {with an excellent game.}) 8. Qe2 a6 {Rather pointless. 8...Bg7 was good.} (8... Bg7 9. Qb5+ {winning the b-Pawn is very bad. He should ignore it and play 9.c3} Nc6 10. Qxb7 Nxd4 11. Nxd4 Bxd4+ 12. Kh1 e5 {This position is winning for black.}) 9. Ne1 {Better was the immediate undermining of black's Ps with 9.g3} Qe7 10. g3 e5 11. Nc3 Nf6 (11... exd4 {is a a serious error because after} 12. Nd5 Qg7 13. Bxf4 {A nasty surprise that leaves white with a near winning position. Note that the B cannot be taken.} gxf4 14. Qh5+ Kd7 15. Nd3 Nf6 16. Qf5+ Kc6 17. N3b4+ Kc5 18. Nxf6+ Kb6 (18... Kxb4 19. a3+ { mate next move}) 19. Ne8 Qg5 20. Nd5+ Ka7 21. Rxf4 {White is clearly winning.}) 12. dxe5 dxe5 13. Nd3 {[%cal Rg3f4]} Nc6 14. Nd5 Nxd5 {After this the evaluation is back to equal.} (14... Qg7 {leaves white at a loss for a really good continuation.} 15. b4 O-O-O 16. c4 (16. Bb2 Nxd5 17. exd5 Rxd5) 16... Nd4 {Black is winning.}) 15. exd5 Nd4 16. Qh5+ Kd8 17. Bd2 Qf6 {This looks harmless, but it actually a mistake. Correct was 17...e4} 18. Nxe5 {Flashy, but not the best.} (18. Rae1 Bd6 19. gxf4 gxf4 {and only now...} 20. Nxe5 Bxe5 21. Rxe5 Rg8+ 22. Kh1 Qg7 23. Qh4+ Kd7 24. Qh3+ Qg4 25. Qxg4+ Rxg4 26. c3 Nb5 27. Rxf4 {with good winning chances in the ending.}) 18... Rh7 {[%mdl 8192] This results in total collapse.} (18... Qxe5 19. Rae1 Ne2+ 20. Rxe2 Bc5+ 21. Kg2 Qxd5+ 22. Rf3 {with equal chances.} (22. Qf3 Qxf3+ 23. Rxf3 fxg3 {gives black slightly the better chances in the ending.}) 22... Kc8) 19. Rae1 { White is now clearly winning.} Bd6 20. gxf4 {[%cal Bg3f4,Bf4g5,Bg5h6,Bh6h7] [%mdl 32]} Bc5 21. Kh1 c6 22. fxg5 Qd6 23. Nf7+ Rxf7 24. Qxf7 {[%csl Gf7][%cal Re1e8]} Qxd5+ 25. Qxd5+ cxd5 26. gxh6 Kc7 27. h7 Rh8 28. Rf7+ Kb8 29. Bf4+ Ka7 30. Be5 {Black resigned.} 1-0