To begin with, on January 5th former President (from 1923 tp 1929) Calvin Coolidge suddenly died in his home from coronary thrombosis at 12:45 p.m., January 5; he was only 60 years old.
In January of 1933, Herman
Steiner formed the International Chess Club which was later called the
Hollywood Chess Group. In March E. Richard Schayer became the new
president of the Hollywood Chess Club...he was a screenwriter who wrote
over 100 films between 1916 and 1956. A few had chess scenes in the
scripts.
Also in
January, Isaac Kashdan published the first edition of Chess Review
magazine. Al Horowitz, who soon took over the magazine, was the
Associate Editor. The magazine also had a section on Contract Bridge
which was discontinued after only three issues.
Skipping ahead to the Chicago World's Fair, Sally Rand (1904-1979), a burlesque dancer most well-known for her performances of the bubble dance and the fan dance created a sensation when she performed the fan dance at the fair. Her performances got her arrested numerous times, including four times in one day and was, not surprisingly, the most popular draw at the entire fair and her drawing power was one of the reasons it quickly made a profit.
Her performances were not without controversy even in the libertine period preceding the Second World War and they left the moral crusaders outraged. But, when a Chicago judge ruled that the dance could not be deemed anything other than art, the critics were silenced.
In June the National Chess Federation organized a chess program for the Fair and World champion Alexander Alekhine played a blindfold simultaneous exhibition on 32 boards that lasted over 12 hours. He scored +19 -4 =9 which was a new world record for blindfold play. A masters tournament had been planned, but was called off due to lack of funds.
Reuben Fine won the Marshall Chess Club championship and Marjorie Luce (aka Mrs. William Seaman) won club's women's championship with an 11-0 score.
The strong, but little known master Robert Willman and Abraham Kupchik tied for first place in the Manhattan Chess Club championship. Kupchik defeated Willman in the playoff.
In Syracuse, Fred Reinfeld took the New York State championship with an undefeated 9.5 -1.5 score. Arnold Denker finished second with Reuben Fine and Anthony Santasiere finishing tied for 3rd .
In May a tournament was held to select players to join Frank Marshall and Isaac Kashdan on the US team for the Olympiad in England. Reuben Fine, Arthur Dake and Albert C. Simonson qualified by beating out Denker, Horowitz, Willman, Levenstein, Reinfeld, Bechkardt, Schwartz, and Hassialia.
At the Folkestone Olympiad (at the time called the International Team Tournament for the Hamilton-Russell Cup) the US team (Kashdan, Marshall, Fine, Dake, Simonson) took first place. The Women's World Championship was held in conjunction and Vera Menchik retained her title.
In August, Reuben Fine defeated Arthur Dake in a match in New York when he scored +4 -2 =3. In Detroit in late September and early October Reuben Fine won the Western Open. Samuel Reshevsky was 2nd and Arthur Dake 3rd.
Beginning in January the Metropolitan Chess League of New York started the season with 12 teams: West Side YMCA, Queens CC, Manhattan CC, Columbia University, Hungarian Workers, Scandinavians, Marshall CC, New York University, Empire City CC, International CC, City College of New York, and Caissa CC.
The poor Columbia team got shut out; they lost all 11 matches. The Marshall club (Reuben Fine, Frank Marshall, Arthur Dake, Erling Tholfsen, Fren Reinfeld, Anthony Santasiere, Franklin S. Howard, and Nat Grossman), on the other hand, won all 11 of their matches.
It was the third title in row for the Marshall Chess Club and each time they met and defeated the Manhattan Chess Club in the final round. The pairings:
In today's game Isaac Kashdan defeated Reuben Fine in Manhattan's only win.
[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1933.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "I. Kashdan (Manhattan), R. Fine (Marshall)"]
[Black "Met League Match. New York"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A00"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 14.1"]
[PlyCount "107"]
[EventDate "1933.??.??"]
{QGD, Slav Defense} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Nf3 dxc4 5. a4 {This
prevents ...b5} (5. e3 {is playable, but rarely seen.} b5 6. a4 b4 (6... a6 {
is very bad on account of} 7. axb5 cxb5 8. Nxb5) 7. Nb1 Ba6 8. Be2 e6 9. O-O {
with equal chances.}) 5... Bf5 6. e3 {ALso good are 6.Nh4 and 6.Ne5} e6 {
Nowadays this is universally played, but at the time 6...Na6 was sometimes
seen.} (6... Na6 7. Bxc4 Nb4 8. O-O {and Fine observed that in spite of
appearances, the N on b4 is not well placed because it's too far from the
K-side which will be the scene of action.}) 7. Bxc4 Bb4 8. O-O O-O 9. Qb3 {
With this move white gets some pressure on the Q-side, but a better plan is 9.
Qe2 with the idea of playing e3-e4.} Qe7 (9... Bxc3 {This is not a good idea
because white would then get the good square a3 for his B.} 10. bxc3 Qb6 (10...
c5 {is also possible, but in that case} 11. Ne5 Nbd7 12. Nxd7 Qxd7 13. f3 {
followed by e4 which leaves white clearly better.}) 11. Ba3) 10. Bd2 Nbd7 (
10... c5 {was a good move.} 11. d5 {Better than Fine's suggestion of 11.dxc5}
exd5 12. Nxd5 Nxd5 13. Bxd5 Nc6 {This is an excellent move because capturing
the N leaves black with control of key central squares as compensation for the
doubled Ps.}) 11. Rfe1 {Preparing the advance of the e-Pawn which he could
have played at once.} (11. Rfd1 {Although this move lead to equality in
Tolstikh,N (2312)-Baraeva,M (2179) Sochi 2017, strategically white is barking
up the wrong tree.} a5 12. Na2 Bd6 13. Bf1 c5 14. Nc3) (11. e4 Bxc3 12. exf5
Bxd2 13. Nxd2 exf5 14. Qxb7 {with equal chances.}) 11... h6 {After this white
gets the advantage.} (11... a5 {This is the equalizer.} 12. e4 Bg6 13. e5 Nd5
14. Bg5 Qe8 15. Nh4 N7b6 {Safarian,A (2058)-Hamilton,D (2264) Penrith 2003}) (
11... Nb6 {This is to white's advantage after} 12. Bf1 a5 {and now white
should have played 13.e4. Izsak,G (2330)-Mokcsay,R (2295) Gyor 1992} 13. e4 {
[%eval 101,27] [%wdl 318,680,2] [%emt 0:00:58]} Bg6 {[%eval 80,12] [%wdl 213,
783,4] [%emt 0:00:00]} 14. Bg5 {[%eval 98,16] [%wdl 306,692,2] [%emt 0:00:00]})
(11... Bg4 {has also been tried.} 12. Ne4 Nxe4 13. Bxb4 c5 {Klaver,C (2098)
-Dole,A (2113) Cape Town 2011 and now white is slightly better after 14.Nd2})
12. e4 {[%cal Be3e4,Be4e5][%mdl 32]} Bh7 13. e5 {With this move white gains a
significant edge.} Ne8 14. a5 Nc7 15. Ne4 {Fine did not like this move which
he claimed relieves black's game. Instead he preferred 15.Ra4 with an
excalmation mark. Stockfish disagrees and give the ! to 15.Ne4} (15. Ra4 Bxc3 {
According to Stockfish, Fine's 15...c5 stinks.} 16. bxc3 b5 17. axb6 axb6 {
with equality.}) 15... Bxd2 16. Nfxd2 Rab8 17. Re3 (17. Nd6 {Another fine move
Fine did not like, but Stockfish does.} Rfd8 18. Nxb7 {and white is better.
There is no way black can take advantage of the pinned N.} (18. Rac1 {is
perhaps safer.} Ne8 19. Nxb7 Nxe5 20. a6 Nxc4 21. Nxc4 Rxd4 {White is better
here, too.}) 18... Nc5 19. dxc5 Rxd2 20. a6 {favors white}) 17... c5 18. Nxc5
Nxc5 19. dxc5 Qxc5 20. Qa3 {White has the better P-formation, but black has
active play and so Kashdan wants to exchange Qs, but in doing so he allows
black to gain a slight advantage.} (20. Bf1 {is an odd looking retreat, but it
gets the B out of the way of the Rs and in some lines makes c4 available to
the N. After} Nd5 21. Ree1 b5 22. axb6 Nxb6 23. Qc3 (23. Rxa7 Nc4 {attacking
the R and N}) 23... Qxc3 24. bxc3 Rfc8 25. Rxa7 Rxc3 {with a likely draw.})
20... Qd4 21. Qc3 Rfd8 22. Nf3 (22. Qxd4 Rxd4 {wins a piece.}) 22... Qxc3 23.
Rxc3 Be4 24. Be2 Bc6 25. Rac1 Rd5 {The wrong piece lands on d5} (25... Nd5 26.
Rb3 Nf4 27. Bf1 Bd5 28. Rbc3 Ng6 {and black has the initiative.}) 26. a6 {
Black must now prevent axb7 and so white has equalized.} Ne8 27. axb7 {White
willnow initiate an attack on the a-Pawn.} Bxb7 28. Ra3 a5 29. h3 Kf8 30. b3
Ke7 31. Rca1 Nc7 (31... Rc5 {was also quite good.} 32. Rxa5 Rxa5 33. Rxa5 Bxf3
34. Bxf3 Rxb3 {with a draw.}) 32. Bc4 Rd7 33. Rxa5 Bd5 {Fine didn't think
doubling white's Ps with 33...Bxf3 would help and so he decided to keep the B
on the board. At the same time he admitted that white's extra P should now
start to make itself felt. Stockish disagrees.} (33... Bxf3 34. gxf3 Nd5 35.
Ra7 Rbb7 36. Rxb7 Rxb7 {with an equal position. In five Shootouts all the
games were drawn as white was unable to advance his b-Pawn}) 34. Ra7 Nb5 {
This was black's last chance to keep the chances even. From this point on he
facess an uphill struggle against a player who excelled in the endgame.} (34...
Bxf3 35. gxf3 Nd5 36. Rxd7+ Kxd7 {would pretty much assure the draw.}) 35.
Rxd7+ Kxd7 36. Ra5 Nc7 37. Bxd5 Nxd5 {[%mdl 4096]} 38. Ra7+ Nc7 39. Nd2 Rb6 40.
Kf1 Rb8 41. Ke2 Rb5 42. f4 g5 {Fine was concerned that against passive defense
white would advance his b-Pawn which he felt should lead to a win. For that
reason he creates a diversion on the K-side.} 43. g3 {[%mdl 32]} h5 {This move
is a miscalculation thst results in a weakening of black's Ps and he ends up
having to allow a passed P which makes white's task easier.} (43... gxf4 {
was the correct move.} 44. gxf4 Kc6 {with a probable draw. It looks like
white's K can go after the h-Pawn, but in the end it's a dead end. For example.
..} 45. Kf3 h5 46. Kg3 Rd5 47. Nc4 Rd3+ 48. Kh4 Rf3 49. Na5+ Kb6 50. Rb7+ Kxa5
51. b4+ Ka6 52. Rxc7 Rxf4+ 53. Kxh5 Kb5 54. h4 Kxb4 55. Kg5 Rf5+ 56. Kh6 Rxe5
57. Rxf7 {draw}) 44. Kf3 h4 {This is the losing move. It may have been due to
time pressure.} (44... gxf4 {Black may still be lost after this, but at least
he has a fighting chance.} 45. Kxf4 f6 46. exf6 Rf5+ 47. Ke4 Rxf6 48. Nf3 {
with good winning chances.}) 45. gxh4 gxf4 46. Kxf4 {Compare this position to
the position after 45.Kf4 in the previous note. There white's Ps are on c3 and
h3 and black has a P on h5.} Rb4+ (46... f6 {as in the previous note no longer
works.} 47. exf6 Rf5+ 48. Kg4 {With a black P on h5 this move is not possible.}
Rxf6 49. h5 {and white wins.}) 47. Kg3 Rb5 48. Nf3 Rxb3 49. h5 {Black has to
lose a R for this P because there is no way the N can stop it.} Kc6 50. h6 Rb8
51. Ng5 Rg8 52. Kh4 {[%cal Oa7c7]} Kb6 53. Rxc7 {[%mdl 512]} Kxc7 54. Nxf7 {
Black resigned.} 1-0
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