Al Horowitz dissented in his magazine, Chess Review pointing out that Washington had encouraged the continuation of professional sports and that other nations at war, such as Great Britain, had continued holding tournaments.
The USCF relented and the top players agreed (surprise!) to forego appearance fees and guarantees of prize money agreeing to play for modest prizes.
The lineup wasn't a very strong one with only seven real contenders: Reshevsky, Kashdan, Denker, Steiner, Pinkus, Horowitz and Seidman.
The winner should have been Isaac Kashdan.
The tournament was a race between him and Reshevsky, but Kashdan got cheated out of the title.
In the 6th round tournament director, the infamous L. Walter Stephens, incorrectly forfeited Denker after Reshevsky supposedly exceeded the time limit...or did he?
Both players were in time trouble and it has often been reported that Reshevsky's flag fell when Denker made the drawing move and punched the clock. According to the report on the incident in Chess Review they "were using a battered old clock with no flag indicators."
Stephens, standing behind the clock, picked it up and turned it around so that the clocks were facing opposite sides and then, declaring that Denker had exceeded the time limit, ruled him to have forfeited.
When his mistake was pointed out, Stephens refused to change his decision. The spectators demonstrated their disapproval of Stephens' ruling with boos and jeers and Denker filed a protest because Reshevsky was not keeping score. It was all to no avail because his protest was disallowed!
Isaac Kashdan reported on the incident in Chess Review stating that Reshevsky defeated Denker in a drawn position when Denker overstepped the time limit and Stephans' ruling "(caused) a commotion and near riot." Kashdan wrote, "The spectators and officials all (got) a look at the clock which (was) carried about and handled by all and sundry. There (was) a wide divergence of opinion, but the referee (had) ruled and (was) later upheld by the tournament committee."
From beginning to end the tournament was a neck and neck race between Reshevsky and Kashdan. After nine rounds they were tied at 8.5 points apiece! Reshevsky had drawn with Matthew Green in the third round and Kashdan had drawn with Jacob Levin in the fourth. Their scores put them ahead of their closest competitors by two points.
The remaining rounds were a battle between the two. In the tenth round Reshevsky took the lead when Kashdan overlooked what was called a brilliant Queen sacrifice by Herman Steiner and lost. But, then in the next round Reshevsky could only draw against the last place finisher, Herman Halhbohm, a minor master from Chicago.
After finishing his last round game Kashdan had a 12.5-2.5 score. Reshevsky, at 12-3, adjourned his game against Horowitz who had outplayed him and was two Pawns up. But, thanks to opposite colored Bishops and a better placed King, Reshevsky had drawing chances.
Upon resumption Horowitz' 58th move allowed Reshevsky to draw and so tie with Kashdan. In the 14-game playoff Reshevsky took the lead after the fifth game and won the match +6 -2 =3.
The U.S. Women's Championship was held concurrently and, unlike the men's event, it was no contest. May Karff scored 8-0 and outdistanced the second placed finishers, Adele Belcher and Nancy Roos by two points.
I was going take a look at that Kashdan-Steiner game because the "brilliant Queen sacrifice" description caught my eye, but after looking at the game it turned out the Steiner only offered his Q in a won position and Kashdan didn't take it. In fact, Kashdan was forced to surrender his Q two moves later.
Probably the most brilliant game of the tournament was Reshevsky's win by a flurry of tactics over Herbert Seidman. Let's take look at it.
Reshevsky's style was often criticized because it was said he was lucky and that his play was boring. But, as they, good players are always lucky.
As for the boring part, back in 1940 in Meet the Master, Dr. Max Euwe wrote that Reshevsky liked boring positions and then went on to explain that many situations which other masters would abandon as won or drawn were analyzed more correctly by Reshevsky who often discovered numerous hidden possibilities.
Reshevsky's rival, Dr. Reuben Fine, preferred to say that Reshevsky was "the tactician par excellence." Fine explained, "Regardless of the nature of the position, he is rarely prepared to accept any conventional judgment and he will exhaust all his resources before he admits that he is wrong."
Looked at from that viewpoint, Reshevsky's win in the following game was quite typical of his style. Herbert Seidman (1920-1995) was a Senior Master from New York City known for his swashbuckling style. He played several U.S. Championships and took the scalps of many notable players, including Benko, Bisguier, Donald Byrne, Denker, Lombardy, Mednis and Reshevsky. In the U.S. Open in 1974 he defeated the formidable Dutch GM Jan Timman on the black side of a Scandinavian Defense.
A game that I liked (Komodo 14)
Herbert Seidman–Samuel Reshevsky0–1C86US Championship, NewYork1New York, NY USA10.04.1942Stockfish 15
Ruy Lopez: Worrall Attack 1.e4 e5 2.f3 c6 3.b5 a6 4.a4 f6 5.0-0 e7 6.e2 In this, the Worrall Attack, white substitutes 6.Qe2 for 6.Re1. The
idea is to use the Q to support the e-Pawn and play Rd1 to support the advance
of the d-Pawn, although there is not always time for this. b5 7.b3 d6 8.a4 g4 9.c3 0-0 10.h3 An
important move...it forces black to make up his mind whether the B will go to
the K-side or return to the Q-side or if he should exchange it. 10.d1
and Fine recommended b8 11.d4 exd4 12.cxd4 d5 13.e5 e4 which was not
played until 40 years later in Anand,V (2690)-Kamsky,G (2655) Moscow 1992
which continued 14.axb5 axb5 15.h3 h5 16.e3 d7 17.c1 b6 18.c3
with equal chances. 10...h5 At the time the book move was 10...Bd7, but
Reshevsky was never too concerned with such matters and he instinctively plays
the move that is considered best today. Incidentally, it Stockfish's
recommended move. 11.d1 11.d3 a5 12.c2 d7 13.b4 b7 14.g4 g6 15.d4 with equality. Varavin,V (2510)-Yemelin, V (2520) Elista 1994 11...b4
The tactician, Reshevsky takes the opportunity to create complications. 11...d5 is also acceptable. 12.d3 12.exd5 is a mistake. a5 13.c2 and now
black wins with e4 14.xe4 xe4 15.xe4 b3 16.a2 g6 12...d4 13.g5 h6 14.xf6 xf6 15.g4 g6 16.d5 White is better. Shkuran,D (2383)-Podolsky,A
(2127) Zhovkva UKR 2010 12.d4 Strictly speaking not bad, but more exact
was 12.a5 fixing the black a-Pawn and depriving the N of the important square
a5. bxc3 This might look bad, but Reshevsky has seen that the position is
deceptive and he's hoping Seidman will go astray...which he does! 13.g4
This is not really bad, but it is, like his previous move, not good either.
Evidently Seidman was under the impression that he will either win a piece or
secure an overwhelming position. The chances would have been equal after the
better 13.bxc3 b8 Technically 13...Rb8 was better, but his sets a subtle
trap. 13...g6 This may have been what Seidman was expecting. After 14.dxe5 Things get complicated now and OTB things get dicey for both sides! xe4 15.xc3 xc3 16.bxc3 e8 17.d5 a5 18.d4 dxe5 19.xa8 exd4 20.d5 d3 21.xd3 xd3 22.xd3 and white, having the initiative, is slightly better. 14.d5 Into which Seidman falls. To paraphrase Fine, Seidman and his good
position are parted. 14.c4 is the most accurate. cxb2 15.xb2 xg4 16.hxg4 xg4 This position with its unbalanced material is unclear. 14...xd5 15.exd5 g6 In the complications Seidman seems to have underestimated this
elementary move. 15...cxb2 allows white a slight advantage after 16.xb2 e4 17.h2 g6 18.dxc6 16.bxc3 a5 Threatening to win a piece with 17...Nb3
17.bd2 exd4 17...e4 was even stronger. 18.xe4 b7 19.e1 xd5 20.ed2 fe8 Black is better. 18.xe7 White finds himself in a very
difficult situation after this. 18.xd4 e8 19.f3 g5 20.f5 and black
is only slightly better. 18...e8 Black is in control. 19.g5 dxc3 20.h4 With this move Seidman embarks upon a desperate adventure. 20.f1 is hardly an improvement though. f6 21.f4 e4 22.g3 c2 23.e1 xe1 24.xe1 b1 25.xc2 xc2 Black is winning. 20.d4 this is relatively
best. h6 21.f4 cxd2 22.xd2 e4 23.f3 xd4 24.xa5 c4 followed by ...
Bc2 and black's advantage is minimal. 20...f6 Wisely avoiding capturing on
d2. 20...cxd2 21.xd2 b3 22.xg6 fxg6 22...hxg6 23.ab1 and white is
very close to equalizing thanks to the annoying pin on the N. 23.ab1 xd2 24.xd2 24.xb8 f3+ 25.g2 xg5 26.xe8+ xe8 and white has lost a
piece. 24...d8 and black has only a minimal advantage. The heavy pieces
afford white plenty of counterplay. 21.f4 c2 this is even better than 21.
..cxd2 22.f5 22.f1 is not much better. cxd2 23.xd2 22...xd1 23.e4 xe4 Nice! 23...c2 allows white to complicate things with 24.h6+ gxh6 25.xf6+ h8 25...g7 26.xh6+ f7 27.g5 and the position is equal.
26.xe8 xe8 27.f6+ g8 28.xc3 Black has a decisive advantage. 24.xe4 It should be pointed out that Seidman, while not on Reshevsky's level,
was also a very good tactician and with this move he threatens to win with
Qe6+. e8 24...b3 A pass to demonstrate white's threat. 25.e6+ h8 26.h6 f8 27.xg7+ xg7 28.xg7 xg7 29.xd1 and white wins. 25.b4 b3
...Qe1+ is the strong threat. 26.b1 xc1 This is probably worthy of a
question mark as it lets slip a large portion of black's advantage. The play
of both sides now gets a little inexact and it's quite possible that time
pressure was a factor for both players. 26...e1+ is crushing as after 27.g2 c2 white is out of reasonable moves. 28.xb3 e4+ 29.f3 e2+ 30.g1 d1+ 31.h2 xf3 There is no good answer to the threat of mate on g2 27.xc1 c2 Stronger that 27...Bxa4 27...xa4 28.xc3 d7 29.xc7 xf5 30.gxf5 h5 31.b7 with drawing chances. 28.b7 28.c3 makes black's job
tougher. c8 29.d4 e5 30.e3 Black is better, but white is still alive. 28...d8 28...g6 would have wrapped up the game fairly quickly. 29.d4 e1+ 30.g2 f8 31.e6 f3+ 32.g3 xc1 29.b3 b8 29...h5 results in
a winning R+P ending and was more precise. 30.d4 b8 31.d3 hxg4 32.xc2 xc2 33.xc2 gxh3 34.xc7 xc7 35.xc7 b4 and wins 30.a2
Missing his last chance. 30.d3 b4 31.d4 f5 32.xc2 xc2 33.xc2 fxg4 34.h4 xh4 35.xc7 f4 36.c8+ f8 37.e6+ h8 38.f5 d8 39.xg4
with drawing chances. 30...h5 31.d4 hxg4 32.hxg4 e8 33.xc2 e2 34.g5 fxg5 34...g4+ forces mate. 35.f1 e2+ 36.e1 c4 37.xc4 xc4 38.gxf6 e8+ 39.e3 xc1+ 40.e2 b2+ 41.e1 xf6 42.e2 a5 43.d3 xf2 44.d1 e2+ 45.c3 xd1 46.b2 b8+ 47.c3 b3+ 48.c4 d3# 35.a3 xc2 36.c3 e4 37.xc7 g4+ Facing mate in 2, Seidman resigned. 0–1
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