When the system was introduced the USCF took care to emphasize that the system is independent of any international designation of titles.
The USCF also warned that some players may have been over-rated or under-rated and it was possible that a number of players were deprived of full recognition merely because the data was not available.
On that first list was an inactive Master named William F. Streeter (January 24, 1902 - June 16, 1973, 71 years old.). He was never married and died at St. Vincent Charity Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio.
Streeter was a railway post office clerk. He served as Secretary (1927-1929) and President (1929-1930) of the Cleveland Chess and Checker Club and he was President of the Cleveland Chess League in 1930.
Streeter was the Ohio Champion (Northern section) in 1931. According to a Cleveland Plain Dealer article on October 11, 1931, it was at the suggestion of Cincinnati players that the state championship had been divided into two sections. After Streeter's victory he stated that he was ready to meet the winner of the southern section that was held in Cincinnati, but no reply was ever received. The article added that, "in the meantime William F. Streeter is a fitting state champion.”
In 1946, Streeter, at the request of President Elbert Wagner, Jr., and Secretary Paul G. Giers of the United States Chess Association, completed the task of answering the controversial question as to whether or not it was an advantage to have the white pieces.
His findings were published in the May 1946 issue of Chess Review under the title Is The First Move An Advantage? Does it actually pay off in terms of successful results?
He also examined the length of tournament games to see if they were getting longer, shorter, or remaining about the same.
To complete the task he utilized 45 tournament books, covering the period 1851-1932 and embodying 5598 games. His conclusions:
Overall white won 38 percent, black 31 percent, 31 percent were drawn.
The percentages by yearly span were:
1851-1878, white: 46, black: 40, draws:14
1881-1914, white: 37, black: 31, draws: 32
1919-1932, white: 27, black: 26, draws: 37
His conclusion was that it was becoming increasingly difficult to win with black, but somewhat easier to draw.
In 1946, the new South Dakota Chess Association issued the first
of its monthly bulletin. Among the Association's planned activities was a State Correspondence Championship tournament to begin
on December 1st; it was open to members of the Association who were residents of the state.
The Association started off with a burst of activity with events from September 15th to September 22nd at the Hotel Charles Gurney in Yankton. I posted on the event HERE.
The Major Open tournament ended in a 3-way tie between L. Gladstone (Boulder City, Colorado), William Streeter (Cleveland, Ohio) and Jack Spence (Omaha, Nebraska).
In the following game Streeter defeats Alfred C. Ludwig (1912-1953, 40 years old), the Nebraska Champion in 1943, 1944, 1947, 1948, 1949 and 1950. Ludwig also won the 1945 CCLA Grand National tournament and with it the title of US Correspondence Champion.
A game that I liked (Komodo 14)
William F. Streeter–Alfred C. Ludwig1–0B18Yankton (South Dakota) Major OpenYankton, SD USA09.1946Stockfish 15
Caro-Kann 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.f3 d7 7.d3 7.h4 is an interesting alternative. h6 8.h5 h7 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 e6 White can choose between 11.Bf4 and 11.Bd2 followed by Q-side castling. 7...c7 8.0-0 e6 9.e1 gf6 10.c4 b4 10...e7 11.b3 0-0 12.xg6 hxg6 13.c2 fe8 14.b2 ad8 equals. Godena,M (2558)-Sanikidze,T
(2426) Dresden 2007 10...0-0-0 11.a3 c5 12.xg6 hxg6 13.b4 cxd4 14.c5 b8 15.g5 d5 White is better. Getz,N (2219)-Khenkin,I (2634) Tromsoe 2009 11.e2 0-0 11...xd3 12.xd3 0-0 13.c5 a5 14.e5 c8 15.g5 c7 16.xd7 xd7 White is better, but black managed to obtain a draw in
Tylor,T-Flohr,S Hastings 1932 11...0-0-0 This too risky. In Habib,C-Vives,
G (2047) Villa Ballester 2004 white had the advantage after 12.a3 d6 13.b4 xd3 14.xd3 h5 15.g5 f4 16.xf4 xf4 12.c5 a5 13.a3 d8 13...xd3 14.xd3 d8 15.b3 c8 16.e4 xe4 17.xe4 d8 18.d3 b6 with equal
chances.Asztalos,L-Flohr,S Bled 1931 14.xg6 hxg6 15.b3 b8 16.g5 c8 17.e4 Strongly threatening Nd6. c7 18.c3 e8 19.e5 xe5 20.dxe5 d7
21.ae1 Inviting black to win a P. xe5 21...xc5
leads to an unclear position after... 22.c4 d7 23.h4 xe5 24.xe5 xe5 25.xe5 d7 26.e1 f6 27.e4 e7 28.d2 White is better according to
Stockfish. In Shootouts white scored +3 -0 =2. However, this is the type of
position where the stronger player is likely to win regardless of which side
they are playing. 22.e4 d7 23.h3 b6 24.d2 Not at all bad, but it
might have been better to play 24.Nd6. What's cute about this move is that it
sets a nasty little trap. 24.d6 xd6 25.cxd6 and the d-Pawn will prove
to be a bone in black's throat. 24...f6 24...xc5 is a self mate. 25.f6+ gxf6 26.xf6 xh2+ 27.xh2 f8 28.h8# 25.ed1 f8
This move, like 25...Nxc5, turns out very badly. 25...xc5
is still very bad. 26.xf6+ gxf6 27.xf6 f7 28.d4 h8 29.f3+ g8 30.f6 xh2+ 31.f1 a6+ 32.d3 h7 33.xg6+ f8 34.xc5+ bxc5 35.xh7
White is winning. 25...e7 keeps the chances equal after 26.Be3 26.xf6+ Unlike before, this now loses. gxf6 The f-Pawn is defended so white has no
followup. 26.xf6+ ...and wins. gxf6 27.xf6 h7 28.h6 xh2+ So that the R on b8 can guard the second rank. It's also a tricky move. 29.h1 29.xh2 This allows black to spit the hook and
get away. c7+ 30.g1 xf6 and white is forced to take a perpetual check. 31.d7 31.xg6+ g7 is winning for black. 31...xd7 32.xg6+ f8 33.h6+ etc. 29...b7 30.xg6+ f8 31.d8 Black could safely resign here. xd8 32.xd8+ xd8 33.xd8 b8 34.xe6 bxc5 35.c8 xb2 36.f6+ Kudos to
both players for a very well played game! In the Fritz auto-annotation using
Stockfish 15, the Weighted Error Values were: White=0.17 (very precise) and
Black=0.22 (precise). 1–0
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