There was also an event that took place that I had never heard of...the Red Scare that was lead by President Woodrow Wilson's Attorney General, A. Mitchell Palmer.
During its height in 1919-1920 many foreigners suspected of involvement in radical political activity were deported. The deportations occurred as a result of witch hunts over the effects of radical political agitation and the feared spread of communism and anarchism in the American labor movement.
Under the leadership of J. Edgar Hoover, Federal agents, without search warrants, broke into homes of suspected anarchists, jailed labor leaders and held about 5,000 people while disregarding their right to legal counsel. The government had amassed a storehouse of information about radicals in the country. They had infiltrated many organizations and following raids made in November 1919 and January 1920, had seized thousands of boxes of records and interrogated thousands of those arrested.
Though the agency knew very well that the evidence about plans for an attempted overthrow of the government on May Day 1920 were quite remote, Hoover warned the nation to expect assassinations, bombings and general strikes. Possibly Hoover was remembering the May Day riots that took place in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1919.
Thanks to the hysteria generated by Palmer and Hoover newspapers headlined Terror Reign by Radicals and city police forces prepared themselves and some states mobilized their militias. New York City's 11,000-man police force worked for 32 hours straight. Boston police mounted machine guns on automobiles and positioned them around the city. May Day came and went with no incidents.
Even so, Federal agents rounded up suspected radicals and many of them ended up getting deported. Some communists agreed to be deported while others were put in a concentration camp at Camp Upton in New York pending deportation hearings.
As unbelievable as it sounds, in Centralia, Washington, some members of the American Legion attacked members of the Industrial Workers of the World (the members of which are commonly called Wobblies), an international labor union that was founded in
Chicago in 1905. Twelve of the Wobblies were arrested, one was beaten, castrated and then shot. The New York State Legislature expelled five Socialist representatives, twenty-eight states banned the public display of red
flags. It seemed as though the witch hunt would never end, but eventually responsible citizens began to speak out against Palmer's raids and demanded that
civil liberties be respected.
Chessplayers lost in 1920 were Polish master Georg Rotlewi (1889-1920, 31 years old) and Romanian master Adolf Albin (1848-1920) who died of tuberculosis in Vienna. William Crane (1851-1920), the Australian champion in 1888 and 1897, died in Stanmore, Australia. And, on December 20th, Horatio Caro (1862-1920) died in London.
In 1920, the first All-Russian Chess Olympiad (won by Alekhine) was held in Moscow. About half way through the event the players went on strike demanding more food rations and prize money. Their demands were finally met. Douglas Griffin published a full account of the event on his site HERE.
On January 23, 1920, Capablanca and Lasker agreed to play a World Championship chess match in 1921, but in June, Lasker, who began his reign in 1894, resigned his world championship to Capablanca.
On August 10, 1920, a broke Emanuel Lasker, who was living in The Hague, re-considered after Cuban enthusiasts raised $20,000 and agreed to a match of 24 games to be played in Havana with him being the challenger and Capablanca the champion. After 14 games the score stood at 9-5 in favor of Capablanca and so Lasker resigned the match.
Closer to home, in New York City Metropolitan Chess League play, Brooklynite and Columbia team player Orrin Frink, Jr. downed M.I. Lockwood of the Staten Island Chess Club with a Queen sacrifice in a game in which auto-annotation with Fritz 17 and Stockfish 15 labeled his play "very precise."
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| Frink in 1931 |
Orrin Frink, Jr. (May 31, 1901 - March 4, 1988) was born in Brooklyn and earned his Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1926 and joined the Penn State faculty two years later where he taught in the mathematics department for 41 years from 1928 to 1969. He was chairman of the university's mathematics department from 1949 to 1960.
Before his professional career he was active in both New York and Chicago chess circles, his best result being a tie with David Janowski for 3rd-4th in the 1923-24 Manhattan Chess Club championship.
Frink also played postal chess and was an endgame composer; most of his endings were published in the magazine The Chess Amateur. The magazine ran for 24 volumes from October 1906 to June 1930, each volume running from October until the following September except the final volume 24 which ceased after 9 issues.
It was an important periodical that had many well known contributors such as Alain White, T. R. Dawson, Rev. E. E. Cunnington, W. Moffatt, I. Gunsberg and W. A. Fairhurst.
Frink passed away at his home in Kennebunkport, Maine at the age of 86
M.I. Lockwood–Orrin Frink, Jr.0–1D40League Match, New York City1920Stockfish 15
Queen's Gambit Declined: Semi-Tarrasch 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.c3 c5
Recommended by Tarrasch, this move is an aggressive bid for central space.
After White plays cxd5 and dxc5, black will be left with an isolated d-Pawn.
It may be weak or it may be strong depending on how the game progresses. 4.f3 4.cxd5 exd5 5.f3 c6 6.g3 f6 7.g2 e7 8.0-0 0-0 9.g5 cxd4 10.xd4 is the main line of the Tarrasch and it is what is usually today. 4...c6 Unlike the regular Tarrasch, in the Semi-Tarrasch black does get the
isolated d-Pawn. 5.e3 f6 6.a3 White also plays 6.cxd5 quite often and
then black has a choice between playing either 6...exd5 or 6...Nxd5 6.cxd5
is also seen quite often, 6...a6 7.d3 Capturing 7.cxd5 is more popular. dxc4 8.xc4 b5 9.d3 9.a2 is a viable alternative. b7 10.0-0 c7 11.e2 equals. 9...b7 10.dxc5 10.0-0 c7 10...cxd4 11.exd4 e7 12.c2 b4 13.axb4 0-0 with equal chances. Abergel,T (2449)-Louis,T (2244) Sitges
ESP 2015 11.e2 d8 12.dxc5 xc5 13.e4 g4 14.g3 b6 15.c2 0-0
black has a good game. Langeweg,K (2450)-Olafsson,F (2550) Wijk aan Zee 1976 10...xc5 11.b4 Black is already slightly better. Note how all of his
pieces are aimed at the K-side where white's K must eventually take up
residence. It's surprising how the lurking danger grows. 11.0-0 c7 12.b4 e7 13.b2 d8 14.c2 This position is fully even. Anit,T (1881)-Ibarra
Chami,L (2389) Dresden 2008 11...d6 12.b2 0-0 13.c2 With the c-file
open this is not a good square for the Queen, 13.e4 eliminating on of
black's potential attackers is correct. After xe4 14.xe4 followed by
castling would have left white safe enough. 13...c8 Not only does this
prevent a veiled threat to the Q it prevents the aforementioned Ne4 by white. 14.d1 14.e4 e5 15.xf6+ xf6 16.xh7+ h8 17.b1 g6 18.xe5 xe5 19.xe5 xe5 20.xg6 c3+ 21.e2 fxg6 22.f3 22.xg6 b2+ mates in 3 22...c4+ black is left with a winning position. 14...e7 15.0-0 15.e4
is still bad. xe4 16.xe4 xb4 17.xh7+ h8 18.b1 f5 19.axb4 xh7
black is better. 15...e5 16.d4 16.xe5 eliminates one of black's
attackers, but it was no safer. xe5 17.h3 xc3 18.xc3 d5 19.xh7+ h8 20.xd5 xd5 21.d3 e5 black has a winning game. 16...fg4 17.e2
Stepping on a land mine. 17.xh7+ was his best chance to play on. h8 18.e4 xe4 19.xe4 xh2 20.fe1 f5 21.c2 h4 22.f4 c4 23.c1 f6 24.f2
Strategically black is winning, but at least white has hopes of holding on for
some time. 17...h4 Setting up a devastating finish.
18.h3 xd3 19.xd3 xh3 White resigned before black could deliver mate in
2. 19...xh3 20.gxh3 h2# 0–1
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