Just stating a fact can be misleading. Recipients of Time’s “award” are chosen by analyzing how much coverage they had in the media over a given year.
Time’s criteria for the selection is “the person or persons who most affected the news and our lives, for good or ill.” Winners are people with the biggest impact on the news and that is not always an honor.
In fact, Time’s1939 issue described Hitler as "the greatest threatening force that the democratic, freedom-loving world faces today."
It said Hitler's actions "left civilized men and women aghast" and called Hitler "the man most responsible for this world tragedy is a moody, brooding, unprepossessing, 49-year old Austrian-born ascetic with a Charlie Chaplin mustache."
I remember my parents laughingly telling me about Orson Welles's radio adaptation of The War of the Worlds that was broadcast live over the CBS radio network at 8 pm (Eastern time) on October 30, 1938 and how it caused panic in the eastern United States.
Some listeners tuning in late believed that a Martian invasion was actually taking place. The size of the panic hasd been disputed though simply because the program had relatively few listeners.
Still, like on today’s social media accounts, thousands of listeners shared the false reports with others. A few newspapers even jumped on it and reported people fleeing their homes proved the existence of a mass panic...it sold papers. Some preferred to call CBS, newspapers or the police with questions about the reality of the reports.
Future Tonight Show host Jack Paar was working as an announcer for WGAR radio station in Cleveland, Ohio and when panicked listeners started calling the station, he attempted to calm them down by saying, "The world is not coming to an end. Trust me. When have I ever lied to you?" Not surprisingly, some accused Parr of lying and covering up the truth.
Let’s move on to the chess stuff. As far as I know there has only been one book printed containing the best games of Alexander Tolush (1910-1969) and it was published in Russia back in 1983.
That’s too bad because in the middle of the 20th century he was one of the best of the Soviet players. Although he was an outstanding imaginative attacking player his play was never quite sound enough to reach the very highest honors
He worked as a chess journalist and was a noted trainer whose pupils included Keres and Spassky. For whatever reason Tolush was rarely allowed to play abroad.
His opponent in the following game from the 1938 Trade Unions Championship that was played Leningrad was Soviet Master Alexander S. Budo (1909-1982) from Russia. From Leningrad, he held high posts in management of the city’s buildings.
I like the game because for a few moves it looks like Budo is launching a promising attack against Tolush’s King which has castled Q-side. But, appearances can’t always be trusted. Tolush beat off the attack and was left with a lot of extra plastic so Budo resigned.
[Event "Trade Unions Champ, Leningrad"]
[Site ""]
[Date "1938.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Alexander V Tolush"]
[Black "Alexander S Budo"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E30"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 15.1"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "1938.??.??"]
{Nimzo-Indian: Leningrad Variation} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Bg5 {
This is known as the Leningrad Variation because its theory was developed
extensively by players from there and in more modern times especially by Boris
Spassky.} Qe7 {This move has disappeared from practice. Today black plays
either 4...h6 or the immediate 4...c5.} 5. Qc2 O-O 6. e3 Bxc3+ {There was no
reason to play this until provoked by white playing a3. Simply 6...h6 was
adequate.} 7. Qxc3 d6 8. Bd3 e5 9. Ne2 Nc6 10. O-O-O {This sharp move,
eschewing 10,d5, is typical of Tolush.} (10. d5 Nb8 11. e4 h6 12. Bd2 a5 13.
Ng3 Nbd7 14. O-O Nc5 {This closed position would not be to Tolush's liking.})
10... Re8 11. Qb3 h6 12. Bh4 a5 {[%mdl 2048]} 13. Nc3 (13. a4 {stopping the
advance of the a-Pawn favors black.} g5 14. Bg3 Bg4 15. Rhe1 (15. Qxb7 {
is a trap white must avoid.} Nb4 {is winning for black.}) 15... Ra6 16. h3 Rb6
17. Qa3 Bxe2 18. Rxe2 e4 19. Bb1 Nb4 {and black is better.}) 13... a4 (13...
exd4 {would be a really bad mistake.} 14. Nd5 (14. exd4 Nxd4 {favors black.})
14... Qd8 15. Nxf6+ gxf6 16. Bb1 {followed by Qd3 and white's position is much
better.}) 14. Qa3 g5 (14... exd4 {is still bad.} 15. Nd5 Qd8 16. Nxf6+ gxf6 17.
Bc2 Ne5 18. exd4 Ng6 19. Qg3) 15. Bg3 exd4 {How this is safe to play because
the 3rd rank is blocked to white's Q.} 16. exd4 (16. Nd5 Nxd5 17. cxd5 Ne5 {
and now it's black who is better.}) 16... Nxd4 {Black has won a P, but at the
cost of weakening his K-side, so white has compensation.} 17. f4 Qe3+ {From
here the Q will get attacked costing black time he cannot afford.} (17... Bf5 {
was a better alternative,} 18. Rhe1 Qd7 19. Rxe8+ Rxe8 20. fxg5 hxg5 21. Qxa4
Qxa4 22. Nxa4 Bxd3 23. Rxd3 Ne2+ 24. Kd2 Nxg3 25. hxg3 Ne4+ {Black has active
piece play.}) 18. Rd2 Ne6 {Better was the developing move 18. ..Bf5} 19. Re1
Qc5 20. b4 (20. Qxc5 {only results in equality after} Nxc5 21. Rxe8+ Nxe8 22.
Bc2 Be6) 20... axb3 {A miscalculation. Black does not get nearly enough
compensation for the R. Even so, practically speaking the move does give him
some dangerous play because white must defend carefully.} (20... Qc6 21. Rde2
Bd7 22. fxg5 {clearly favors white, but it's the best line black has.}) 21.
Qxa8 Bd7 22. Qxb7 Qa3+ 23. Kb1 Nc5 24. Rxe8+ Bxe8 25. Qf3 {This move was
likely overlooked by Budo. It guards e4} (25. Qxc7 {This is probably what he
expected...it's an obvious capture.} Nxd3 {Drawing the R away from the defense
of a2.} 26. Rxd3 bxa2+ 27. Ka1 Qc1+ 28. Kxa2 Qc2+ 29. Ka3 Qxd3 {Here things
get interesting. White needs to defend the N, but how?} 30. Be1 {A must play.}
(30. Kb3 {loses to} Ne4 31. Be1 Qe3 {attacking the B.}) 30... gxf4 31. Qe7 Qd4
32. Kb3 Bc6 {Black's advantage is minimal.}) 25... g4 26. Qe2 bxa2+ {The final
mistake.} (26... Qb4 {was worth a try because white would still have his work
cut out for him to score the point.} 27. a3 Qxc3 (27... Qxa3 28. Bh4 b2 29. Na2
Ncd7 30. Rxb2 {is winning for white.}) 28. Be1 b2 29. Rd1 Qxa3 30. Qxb2 Qxb2+
31. Kxb2 {Using Stockfish white scored 5-0, but the wins took 80 to over 100
moves!}) 27. Nxa2 Qb3+ 28. Ka1 Qa3 29. Bc2 Bc6 30. Bf2 Nfe4 31. Bxc5 {Black
resigned.} (31. Bxc5 Nxc5 32. Qxg4+ Kf8 33. f5 {Hoping to play f6} Qe3 34. Re2
Qg5 35. Qd4 Qg7 36. Qxg7+ Kxg7 37. Nb4 Ba8 38. Nd5 Bxd5 39. cxd5 {Black is
hoplessly lost.}) 1-0
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