There was also the continuing drought in the Midwest that turned even more of the land into dust bowls.
The 1930s were in direct contrast to the prosperity of the Roaring Twenties. Clothes were mended, not replaced. A lot of people who read could not afford books so they read in the library.
The great American national pastime, baseball, changed profoundly during the Great Depression. Major League rosters and players’ salaries were cut, many minor league teams were eliminated and in an effort to bolster attendance that had fallen by more than 40 percent by 1933, night games were introduced.
And, with the end of Prohibition in 1933, nightclubs became legitimate places not only to consume liquor but to socialize, dance, enjoy other forms of entertainment.
People indulged in inexpensive amusements like backyard games, puzzles, card games and board games such as Monopoly which was introduced in 1935.
Chess survived, too.
In 1933, Reuben Fine won the Marshall Chess Club championship and Marjorie Luce (aka Mrs. William Seaman) won the Marshall women's championship with a perfect 11-0 score.
It was the year that the Manhattan Chess Club moved to the Hotel Alamac and Robert Willman won the club championship.
Fred Reinfeld scored 8 wins and 3 draws to win the New York State Chess Championship that was held in Syracuse. Arnold Denker took second and Reuben Fine and Anthony Santasiere tied for third.
Three thousand miles away from New York City Herman Steiner became the chess editor of the Los Angeles Times and was hob-nobbing with the Hollywood crowd and so was instrumental in establishing the Hollywood Chess Club, the Yiddish Chess Club, the Los Angeles Chess and Checker Club, the Los Angeles Athletic Club and the Caltech Chess Club in Pasadena.
In January 1933, Isaac Kashdan published the first edition of The Chess Review which later became just Chess Review under I.A. Horowitz and, also, one of the premier postal chess organizations in the country. In November 1969, it merged with Chess Life to become Chess Life & Review.
Also in 1933 after a two year layoff during which time Isaac Kashdan was the official titleholder, the Manhattan Chess Club resumed its annual championship tournament. Robert Willman and Abraham Kupchik tied for 1st place, I.A. Horowitz finished 3rd followed by Alabert S. Pinkus. In a playoff Kupchik defeated Willman with +2 -1 =2 to take the title.
At the Folkestone Olympiad only 15 teams participated. It was originally scheduled to be played in Chicago, but these plans were canceled due to financial problems. The USA team (Isaac Kashdan, Frank Marshall, Reuben Fine, Arthur Dake and Albert Simonson won with a 39-17 score.
The 34th Western Open (later the US Open) was held in Detroit and Reuben Fine won it with a +10 -1 =0 score. Samuel Reshevsky was 2nd, followed by Arthur Dake. Fine lost to Reshevsky in round 6, but won all his other games. Reshevsky drew to Arthur Dake, Samuel Factor, Albert Margolis and George Barnes.
Arthur Dake (1910-2000) had an extraordinary talent for chess even though he learned the game at the late age of 17. By the age of 21, he won gold with the US team at the Chess Olympiad in Prague 1931.
A merchant seaman, in the late summer of 1929 he arrived in New York with nothing more than a duffel bag slung over his shoulder, and the determination to meet and beat the great masters of the city.
In New York he met Kenneth Grover, a checkers player, and the two set up a chess and checkers stand to play against all comers for a small fee. Things didn’t work out very well because of the depression so they tried organizing private poker games, but one day their poker room was robbed by gangsters and they got out of that business.
In any case, after he arrival in New York Dake quickly became one of the best players in the country. And, that was even though he lost a match held at the Marshall and Manhattan chess clubs to Reuben Fine who scored +4−2=3. In April of that year he also lost a match to I.A. Hozowitz who scored +4 -0 =4; it was supposed to be for 10 games, but the last two weren’t played.
Dake does a better job of strutting his stuff in the following game from the Folkestone Olympiad in which he overwhelmed one of England’s best players, C.H.O’D. Alexander.
Arthur Dake (USA)–C.H.O'D. Alexander (England)1–0E94Folkestone Olympiad17.06.1933Stockfish 15.1
King's Indian Defense 1.d4 f6 2.c4 g6 3.c3 g7 4.e4 d6 5.e2 0-0 6.f3 bd7 7.0-0 e5 8.d5 c5 9.d2 a5 10.c2 e8 11.b3 b6 11...f5 12.xc5 dxc5 13.exf5 gxf5 14.f4 e4 15.a4 d4+ 16.h1 a6 Draw agreed.
Bischoff,K (2505) -Kindermann,S (2560) Bern 1990 12.xc5 bxc5 13.d2 f5 14.exf5 14.d3 f4 15.f3 h5 16.ae1 g5 17.f2 The K begins an amazing
journey! g4 18.e2 h4 19.d1 f6 20.c1 g3 21.hxg3 hxg3 22.h1 Chances
are equal, but in the game white managed to outplay his opponent. Sivuk,V
(2517)-Bitensky,I (2384) Jerusalem ISR 2015 14.f3 fxe4 15.fxe4 xf1+ 16.xf1 f6 17.b5 d7 18.g5 White enjoys a slim advantage. Sondermann,D
(2116) -Sieberg,R (2004) Dortmund 2008 14...gxf5 15.f4 e4 16.b5 b7 17.c3 f6 18.a4 d7 Preferred by Komodo 14, but Stockfish likes the
anti-positional looking 18...Ne8 exchanging Bs. 19.d2 e3 The idea is to
offer a P to give the N access to e4 and also to open up the e-file for his Rs.
Actually, it's a bluff and there was no reason for white not to take the P. 19...h6 20.fe1 h7 and neither side can boast of having any advantage. 20.d3 20.xe3 e4 21.f3 xc3 22.bxc3 ae8 23.d3 20...c8 This
seems to be a rather pointless move. Why not somply 20...Rae8? 21.ae1 e8 21...e4 is the logical followup to his 19th move. 22.xe3 xc3 23.xc3 g7 24.xe4 fxe4 25.b3 White is better. 25.xe4 xb2 is also in white's
favor. 22.f3 22.f3 was also good. e4 23.xe3 xc3 24.bxc3 xe3 25.xe3 White's advantage should prove decisive. 22...g4 With the
disappearance of dark squared Bs after this move black's position quickly
collapses, but it's hard to suggest anything that is totally satisfactory.
Perhaps a waiting move like 22...Ba6 is best. 23.xg7 xg7 After this move
which leaves his K naked and exposed black is totally lost. He needed to
recapture with the Q. 23...xg7 24.xg4 fxg4 25.f5 f8 26.xe3 But even
here black's prospects are grim. 24.e2 24.xg4 was also pretty good! fxg4 25.f5 f8 26.xe3 xf5 27.xf5 xf5 28.xc7 b8 29.e8+ g6 30.e7
and white is winning. 24...b8 There's not much black can to except make
pointless moves. 25.c3+ g8 26.fe1 26.xg4 was an even harder blow.
After fxg4 27.f5 f8 28.f6 a6 29.xe3 xb5 30.e7 black is doomed. 26...g7 27.xg7+ xg7 28.xc7 Grabbing an extra P can't hurt. e7 29.b5 b6 30.xg4 Finally! fxg4 31.xe3 Black resigned. The ending is
hopelessly lost. 1–0
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