Leo Shedlovsky Spits the Hook

     The following game was played in one of the Dimock theme tournaments that were organized at the Marshall CC in New York City between 1921-1926. These events were sponsored by Edwin Dimock of New London, Connecticut, who donated prizes.

     Not much is known of the winner, Leo Shedlovsky (May 6,1901 – August, 1980) except that he born in Russia and died in New York City and he was the author of a number od scientific articles. He was probably the brother of Dr. Theodore Shedlovsky (1898-1976) a Russian-born American chemist noted for his work of applying electro-chemistry to life processes and living cells. 

     In 1922, Leo was president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology chess club. The November 10, 1938 issue of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle mentioned that he announced the moves in Koltanowski’s blindfold exhibition at the Men’s Faculty Club of Columbia University in New York City. 

     Fred Reinfeld (January 27, 1910 – May 29, 1964) needs no introduction. He was a prolific author, having written or co-written well over 100 books on a wide variety of subjects. His chess books are mostly remembered as “pot boilers” or books that were badly written and aimed at rank beginners. However, his early chess books were excellent, but he wasn’t make any money writing good chess books so started cranking out the bad ones. 

     What’s not well known is that in his day Reinfeld was a pretty decent player…he was one of the strongest players in the country from the early 1930s to the early 1940s; he withdrew from most tournament play after 1942.

     The first USCF rating list was published in November of 1950 and Reuber Fine held the top spot at 2817. Samuel Reshevsky was next at 2770, but he was listed as inactive, meaning he had not played in any tournament since January, 1947.

     The players listed as Semior Masters were; Alex Kevitz (Active-2610), Arthur Dake (Active-2598), Albert Simonson (Inactive-2596), FredReinfeld (Inactive-2593), Armold Denker (Active-2575), Isaac Kashdan (Active-2574), I.A. Horowitz (Active-2558), Abraham Kupchik (Inactive-2538), David Polland (Inactive-2521), and George Treysman (Inactive-2521.

     As a player Reinfeld won the New York State Championship, in 1931 and in 1933.he was undefeated in all 11 games finishing ahead of Reuben Fine, Anthony Santasiere and Arnold Denker. 

     In 1932, he played in the Pasadena International tournament and placed 7-10th; the winner was world champion Alexander Alekhine. Reinfeld qualified twice for the finals of the U.S. Championship. In 1938 and 1940 he finished in the middle oif the table.

 

[Event "Dimock Theme Tournament, New York"] [Site ""] [Date "1926.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Leo Shedlovsky"] [Black "Fred Reinfeld"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C51"] [Annotator "ShashChess 32"] [PlyCount "61"] [EventDate "1926.??.??"] {Evans Gambit Accepted} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4 {The P offer is designed to divert the black B and so allow white to follow up with c3 and d4 gaining control of the center.} Bxb4 {Black can decline with 4...Bb6, but many experts consider it to be weaker. This does not seem to be the case according to the statistics in my database. Accepted: white scores +53 -35 =12. Declined white scores: +29 -33 =28 (scores are in percentages)} 5. O-O Nf6 6. c3 { Where should the B retreat? 6...Ba5 (most popular and statistically the best), 6...B37, 6...Bd6 (the Stone -Ware Defense which reinforces the e5-Pawn and has been played by several GMs such as Andrei Volokitin, Alexander Grischuk and Loek van Wely) or 6...Bc5} Be7 {This is Lasker's Defence and it is considered one of the safer retreats. It has been played by Viswanathan Anand.} 7. d4 d6 { [%mdl 32]} (7... Na5 {I could find no examples from actual play from this position, but supposedly Kasparov once played 8.Be2 here. The text ia recommended by the engines.} 8. Bxf7+ Kxf7 9. dxe5 d5 (9... Ng4 10. Qd5+ { is good for white.}) 10. exf6 Bxf6 11. exd5 Re8 {with about equal chances.}) ( 7... Nxe4 {This is likely black's best reply. After} 8. dxe5 d6 9. Re1 Nc5 { the chances are equal.}) 8. Ng5 {This attack on f7 turns out to be fruitless. Continuing his development with 8.Bbd2 was better.} (8. Ba3 {lead to a wild game in Allajov,R (2130)-Javakhadze,Z (2455) Poti GEO 2013} exd4 9. cxd4 O-O 10. e5 dxe5 11. dxe5 Bxa3 12. Nxa3 Ng4 13. Qxd8 Rxd8 14. Nb5 Ngxe5 15. Nxe5 Nxe5 16. Nxc7 {black is better and he went on to win.}) 8... O-O 9. f4 (9. Nxf7 Rxf7 10. Bxf7+ Kxf7 {white has a R vs B+N. The two minor pieces can cover more squares than Rook and so the position favors black. Arthur Bisguier once wrote that (other things being equal) against a lesser opponent he thought he could win with either side. No surprise there.}) 9... h6 10. Nxf7 {White might as well play this because passive play does not yield any advantage.} (10. Nf3 { is really not any better!} Nxe4 11. fxe5 dxe5 12. Qe1 Nd6 13. Bb3 exd4 14. cxd4 {Black has a decisive advantage. Polster,C (2236)-Dwilewicz,K (2079) chess.com INT 2022}) (10. fxe5 {also favors black.} dxe5 11. Nf3 exd4 12. e5 Ne4 13. cxd4 Bg4 14. Bb2 Ng5 {Black is better. Andersen,G (1788)-Almer,J (1916) Oslo 2009}) 10... Rxf7 11. Bxf7+ Kxf7 12. fxe5 dxe5 13. Qh5+ {Technically black has what should amount ti a decisive advantage, but as we will soon see, his position is not so easy to play! At the time of this game the 25-year old Shedlovsky was an established Master while the 16-yera old Reinfeld had not reached his full potential.} Kg8 14. Qg6 Kh8 {the obvious threat was 14.Bxh6} 15. d5 Na5 { While black maintains the advantage after this move it is not nearly as great as before. 15...Bc5+ was deadly.} (15... Bc5+ $19 16. Kh1 Ne7 {From here the N can defend against wgite's K-side attack rendering it harmless..}) 16. Na3 { White misses a great opportunity.} (16. Bxh6 {Black can fend off the attack, but at least white has picked up a P.} Qf8 17. Bg5 {Black is better.}) 16... b6 17. Rb1 Bd7 18. Bxh6 {Unfortunately for white, while this is his best move, it's ot quite as good as it would have been on move 16.} gxh6 {This is a major error in tht it allows white to completely equalize.} (18... Qg8 19. Bg5 Qh7 20. Qxh7+ Kxh7 {White has a R+P vs. B+N. Technically black is much better, but practically it probably should be considered unclear.}) 19. Qxh6+ Nh7 {This self-imposed pin is a serious mistake. Not only is the N pinned, but worse yet, it allows the invasion of white's R. After 18...Qg8 white would be advised to take the draw by repetition.} 20. Rf7 {[%mdl 128] Effectively ending the game.. .at least you would think, but as someone once said, "It's not over 'til it's over."} Bc5+ 21. Kh1 Qg8 {White to play and win.} 22. Rxd7 {Obvious...and wrong. There's only one winning move.} (22. Qh5 {This clever move, threatening Qxe5+, was the only winner.} Re8 {The e-Pawn must be defended and now} 23. Rxd7 {wins.}) 22... Rf8 (22... Bxa3 23. Rxc7 Rf8 24. d6 Rf2 25. Rg1 {Black has only a slight advantage.}) 23. Qh5 Bxa3 24. Qxe5+ Nf6 25. Rf1 {[%mdl 1056] Planning a R-lift and Rh3} Qg6 {aiming for ...Nc4.} 26. Rf3 {Black has completely fallen apart over the last several moves, but the game is not over yet if he finds the correct defense.} Nc4 {[%mdl 8192] Which he does not.} (26... Qxe4 { leads to mate.} 27. Rh3+ Qh7 28. Rhxh7+ Kg8 29. Rdg7#) (26... Bc1 {Far from obvious, this allows black to interpose the B after a R check on h3.} 27. Rh3+ Bh6 28. Rxc7 {and black has two moves to keep the chances equal: 28...Kg8 and 22...b5}) 27. Rh3+ Kg8 28. Qe6+ Rf7 29. Rg3 Qxg3 30. Qxf7+ Kh8 31. hxg3 { Black resigned.} (31. Qxf6+ {mates} Kg8 32. Qf7+ Kh8 33. Qh7#) 1-0