It wasn’t all bad news though. 1950 was the start of the rapid changes with families moving into the suburbs, kids watching Howdy Doody on 12 inch black and white TV sets and spending Saturday afternoons watching cartoons at the movie theaters.
The median family income was $3,300 a year ($37,763.03 in today’s dollars); the median income across the country in 2022 was $44,225. Milkmen and bread men delivered to your doorstep...milk was 83 cents a gallon and bread was 12 cents a loaf.
It was a busy year in chess. Lost that year were the patron Maurice Wertheim (1886-1950) who sponsored many U.S. championships and Soviet master and the 1929 USSR Champion Boris Velinsky (1888-1950).
In tournaments Laszlo Szabo of Hungary won at Hastings 1949/50, scoring 8-1. Larry Evans, age 17, finished 4th. Liudmila Rudenko (won the Women's World Championship, held in Moscow.
David Bronstein and Isaac Boleslavsky won the first candidates tournament, held in Budapest. Samuel Reshevsky was invited, but the State Department would mot allow him to go. Bronstein won the Candidates playoff, 7.5-6.5, against Boleslavsky.
The Yugoslav team (Gligoric, Pirc, Trifunovic, Rabar, Vidmar junior, Puc) won the Dubrovnik Olympiad. The USA finished 4th.
Hans Johner won the Swiss championship for the 12th time. Miguel Najdorf won the Amsterdam international ahead of Samuel Reshevsky. And, Paul Keres won the USSR Championship.
In 1950, the first USCF rating list appeared. Reuben Fine was #1 at 2817 and Reshevsky was #2 at 2770. Herman Steiner was the U.S. Champion (since 1948), James B. Cross won the U.S. Junior championship and Arthur Bisguier won the U.S. Open.
In England the annual Agnes Stevenson Memorial, an open that was played in the 1950s and 1960s with Southsea being the venue from 1949 to 1952. Mrs. Stevenson was a British Ladies Champion who met an untimely end in 1935 when she accidentally walked into an airplane propeller.
The 1950 tournament was Arthur Bisguier's first international success in Europe and Jonathan Penrose created a sensation by defeating both Tartakower and Bogoljubow. His loss to Bisguier in the eighth round knocked him out of first into a tie for third place.
In the following game 16-year old Jonathan Penrose (1933-2021) surprised everyone by defeating his famous opponent Dr. Savielly Tartakower (1887-1956).
[Event "Southsea"]
[Site ""]
[Date "1950.04.19"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Jonathan Penrose"]
[Black "Savielly Tartakower"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B28"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 15.1"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "1950.??.??"]
{Sicilian Defense} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 a6 {This was a favorite system of
Tartakower's, but it came to be known as the O'Kelly Variation after the
Belgian GM.} 3. d4 {The maisn (and probably best) line is 3.c3} cxd4 4. Nxd4 e5
{At the time this move was seen frequently, but requires great skill in the
handling of the minor pieces. More solid is 4...e6} 5. Nf3 (5. Nf5 d5 6. Ng3 d4
{and black has fully equalized.}) 5... Nf6 6. Bc4 Be7 7. O-O d6 8. Nc3 O-O 9.
Bg5 (9. Qe2 Qc7 10. Bg5 Be6 11. Bb3 Nbd7 12. Rfd1 h6 {is equal. Ingvason,J
(2142)-Schou-Moldt,T (2228) Reykjavik ISL 2014}) 9... Nbd7 {Played so that if
white plays Bxf6 black can recapture with the N and keep white tied to
stopting black from playing ...d5} 10. Re1 h6 11. Bh4 (11. Bxf6 Nxf6 12. Nd5
Bg4 13. Nxf6+ Bxf6 14. Qd3 Be7 15. Nd2 Kh8 16. Nf1 Bg5 {Draw agreed. Stein,
L-Taimanov,M Moscow 1961 agreed to a draw in a few more moves.}) 11... b5 12.
Bb3 Bb7 (12... Nxe4 {loses...} 13. Bxe7 Qxe7 14. Nxe4 {and the d-Pawn also
goes.}) (12... g5 {is a better defense.} 13. Bg3 Nc5 {White is forced to tend
to his e-Pawn.} 14. Nd2 Nxb3 15. axb3 Be6 {with equal chances.}) 13. Nd2 {
Penrose reasoned that at f3 the N is not very effective so he begins a long
journey to reposition it on f5. The result is that Tartakower ends up
weakening his K-side.} (13. Bxf6 {is the move dictated by routine tinking.}
Nxf6 14. Nd5 Nxd5 15. Bxd5 Qb6 16. Bxb7 Qxb7 17. c3 {In spite of his backward
P and "bad" B black has a fully equal position.}) 13... g5 {Equally good was
the advance of the other N-Pawn, 13...b5} 14. Bg3 Nc5 15. f3 Rc8 16. Nf1 b4 17.
Nd5 Nxb3 18. Nxf6+ (18. axb3 Nxd5 19. exd5 Rc5 20. Qd2 Qc7 21. Qxb4 Bxd5 22.
Qd2 Be6 {with an active position.}) 18... Bxf6 19. axb3 Qc7 {Here Tartakower
starts drifting towards an inferior position.} (19... d5 {is much more active.}
20. exd5 Bxd5 21. Bxe5 Bb7 {equas}) 20. Ne3 Rfd8 21. Bf2 {Thinking about Nd5-b6
} Be7 {Preventing the N maneuver.} 22. Re2 ({Much worse is} 22. Nf5 Bf8 {
and the N is accomplishing nothing on f5}) (22. Nc4 d5 23. Nb6 dxe4 24. Qc1
exf3 25. Nxc8 Qxc8 26. Rd1 e4 {and black has a decisive advantage.}) 22... Rb8
{This enables the the B to go to c8 from where it can be used on the K-side
and prevent the entry of white's N on the white squares.} (22... d5 {This
counterattack in the center is, as is often the case, the best way to go.} 23.
exd5 Bc5 24. Rd2 Bxe3 25. Bxe3 Rd6 {with equal chances.}) 23. Rd2 {Now, of
course t,here is no advantage to playing ...d5, but it's still black's best
chance!} Kf8 {Black has extremely few moves} (23... d5 24. Nxd5 Bxd5 25. exd5
a5 {White has the better position.}) 24. Nf5 h5 {Further loosening the
position of his K.} (24... Bc8 {gives uo the P, but after} 25. Nxh6 Rb5 26. Nf5
(26. Ng4 Bxg4 27. fxg4 Qc6 28. Rd5 f6 {Wite is better, but black is putting up
a stout defense.}) 26... Bxf5 27. exf5 Qc8 28. g4 d5 {There's no more K-side
attacking chances for white and black has some counterplay.}) 25. Qe2 {
Certainly not bad. Penrose is wearing down his famous opponent with positional
chess, not tactics.} Bc8 26. f4 Bxf5 27. Qxh5 Bf6 {Guarding against Qh8+} 28.
exf5 gxf4 29. Bh4 {[%mdl 128] the cold blooded 29.Rxa6 was technically better,
but no matter...black is in trouble.} Qb6+ (29... Bxh4 {is not much better.}
30. Qh8+ Ke7 31. Qxh4+) 30. Kh1 d5 31. Re1 {[%mdl 32] threatening Qh6+.} Qd6 {
[%mdl 8192] This meets with a brilliant refutation.} (31... Kg7 {makes white's
task more difficult.} 32. Rde2 Bxh4 33. Qxh4 e4 34. Qg4+ Kf8 35. Qxf4 Qd6 {
White is clearly better.}) 32. Rxd5 {[%mdl 512]} Qb6 (32... Qxd5 33. Bxf6 Ke8
34. Rxe5+ {wins the Q}) 33. Rdxe5 Bxe5 34. Rxe5 {The threat is Qh8#} f6 35. Re6
f3 {A dying gasp!} 36. Qh8+ (36. Rxb6 Rd1+ 37. Be1 Rxe1#) 36... Kf7 37. Qxf6+
Kg8 38. Qg6+ Kf8 39. Be7# {A great win by Penrose over his illustrious
opponent.} 1-0
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