In other firsts the cartoon character Daffy Duck was introduced and the world’s first shopping cart was used at Humpty Dumpty supermarket in Oklahoma City.
The most famous person in the country was probably Shirley Temple (1928-2014), an actress, singer, dancer and later in life, a diplomat. She was Hollywood's number-one box-office draw as a child actress from 1934 to 1938. Later, she was named United States Ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia.
The year ended with the 1937-38 Manhattan Chess Club Championship. It did not require a great prophet to foretell the victory of one of America's premier players, Isaac Kashdan who retained the title he had won the year before.
The three candidates for the honor, Robert Willman, S. S. Cohen and Dr. Jose[h Platz, entered the last round tied, but Willman won, Cohen drew and Platz lost thereby avoiding any ties.
The following game was played in the championship and Cohen's tactical victory over Platz earned him the brilliancy prize.
S. S. Cohen was a strong New York player in the 1930s and 1940s. He was managing editor of Chess Review magazine.
Dr. Joseph Platz (1905-1981), a medical doctor, was born in Germany and by the age of sixteen he was considered one of the strongest players in Cologne.
After Hitler took power in 1933, Platz emigrated to the United States, where he studied under Emanuel Lasker and remained active in local tournaments in New York and Connecticut for many years. He wrote the book that was published in 1979 titled Chess Memoirs: The Chess Career of a Physician and Lasker Pupil.
S.S. Cohen–Dr. Joseph Platz1–0C08Manhattan CC Champ, New Yorl1937Stockfish 16
French Defense, Tarrasch Variation 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 Cutting edge
stuff at the time as it was a great favorite of the Soviet masters. It differs
from 3.Nc3 in that it does not block white's c-Pawn from advancing, which
means he can play c3 at some point to support his d4-Pawn. The move also
avoids the Winawer Variation (3...Bb4). On the other hand, white's N is on a
less active square and on d2 it obstructs his dark-square B and so he will
have to spend an extra tempo moving the N before developing the B. c5 4.exd5 exd5 4...xd5 Black has three ways of recapturing. 4...Qxd5 is an important
alternative, the idea of which is to trade his c- and d-Pawns leaving him with
an extra center P. In return white gains time for development by harassing the
Q. 5.gf3 cxd4 6.c4 d6 7.0-0 Theoretically the position is equal, but
practically the statistics greatly favor white. 4...cxd4 is unacceptable
because after 5.b5+ d7 6.dxe6 white lready has a considerable advantage. 5.dxc5 xc5 6.b3 b6 7.f3 f6 8.b5+ d7 Somewhat better is 8...Nc6 9.xd7+ bxd7 9...xd7 10.0-0 0-0 11.bd4 c6 12.c3 fe8 is equal.
Berke,A (2097)-Golubenko,V (2270) Zagreb 2014 10.0-0 0-0 11.f4 e8 12.d2 12.d3 e4 13.g3 e7 14.ad1 Ostrauskas,A-Sokolsky,A Minsk 1957. The
players quickly agreed to a draw. 12.a4 a6 13.a5 a7 14.d2 c8 15.g3
is equal. Zapata,K (2197)-Pacheco,M (2362) Lima 2007 12...c5 13.xc5 xc5 14.ad1 b6 The open lines for black's pieces are ample compensation for any
weakness of his isolated d-Pawn. 15.c3 e4 16.c2 ad8 17.d4 a6 18.b3 d7 19.fe1 f6 20.e3 ed8 The doubled Rs on the d-file are not
accomplishing anything and this dawdling is almost imperceptibly turning the
position to white's advantage. 20...h6 21.f3 c6 22.xc5 xc5 23.e3 ee7 24.de1 is perfectly even. 21.e2 h6 22.f3 g5 23.de1 Excellent
strategy! The open e-file will prove a much greater asset tham any pressure he
can put on black's d-Pawn. That said, the position is still equal, but it is
black who is on the defensive and so it is he who much watch his step. g6
The threat is ...Bxd4 and ...Nxf3+ 24.f1 h5 Although the text move can
hardly be called faulty, it might have proven worthwhile to eliminate white's
well placed N with 24...Bxd4 25.xg5 xg5 26.b5 Repositioning the Q with
a gain of time. b6 Again, taking the N was a viable alternative. 27.d3 g6 28.g3 h5 Black is playing for an unjustified K-side attack... unjustified
because white controls the only open file (the e-file). Nevertheless, the
position is still equal, but very shortly black's plan results in a costly
error/ 28...f6 makes is almost impossible for white to make any real
progress. For example... 29.e3 h7 30.g2 xd4 31.xd4 xd4 32.cxd4
with a drawn position. 29.e5 f6 30.g2 c7 The benign moves 30...Kg7 or
30...Rc8 would have kept the balance. While hardly a mistake, it indicates
that black is barking up the wrong tree in planning a K-side attack. 31.5e2 The move he is going to hit black with in a few moves (Re6) was playable
immediately. 31.e6 fxe6 32.xe6 f7 33.xg6+ h8 34.e6 Now in order
to stay in the game black would have to find the clever rejoinder d4 35.g5 35.xd8 xd8 36.g5 Best d6 37.b5 dxc3 38.xh5+ g8 39.g5+ with a
draw. 35...f8 36.f4 with unclear complications. In Shootouts white
scored +1 -0 =4 31...h4 32.f4 This move blocks black's B and
show the uselessness of his K-side operation. White has the initiative, but
still can't claim a significant advantage. a6 This pointless move costs
black time he cannot afford. The safety first move of 32...Kg7 offers him
chances at defense. 33.f3 33.f5 This shot is very powerful. For example..
. f8 34.f1 g5 Making sure the f-fule stays closed, but... 35.gxh4 g4 36.h3 and black's K is going to be badly exposed. 33...g7 It's
now too late for this to be effective and white now gets a winning attack. 33...b6 and black has nothing to worry about. 34.e6 34.g4 as in the
game is met by xd4 35.cxd4 c7 and black has fully equalized. 34...e8 34...fxe6 35.xe6 f7 36.xb6 with a decisive advantage. 35.g5 xe2+ 36.xe2 g7 37.e8 d8 and white cannot make any headway. 34.g4
Black is now lost. hxg3 35.hxg3 d6 Played hoping to play ...Re7
challenging white's control of the e-file, but white has a surprise in store.
Note that black's Q does not have any moves...an indicator that there may be a
tactical shot. 36.e6 A brilliant end to the game. fxe6 37.xe6 f7 38.f5 Black really has no good defense to the threat of Rxg6+
and his R's and B are now nothing more than idle bystanders. f8 39.fxg6 g7 With this move black's flag fell and so he oversteppet the time limit. After
the game Cohen demonstrated the win. 39...g7 40.f5 h8 41.xd6 e5 42.g7+ xg7 43.xd8+ f7 44.d7+ f8 45.xg7+ xg7 46.xg7 mates in 6 a5 47.g4 a4 48.g5 a3 49.g6 axb2 50.h5 b1 51.g7+ e8 52.f6# 1–0
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