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.
[Event "Manhattan CC Champ, New Yorl"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1937.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "S.S. Cohen"]
[Black "Dr. Joseph Platz"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C08"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 16"]
[PlyCount "78"]
[EventDate "1937.??.??"]
{French Defense, Tarrasch Variation} 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 {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... Qxd5 {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. Ngf3 cxd4 6. Bc4 Qd6 7. O-O {Theoretically the position is equal, but
practically the statistics greatly favor white.}) (4... cxd4 {is unacceptable
because after} 5. Bb5+ Bd7 6. dxe6 {white lready has a considerable advantage.}
) 5. dxc5 Bxc5 6. Nb3 Bb6 7. Nf3 Nf6 8. Bb5+ Bd7 {Somewhat better is 8...Nc6}
9. Bxd7+ Nbxd7 (9... Qxd7 10. O-O O-O 11. Nbd4 Nc6 12. c3 Rfe8 {is equal.
Berke,A (2097)-Golubenko,V (2270) Zagreb 2014}) 10. O-O O-O 11. Bf4 Re8 12. Qd2
(12. Qd3 Re4 13. Bg3 Qe7 14. Rad1 {Ostrauskas,A-Sokolsky,A Minsk 1957. The
players quickly agreed to a draw.}) (12. a4 a6 13. a5 Ba7 14. Qd2 Qc8 15. Bg3 {
is equal. Zapata,K (2197)-Pacheco,M (2362) Lima 2007}) 12... Nc5 13. Nxc5 Bxc5
14. Rad1 Qb6 {The open lines for black's pieces are ample compensation for any
weakness of his isolated d-Pawn.} 15. c3 Ne4 16. Qc2 Rad8 17. Nd4 Qa6 18. Qb3
Rd7 19. Rfe1 Qf6 20. Be3 Red8 {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. Nf3 Qc6 22. Bxc5 Qxc5 23. Re3
Ree7 24. Rde1 {is perfectly even.}) 21. Re2 h6 22. f3 Ng5 23. Rde1 {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.} Qg6 {
The threat is ...Bxd4 and ...Nxf3+} 24. Kf1 Qh5 {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. Bxg5 Qxg5 26. Qb5 {Repositioning the Q with
a gain of time.} Bb6 {Again, taking the N was a viable alternative.} 27. Qd3 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... Qf6 {makes is almost impossible for white to make any real
progress. For example...} 29. Qe3 Kh7 30. Kg2 Bxd4 31. Qxd4 Qxd4 32. cxd4 {
with a drawn position.}) 29. Re5 Qf6 30. Kg2 Bc7 {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. R5e2
{The move he is going to hit black with in a few moves (Re6) was playable
immediately.} (31. Re6 fxe6 32. Rxe6 Qf7 33. Rxg6+ Kh8 34. Ne6 {Now in order
to stay in the game black would have to find the clever rejoinder} d4 35. Ng5 (
35. Nxd8 Rxd8 36. Rg5 {Best} Rd6 37. Qb5 dxc3 38. Rxh5+ Kg8 39. Rg5+ {with a
draw.}) 35... Qf8 36. f4 {with unclear complications. In Shootouts white
scored +1 -0 =4}) 31... h4 32. f4 {[%mdl 2048] 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. Qf3 (33. f5 {This shot is very powerful. For example..
.} Rf8 34. Rf1 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... Kg7 {[%mdl 8192] It's
now too late for this to be effective and white now gets a winning attack.} (
33... Bb6 {and black has nothing to worry about.} 34. Ne6 (34. Qg4 {as in the
game is met by} Bxd4 35. cxd4 Rc7 {and black has fully equalized.}) 34... Re8 (
34... fxe6 35. Rxe6 Qf7 36. Rxb6 {with a decisive advantage.}) 35. Ng5 Rxe2+
36. Qxe2 Kg7 37. Qe8 Qd8 {and white cannot make any headway.}) 34. Qg4 {
Black is now lost.} hxg3 35. hxg3 Bd6 {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. Re6 {[%mdl 512] A brilliant end to the game.} fxe6 37. Rxe6
Qf7 38. f5 {[%mdl 32] Black really has no good defense to the threat of Rxg6+
and his R's and B are now nothing more than idle bystanders.} Kf8 39. fxg6 Qg7
{With this move black's flag fell and so he oversteppet the time limit. After
the game Cohen demonstrated the win.} (39... Qg7 40. Nf5 Qh8 41. Rxd6 Qe5 42.
g7+ Rxg7 43. Rxd8+ Kf7 44. Rd7+ Kf8 45. Qxg7+ Qxg7 46. Nxg7 {mates in 6} a5 47.
g4 a4 48. g5 a3 49. g6 axb2 50. Nh5 b1=Q 51. g7+ Ke8 52. Nf6#) 1-0
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