He won the 1929-1930 and the 1931 Manhattan Chess Club championship. He defeated Lajos Steiner (+5, =2, -3) in 1930 and was US Open Champion in 1938 (jointly) and 1947 but never won the IS Championship. He tied with Samuel Reshevsky in 1942, but lost the play-off match.
He was often called der Kleine Capablanca in Europe because of his ability to extract victories from seemingly even positions and at one time he was even considered a possible world championship contender.
In a 1936 article in Chess Review it was said that among the Grandmasters who would be vying for the upcoming US Championship none could boast of as imposing a record as Kashdan. Alas, Reshevsky won while Kashdan finished 5th (out of 16) when he lost four games (Samuel nReshevsky, Reuben Fine, George Treysman and Milton Hanauer.
At the age of 29, Kashdan had garnered four first prizes in international tournaments and had headed the American team four
times at the chess Olympiads. At the time hs record against Alekhine was a credible +0 -1 =6. Chess metrics estimates Kashdan’s highest ever rating to have been 2742 in 1932. That placed him at number 3 in the world behind Alekhine (2845) and Capablanca (2767).
In September of 1930, an international chess tournament was held in Frankfurt, Germany. Fresh off his win from Carlsbad the previous year, Nimzovich took clear first on his continuing his campaign to challenge Alekhine for the world crown. Kashdan, the recent Manhattan Chess Club champion, took clear second, finishing undefeated. This was to be Nimzovich’s last great success and he died of pneumonia less than five years later.
In the Chess Review article Kashdan presented some of his best games, one of which was the following game from Frankfort in which he absolutely crushed his opponent starting right out of the opening.
His opponent was Natha Mannheimer (November 29, 1865 – October 21, 1951, 85 years old) . He was born in Birkenau, Germany. In 1884, he became a religious education teacher in Dudelsheim.
He moved to Heidelberg in 1893, and studied mathematics and natural sciences at Heidelberg University. He received his PhD at the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg in 1898.
He worked as a mathematics teacher in Dürkheim and Frankenthal from 1897 to 1900, and then moved to Frankfurt on the Main. There he won the Frankfurt City Championship in 1908 and 1920 and he won tournaments at Bad Ems five times. Chess metrics estimates his highest ever ratying to have been 2441 in 1902.
Nathan Mannheimer–Isaac Kashdan0–1E10FrankfurtFrankfurt GER08.09.1930Stockfish 16
Queen's Gambit Declined, Charousek Variation 1.d4 f6 2.c4 e6 3.f3 d5 4.f4 This is the Charousek Variation. While it can be dangerous to black as
demonstrated by Magnus Carlsen, it's not often seen and Kashdan considered it
weak. dxc4 This is the simplest course because it gains time in development
while white undergoes efforts to regain the P. 4...b4+ 5.bd2 0-0 6.c1 c5 7.dxc5 xc5 8.e3 b6 9.cxd5 xd5 10.g3 is equal. Varga,Z (2528)-Hoelzl,
F (2393) St Poelten 2002 5.e3 Better was 5.Qa4+ regaining the P. Black's
next move proves troublesome for white. 5.a4+ bd7 6.xc4 c5 equals. 5...b4+ 5...b5 is also quite good. 6.e2 b4+ 7.fd2 c5 8.f3 d5 9.0-0 cxd4 10.exd4 c6 as in Muradov,S (2233)-Iniyan,P (2534) Delhi IND 2022.
Black has the advantage. 6.fd2 A strange looking choice, and, as Kashdan
observed, it certainly indicates that something has gone wrong with white's
opening if this retreat is necessary. 6.bd2 b5 Black can maintain the P
with a good game. 7.e2 0-0 8.0-0 d5 9.g3 b7 Johner,P-Schlechter,C
Vienna 1908 6...b5 7.a4 The start of a "long-winded plan to regain the P
(Kashdan). White succeeds, but at the cost of his development. 7.e2
This is the safest course. b7 8.0-0 a6 9.b3 cxb3 10.xb3 Black stands
slightly better. 7...c6 8.axb5 cxb5 9.xb8 This is white's
point...he wins the a-Pawn, but he is forced to exchange his only developed
piece. As a result black gets full control of the game. 9.f3 was better,
but even here black has an excellent game after... d5 10.e2 0-0 11.c3 xc3 12.bxc3 b7 with a clear advantage. 9...xb8 10.xa7 a5
Threatening to win the exchange by ...Qb6 so white's reply is forced. 11.f3 b6 11...0-0 was also very strong. 12.f4 b7 13.e2 d5 14.e5 b6 15.xb7 xd2+ 16.xd2 xb7 Black is winning. 12.a8 Interesting.
..white avoids losing the exchange, but the cost is way too high! 12.xa5 xa5 13.g3 d7 14.xg7 f8 with at least a fighting chance. This line
shows why 11...O-O would have been more accurate. 12...xa8 13.xa8 0-0
Simple development, but it involves a threat to win white's Q with ...Bb7 and
so gains time. From now on white never gets a moment to spare, or a chance to
think of his K-side development. 14.f3 b7 15.f4 e4 The threat is now ..
.Bxd7+ and ...Qa5 and so again white has only one move to stave off immediate
loss. 16.f3 xd2 17.xd2 At least that threat has been eliminated, but
black still has an overwhelming advantage. e8 The last piece gets into
action. The threat now is to play ...e5 and meet dxe5 with ...Rd8 attacking
the pinned N. White has no good defense. 17...xd2+ 18.xd2 a5+ 19.e2 a1 is also winning. 18.h4 e5 19.f2 No better or worse
than anything else. exd4 20.e4 f5 The last blow...ti opens up all the lines
and leads to a mating net in a few moves. 21.d1 xd2 22.xd2 fxe4 23.fxe4 a5+ White resigned. It's mate in 9 23...a5+ 24.e2 d3+ 25.f3 f8+ 26.g3 c7+ 27.h3 xf2 28.e2 dxe2 29.e5 xe5 30.b3 xg2 31.h4 f6+ 32.h5 g5# 0–1
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