Lady Brutally Beaten By Reuben Fine

     In 1941 the war was raging in Europe and later in the year, on December 7th, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. 

     A lot of players were lost that year: Polish maters, Isaak Appel, Jakub Kolski, Leo Kremer, Ignatz von Popiel and Izaak Towbin died. Polish/French master Joseph Cukierman committed suicide. Latvian master Fricis Apsenieks died of tuberculosis in Riga. Charles Jaffe died in New York. Former Estonian Champion Ilmar Raud died in Buenos. 

     Alexander Ilyin-Genevsky died during the siege of Leningrad by the Germans. Former Cuban Champion Juan Corzo y Principe died in Havana. Czech master Karel Treybal was executed in Prague when he was charged with illegal possession of a firearm. British chess functionary Frederick Hamilton-Russell died in England.

     Viktor Korchnoi's father was killed in battle east of Leningrad. The strong mster Vsevolod Rauzer also died in Leningrad as did mathematician and master Boris Koyalovich. 

     Emanuel Lasker (1868-1941) died of a kidney uremic poisoning. Uremia is a buildup of toxins in the blood that occurs when the kidneys stop filtering toxins out through the urine. Uremia is often a sign of end-stage kidney disease. Treatments today include medication, dialysis and kidney transplants. 

     It was during March of 1941, that six anti-Semitic articles written by Alekhine were published in which he claimed that Jews played cowardly and for money whereas Aryans played aggressively and bravely. 

     In US chess news, in 1941, Louis Persinger (1887-1966), a pianist, professor of violin and strong amateur player won the first USCF Open postal championship. Mona Karff defeated Adele Rivero to win the US Women's Championship. Samuel Reshevsky defeated I.A. Horowitz to retain his US Championship. 

     In July, 1941, Reuben Fine successfully defended his championship title in the Annual Open Tournament of the United States Chess Federation, held St. Louis, Missouri.

     The tournament was again a one man show as Fine stood head and shoulders above the competitors as he barely exerted himself as hr costed to first. In the finals Fine quickly dispatched Adams and Steiner, his main rivals, then coasted home while yielding two draws, but they had effect on the final outcome. 

     The runner up, Herman Steiner, did well. He played his usual tricky, trappy chess and took some unnecessary chances against weaker opponents. 

     Weaver Adams, at the time advocating the Bishop’s Opening as the way to play and win, did better than might have been expected based one his recent performances. Adams played three games with the Bishop’s Opening and won all three! As black, he used his favorite Albin Counter Gambit with success against Marchand. 

     In the following game from the preliminaries, Fine administers a brutal defeat to the unknown lady player Dorothy Williams. The only information on her that I could locate was that she played in the 1960 US Open which was also held in St. Louis. There she scored 4-8 and tied for places 152-159 out of 176 players. Her USCF rating was 1800 (Class A). She was listed as being from Webster Groves, Missouri which is a suburb of St. Louis. 

 

[Event "US Open (Prelim) St. Louis"] [Site "St. Louis, MO USA"] [Date "1941.07.17"] [Round "1"] [White "Reuben Fine"] [Black "Dorothy Williams"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D50"] [Annotator "Massie,Jasmes"] [PlyCount "41"] [EventDate "1941.??.??"] {D07: Queen's Gambit: Chigorin Defense} 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Nc6 {Normally one expects to see 4...Ne7 or 4...Nbd7 here. Instead, black transposes into an old favorite of mine, the chancy, unorthodox Chigorinf Defense which is better than it reputation.} 5. Nf3 h5 {Clearly this is pointless. Back has tried 5...h6 and 5...Be7 here, but the thematic move is 5.. .dxc4} (5... dxc4 6. e4 {Or the equally good 6.e3} Bb4 7. Bxc4 {White is slightly better.}) 6. e3 Be7 7. Bd3 Bd7 {Black has developed her pieces solidly, but they have no scope and her K-side has been weakened by ...h5, none of which bi=odes well, especially against one of the world's best players! } (7... Nb4 $16 {is the best move available. Then after...} 8. Be2 c5 {black at least has some play, but that P on h5 and the weakened K-side are a concern. }) 8. Bxf6 {White is clearly better.} Bxf6 9. cxd5 Nb4 10. dxe6 Nxd3+ 11. Qxd3 Bxe6 12. O-O {To the eye of an amateur it looks like Fine's exchanges have left black with two Bs vs. two Ns and a halfway decent position because it looks like white has no way of whipping up a serious attack. However, that's wrong! Black's K-side is seriously weakened and white's P-center will soon mobilize with devastating consequences. Stockfish 16 thinks white is better by 1.5 Ps. Komodo is a bit more conservative putting white's advantage at just over a P. In either case, it's more than enough for Fine (or any GM, for that matter) to beat an amateur. Also, we can expect black (or any amateur, for that matter) to make tactical mistakes.} c6 {This guards against Qb5} (12... O-O 13. e4 g6 14. e5 Bg7 15. Qe3 Qe7 16. Ng5 Bc4 17. Rfe1 {Danger is looming on the horizon for black owing to the weakened K-side.}) 13. e4 {[%mdl 32] The expansion begins.} h4 {Kudos to black for trying to attack! Unfortunately, there just isn't anything there owing to white's mobile P-center.} 14. d5 { The slaughter begins.} Bxc3 (14... cxd5 15. exd5 Bxc3 16. Qxc3 Qxd5 17. Rfd1 Qh5 18. Qxg7 {with a clear advantage.}) 15. Qxc3 cxd5 16. Qxg7 Rf8 17. Rad1 h3 {As good as anything.} 18. exd5 {Black's K is in a hopeless situation.} hxg2 { There was nothing better. There's a mate in 19!} 19. Rfe1 Qe7 20. dxe6 f6 ( 20... fxe6 {Holds out for a while.} 21. Qg6+ Rf7 22. Rxe6 Kf8 23. Ne5 Qxe6 24. Qxe6 Re7 25. Ng6+ {mates in 4} Kg7 26. Nxe7 Kf8 27. Rd7 Kg7 28. Qg6+ Kh8 29. Qh6#) 21. Qg6+ {Black resigned. She never had a chances against Fine's precise play.} 1-0