One contestant was 26-year-old Lajos Steiner who had come to the United States to participate in the 1929 Bradley Beach (located in New Jersey) tournament. There Steiner had finished second to world champion Alexander Alekhine.
His opponent was 24-year old Isaac Kashdan, a the 1929 Manhattan Chess Club champion and a rising star. He had been the first board of the American team at the 1928 Chess Olympiad where he scored an impressive +12 -1 =2.
Lajos Steiner (1903-1975) was born in Hungary. One of four children, his elder brother Endre Steiner was also a master.
Lajos was educated at the Technical High School in Budapest and graduated in 1926 with a diploma in mechanical engineering from the Technikum Mittweida in Germany.
He emigrated to Australia in 1939, and won the Australian Championship in 1945, 1946/47, 1952/53, and 1958/59. He also won nine of his ten attempts at the New South Wales title (1940–41, 1943, 1944, 1945–46, 1953, 1955, 1958).
Isaac Kashdan (1905-1985) was twice U.S. Open champion (1938 and 1947), but even though he was once considered world championship material he never won the US Championship. On the November 1932, Chess metrics estimated his rating to have been 2738 placing him at number 2 on the list behind Alekhine (estimated rating 2826).
He was called der Kleine Capablanca (German for The little Capablanca) in Europe because of his ability to extract victories from seemingly even positions. Watch him conjure up a winning attack from almost nothing in the following game and you’ll see what they meant. Alekhine named him one of the most likely players to succeed him as World Champion.
Kashdan’s peak year coincided with the Great Depression and so for financial reasons he was unable to make chess a career. Then later he moved to California because the climate was better for his son’s health.
Besides the Steiner-Kashdan match, in 1930, an international tournament was held in San Remo; it was won by Alexander Alekhine.
On May 2, 1930, former German champion Isidor Gunsberg (1854-1930) died in London. On August 17, 1930, former Hungarian champion Leo Forgacs died in Hungary at the age of 48.
The 3rd Tournament of Nations (aka the Chess Olympiad) was held in Hamburg, Germany. It was won by Poland (Rubinstein, Tartakower, Przepiorka, Frydman). Jungary was second and Dermany third. The US team (Isaac Kashdan, Frank Marshall, Harold Phillips, Herman Steiner and James Anderson) finished 6th (out of 18 teams).
The 2nd Women’s World Championship took place during the Olympiad and Vera Menchik successfully defended her title.
The Western Chess Association (forerunner of the US Open) was held in Chicago. Norman Whitaker and Samuel Factor tied for 1st.
On December 29, 1930, Alekhine almost killed himself when he fell asleep with a lit cigarette in his mouth in a hotel bed in Esseg, Yugoslavia. The cigarette fell out of his mouth onto the bed which caught fire.
Alekhine awoke and tried to get out of the room, but passed out on the floor. A hotel clerk responding to the fire managed to get Alekhine out of the room and extinguish the fire.
Kashdan considered this game, the third game in his match with Steiner, to be one of his best.
Isaac Kashdan–Lajos Steiner1–0D52Match, New York3New York, NY USA22.04.1930Stockfish 16
D52: Queen's Gambit Declined: Cambridge Springs Variation 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.f3 f6 4.c3 e6 5.g5 bd7 6.e3 a5 This is te Cambridge Springs
Defense and even today is the most popular reply in the QGD. 7.b3 The
usual reply is 7.Nbd2 is the usual reply with 7.cxd4 a close second. The text
avoids the more complicated attacks, but it allows black to obtain easy
development. e4 8.cxd5 8.h4 b4 9.c1 b6 10.d3 dxc4 11.xc4 xc4 12.xc4 d6 equals. Werle,J (2481)-Gurevich,M (2641) Zwolle 2002 8...exd5 9.d3 b4 Kashdan was of the opinion that this B belongs on e7. 9...xg5 10.xg5 e7 11.f3 0-0 12.0-0 with complete equality. Djukanovic,S (2294)
-Blagojevic,D (2532) Tivat MNE 2011 e8 ½-½ (38) 10.c1 xg5= 11.xg5 h6 12.f3 0-0 13.0-0 e8 14.a3 xc3 The main option was 14...Bd6 and
while there is nothing really wrong with the move played Kashdan thought it
gives white the advantage because of his better development and also because
of the mobility of his Q-side Ps, which threaten to advance and create
weaknesses in black's position. Hence Kashdan felt it was better to retreat. 15.xc3 xc3 16.xc3 f6 17.b4 e6 18.fc1 e4 19.xe4 Several years
after this game Kashdan said that if he were "playing this position today (i.e.
in 1936) he would prefer 19.R(3)-b2 because his B would be useful to enforce
b4-b5 and black's N can always be gotten rid of anyway. Engines prefer 19.Bx35,
but only by a hair's breadth. dxe4 20.d2 d5 21.c5 Perhaps initiating a
Minority Attack with 21.a4 followed by b4-b5 was more accurate, but Kashdan
played the text in order to induce 21...b6 which he judged would be weak for
black. b6 A sounder idea was 21...f5 followed by ...f4 22.5c3 a5 23.c4
Kashdan judged that now black's Ps are seriously weakened and subject to
attack, whether his N is exchanged or not. According to Stockfish the position
id dead equal. axb4 24.axb4 a6 Played with the (correct) belief that he
can set up a sufficient defense. 24...xc4 is inferior. It's main
practical advantage is that the resulting double R ending would by difficult
to play for both sides. 25.xc4 a4 26.h4 f8 27.xc6 xb4 28.a1 f5 29.a6 b1+ 29...b8 30.c7 f4 31.aa7 White is winning. 30.h2 b2 31.g3 b5 32.c5 White is better. 25.e5 e6 Excellent defense by Steiner.
Defending the P, which cannot yet be taken because of the mating threat, and
intending ...b5 after which everything would be secure. If Kashdan wants to
win he cannot untake it quickly. 26.b5 Very interesting and innovative. The
P sacrifice had to be accurately calculated because if Kashdan's attack fails
the P will become a Q! But not 26.xc6? xc6 27.f4 d7-+ 26...cxb5 27.c8+ Kashdan is attacking with opnly two Rs and a N...will it succeed? h7 28.d8 An excellent move! It gains an important tempo and
it's an essential patt of his idea. 28.xf7 does not accomplish anything
as after b4 29.h4 29.8c7 b3 30.b1 b2 31.c2 c6 32.bxb2 xf7
and black wins 29...b3 30.h2 a8 31.xa8 xa8 32.e5 d5 33.b1
with a likely draw. 28...c4 Seemingly the most natural square as it
blocks the open file, but the move allows white q slim advantage...something
Kashdan was famous for exploiting. In fact, Kashdan claimed the move loses
quickly! 28...f6 This is actually the best move as it does not allow white
to really accomplisj anything. For example... 29.xd5 fxe5 30.dxe5 c6 31.b1 c5 32.d2 xe5 and neither side will be able to make any headway. 33.h3 29.d7 Threatening to win the exchange, which strangely
enough cannmbe avoided despite the mobilty of black's R. g6 29...c6 30.f8+ g8 31.d7+ h7 32.b8 29...d6 This is best. The ensuing ending is
extremely complicated! 30.f8+ g8 31.d7+ 31.xd6 xf8 and black has
compensation for the exchange. 31...h7 32.f3 exf3 33.f8+ g8 34.xd6 xf8 35.e4 fxg2 36.d5 e7 37.c6 f5 38.c7+ d8 39.xg7 fxe4 40.xg2 a2+ 41.g3 e3 42.d6 e2 43.f2 e1+ 44.xe1 xh2 45.h7 Theoretically at
least, this position is drawn. 30.d5 Gaining time, as the R
still cannot escape. Very instructive. e7 30...xd5 31.f8+ f6 32.xd5
wins easily. 31.d6 xd7 32.xd7 Kashdan has made something out of nothing.
d3 This loses at once. 32...a3 keeps fighting... 33.e7 d3 34.xe4 xd6 35.h4 f6 36.a1 d2 37.a7 e6 and the gane could go on forever. 33.b7 f6 White has more than one way to skin the cat! 34.f3 Black
resigned 34.f3 c4 35.d1 a8 36.xb6 exf3 37.gxf3 d8 and the enbding
is hopelss. 34.d7 also wins. e7 35.f3 c4 36.d1 d3 37.fxe4 a3 38.e5 b4 39.xb6 xd7 40.d6+ e7 41.6xd3 etc. 1–0
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