It was the closing stages of World War II and headlines reported the unexpected death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the killing of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and the suicide of Nazi tyrant Adolf Hitler. Also in April, on the 18th, beloved columnist Ernie Pyle was killed by Japanese machine gun fire.
Would the American and British armies win the race to Berlin and occupy the enemy capital before the Red Army? Could the Marines take Okinawa and provide a jumping-off point for invading Japan?
People wondered how many lives would be lost in the invasion of Japan? In late July 1945, the War Department provided an estimate that there would be between 1.7 to 4 million US casualties, including 400,000 - 800,000 US deaths and 5-10 million Japanese.
Other question included how many people had died in the Nazi concentration camps that were being liberated? When would the national rationing program end? There were shortages of everything: paper, ink, gasoline for delivery trucks, photographic film just to name a few.
The end of the war appeared tantalizingly close and chess provided a respoter. For West Virginia players there was some good news. The April 10, 1945, issue of the West Virginia Chess Bulletin reported that one of the state’s best players, Reid Holt of Charleston who in the previous issue had been reported as missing in action, had been discovered to be alive and well in Germany.
On April 17, 1945, the promising young German player Klaus Junge (1924-1945) was killed in action at the age of 21. Junge, like his father, was a staunch Nazi. On April 17, Lieutenant Junge refused an offer by British troops to surrender and as a result he and those under his command were killed in the Battle of Welle. On their way to capture Harburg, the British 7th Division captured Welle and Tostedt on April 18th. It was one of the last battles of the War.
Among the chess action in the Unites States, in Peoria, Illinois, on April 29th there was an 8-board team match played between Illinois and Missouri. As a prelude to the match, Chicago's Samuel Factor gave a simultaneous exhibition, scoring 15 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss. 
The player conducting the white pieces in the following game was Albert Sandrin (1923-2004). As a child his vision was damaged after he stared at the sun. His vision deteriorated and by 1968 he was totally blind.. Despite being blind, Sandrin was still a strong master. He won the 1949 US Open held in Omaha, Nebraska, scoring an undefeated 10-2 in a strong field that included Larry Evans, Arthur Bisguier and Anthony Santasiere. After going blind he lived with his brother Angelo, also a strong master.
Exactly who his opponent was is not clear. According to the May 1945 edition of Chess Review the game was played on “April 29th” and Sandrin’s opponent was Lewis W. Haller. How a game played on April 29, 1945, made it into the May, 1945 issue of the magazine is unclear.
There was a strong St. Louis player named Lewis T. Haller. His brief biography at chessgames.com gives his date of birth as 1855 and his date of death as March 8, 1936. He is reported to have operated the demonstration board for the games that were played in St Louis as part of the Steinitz-Zukertort World Championship Match in 1886. His brother was William Haller (1856-1920), also a string St, Louis player.
But, who was Lewis W. Haller whom Sandrin played? This Haller must have been a pretty strong amateur also because he was playing on board 3.
I discovered a Lewis W. Haller, age 46, in the 1940 census. He lived St. Louis and was listed as Head of Household which consisted of his wife Alma (age 48), daughter June (age 24) and son Lewis, Junior (age 18). If I had to guess, my guess is that it was the senior Haller who played black.
Albert Sandrin (Illinois)–Lewis W. Haller (Missouri)1–0A00Inter-State Match1945Stockfish 16
C68: Ruy Lopez: Exchange Variation 1.e4 e5 2.f3 c6 3.b5 a6 4.xc6
This gives black the B pair, but it also weakens his P-structure. White hopes
to reach an endgame with a superior P-structure, which may become an important
factor. As a result, black must strive for an active position and generally
avoid piece exchanges. The variation was dormant for many years until Bobby
Fischer began playing it. dxc6 Black may recapture with either P, but this
move is almost always played. 5.0-0 This, the most popular move, is
sometimes called the Barendregt Variation, a name proposed by Robert Byrne in
a 1966 article for Chess Life. Dutch master Johan Barendregt played it in the
early 1960s and made considerable contributions to its theory. g4 In
Fischer's day 5...f6 was very popular. However, this move is the most
aggressive. 6.h3 After this black can play either 6...Bh5 or 6...Bxf3, but
the most modern and active variation is 6...h5. xf3 6...h5 White can't
take the B. 7.hxg4 hxg4 8.d3 8.e1 h4 9.f4 g3 mates 8...gxf3 9.xf3 h4 10.h3 xh3 11.gxh3 xh3 and black is better. 7.xf3 f6 8.d3 h6 9.c3 9.g3 d6 10.d2 e6 11.c4 d6 12.xg7 0-0-0 13.xd6+ cxd6 14.g3
White is clearly better. Balogh,C (2567)-Massoni,M (2013) Bastia FRA 2005 9.a3 xa3 10.bxa3 e7 11.b1 b6 12.b2 0-0 13.g3 is equal. Antal,T (2175)
-Grigoryan,M (2099) Kecskemet HUN 2010 9...d6 9...d7 10.g3 e6 11.e3 0-0-0 12.fd1 Black has the more active position. Ryberg,D-Reppen,E (1922)
Copenhagen 2007 10.e3 c5 11.e2 e7 12.g3 g6 This prevents Nf5 13.e2 0-0-0 14.d2 g5 Having prevented white's N from landing on f5 on move 12,
black now inexplicably allows it and in and as a result white's position is
greatly improved. 14...h5 would have forced white to find another post for his
N and kept the position even. 15.f5 d7 16.c3 b6 Black's Pformation on
the Q-side is not as solid as it looks as white soon demonstrates...the
position is full of holes. 17.a3 a5 17...e6 might work better because it
allows him to add the N to the defense of his K. 18.b4 d7 with a position
that might prove difficult to crack even though positionally white stands
considerably better. 18.f3 An unnecessary precaution. 18.Rfb1 was more
direct. h5 19.c4 The light squares around black's K are horribly weak. b7 Prevents Qa6+. 19...f4 allows white to invade as follows... 20.a6+ b8 21.xd6 xd6 22.b4 e2+ 23.h2 d4 24.fb1 c6 25.bxa5 a8 26.xa8+ xa8 27.xd4 xd4 28.axb6 with a won ending. 19...f4 20.b4 is also
very good. b5 21.xd6+ cxd6 22.a2 e6 23.bxc5 xa2 24.xa2 dxc5 25.b2 e6 26.xb5 Here, too, white's endgame advantage is decisive. 20.b4
White is on the roll. cxb4 21.xd6+ But with this move he
allows black back in the game. 21.fb1 e6 22.xd6+ xd6 23.axb4 xc4 24.dxc4 axb4 25.c5 c6 26.xb4 and white is better, but the win, if it's there,
is a long way off. In Shootouts in some long (70+ moves) white scored +2 -0 =3.
21...xd6 22.axb4 xb4 Black's desire to trade Qs and reduce
white's attacking possibilities is understandable, but unfortunately for him
white now has a won position. 22...axb4 allows black to defend himself. 23.fb1 a8 24.xa8 xa8 25.xb4 f4 with a solid position. 22...axb4 23.a6+ c6 Black's K is quite safe here and surprisingly there is no way
for white to make any progress. so he may as well repeat moves with 23.Qa4+
and take the draw. 23.xf7 The invasion by white's Q proves decisive. 23.xb4 actually leaves black with the better game after axb4 24.fb1 c5 25.c3 xd3 26.cxb4 xe3 27.bxc5 c6 28.cxb6 b8 29.b7 xb7 23...f4 24.ab1 hf8 25.g7 e6 25...e2+? 26.f2 g8 27.xh6 h8 28.xh8 xh8 29.xb4 axb4 30.xe2 25...g8 puts up a much tougher fight. Here is analysis by
Stockfish... 26.h7 h8 27.g7 hg8 28.xe5 a4 29.f2 ge8 30.b2 d6 31.h2 c6 32.d2 d7 33.xf4 gxf4 34.c4 ed8 35.d4 xc4 36.d5 b4 37.xb4 axb4 38.xb4 e7 39.db2 d6 40.g3 fxg3+ 41.xg3 g6+ 42.f2 f7 43.h4 h5 44.2b3 g4 45.e5 c8 46.e6 f5 47.xg4 hxg4 48.f4 xf4+ 49.g3 d4 50.e3 d8 51.e5 e7 52.h5 b5 53.h6 a4 54.f5 a8 55.f7+ d6 56.d7+ e5 57.e7 wins 26.xe5 d6 27.xa5 White has a decisive advantage and
the rest of the game presents no special problems. a8 28.d5+ xd5 29.exd5 f4 30.d6 A nice move undermining the Ks position. a6 31.dxc7 xc7 32.a1 xa1 33.xa1 d5 34.f2 e8 35.d2 e6 36.c4 f4 37.xf4+ gxf4 38.e1 xe1 38...d6 was equally hopeless. 39.e4 xd3 40.xf4 d6 41.e4 cutting the K off c3 42.g4 c5 43.h4 xc4 44.xc4+ xc4 45.g5 39.xe1 h5 40.d4 d6 41.h4 Black resigned 1–0
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