Who Played Black?

     By April 1945, Americans were exhausted, scared and overwhelmed with the month’s headlines. Even though the war in Europe looked to be drawing to an end things looked bleak: Japan was still fighting, economic disaster was predicted, there was a rising death toll plus flu and polio were on the up rise with no end in sight.

     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. 

[Event "Inter-State Match"] [Site "?"] [Date "1945.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Albert Sandrin (Illinois)"] [Black "Lewis W. Haller (Missouri)"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A00"] [Annotator "Stockfish 16"] [PlyCount "81"] [EventDate "1945.??.??"] {C68: Ruy Lopez: Exchange Variation} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Bxc6 { 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. O-O {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.} Bg4 {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.} Bxf3 (6... h5 {White can't take the B.} 7. hxg4 hxg4 8. d3 (8. Ne1 Qh4 9. f4 g3 {mates}) 8... gxf3 9. Qxf3 Qh4 10. Qh3 Qxh3 11. gxh3 Rxh3 {and black is better.}) 7. Qxf3 Nf6 8. d3 h6 9. Nc3 (9. Qg3 Qd6 10. Nd2 Qe6 11. Nc4 Bd6 12. Qxg7 O-O-O 13. Nxd6+ cxd6 14. Qg3 { White is clearly better. Balogh,C (2567)-Massoni,M (2013) Bastia FRA 2005}) (9. Na3 Bxa3 10. bxa3 Qe7 11. Rb1 b6 12. Bb2 O-O 13. Qg3 {is equal. Antal,T (2175) -Grigoryan,M (2099) Kecskemet HUN 2010}) 9... Bd6 (9... Qd7 10. Qg3 Qe6 11. Be3 O-O-O 12. Rfd1 {Black has the more active position. Ryberg,D-Reppen,E (1922) Copenhagen 2007}) 10. Be3 c5 11. Ne2 Qe7 12. Ng3 g6 {This prevents Nf5} 13. Qe2 O-O-O 14. Qd2 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. Nf5 Qd7 16. Qc3 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... Qe6 {might work better because it allows him to add the N to the defense of his K.} 18. b4 Nd7 {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.} Nh5 19. Qc4 {The light squares around black's K are horribly weak.} Kb7 {Prevents Qa6+.} (19... Nf4 {allows white to invade as follows...} 20. Qa6+ Kb8 21. Nxd6 Qxd6 22. b4 Ne2+ 23. Kh2 Nd4 24. Rfb1 Qc6 25. bxa5 Qa8 26. Qxa8+ Kxa8 27. Bxd4 Rxd4 28. axb6 {with a won ending.}) (19... Nf4 20. b4 {is also very good.} b5 21. Nxd6+ cxd6 22. Qa2 Qe6 23. bxc5 Qxa2 24. Rxa2 dxc5 25. Rb2 Ne6 26. Rxb5 {Here, too, white's endgame advantage is decisive.}) 20. b4 { [%mdl 2048] White is on the roll.} cxb4 21. Nxd6+ {But with this move he allows black back in the game.} (21. Rfb1 Qe6 22. Nxd6+ Rxd6 23. axb4 Qxc4 24. dxc4 axb4 25. c5 Rc6 26. Rxb4 {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... Qxd6 22. axb4 Qxb4 {[%mdl 8192] 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. Rfb1 Ra8 24. Rxa8 Rxa8 25. Rxb4 Nf4 {with a solid position.}) (22... axb4 23. Qa6+ Kc6 {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. Qxf7 {The invasion by white's Q proves decisive.} (23. Qxb4 {actually leaves black with the better game after} axb4 24. Rfb1 c5 25. c3 Rxd3 26. cxb4 Rxe3 27. bxc5 Kc6 28. cxb6 Rb8 29. b7 Rxb7) 23... Nf4 24. Rab1 Rhf8 25. Qg7 Ne6 (25... Ne2+ $2 26. Kf2 Rg8 27. Qxh6 Rh8 28. Qxh8 Rxh8 29. Rxb4 axb4 30. Kxe2) (25... Rg8 {puts up a much tougher fight. Here is analysis by Stockfish...} 26. Qh7 Rh8 27. Qg7 Rhg8 28. Qxe5 Qa4 29. Rf2 Rge8 30. Qb2 Rd6 31. Kh2 Qc6 32. Rd2 Rd7 33. Bxf4 gxf4 34. c4 Red8 35. d4 Qxc4 36. d5 Qb4 37. Qxb4 axb4 38. Rxb4 Re7 39. Rdb2 Rd6 40. g3 fxg3+ 41. Kxg3 Rg6+ 42. Kf2 Rf7 43. h4 h5 44. R2b3 Rg4 45. e5 Kc8 46. e6 Rf5 47. Rxg4 hxg4 48. f4 Rxf4+ 49. Kg3 Rd4 50. Re3 Kd8 51. Re5 Ke7 52. h5 b5 53. h6 Ra4 54. Rf5 Ra8 55. Rf7+ Kd6 56. Rd7+ Ke5 57. e7 {wins}) 26. Qxe5 Qd6 27. Qxa5 {White has a decisive advantage and the rest of the game presents no special problems.} Ra8 28. Qd5+ Qxd5 29. exd5 Nf4 30. d6 {A nice move undermining the Ks position.} Ra6 31. dxc7 Kxc7 32. Ra1 Rxa1 33. Rxa1 {[%mdl 4096]} Nd5 34. Kf2 Re8 35. Bd2 Re6 36. c4 Nf4 37. Bxf4+ gxf4 38. Re1 Rxe1 (38... Rd6 {was equally hopeless.} 39. Re4 Rxd3 40. Rxf4 Kd6 41. Re4 {cutting the K off} Rc3 42. g4 Kc5 43. h4 Rxc4 44. Rxc4+ Kxc4 45. g5) 39. Kxe1 h5 40. d4 Kd6 41. h4 {Black resigned} 1-0