The players had to play two games a day for two weeks. The players were seeded into four preliminary sections, from which the first three qualified for the Championship, the next three for the Consolation Masters, the next three for a Class A tournament.
Reuben Fine and Samuel Reshevsky were unavailable as they were participating in the big international tournament in Nottingham.
A number of players withdrew rather than play in the final sections. The strong master George Treysman qualified for the Championship, but retired due to illness and was replaced by Milton Hanauer.
The Final turned out to be a three-way race between I.A. Horowitz, Arthur Dake and Arnold Denker and in the end, Horowitz prevailed to take the title just a half point ahead of Dke and Denker.
In the finals the players featured in today’s game from the preliminaries drew each other. Mugridge finished 7th with 4.5-6.5 and Hanauer finished tied for places 9-11 with 3.5-7.5.
The winner of this game was the little known Donald H. Mugridge (April 23, 1905 – November 3, 1964, 59 years old) who was born in Chicago, Illinois, but spent most of his adult life in Washington DC where he worked for the Library of Congress. 
He was educated in the Chicago public schools and received his B.A. and M.A. degrees from the University of Southern California and at the Harvard Graduate School where he completed his graduate work in history.
In his and college days he was a Harvard and District of Columbia chess Champion. He also won the Massachusetts Championship in 1932.
Before joining the Library of Congress in 1933, Mugridge served as a teaching fellow at the University of Southern California and as a research assistant.
For 30 years he was a specialist in American History in the General Reference and Bibliography Division of the Library of Congress and was a leading authority in his specialty. In that capacity he was widely known to scholars throughout the country. Also, he was the author of a number of articles and book reviews on historical journals.
Mugridge edited and contributed extensively to the monumental Guide to the Study if the United States of America, an annotated bibliography of books on the development of American life and thought. The book was published by the Library of Congress in 1960.
In recognition of the significant contributions to research the Library honored him in April of 1961 with a Superior Service Award.
The third USCF rating list was published in November, 1951. Reshevsky(2747) topped the list of 22 Masters followed by Fine (2711). Mugridge was ranked 17th at 2359.
An October 1937 article in Chess Review on the mannerisms of Masters had this to say about him: "Mugridge is a head-holder and chin-nurser par excellence. Being of a more restful nature than Winter, he does not seek to find out whether his head can be screwed on or off."
Mugridge died prematurely in his home on Tuesday, November 3, 1964 of a coronary thrombosis. He left no immediate survivors.
[Event "ACF Congress, Philadelphia"]
[Site "Philadelphia, PA USA"]
[Date "1936.08.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Donald Mugridge"]
[Black "Milton Hanauer"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D26"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 16"]
[PlyCount "57"]
[EventDate "1936.??.??"]
{D26: Queen's Gambit Accepted} 1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 {This
seemingly slow continuation sometimes contains more venom that it would appear}
e6 5. Bxc4 Be7 6. O-O c5 7. Qe2 cxd4 (7... O-O 8. dxc5 Bxc5 9. a3 a6 10. b4 Be7
11. Bb2 {is equal. Naumkin,I (2480)-Barlov,D (2460) Gioiosa Marea 1996}) (7...
Nc6 {is less favorable for black.} 8. Rd1 Qc7 9. Nc3 O-O 10. e4 {White has an
active position. Unuk,L (2110)-Bajlo,K (2096) Opatija CRO 2014}) 8. Rd1 O-O 9.
Nxd4 Qb6 10. Nc3 e5 11. Nb3 Nc6 12. Bd2 Bg4 13. f3 {Wrong retreat...better
would have been either 13...Bf5 or 13...Bd7} Bh5 14. Na4 (14. g4 {was a
promising alternative.} Bg6 15. Rac1 a5 16. Na4 {followed by e4}) 14... Qc7 $14
15. e4 Nd4 {After this white has slightly the better game, but it’s hard to
suggest an active plan for black.} 16. Nxd4 exd4 17. Rac1 {Threatening 18.
Bxf7+ winning the Q.} Qe5 18. Be1 {The immediate 18.g4 was plausible.} Rfd8 (
18... Bd6 19. Bg3 Qe7 20. e5 {wins}) 19. b4 Rac8 {This prevents white from
playing Nc5} 20. g4 {[%mdl 2048]} Qg5 {It has become increasingly difficult to
suggest anything really promising for black, but after this move white gets a
decisive advantage.} (20... b5 {sacrificing a P which helps ease the pressure
is his best try.} 21. Bxb5 Rxc1 22. Rxc1 d3 23. Bxd3 Bg6 {but here, too, black
would lose in the long run.}) 21. Bd2 Qg6 {White still has to be very careful+/
- The immediate threat is ...Nxg4} 22. h3 (22. Nc5 {A pass to demonstrate the
threat.} Nxg4 23. fxg4 Bxg4 24. Qg2 Bxd1 25. Qxg6 hxg6 26. Rxd1 b6 27. Rf1 Rf8
28. a4 bxc5 29. bxc5 Bxc5 {and black is winning.}) 22... Rxc4 {This move sets
a clever trap which Mugridge does not fall for.} 23. Rxc4 {[%mdl 32]} (23. Qxc4
{loses the game!} Nxg4 24. hxg4 Bxg4 25. fxg4 Qxg4+ 26. Kh1 Qf3+ 27. Kg1 Rd6
28. Qc8+ Bd8 29. Bg5 Qg3+ 30. Kf1 Qxg5 {Materially speaking black only has 3
Ps for the R, but he has a winning position. Black won 5 Shootouts...here is
the continuation at 17 plies...} 31. e5 Qf4+ 32. Ke1 Qe3+ 33. Kf1 Qf3+ 34. Ke1
d3 35. Kd2 Qe2+ 36. Kc3 Rc6+ 37. Qxc6 bxc6 38. Rxd3 Bc7 39. Rcd1 h5 40. Kb3
Bxe5 41. R3d2 Qg4 42. Nc5 h4 43. Ka4 h3 44. Rf1 Bd4 45. Rc1 Be3 46. Rcc2 Bxd2
47. Rxd2 g5 {and the game is over.}) 23... b5 (23... Nxg4 {The above trick
doesn’t work now because White’s Q covers g4.} 24. hxg4 Bxg4 25. fxg4) 24.
Rc5 {[%mdl 512]} bxa4 25. Rg5 Qh6 26. Rxh5 Qg6 27. Rg5 Qh6 28. Re5 Qh4 29. Be1
{This leaves black helpless; he loses a Rook and so black resigned.} (29. Be1
Qh6 (29... Qxh3 30. Rxe7 h5 31. e5 {White is winning here also.}) 30. Rxe7 Rd7
31. Rxd7 Nxd7 32. Rxd4) 1-0
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