There were no ratings in those days, but Chessmetrics estimates Marshall’s highest ever rating to have been in 1917 when he was rated 2762 ranking him number 3 in the world. In 1937 (the last year the site has a rating for him) his estimated rating was down to 2494 positioning him at number 96 in the world.
Adding to the interest was that this was the first time Marshall had competed in the championship of his own club!
Not only did he win the tournament, but he won it in a manner which left no uncertainty about his clear superiority over the rest of the field. He was, well, Frank Marshall when tactical complications arose, but he also showed that he was a fine strategist when he wanted to be.
Reinfeld’s results were modest, but he was the only one to defeat Marshal when the latter underestimated the dangers in the
position. The staid Reinfeld also conducted a sharp attack against Smirka in the following game.
Attacking games are always entertaining...the kind of chess that makes
the pulse faster and gives us greatest pleasure. One such game was the one between Reinfeld and Smirka.
Fred Reinfeld (1910-1964) was a scant 54 years old when he supposedly died from a ruptured cerebral aneurysm. He was born in New York and is best remembered as a chess author. His early books were superb, but eventually he realized the money was in writing potboilers, books written merely to make the writer a living by catering to popular taste.
Reinfeld could play chess though. Chessmetrics estimates his highest ever rating to have been 2532 in 1942; that ranked him number 70 in the world (Botvinnik was first ay 2771 and Reshevsky 2nd at 2749). Reinfeld was ranked sixth with a rating of 2593 on the first rating list issued by the USCF in 1950.
Reinfeld won the New York State Championship twice (1931 and 1933) and played in seven US Championships before abndoning play for writing.
Little is known of his opponent, a journeyman Master named Rudolph Smirka (1887-1947, 60 years old) except that he was born in Vienna, Austria. He won the New York State chess championship in 1923 and 1927. Smirka was one of the strongest members of the Marshall Chess Club and won the club championship in 1929-1930 after a play-off with Sidney Bernstein.
Fred Reinfeld–Rudolph Smirka1–0D11Marshall CC ChampionshipNew York, NY1937Stockfish 16
D46: QGD, Semi-Slav 1.c4 f6 2.f3 c6 3.d4 d5 4.e3 e6 5.d3 bd7 6.bd2 d6 The strategu for both players is to advance their e-Pawn. 7.0-0 0-0 8.e4 dxe4 9.xe4 xe4 10.xe4 h6 It's well known that 10...e5 at
this time loses a P, bur even today a lot of players fall for it. My fatabase
has 3 games in which players rated over 2500 played 10...e5? 10...e5 11.dxe5 xe5 12.xe5 xe5 13.xh7+ xh7 14.h5+ g8 15.xe5 Black might be
able to hold the draw if he fights hard and has some luck. 11.c2 f6 12.d2 A good alternatiuve is 12.Ne5 e7 12...c5 is considerably better. 13.c3 b6 13...e8 14.dxc5 xc5 Infante,M (2301)-Puntier,W (2312) Santo
Domingo DOM 2012. White is better. 14.e2 b7 15.ad1 e7 16.dxc5 xc5 17.a3 fd8 18.b4 d6 19.e5 ac8 20.d4 c7 Draw agreed. Soppe,G (2469)
-Chemin,V (2316) Sao Paulo 2002 13.e1 In addition to the text white had
played 13.Bc3 and 13.Qe2, but 13.Qc1! is the hardest for black to handle. 13.c1 h7 13...b6 This is a pass to show what happens if black allows the
sacrifice on h6. 14.xh6 g4 14...gxh6 15.xh6 e8 16.g5 c7 17.xf6 xh2+ 18.h1 f4 White is winning. 15.g5 c7 16.h3 h2 17.xh2 xh2+ 18.h1 White is up a P and has good attacking chances. Again, black migh be
ab;e to hold the game if he avoids arrors and has some luck. d6 13...d8 14.a3 12.Qc1 was still a good alternative. c5 A good move making a bid to
free his game and get some play. 15.d5 Equally good! Other move allow black
equality. c7 16.c3 lapse, White has all the play and his Bs look menacing
to black's K. e7 Black's lagging development tells against him, but instead
of this retreat he should have went in for complications. 16...b5 17.b3 bxc4 18.bxc4 exd5 19.xf6 gxf6 20.cxd5 c4 21.d4 g7 Clearly white is
better, but black may be able to defend himself. In Shootouts whites scored +4
-0 =1, but the games were long (70-100 moves), so OTB a draw would be a
possibility. 17.d3+- Black's position is bery difficult. b5 A bold
bid for freedom, which fails because of the inferiority of Black's game. I 17...exd5 This is simply not possible because of 18.xf6 f5 18...xf6 19.h7+ f8 20.h8# 19.xf5 g6 20.e5 and wins 17...g6 is met by 18.e5 xd5 19.cxd5 xd5 20.f3 d6 21.g4 d4 22.f6 f8 23.xd4 cxd4 24.ac1 e7 25.xh6+ h7 26.xf7+ xf7 27.xf7 and wins. 18.b3 18.cxb5 woukd play into black's hands. xd5 19.e2 a6 Black has equalized.
White sould now play 20.Bxf6, but not 20.bxa6 xa6 21.e3 b7 22.e5
with planty of play. c6 18...b6 19.ad1 a6 This threatens 20...Nxd5,
but white has prepared for the final assault. 19...f8 20.e5 b4 21.a1 exd5 and now... 22.xf7 xf7 23.g6+ f8 24.xe7 xe7 25.xg7+ d6 26.xf6 c6 27.xd8 xd8 28.cxd5+ b5 29.axb4 xb4 30.xh6 etc. 20.xf6 xf6 21.h7+ f8 22.d6 It does black no good to take this P. g6 22...xd6 23.xd6 xd6 24.h8+ e7 25.xa8 23.e5 Even after this which is less
forceful thanv23.Bxg6 blacvk is already crushed. 23.xg6 fxg6 24.xe6 b8 24...xd6 25.dxd6 g7 26.d7 xe6 27.xg7 bxc4 28.h8+ g8 29.xg8# 25.xf6+ e8 26.e7# 23...g7 23...xe5 is met by 24.xg6 fxg6 25.e7+ g8 26.xe5 White is now ready to go for the kill. c8 Just a sample line..
. 27.f6 d7 28.xe6 b7 29.e5 h7 30.xg6 xg6 31.e6+ g7 32.xd7+ h8 33.e6 bxc4 34.xh6+ g8 35.g5+ h7 36.e1 xd6 37.e7+ 24.xf7
Crushing. Stockfish announces a mate in 11. xf7 24...xd6
allows a mate in 9. 25.xd6 c7 26.xe6 d7 27.de1 b7 28.f6+ xf6 29.xd7 d5 30.cxd5 e7 31.xe7 b4 32.h7 bxa3 33.f7# 25.xg6+ f8 26.e3 Threatens 27.Rf3+, but there are many ways to win. 26.xe6 with a mate in
9 is the most precise. xd6 27.dxd6 xd6 28.xd6 e8 29.f5+ g8 30.e6 f8 31.h7+ f7 32.g6+ g8 33.e7 f7 34.xf7+ h8 35.xg7# 26...b7 27.xe6 This wins, but he missed a pretty move. 27.d5 Nice. It's mate
in 5 xd5 28.cxd5 xd6 29.f3+ f6 30.xf6+ e7 31.g7+ d8 32.f8# 27...c6 Black is lost, but he hopes to be able to play 28...Qxg2# 28.d5
Less flashy was 28.f3 with a mate in 17. After the text black resigned. 28.d5 xd6 29.f5+ g8 30.h7+ f7 31.exd6 xd6 32.xd6 e7 33.g6 g8 34.xg8 f6 35.h7+ e6 36.g7 bxc4 37.xf6+ d7 38.g7+ c8 39.f8# 1–0
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