In August the 7th Chess Olympiad was held in Stockholm. The USA team (Samuel Reshevsky, Reuben Fine, Isaac Kashdan, Frank Marshall and I.A, Horowitz) took first place. The US team had also won in 1931, 1933 and 1935. Hungary. Poland was second and Poland was third.
Back in the 1930s alternatives to over the board play were postal chess, radio, telegraph matches and telephone matches.
Rotary dial phones were introduced to Americans in 1919, but they did not become widely used until the mid-1950's. Prior to the rotary phone a caller simply lifted the receiver off the hook and an operator answered with the phrase, “Number, please.” You then told her the number you wanted. In my home town our phone number was simply 2271. Older phones had magnetos; callers signaled the operator by turning a crank.
In April 10, of 1937, Berlin and Hamburg played a telephone match about which almost nothing is known, However, I did discover the results of the match on the wonderful Edo Historical Chess Ratings site HERE.
The winner of the following game who played on board 2 of that natch was Kurt Richter (1900-1969), a very a sharp attacking player and theoretician. After World War II he largely gave up playing for writing. He was co-editor of Deutsche Schachblatter and Deutsche Schachzeitung. He was also the author of several chess books.
His opponent was Heinrich Reinhardt (1902-1990) who later became known as Enrique Reinhardt. When World War II broke out, Reinhardt, along with other German players Erich Eliskases, Paul Michel, Ludwig Engels, Albert Becker and many other participants at the 1939 Olympiad, decided to permanently remain in Argentina. He died on June 14, 1990 in Ciudad Jardín Lomas del Palomar, Argentina.
What’s pleasing about this game is that even though it’s tactically faulty, on move 34 Richter makes a delightful Queen sacrifice that leads to a mate in 7.
Kurt Richter (Berlin)–Heinrich Reinhardt (Hamburg)1–0A45Telephone Match Berlin-HamburgTelephone match Berlin-Hamburg10.04.1937Stockfish 16
D01: Richter-Veresov Attack 1.d4 f6 2.c3 d5 3.g5 This opening is
named after Richter and Soviet master Gavriil Veresov, who played it
frequently for over a quarter of a century. In modern times Spassky, Tal,
Smyslov, Larsen and Bronstein experimented with it. Black has a wide choice of
replies while white's plan plans typically include rapid Q-side castling and
an early f3 and e4. f5 4.e3 e6 5.d3 g6 6.f3 e7 6...c5 7.e5 c6 8.xc6 bxc6 9.0-0 cxd4 10.exd4 b6 11.b1 e7 12.e2 Draw agreed. Mestrovic,
Z (2410)-Komljenovic,D (2435) Sibenik 1986 6...bd7 7.0-0 e7 8.xf6 gxf6 9.e4 c6 is equal. Guerreiro,N (2086)-Stopa,J (2524) Figueira da Foz POR 2014 7.e5 xd3 8.cxd3 The position is equal. 8.xd3 0-0 9.f4 c5 10.0-0-0 c4 11.e2 b5 12.xb5 a5 13.c3 b4 14.xf6 gxf6 15.g4+ h8 16.h4 fxe5 17.f6+ g8 18.g5+ Draw agreed. Lenhardt,M (2148)-Zilverberg,J (2015)
Maastricht 2009 8...0-0 9.0-0 fd7 10.f4 xe5 11.dxe5 c5 12.e4 d4 12...dxe4 is wilder. 13.g4 h8 14.xe4 c6 with fully equal chances. 13.e2 c6 14.g3 e8 15.f4 f8 Instead of this rather passive move
the immediate 15...b5 was good. 16.e1 b5 17.h4 e7 As will soon be seen
the exchange of dark squared Ns results in a weakness on the dark squares
around the K. Better was 17...Qc7 18.xe7 xe7 19.g3 g6 This is not
really bad because the position can still be evaluated as equal, but something
like 19...Nb4 would have been better. 20.h1 The N begins a journey to g4
from where it eyes f6 and h6. c4 And now ...Nb4 would win. 21.f2 b4 22.g4 xd3 22...c2 23.f6+ xf6 24.exf6 xe1 25.fxe1 is also equal. 23.g3 White has sufficient compensation for the P. ec8 24.f5 exf5 24...xb2 There is no time for this. 25.h6+ f8 26.fxg6 e8 27.xf7 25.exf5 h8 26.f6 With this move Richter has made a slip that should have allowed black
to gain the advantage! Correct was 26.fxe6. In all likelihood black would have
managed to survive the attack. f8 26...e6 leaves white with no
satisfactory way of continuing the attack. 27.h3 c5 and it's white who is
on the defensive. 27.f3 Another tactical mistake, this time of a more
serious nature. 27.e6 keeps up the pressure and would have required
precise defense from black. fxe6 28.a4 Excellent! White can make no
immediate progress on the K-side and so switches to the Q-side and center. b4 29.b3 e5 30.bxc4 e4 31.ad1 With careful play black can successfully
defend his position. 27...c5 27...xb2 would be a blunder, After 28.e6 fxe6 29.e5 and after Raf1 white's superiority should prove decisive. 28.h4 e6 29.h3 h5 30.f1 At this point black is oblivious to white's threat
of 31.Rf5! While he can't prevent it he can render it innocuous. d3 Wrong Pawn advance! This one loses. 30...c3 Right Pawn advance. This
one wins. 31.f2 31.f5 f4 32.xf4 c2 33.f1 c1 34.xc1 xc1+
and black is winning. 31...c2 with a decisive advantage. 32.d3 h6 33.e1 c4 34.c1 xc1 35.xc1 31.f5 This renders black defenseless. c5+ 32.f1 f4 33.xf4 33.xh5+ mates in 7 xh5 34.g5 g8 35.xh5 f8 36.h6+ h7 37.xf7+ gxh5 38.xh5+ g8 39.g6+ g7 40.xg7# 33...d2 This allows mate in 7, but avoiding the forced mate with 33...Kg8
still loses. 34.xh5+ White mates. gxh5 35.xh5+ g8 36.e3
Black resigned. 36.e3 d1+ 37.xd1 d4 37...c3 38.g4+ f8 39.h8# 38.xd4 c3 39.g4+ f8 40.h8# 1–0
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