The masters in question were former world champion Max Euwe, Miguel Najdorf and Swedish champion Gideon Stahlberg.
Unfortunately, Stahlberg would not be staying in New York long enough to participate, so he declined. His invitation went to Samuel Reshevsky, who also declined. Argentinian master Herman Pilnik found out about the tournament from Najdorf and offered to fill the empty seat and so he did.
When it was all over Fine had defeated Najdorf in their individual game and so took first with Najdrof finishing second. Euwe and Pilnik tied for third.
After the tournament Euwe went on tour giving simuls while Fine and Najdorf played a little publicized 8-game match. The hard-fought match ended in a draw.
The majority of the games were played at the Manhattan and Marshall chess clubs; Edward Lasker acted as referee.
Fine looked like an easy winner when he won the first two games making it three in a row (counting the tournament) that he had taken from Najdorf. Then Najdort rallied winning games 3 and 4 to tie the natch. The final four games resulted in draws.
In the following game, the first game of the match, Fine made quick work of his redoubtable opponent.
Miguel Najdorf–Reuben Fine0–1E34Match, New York11949Stockfish 16
E34: Nimzo-Indian: Classical Variation 1.d4 f6 2.c4 e6 3.c3 b4 4.c2
The Classical (aka Capablanca) Variation was popular in the early days of the
Nimzo-Indian, and though eventually superseded by 4.e3 (the Rubinstein
Variation), but it made a revival in the 1990s. White';s plan is to acquire
the two Bs and at the same time avoid doubled c-Pawns. On the down side, his Q
move will lose a tempo of two. d5 Besides this move b;ack has three other
common replies: 4...0-0, 4...c5 and 4...Nc6 5.cxd5 xd5 Equally good is 5...
exd5 6.f3 c5 7.d2 xc3 8.xc3 0-0 9.dxc5 9.e3 b6 10.d3 a6 11.xa6 xa6 12.0-0 cxd4 13.xd4 as in Li,B (2325)-Moradi,B (2178) Anzali Free Zone
IRI 2019 is completely equal. 9...xc5 10.c1 c6 10...bd7 11.e4 h6 12.d3 b6 13.0-0 b7 14.e2 is equal. Dreev,A (2655)-Andersson,U (2582)
Barcelona ESP 2009 11.b1 While this may look rather odd, the position is
so evenly balanced that pretty much anything short of a gross blunder keeps
the balance. 11.e3 d7 12.b1 e7 13.e2 d5 14.0-0 xc3 Draw agreed.
Kelecevic,N (2475)-Landenbergue,C (2410) Biel 1996 11...e7 12.g3 e5 13.g2 d5 14.0-0 A draw by agreement at any time seems reasonable. xc3 15.bxc3 15.xc3 is more logical, but, again, even after Najdorf;s move giving
himself an isolated P, the position is dead equal. e6 16.e4 f6 and a
handshake is a reasonable outcome. 15...e6 16.fd1 ac8 17.e1 He has
to make a move and this is as good as any. c4 18.d3 This gives Fine just
a tiny opening. Doubling Rs on the d-file with 18.Rd2 was super-solid. f5
A sign of aggression. Black has the initiative, but not much else.
Will it pay off? 19.e4 It does after this slightly risky move. 19.h4
Makes things interesting after e4 20.f4 and black has to plausible moves. e5 20...e3 21.d5+ xd5 22.xd5 exf2+ 23.xf2 c5+ Black has some play,
but white should be able to hold him off. 21.e3 fd8 with a completely
even game. 19...f4 20.h3! cd8 21.b4 f7 22.xd8 This proves fatal! 22.c2 f6 23.xc6 xc6 24.f5 g6 and the position doesn't offer much to
either side. 25.h3 22...xd8 This excellent move may have come
as a surprise to Najdorf as he may have been expecting Fine to recapture with
the R. Even so, white's position is far from lost. 22...xd8?! 23.xc6 bxc6 24.d1 with a fully equal position. 23.c2 e6 The N is headed more
more versant pastures. 24.f5 All of a sudden black has a decisive
advantage! 24.d5 might work better. g5 25.g2 e6 26.d2 g4 27.e7+ h8 28.d6 Black is better, but there is no forced win. His advantage lies
in his more active pieces. 24...c5 25.d1 h5 26.d5 A quick glance
might leave on to think wjite is OK; his pieces look to be well placed. g6
The B doesn't have anywhere to go. 27.d7 Now if black plays 27...Nxd7
white gets the piece back with a N check plus he will ahve a R on the 7th rank.
xd7 White resigned. Why?! 27...xd7 28.e7+ h8 29.xd7 Everything
looks good for white, but...surprise! Black has a mate in 8 moves. h3 30.xg6+ hxg6 31.c1 f3 32.h6+ xh6 33.h4 c1+ 34.d1 xd1+ 35.h2 f1 36.h5 g2# 0–1
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