The USCF's solution was a three-year cycle of elimination events that would begin with regional preliminaries (as in the past) and then the next year there would be a “Candidates Tournament” made up of the regional qualifiers plus seeded players.
The trouble was that there was a lack of organization and the the whole plan fell apart. As a result the 1954 championship was missing some big names. Samuel Reshevsky, Robert Byrne, George Kramer, Donald Byrne and Arnold Denker, the country’s top five rated [;ayers accepted their invitations.
Not only that, the USCF didn't have the money to hold the championship. Fortunately tournament was salvaged when the Marshall Chess Club which offered its facilities to hold the 14-player event.
Arthur Bisguier was attended college classes during the day and ended up sleeping at night in one of the Marshall's upstairs apartments. He was eighth on the new USCF rating list. Larry Evans, the defending champion, was only tenth. Still, the French emigre Nicolas Rossolimo, the veteran Max Pavey and up-coming junior star, James T. Sherwin all lent some strength to the event.
Sherwin, 20 years old and only ranked 24th took the early lead after five rounds but Evans and Bisguier fought back to tie Sherwin by the 8th round with 6-2 scores.
Then disaster stuck when Evans lost to Marshall Chess Club junior Eliot Hearst. Sherwin drew his game so Bisguier took the lead. The leaders were scheduled to meet each other in the next three rounds so an exciting finished was assured.
Evans vs. Bisguier saw Evans finesse his way out of a lost position and draw. In the next round Evans won from Sherwin thus pretty much ruined the latter’s chances.
Bisguier could only draw with Hans Berliner.
The next important game was Bisguier vs. Sherwin (featured here) which turned out to be an exciting affair with ups and downs for both players and it ended with Sherwin losing on time.
The result was Bisguier entered the final round with a half point lead ahead of Evans who had white against Herbert Seidman while Bisguier had black against Ariel Mengarini. Mengarini refused Bisguier’s draw offer and tried desperately to win a drawish endgame. He blundered on the 47th move and lost while the Evans-Seidman game was drawn and the result was Bisguier won the US Championship without a loss and pocketed $254.35.
It’s also interesting to note that this tournament was witnessed by the visiting delegation of Soviet players who were to stomp the U.S. by a 20-12 score in a match a few weeks later.
Here is the Bisguier-Sherwin game that had the spectators buzzing. Curiously, as in the previous game, it’s another Veresov Opening.
The opponents castled on opposite sides and P-stormed the enemy Kings. Mate threats were everywhere when Sherwin, very short of time, tried to force a draw by repetition, but Bisguier didn’t want a draw; he wanted the championship.
Bisguier hoped his defensive resources could withstand the attack and he went for the win. In the process he overlooked a stunning R sacrifice by Sherwin that Bisguier said, “shook me to my socks,” but his luck held and he managed to win, but only after Sherwin, in desperate time pressure, threw away his advantage.
Had Sherwin found the win, Bisguier and Evans would have tied for first and Sherwin would have moved up to sole possession of 3rd place instead of a tie for 4th-5th
Arthur Bisguier–James T Sherwin1–0D01US Championship, New York12New York, NY USA12.06.1954Stockfish 16
D01: Veresov Opening 1.d4 f6 2.c3 d5 3.g5 See the previous game for
comments on this opening. f5 4.f3 c6 5.d2 bd7 6.0-0-0 h6 7.h4 e6 8.e3 e7 9.b1 Black is slightly better. 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 b5 11.b1 a5 12.xf6 xf6 13.e4 White has fw prospects. Caselas Cabanas,J (2428) -Narciso
Dublan,M (2530) Tossa de Mar ESP 2010 9...b5 10.d3 xd3 11.cxd3 0-0 12.f4 a5 13.f3 a4 14.c1 b4 15.e2 The opening has not been kind to Bisguier.
..ot's clear that black has all the attacking chances. c5 15...c8 16.xf6 xf6 17.hg1 c5 18.dxc5 xc5 with the initiative. 16.xf6 Well-played.
Black must recapture with the P to avoid the loss of a P after 16.dxc5 gxf6 17.g4 Thanks to black's small slip on move 15 white has peospects on the
g-file and so he has equalized. a5 17...c4 offering a P was much more
promising. 18.dxc4 dxc4 19.g5 19.xc4 b6 20.cc1 d5 21.cf1 b3 22.c3 22.axb3 axb3 wins. 22...bxa2+ 23.a1 b3 Black has a decisive
advantage. 19...c3 20.bxc3 b3 21.c4 a3 In this sharp position black has
the better prospects. 18.dxc5 Also playable was 18.g5, but Bisguier has
gone on the defensive in an uncharacteristic fashion. xc5 19.ed4 Played
to discourage ...Nb3 a6 This inhibits Nc6 and attacks the d-Pawn. 19...b3 doesn't quite work. 20.axb3 axb3 21.xb3 a2+ 22.c2 fc8+ 23.d1 xb3+ 24.e2 and the K has slipped to safety. 20.cd1 fc8 21.h4
This is a very delicately balanced position in which demands precise play by
both sides. 21.xb4 is just too risky. a3 22.b3 e4 23.xe7 c3+ 24.c1 a7 25.xf6 e4+ and black is winning. 21.g5 This immediate counter was
his best bet. h7 Safest. 22.h4 b3 23.e2 23.axb3 axb3 mates in 3 24.g6+ g7 25.f5+ exf5 mate next move. 23...xd4 24.xd4 a3 25.b3 g8
with equal chances. 21...c7 White now gets the initiative. 21...b3
Had to be plated. 22.g2 h8 23.g5 xd4 24.xd4 c5 25.g6 g8 26.h5 a3 27.b3 with equal chances. 22.e2 Equally good was 22.g5 ac8 He could
still have gotten away with 22...Nb3, but the text is also quite good. 23.g5 h5 There was no time for this defensive move! 23...b3 This is now
necessary if black wants to have any chance of gaining the upper hand. 24.hg1 h8 25.gxf6 xf6 26.e5 xd4 27.exd4 h7 28.h5 a3 with a winning
attack. White's best chance would be to try and complicate the issue with 29.g6 g7 29...fxg6 30.xg6+ h8 31.xf6+ g7 32.xh6+ g8 33.g6 b3 34.h8+ f7 35.e5+ f6 36.h6+ draws 30.xg7+ xg7 31.g1+ f8 32.b3 b6 33.xh6+ e7 34.g7 d6 Black's K has slipped away and he can now proceed
to collect the point. 24.e1 24.hg1 offered a better chance... f8 25.f5 e8 26.fxe6 White is much better. xe6 27.g6 fxg6 28.xg6 b3 29.a3 c2 30.f1 8c5 31.g8+ d7 White's position remains the more promising. 24...b3 Finally! 25.ec2 25.axb3 axb3 26.xb3 a8 27.c2 a2+ 28.c1 xb3
wins 25...e5 This is a tactical error as Bisguier immediately
demonstrates. 25...xd4 26.xd4 a3 27.b3 f5 28.xh5 c5 29.c2 c6 30.g6 f6 and there is no white attack and black is better. 26.xh5 White
holds the advantage here, but this move allows Sherwin right back in the game 26.gxf6 first was the correct continuation. xf6 27.xh5 g7 28.fxe5 xd4 29.xd4 h6 30.g4 and white has a decisive advantage. 26...exd4 27.dg1! d2+ 27...xc2 gets hom mated... 28.gxf6+ g2 29.xg2+ f8 30.h8# 28.a1 White threatens gxf6+ and mate. b3+ 29.b1 d2+ 30.a1 b3+ 31.axb3 The repetitions probably gained time on the clock, but nbiw
Bisguier makes a horrible decision to continue playing...and he walks into a
mate in 11 axb3+ 32.a3 c1+ Brilliantly played. 33.xc1 bxa3
This gives excellent winning chances, but Sherwin has missed the mate. 33...xc1+ mates 34.xc1 bxa3 35.xf7+ xf7 36.c7 axb2+ 37.xb2 a2+ 38.c1 b2+ 39.d1 b1+ 40.c1 ac2+ 41.e1 bxc1# 34.xc8+ xc8
Black has a decisive advantage even though he is the exchange down. 35.d1
There is no way to continue an "attack" against black's K and so white is
forced to turn his attention to the defense of his own K. 35.exd4 leads to
mate. axb2+ 36.xb2 c2+ 37.a1 a2# 35...axb2+ 36.xb2 c3+ 37.b1 a3 this move loses all the advantage. It's probably that Sherwin was still in
time pressure. 37...dxe3 give white another passed P to think about and it
leaves him with no defense. 38.c1 xd3+ ...and now there are 3 passed Ps...
too many for white to deal with. 38.h2 dxe3 39.gxf6 Hoping for Qg1+. f8 40.g2 The R is guarding the 2nd rank and now the advance of his h-Pawn is
something black must think about. e8 40...d6 was an interesting defense.
After 41.e2 b2 42.xb2 xd3+ 43.c2 f1+ 44.b2 a6 white cannot escape
the combined action of the Q and B and will have to settle for a draw. 41.d4 41.g8+ was worth a try. f8 42.h5 d4 43.h6 Things look grim for black,
but he has a saving resource. d2 44.xb3 44.xd2 exd2 45.g1 xh6 46.b2 xf4 47.xb3 e3 48.g8+ d7 49.c2 e6 50.d1 xf6 51.e2 e5 52.f8 f5 53.e8+ f4 54.g8 and black cannot win because he can't escape checks from
the R. 44...e1+ 45.b2 d2+ draws 41...d8 41...d7
Had to be played. 42.h5 f8 43.b2 b4 44.e2 44.xb3 e2 wins! 44...c3 45.b5+ e6 46.xb3 e1+ 47.b2 d2+ draws 42.h5 c8 43.h6 Black's next move was a time pressure blunder, but he was lost in any case.
Nevertheless, had he played the best move the resulting position gets
complicated and so, who knows what would have g\happened? b2 This is a gross
blunder. 43...e2 44.xe2 h3 45.d2 d8 46.d3 xh6 47.xb3 d6 48.xd5 xf6 49.e3 xf4 50.a8+ b8 51.f3 c7 52.b3 c8 53.a6+ d8 54.f6+ d7 55.xf7+ and wins. 44.c2 1-0 Black lost on time, but he gets mated
in 8. 44.c2 c4 45.xc4+ dxc4 46.h7 b7 47.h8 e2 48.xe2 f8 49.xf8 b6 50.xc4 a7 51.cc5+ b7 52.fc8# 1–0
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