Bain vs. Hoover

    Internationally in 1938 the Nazis were beginning to make their move in Europe. In the U.S. the Great New England Hurricane happened on September 21, 1938; it was one of the most destructive and powerful hurricanes in history. 

    It struck Long Island and moved up the Eastern Seaboard at a speed of 47 mph. Maximum wind gust were 186 mph with 50 foot high waves. It came at a time when Americans were slowly digging their way out of the Great Depression, but even so the unemployment rate jumped significantly. 

    It was also the year Orson Welles broadcasted his adaptation of H.G. Wells's War of the Worlds on the radio and it creatied a nationwide panic when some listeners believe that aliens had actually landed in New Jersey. 

    In chess news, Samuel Reshesky went undefeated and won the US Championship a half point ahead of Reuben Fine who lost two games. I.A. Horowitz and Isaac Kashdan tied for the U.S. Open Championship. 

    On the international scene the AVRO tournament that was held in the Netherlands was a double round-robin between the eight strongest players in the world. Paul Keres amd Reuben Fine tied for first ahead of Botvinnik, Euwe, Reshevsky and Alekhine, Capablanca, Flohr. 

    The South American Championship took place in Montevideo, Uruguay. Alekhine finished first a point and a half ahead of Carlos Guimard. 

    Hungarian born Mary Bain (1904-1972, 68 years old) scores a nice win in the following game. One rainy night in 1938 while driving home in the rain from the A.F.C. Congress (the forerunner of the U.S. Open) in Boston, Bain, Mrs. Raphael McCready and Miss Edith Weart, were involved in an accident in which they struck a telephone pole. 

    Mrs. McCready suffered minor injuries, Miss Weart was pinned under the car and sustained a fractured shoulder and Bain fractured a vertebra. She was in a cast for eight months and was bedridden for much of the time and occupied her time playing correspondence chess. 

     Bain was Women's World Championship Challenger in 1937 and 1952 and was awarded the WIM title in 1952. She was the first American woman to represent the U.S. in an organized competition. She was also the U.S. Women's Champion from 1951 to 1953, losing the title to Mona May Karff. 

    This game is a very nice win over Zenas Leslie Hoover 1876 – 1963) who was Secretary and later President of the Correspondence Chess League of America (CCLA). He held a patent for one of the first versions of a flashing traffic signal. He died of heart attack in Montoursville, Pennsylvania. Hoover got a passive position and his poorly defended King went down to a pretty sacrificial attack by Bain. 

[Event "US Continental Jubilee corr"] [Site "USA"] [Date "1938.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Mary Bain"] [Black "Leslie Hoover"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D02"] [Annotator "Komodo Dragon 3"] [PlyCount "69"] [EventDate "1938.??.??"] {E04: Open Catalan} 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. g3 c6 5. Bg2 dxc4 6. Ne5 Bb4+ 7. Nc3 Nd5 8. Bd2 Nb6 9. e3 (9. Ne4 a5 10. e3 O-O 11. Qc2 N8d7 12. Nxc4 Nxc4 13. Qxc4 Bxd2+ 14. Nxd2 e5 {½-½ Rotstein,A (2533)-Korneev,O (2559) Arco ITA 2003}) 9... O-O (9... N8d7 10. Ne4 Be7 11. Qc2 O-O 12. Nxc4 Nxc4 13. Qxc4 e5 {equals. Gaehwiler,G (2408)-Livaic,L (2572) Katowice POL 2022}) 10. Qe2 N8d7 (10... Bd6 11. Nxc4 Nxc4 12. Qxc4 b6 13. b4 Bb7 {½-½ De la Fuente Gonzalez,F (2190)-Barria Zuniga,D (2423) Villa de Aranjuez 2009}) (10... a5 11. Nxc4 Nxc4 12. Qxc4 b6 13. a3 Ba6 {equals. Kravanja,A (2028)-Titan,M (2117) Graz AUT 2010} ) 11. Nxc4 Nd5 12. O-O Nxc3 13. bxc3 Be7 14. e4 {Although black has no weaknesses on his K-side white's greater space and black's cramped position hints at what is coming.} b5 15. Ne3 {[%mdl 2048]} a5 16. Rfd1 Ba6 17. e5 b4 18. c4 Rc8 19. Ng4 {White is ignoring black's Q-side activity and this move should have allowed black to fully equalize. Bets was 19.a3} Nb6 20. Rac1 { At this point white's advantage is minimal, but black now misses an equalizing tactical shot.} Qc7 {After this passive move white gins the advantage.} (20... Nxc4 21. Rxc4 Bxc4 22. Qxc4 {White has a B+N vs R+P but her pieces are the more active and black's c-Pawn is a greater liability than white's d-Pawn.}) 21. Be4 Rcd8 {The losing move. Black is in dire straits after 21...Rfd8 but at least it would have given his K an escape route.} (21... Rfd8) 22. Nf6+ { [%mdl 512] ...and wins!} Bxf6 {Taking with the P would have been even worse.} ( 22... gxf6 23. Qg4+ Kh8 24. exf6 Rg8 (24... Bxf6 25. Qh5) 25. Qh4 Rg6 26. fxe7 Re8 27. Bxg6 fxg6 28. Qf6+ Kg8 29. Qxe6+ Kh8 30. Bg5 {mops up/}) 23. Bxh7+ $1 { [%mdl 512]} Kxh7 24. Qh5+ $1 Kg8 25. exf6 {Black could safely resign at any time.} Nd7 26. fxg7 f6 27. Qh8+ Kf7 28. Qh5+ Kg8 29. gxf8=Q+ Nxf8 30. Bf4 Qb6 31. d5 {Opening up the position even more.} cxd5 32. cxd5 e5 33. Bh6 f5 34. Rc6 Qb5 35. Qg5+ {Black resigned. It's mate in 3. A nearly flawless game by Bain.} 1-0