Albert Weissman

  

    The 1953 U.S. Intercollegiate Individual Championship Tournament was held at Columbia University in New York City and the 36 contestants represented 22 colleges. The surprising first place finish by New York University’s 20-year old Albert Weissman was well deserved as he finished ahead of such well-known players as Arthur Bisguier and Hans Berliner. 

    It was surprising because it was Weissman's first college tournament although he had twice turned in creditable performances in the biennial team event. His score was equaled by Bisguier, Berliner and Karl Burger, but the tie-breaking system gave Weissman first. 

     When he passed away on July 13, 2013 at the age of 79 after a 20 year battle with Parkinson’s disease, Dr. Albert Weissman of Noank, Connecticut was a retired veteran of Pfizer’s Central Nervous System research team. 

    Weissman, who retired in 1995 from Pfizer in Groton, was for many years the manager of the neurobehavioral, biochemical and neurological testing groups during the development phases of several drugs, including Zoloft, Navane, Quantril, and Sinequan. He was also known for his many basic studies and scholarly reviews in the field of neuropsychopharmacology. His total number of scholarly publications exceeded 100. 

    In 1956 he was co-authors of two landmark scientific papers describing the mechanism of action of a couple of drugs. Both papers were among the most cited scientific research reports of all time. 

    Weissman was born on August 1, 1933, in the Bronx, New York. He attended New York City elementary schools and the Bronx High School of Science, from which he graduated in 1950. His undergraduate college education was at the New York Uniuversity where in 1954 he received his A.B. in physiological psychology. He received his Masters (1955) and PhD (1958) in physiological psychology from Columbia University. His entire professional career was with Pfizer. 

    Dr. Weissman was an accomplished player and in the mid-1960s, he was the third ranked correspondence player in the US. Besides chess he also maintained a life-long interest in music, especially opera, and he played the role of Tevya in the Pfizer Players’ 1972 production of Fiddler on the Roof.

    In the Fall 1953 USCF rating list Bisguier was ranked 8th with a rating of 2460. Hans Berline was a Master at 2413 as was Karl Burger at 2306. Ratings were a bit different at that time. Grandmasters were over 2700 and there was only one, Samuel Reshevsky. Senior Masters were rated between 2500 and 2699 and there were only 5 of them. Masters were rated 2300-2499 and Experts 2100-2299.

    Weissman’s name does not show up on the list because the Intercollegiate was not rated. That was not unusual; in those days not all tournaments were. 

[Event "US Intercollegiate Chp, New York"] [Site "?"] [Date "1953.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Albert Weissman"] [Black "Arthur Bisguier"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C11"] [Annotator "Stockfish 16"] [PlyCount "73"] [EventDate "1953.??.??"] {C05: French Defense} 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 {The Steinitz Variation. It prepares to bolster the P-centre with c2–c3 and f2–f4;} Nfd7 5. Nce2 {With this move white wants to support d4 with the c-Pawn, but 5.f4 is considerably more popular} c5 6. c3 Nc6 {This is the main line and it's the most popular by far. However, white scores quite well against it, winning almost half of the games. Black's best is 6...cxd4} 7. f4 cxd4 8. Nxd4 { Weissman goes his own way here. Theory recommends 8.cxd4 in order to maintain control of c5.} Nxd4 {Bisguier also plays his own game. 8...Nc5 is probably a little better.} (8... Ndxe5 {was tried in Klerides,P (2183)-Spice,A (2170) Heraklio 2007. but it's tota;;y unsound.} 9. fxe5 Qh4+ 10. g3 Qe4+ 11. Qe2 Qxe5 12. Qxe5 Nxe5 13. Bb5+ Bd7 14. Bxd7+ Kxd7 15. Ke2 {and it didn't take black long to realize that he didn't have a chance.}) 9. cxd4 f6 {This attempt to undermine white's center head on does not turn out well. A better idea was 9... Qb6 and the black's best plan, even though it costs time, is to retreat the N to b8 so he can devlop his B with Bd7.} 10. Bd3 {The threat is Qh5+} Bb4+ 11. Kf1 (11. Bd2 {Eliminating his bad B was better. After} Bxd2+ 12. Qxd2 fxe5 13. fxe5 Nb8 14. Nf3 Nc6 15. Bb5 Bd7 {the position is equal. Skibbe,D (2080)-Leib, B (2040) Rodewisch 2000}) 11... O-O {Black threatens ...fxe5 and ...Nxe5} 12. Qh5 f5 {As a result of this move, which weakens g4 and leaves the e-Pawn permanently vulnerable, white secures a slight advantage.} (12... g6 {keeps the balance.} 13. Bxg6 {Otherwise black gets slightly the better of it.} hxg6 14. Qxg6+ Kh8 {and wite draws.}) 13. Nf3 {aiming for Ng5.} g6 {This creates a further slight weakening of black's position. 13...Be7 was safer.} 14. Qh6 Re8 15. Ng5 {[%mdl 2048] White has the initiative, but with careful play black should be able to defend himself.} Qe7 16. h4 Qg7 17. Qxg7+ Kxg7 {The exchange of Qs has mot lessened white's in initiative.} 18. h5 Nf8 19. hxg6 hxg6 20. Ke2 Bd7 21. Bd2 Be7 {Black wants to retain the possibility of ...Bxg5 and at the same time keeps white's bad B on the board.} 22. Rh3 a6 {Having done all he can to secure his K's position, Bisguier now tried for counterplay on the Q-side.} 23. Rah1 Bb5 {Hoping to obtain play on the a-file. However, Weissman continues with his K-side operations.} 24. Rh8 {This menaces 25.Nxe6+} Bxd3+ 25. Kxd3 Bxg5 26. fxg5 {This position is won for white.} a5 {This keeps white's B from entering the game via Bb4} 27. b4 {White forces an entry for his B anyway.} Kf7 {The K heads for the Q-side where Bisguier hopes it will be able to creat some threat.} 28. bxa5 Ke7 29. Bb4+ Kd7 30. Rg8 Kc6 31. Rhh8 Kb5 32. Rxf8 {Ending the game.} Rxf8 33. Rxf8 Rxf8 34. Bxf8 Kxa5 {White's K and B will easily hold off on the Q-side.} 35. Kc3 Ka4 36. Be7 b5 37. Bf8 {Black resigned. A fine positional effort by Weissman.} 1-0