Humphrey Bogart, A Near Master

Bogart

    Humphrey Bogart was born in New York City on January 23, 1899, but Warner Brothers publicity changed it to December 25, 189. He was the son of a noted Manhattan surgeon and his mother was an illustrator. If anyone is interested, there is a rather lengthy biography of Bogart a New York Times book page HERE.

    Bogart probably learned chess in 1912 when he was taught by his father during their stay at their summer home in Canandaigua Lake, New York. He was known to have visited the chess clubs in New York City the following year. 

    His strength is generally placed at high Expert (2000-2199) or low Master (2200-2399) and he was also a USCF tournament director and an active member of the California State Chess Association. He was friends with several of the top US players of the day. 

     In his biography Bogart and Bacall, Joe Hyams wrote, “After the (stock market) Crash of 1929, Bogart was reduced to making eating money playing chess at the numerous ‘sportlands’ on Sixth Avenue. For a bet of fifty cents a game he played all comers. Bogart was both a good chess player and hungry, and he won more than he lost. He soon landed a job at an arcade, where he sat in the window playing chess for a dollar a game. Most often he had only a doughnut and coffee for lunch.” He was known to have played chess in Times Square in 1933. 

    As an act of support for US soldiers stationed overseas during WWII he played postal games, but in 1943 he was visited by the FBI who prevented him from playing any more correspondence chess. The FBI was reading his mail and thought the chess notation was some kind of secret code. One wonders why were they reading Bogart’s mail and it seem that FBI agents would have been able to understand the simple explanation, but apparently that was noit the case. 

    Unlike many so called celebrities of today, in 1918 Bogart enlisted in the US Naval Reserve and was called to active service when World War I was nearly over. After his discharge from the Navy in 1919 he returned to New York City and continued to play chess and eventually got a job as an office clerk at a theater and the rest is history. 

    In 1942, he starred in Casablanca which had several chess playing scenes. All the chess scenes were Bogart's idea because he wanted a character that was a chess player that drank too much. 

    Bogart divorced his wife in May of 1942 and married another chess player…20 year old Lauren Bacall. Bogart and Bacall, appeared on the cover of the June-July, 1945 issue of Chess Review magazine. Bogart was playing another actor, Charles Boyer and Lauren Bacall was looking on. Bogart helped sponsor the 1945 Pan American Chess Congress in Los Angeles and was selected as the Master of Ceremonies. 

    When interviewed by Silver Screen magazine in June of 1945, when asked what things mattered most to him, he replied that chess was one of those things that mattered most to him. He said he played every day between takes when he made movies.

Reshevsky

 

    In 1946, Bogart lost a match for $100 (about $1,200 today) to restaurateur Mike Romanoff and later that evening went home then phoned Romanoff to play one more game over the phone for another $100. Romanoff agreed and lost in 20 moves. Former US Champion Herman Steiner just happened to be at Bogart’s home and it was Steiner that Romanoff was actually playing. 

     Romanoff's restaurant on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills was Bogart's hangout. Bogart owned the second booth from the left corner as you entered the restaurant. No one else could sit there. If Mike Romanoff was there, he and Bogart would always play chess at that table. Bogart claimed to be the strongest player among the Hollywood stars. The restaurant closed in 1962. 

    The following game was played in a 70 board simultaneous Reshevksy gave in Los Angeles and, needless to say, he and Bogart were the center of attraction and shared top billing. Their game was not flawless, but it was quite interesting.

 

[Event "70 Board Simul, Los Angeles"] [Site "Los Angeles, CA USA"] [Date "1956.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Samuel Reshevsky"] [Black "Humphrey Bogart"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C57"] [Annotator "Stockfish 16"] [PlyCount "55"] [EventDate "1956.??.??"] {C57: Two Knights Defense} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 d5 5. exd5 { This is white's only option.} Nxd5 {Usual is 5...Na5. The text is extremely risky. Albert Pinkus tried to strengthen this move with analysis published in Chess Review in 1943 and 1944. but white gets a strong attack with the safe Lolli Attack (6.d4) which Bobby Fischer recommended. Or, he can play the Fried Liver (or Fegatello) Attack with 6.Nxf7. In either case black's defense will prove difficult.} 6. d4 {[%mdl 32]} (6. Nxf7 Kxf7 7. Qf3+ Ke6 8. Nc3 Ncb4 9. O-O {White has a slightly better position and while black is in no immediate danger he must exercise caution!}) 6... f6 {There is scant theory on this position. What little there is shows black trying a number of moves, but this looks anything but sound. Still, in this game black manages to come out of the opening with a decent position! Best appears to be 6...Nxd4} 7. dxe5 fxg5 { It's perhaps a bit surprising, but this capture appears to be best.} (7... Bb4+ 8. c3 fxg5 9. Bxd5 Nxe5 {Horrible. Black had to place either the B or N on e7.} 10. cxb4 Qe7 11. O-O Bd7 12. Qh5+ Nf7 13. Bxg5 Qxg5 14. Bxf7+ Kd8 15. Qxg5+ Kc8 16. Nc3 {1-0 Bet,J (2131)-Hantke,V Curacao 2002}) 8. Qxd5 {Capturing with the B seems to give white more activity.} Qxd5 9. Bxd5 {[%mdl 32]} Be7 (9... Nb4 10. Be4 Be7 11. Nc3 c6 12. Be3 Be6 13. O-O {White is better. Chappe,P-Battin,R (2095) Jakarta 1997}) 10. O-O {Somewhat better would have been 10.Be3} (10. Bxc6+ {This looks better because it leaves black's Ps wrecked, but Reshevsky realized (and Stockfish agrees() that in return he would enjoy the possession of two active Bs on the open board.} bxc6 11. Nd2 a5 12. O-O g4 13. Re1 O-O 14. Ne4 Rb8 15. b3 Bf5 {with full equality.}) 10... Bf5 11. c3 {Moves the P out of danger and prevents ...Nd4} Nxe5 {This is not really bad, but safer would have been 11...O-O} 12. Bxb7 {As bad as black's 6th move may have looked, he has emerged with a reasonably decent position. Here white picks up a little material for the price of neglected development.} (12. Nd2 {A developing move, but it gives black the upper hand.} O-O-O 13. Bb3 Bf6 14. Nc4 Nd3 {and white is under some pressure.}) 12... Rd8 (12... Rb8 {is more appropriate.} 13. Bd5 c6 14. Bb3 Nd3 15. Be3 a5 {with an active position.}) 13. Re1 (13. f4 Bc5+ 14. Kh1 O-O {and black is better anfter, say, 15.Nd2 Mg4, but it's a disaster if he plays...} 15. fxe5 Be4 16. Rxf8+ Rxf8 17. Nd2 Bxb7 18. h3 Rf2 {and black is winning.}) 13... O-O 14. Nd2 Bf6 15. Ne4 {[%mdl 2048] White has strong initiative.} Bxe4 (15... Nd3 {is also a reasonable try.} 16. Rd1 Nxc1 17. Nxf6+ gxf6 18. Raxc1) 16. Bxe4 h6 {Here is where Bogart really goes astray. This move is a grave loss of time!} (16... Nd3 {would set more problems for white, considering the state of his development.} 17. Bxd3 Rxd3 18. Be3 a5 19. a4 Rb8 20. Re2 {Of course white is better, but black at least has some play.}) 17. Be3 a5 18. Bc5 Rfe8 19. Rad1 Kh8 20. Rxd8 Rxd8 21. Kf1 {A slip that should have let black back into the game.} (21. Bd4 Nc4 22. b3 Bxd4 23. cxd4 Nb6 24. Bg6 { Of course the P on d4 is immune because of the mate threat.} Kg8 25. Re6 { and black is badly tied up.}) 21... Ng4 {[%mdl 8192] This is where Bogart finally loses the game.} (21... Nc4 {is his best chance. White;s best line appears to be...} 22. Bc2 Nxb2 23. Bd4 Nc4 24. Re6 Bxd4 25. cxd4 Kg8 26. Rc6 Na3 27. Bb3+ Kf8 28. Rxc7 Rxd4 29. Rf7+ Ke8 30. Rxg7 {with a clear advantage, but the win is a long way off.}) 22. h3 Ne5 23. Ke2 {It was reported that during the game several onlookers criticized this move, but one Master claimed that it's one of the strongest continuations because it saves his two Bs and gets ready for actlon on the Q-side.The engine's top choice is 23.Bc2 which pretty much does the same thing.} Nc4 24. Rd1 {True, this was an exhibition against 70 opponents and Reshevsky only had a few seconds per move so perfection can hardly be expected. With this move Reshevsky throws away all his advantage.} (24. b3 {White achieves the win in this position by because he has shifted play to the Q-side and this move save the extra P.} Nd6 25. Bd3 Re8+ 26. Be3 Bxc3 27. Rc1 Bb4 28. Rxc7 {with a technically won ending. Here's the engine's mai n line... Stockfish dev-20240803-ae9e55cf:} Ne4 29. Bxe4 Rxe4 30. Kd3 Re8 31. Rd7 Kh7 32. g4 Rc8 33. Bd4 Rg8 34. Rb7 Kg6 35. Rc7 Ba3 36. Kc4 Bb4 37. Rd7 h5 38. Rd5 Rc8+ 39. Kd3 Rf8 40. Be3 Be7 41. Rxa5 {etc.}) 24... Rxd1 25. Kxd1 Nxb2+ 26. Kc2 Na4 27. Bd4 Bxd4 {A mistake that Reshevsky does not take advantage of. After this white has a considerable advantage with a B vs N and the better K position.} (27... c5 {would hold the draw.} 28. Kb3 cxd4 29. Kxa4 dxc3 30. Kxa5 {and black can hold the draw...with accurate play, of course.}) 28. cxd4 {Here a generous, or probably tired (!), Reshevsky offered the draw which was accepted. In Shootouts from this position white scored +4 -0 =1,but the wins took some time. Here is the continuation at 19 plies.} (28. cxd4 Kg8 29. Kd3 Nb6 30. d5 Kf8 31. Kd4 Ke7 32. Kc5 Na4+ 33. Kc6 Nc3 34. Bd3 Kd8 35. a3 Nd1 36. f3 Nc3 37. d6 cxd6 38. Kxd6 Nd1 39. Kc6 Ke7 40. Kb5 Kd6 41. Kxa5 Kc5 42. Ka6 Nc3 43. g4 Nd5 44. Kb7 Nc3 45. Kc8 Nd5 46. Kd7 g6 47. Ke8 Ne3 48. Kf7 {and wins.}) 1/2-1/2