Rzeschewski at the 1922 New York Toy Show

    In the early 1900s all the chess sets sold in the United States were manufactured in Europe. When World War I broke out in 1914, the supply of chess sets to the U.S. ceased. That’s where William F. Drueke comes in.

    Established in 1914, Drueke’s Grand Rapids, Michigan company was known as a high quality game manufacturer in the United States because they used nothing but the finest walnut, maple and aspen for their products. 

    Besides chess pieces Drueke also made wooden chess boards, chess tables, cribbage boards, poker chip racks, backgammon sets, dominoes, checkers, card boxes, and other wooden accessories. Around 1949 they began manufacturing plastic pieces. In my day their Player’s Choice set was very popular. Drueke's name and product lines were assumed by The Carrom Company of Ludington, Michigan in 1991. 

     In 1922, there was an annul toy fair at the Hotel Breslin in New York City and Sammy Rzeschewski, the child prodigy, gave a simultaneous exhibition that was sponsored bu Drueke. 

     Rzeschewski scored 18 wins. Play stopped at 11:30pm after having been in progress for nearly two and a half hours. There were three games unfinished. US Champion Frank Marshall had bee present, but he had left so two of the remaining games were declared drawn by the acting referee, Samuel Katz, secretary of the Manhattan Chess Club. Rzeschewski was awarded the win in the other game after which he was lustily cheered by the large audience. 

    In the following game, after only 20 minutes of play, M. A. Goldsmith of Cleveland. Ohio resigned after only 23 moves. Goldsmith, a leading Ohio expert, was considered to be one of the best players Rzeschewski would be facing in the exhibition. After their game was finished Goldsmith showed everyone a published score of a game, also a Goring Gambit, that he had won from Frank Marshall in an exhibition on Cleveland the previous year.

 

[Event "Simul, New York"] [Site "?"] [Date "1922.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Sammy Rzeschewski"] [Black "M. A. Goldsmith"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C44"] [Annotator "Stockfish 17"] [PlyCount "45"] [EventDate "1922.??.??"] {C44: Goring Gambut} 1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. c3 {Named after German player Carl Goring, in this gambit white offers to sacrifice a P. ot sometimes two, in order to open up lines for his pieces and to accelerate his development.} dxc3 4. Bc4 Nc6 {This is not the best reply. If black does not want to risk taking another P with 4...cxb2 then he should play 4...Nf6} (4... Nf6 {Better is 5. Nxc3 equals.} 5. e5 c2 6. Qxc2 d5 {and after either 7.Bb5+, 7.Bb3 or 7.exd6 black stands well.} 7. exf6 {This obvious move is white's least desirable continuation/} dxc4 8. fxg7 Bxg7 9. Qxc4 Be6 10. Qc2 Qe7 {Black has a comfortable lead in development.}) 5. Nf3 Qf6 (5... cxb2 {is still a reasonable try.} 6. Bxb2 Bb4+ 7. Nc3 Nf6) (5... Qe7 {turned out badly in the following game.} 6. O-O Nh6 7. Nxc3 Qd6 8. Nd5 Ng4 9. Bf4 Nce5 10. Nxe5 Nxe5 11. Qh5 Rb8 12. Bxe5 Qc5 13. Bxc7 Qd4 14. Qe5+ {Black resigned. Zhang Pengxiang (2583)-Chen Xueshen Wuxi 2005}) 6. Nxc3 Bb4 7. Bd2 (7. O-O Bxc3 8. bxc3 d6 9. Qb3 Nge7 10. Bg5 {with equal chances. Angarov,D-Ginzburg,A (2021) Irkutsk 2009 was eventually drawn.}) 7... Bxc3 8. Bxc3 Qg6 9. O-O {[%mdl 1024]} Nge7 10. e5 (10. Nh4 {is not as good as it might look at first glance. After} Qxe4 11. Bxf7+ Kxf7 12. Qh5+ g6 13. Qh6 Rg8 {There is no really effective way of continuimg the attack.} 14. Rae1 Qd5 {Note that} 15. Qxh7+ {is not dangerous to black because afer} Ke8 16. Nf3 Qf7 {In Shootouts from this position white scored +0 -2 =3}) 10... O-O 11. Bd3 Qh5 12. Qc2 {Here the game deviates from the sinul game Marshall-Goldsmith that was played the previous year in Cleveland.} (12. Re1 d5 13. exd6 cxd6 14. Re4 Bg4 15. Be2 d5 16. Rf4 Ng6 17. Ra4 Nge5 18. Bxe5 Nxe5 19. Nxe5 Bxe2 20. Qxd5 Rad8 21. Qe4 Rfe8 22. Re1 Qxe5 23. Qxb7 Rd1 24. Rxd1 Bxd1 25. h3 Bxa4 26. g3 Qe1+ 27. Kg2 Qe4+ 28. Qxe4 Rxe4 29. h4 Re2 30. b3 Bc6+ 31. Kh3 Rxf2 {0-1 Fran Marshall-M A Goldsmith Simul, Cleveland, Ohio, 1921}) 12... d5 13. exd6 cxd6 14. Rfe1 Bf5 15. Rad1 Bxd3 16. Qxd3 Rad8 17. Re4 f5 {This give white a minuscule advantage. Instead, 17...d5 keeps things even.} 18. Rh4 Qg6 19. Rh3 {Black must now prevent Rg3.} Ne5 {[%mdl 8192] Goldsnith has played an excellent game up to this point, but this move is a onumental tactical blunder.} (19... f4 {and Black has nothing to worry about. For example...} 20. Qxg6 Nxg6 21. Ng5 Rf5 22. Ne6 (22. Nxh7 Nce5 {Black is better because white's N and R are out play.}) 22... Rd7 23. Rhd3 Nf8 24. Rxd6 Rxd6 25. Rxd6 Nxe6 26. Rxe6 {The position is completely equal.}) 20. Bxe5 {Probably spotted instantly by the prodigy!} dxe5 21. Qxd8 Rxd8 22. Rxd8+ Kf7 (22... Qe8 23. Rxe8+ Kf7 24. Rxe7+ Kxe7) 23. Nxe5+ {Black resigned} 1-0