The prize fund was a substantial $5,800 which is the equivalent of over $76,000 today.
At that time a new car cost $1,650 and gas was 26 cents a gallon. A loaf of bread cost 14 cents and a gallon of milk 84 cent. Minimum wag was 40 cents an hour and the average salary was #3.600 a year. The average price of a new house was $14,500. So the prize fund was pretty substantial as was Fine’s first prize of $1,000 (over $13,000 in today’s dollars).
The tournament had a difficult schedule. It was played from December 23rd, 1948 to January 2nd, 1949, with only only two rest days, neither of which were holidaysm meaning they played on Christmas and New Years Day. I don’t know how many of the players were Jewish, but for them playing on Christmas would not have been a big deal. For those unfamiliar with Jewish customs on Christmas many Jews spend time with their family, eat Chinese food and go to the movies.
Fine’s finish was no surprise, but the American debut of Najdorf was a fiasco! He scored 5.5 in the first six rounds, but then disaster struck; he lost to Fine and drew with Euwe and Horowitz
Both Euwe and Pilnk suffered their only defeats in the first round, but had too many draws to be contenders. Other than Fine, the American players, with perhaps the exception of 18-year old George Kramer were disappointing.
Veteran Isaac Kashdan suffered mainly because opening theory had left him in the dust. An out of practice Arnold Denker didn’t want to play in the event, but only agreed when Samuel Reshevsky was unavailable. Herman Steiner simply played well below par.
Arthur Bisguier, the most brilliant of the younger American
masters, played an exciting game against Euwe in which both players played imaginative chess.
Max Euwe–Arthur Bisguier1–0D30New York 1948/491948Stockfish 17
D43: Semi-Slav 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.f3 e6 4.c3 f6 5.g5 h6 6.xf6 The alternative, 6.Bh4, gives white slightly better winning chances. In surrendering the B pair, white hopes to get compensation in the form of more space. Black, on the other hand, hopes he will be able to break out of his cramped position and ise his two Bs. xf6 7.b3 d7 8.e4 dxe4 9.xe4 f4 10.d3 f6 11.xf6+ gxf6 This weakens his Ps andd leaves his K insecure, but an always optomistic Bisguier hopes to use the open g-file for attacking purposes. 12.0-0 g8 White is better. 13.e2 b6 The N is aimed at the K-side. but this is questionable. 13...d6 came to nothing in Kharlov,A (2614)-Malakhov,V (2664) Moscow 2005 which continued. 14.g3 h5 15.h1 g4 16.e3 d7 17.d5 and white is better. 13...g4 is black's best chance and white woulf be only slightly better after 14.g3 h5 15.ad1 h4 and with careful play white should be able to withstand black's ttack. Here's a sample continuation... 16.d5 hxg3 17.fxg3 c5+ 18.h1 h8 19.dxe6 xg3 20.exf7+ xf7 21.d3 With a double edged position where both sides have chances. 14.fe1 b7 15.c5 c7 16.c4 Black's K is in real danger and Bxe6 is threatened. e7 16...a6 A "pass" to demonstrate the threat. 17.xe6 fxe6 18.xe6+ e7 18...e7 also meets with disaster... 19.xg8+ d7 20.xe7+ xe7 21.e1+ d7 22.e6+ d8 23.e8# 19.xg8 0-0-0 20.xe7 xe7 21.e6+ 17.cxb6 Euwe misses the best line and lets Bisguier back into the game o an equal footing. 17.xe6 doesn't accomplish anything now. fxe6 18.xe6 f8 19.e5 fxe5 20.xh6+ g7 21.xe5 with an unclear position. 17.e3 0-0-0 18.b4 h5 19.a4 In this line white maintains a promising position. In Shootouts white scored +3 -1 =1 17...axb6 18.ac1 Intending 19.d5 which black's next move prevents. d8 18...c8 Th demonstrate the threat of 19.d5 19.d5 exd5 20.xd5 g7 21.h4 f8 22.f5 and white is winning. 19.e3 h8 20.xe6 Enterprising, but blacl is not without resources. fxe6= 21.xe6 f8 He has to do something about the menace of Nh4-f5 22.h4 The threat is Ng6+ g8 23.f5 Oddly, this is no longer dangerous to black and so white needed to find a better continuation. 23.f5 This sees to be his most promising continuation. a5 24.g6+ xg6 24...e8 25.xf6 wins 25.xg6 g5 26.xh6+ g8 A messy situation where white has a R+3Ps vs.2Bs. Five Shootouts with Stockfish were drawn while a couple of Shootouts using older, weaker engines showed white winning. It is likely that with humane white has the better chances. 23...b4 24.xh6 g7 25.e3 After having missed the best continuation at move 23 white's position is now considered lost by Stockfish. However, in practical play from this point the play is particularly tense. d2 This natural move is not the best and black loses musch of his advantage. 25...xd4 would lose after 26.f5 xg2+ 27.xg2 d5+ 28.xd5 cxd5 29.h3 25...c8 26.xc6 d7 27.d5 a5 28.b3 d2 Now is the time to play this. 29.cc3 xe3 30.xe3 ag5 and black is winning. 26.f3 A fine counterattacking move. g5 27.f5 Now Rh3 is a strong threat. xc1 This is just an OK move, but there is a much simpler defense in 27...Rh7! 27...h7 28.d6 e7 29.e1 c8 30.xc8 xe6 31.xe6 xc8 Another unclear position where the result is not predictable! 28.h3 Black has to be careful...mate is a real possibility. xg2+ Well played. With a R and B ahead, black can afford, in fact, must play this sacrifice. Note that the R must be captured: 28...g8 gets him mated. 29.h7 xg2+ 30.h1 xh2+ 31.xh2 d6+ 32.xd6+ g8 33.e6+ xh7 34.f7+ h8 35.g7# 28...c8 29.h8+ g8 30.xg8# 29.xg2 29.f1 g8 30.c3 a6+ 31.c4 31.e1 g1# 31...xc4+ 32.xc4 d5 with a winning advantage. 29.h1 c5 30.d6 e7 31.d5 xe6 32.dxe6 g3+ 33.xb7 xh3 wins 29...d5+ 30.xd5 cxd5 31.h7 One annotator claimed black is now forced to return the extra piece, but that's not the case. xa2 After this white is clearly better. 31...c8 32.h8+ f7 33.xc8 xc8 34.d6+ e6 35.xc8 xb2 with a likely draw. 32.xb7 xb2 How should this endgame be assessed?! Engines evaluate it as white is clearly better which was confirmed when white scored 5-0 in Shootouts. 33.h4 At this point the game is decided in white's favor. d2 34.f1 b1+ 35.e2 c3 36.h5 b5 This loses quickly, but there was nothing to be done against the advance of the h-Pawn. 37.h6 White is clearly winning. g8 and the idea .. .Kh8 leaves Black hopeful. 38.e7+ h7 39.xd5+ xh6 40.xc3 Black resigned. Spirited play by both players. Paradoxically, the tactical analysis with Ftockfish declares that Bisguier played better than Euwe! Perhaps, but Bisguier's play in the final stages was not up to par. 1–0
Pretty impoosing performance by Fine, especially considering that he was about to retie from competitive chess
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