Reuber Fine (1914-1993, 78 years old) grew up in New York City and first learned to play chess at the age of eight. After winning several strong American tournaments in his youth, Fine then entered international competition where he also achieved great success.
In 1942, Fine won the newly created title of U. S. Lightning Chess Champion when he defeated National Champion Samuel Reshevsky in the semi-final round.
Staged by the U. S. Chess Federation and directed by L. Walter Stephens, all games were played in a single day at the rate of ten seconds per move. Over 100 spectators watched the 48 entries play in qualifying sections. There were two sessions of 3 and a half hours each.
Playing against the country's leading masters, the Canadian Champion (Yanofsky) and a strong field of experts, Fine qualified with a score of 10-1 in the preliminaries, then piled up ten straight wins in the
Championship Finals. In the last round, with the honors already decided after his defeat of Reshevsky, Fine let down his guard and lost to Seidman in the following game.
Herbert Seidman (1920-1995, 74 years old) was a U.S. Senior Master who was born in New York City. At his peak, he was ranked among the top ten players in the country and played in eight U.S. Championships from 1940 to 1968.
Herbert Seidman–Reuben Fine1–0C131st US Lightening Champ, New York1942Stockfish 17
C10: French Defense 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 f6 4.g5 dxe4 5.xe4 e7 6.d3 Sideman Seidman, as Chess Review once called him, chooses a se;dom played variation that has not fared well in practice. Normal is 6.Bxf6 b6 6...0-0 is OK, but it resulted in the following amusing miniature... 7.c3 xe4 8.xe7 Now 8...Qxe7 is equal, but black tried to get fancy with... xf2 wich is refuted by... 9.xh7+ h8 10.h5 d5 11.f5+ 1-0 Ruzicka,T (1783) -Wagner,A Tabor 2008 7.f3 b7 8.e2 bd7 9.0-0 0-0 10.fe1 h6 11.h4 d5 12.g3 All pretty routin so far. The reason for Fine's next move is rather obscure. 12...Nb4 seems logical. h8 13.a3 Preventing ...Nb4. Black's Q-side fianchetto has resulted in a rather passive position and it's hard to suggest an active plan. f5? Very risky. It would have been much safer to have tried to initiate exchanges with 13...N5f6 14.c3 In his turn Seidman misses his chance to seize the initiative with the active `4.c4 instead of this meek retreat. 14.c4 Now the safe way would be to play 14... N5f6 when white has a significant advantage, so black's best plan might be to stir things up and play... b4 15.axb4 fxe4 16.xe4 xe4 17.xe4 xb4 18.e3 Hoping to play the R over to the K-side. e8 19.g4 White has a cosiderable advantage. 14...f4 15.xe6 7f6 This loses. The position is fascinating! 15...fxg3 would have resulted in equal chances after 16.hxg3 xc3 17.bxc3 d6 White is a piece down, but after 18.g6 f6 19.e6 The threat is mate on h7 after Rxf6; black has to play... g8 and white has equality, but not more. For example... 20.xf6 xf6 21.h7+ f7 22.e1 b5 To stop Bc4+ 23.h4 g5 24.g6+ f6 White has to find the one move that does not leave him with a lost ga,e and that is 25.f5 Threatening Qxg7# g8 26.e5 Again, the only move. xe5 27.dxe5+ e6 28.f4 d8 29.xg7+ xg7 30.xg7 Now it's black's turn to find the only move that doesn't lose! d5 31.e6 c5 32.e7 d5 33.d4+ xd4+ 34.cxd4+ xd4 The point of the K maneuver! 35.e8 xe8 36.xe8 and a draw would be a reasonable outcome. Of course, all this is impossible to see at 10 seconds a move. 16.h4 c8 17.e2 g5 18.xd5 xd5 18...gxh4 19.xe7 e8 20.e5 d6 21.xh4 xe5 22.dxe5 h5 23.xc8 axc8 24.g6 with a decisive advantage. 19.e4 f7 20.c4 gxh4 21.cxd5 b8 22.g6 f8 23.e5 Black resigned. A crushing defeat of a player who in 1942 was still considered one of the best players in the world. 23.e5 g7 24.xh6+ g8 25.g6 Ends the game; black has to shed heavy plastic. 1–0
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