Fine, the First U.S. Lightening Champion

    The first U.S. Lightening Championship (10 seconds per move) took place in New York in 1942. Reuben Fine had long been conceded one of the top, if not THE top, lightning chess players in the country and this even official gave him the title. After a long, hard fought encounter with Samuel Reshevsky he emerged first from an original field of 48 at the Hotel Capitol in Manhattan. 

    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. 

[Event "1st US Lightening Champ, New York"] [Site "?"] [Date "1942.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Herbert Seidman"] [Black "Reuben Fine"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C13"] [Annotator "Stockfish 17"] [PlyCount "45"] [EventDate "2025.??.??"] {C10: French Defense} 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 dxe4 5. Nxe4 Be7 6. Bd3 {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... O-O { is OK, but it resulted in the following amusing miniature...} 7. c3 Nxe4 8. Bxe7 {Now 8...Qxe7 is equal, but black tried to get fancy with...} Nxf2 { wich is refuted by...} 9. Bxh7+ Kh8 10. Qh5 Qd5 11. Bf5+ {1-0 Ruzicka,T (1783) -Wagner,A Tabor 2008}) 7. Nf3 Bb7 8. Qe2 Nbd7 9. O-O O-O 10. Rfe1 h6 11. Bh4 Nd5 12. Bg3 {All pretty routin so far. The reason for Fine's next move is rather obscure. 12...Nb4 seems logical.} Kh8 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 $2 {Very risky. It would have been much safer to have tried to initiate exchanges with 13...N5f6} 14. Nc3 {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...} Nb4 15. axb4 fxe4 16. Bxe4 Bxe4 17. Qxe4 Bxb4 18. Re3 {Hoping to play the R over to the K-side.} Re8 19. Qg4 {White has a cosiderable advantage.}) 14... f4 15. Qxe6 N7f6 {[%mdl 8192] This loses. The position is fascinating!} (15... fxg3 {would have resulted in equal chances after} 16. hxg3 Nxc3 17. bxc3 Bd6 {White is a piece down, but after} 18. Qg6 Nf6 19. Re6 {The threat is mate on h7 after Rxf6; black has to play...} Kg8 { and white has equality, but not more. For example...} 20. Rxf6 Qxf6 21. Qh7+ Kf7 22. Re1 b5 {To stop Bc4+} 23. Nh4 Qg5 24. Bg6+ Kf6 {White has to find the one move that does not leave him with a lost ga,e and that is} 25. Nf5 { Threatening Qxg7#} Rg8 26. Re5 {Again, the only move.} Bxe5 27. dxe5+ Ke6 28. f4 Qd8 29. Nxg7+ Rxg7 30. Qxg7 {Now it's black's turn to find the only move that doesn't lose!} Kd5 31. e6 Kc5 32. e7 Qd5 33. Qd4+ Qxd4+ 34. cxd4+ Kxd4 { The point of the K maneuver!} 35. e8=Q Rxe8 36. Bxe8 {and a draw would be a reasonable outcome. Of course, all this is impossible to see at 10 seconds a move.}) 16. Bh4 Bc8 17. Qe2 g5 18. Nxd5 Nxd5 (18... gxh4 19. Nxe7 Re8 20. Qe5 Qd6 21. Nxh4 Qxe5 22. dxe5 Nh5 23. Nxc8 Raxc8 24. Bg6 {with a decisive advantage.}) 19. Qe4 Rf7 20. c4 gxh4 21. cxd5 Rb8 22. Qg6 Qf8 23. Ne5 {Black resigned. A crushing defeat of a player who in 1942 was still considered one of the best players in the world.} (23. Ne5 Rg7 24. Qxh6+ Kg8 25. Ng6 {Ends the game; black has to shed heavy plastic.}) 1-0