Another Murder Mystery

     This sounds like an open and shut case...but is it? When I recently stumbled across a headline about a 28 year old “Soviet chess ace” who had beaten and stabbed a renowned psychology professor to death in the latter’s $2.2 million home in Brooklyn just two years after he was arrested for trying to rape a tourist, I was curious. 
     Naturally, thoughts turned to Raymond Weinstein. The late Arthur Bisguier’s cousin, Raymond Weinstein (born April 25, 1941), was from Brooklyn, where he attended Erasmus Hall High School and was two grades ahead of Bobby Fischer. He was warded the IM title in 1962 In 1963, Weinstein graduated from Brooklyn College with a degree in psychology and went to Amsterdam to attend graduate school. While there he was arrested for assault on Dutch psychology professor and International Master Johan Barendregt. 
     Dr. Johan Barendregt (February16, 1924 – January 2, 1982) was awarded the IM title in 1962. He participated in the Dutch Championship four times and played in the 1952 Olympiad. From 1962 he lectured in clinical psychology at the University of Amsterdam. He passed away from lung cancer at the age of 57. Soon after this incident, Weinstein was deported to the US and was detained in a half-way house, where he killed his 83-year-old roommate with a razor after an argument. Weinstein was deemed incapable to stand trial, and remanded to the Kirby Forensic Psychiatric Center on Manhattan's Wards Island. Blogger Sam Sloan visited him in 1996, and reported that he was very uncommunicative. 
     In this recent case, the murdered man was Jeremy David Safran (April 23, 1952 – May 7, 2018), a Canadian-born American clinical psychologist, psychoanalyst, lecturer, and psychotherapy researcher.
     Along with many other accomplishments, Safran was a professor of psychology at the New School for Social Research, where he served for many years as director of clinical training. He was also a faculty member at New York University's postdoctoral program in psychoanalysis and The Stephen A. Mitchell Center for Relational Studies. Safran practiced Buddhism and engaged in meditation. 
     On May 7th of last year Safran was found dead in his home of repeated hammer blows, the victim of what police believe was a botched burglary. Chessplayer Mirzo Atadzhanov, 28, was found covered in blood and surrounded by several tools, including a hammer, in the house's basement, arrested and charged with murder. Fox 8 News
     Accounts, as they often are, were somewhat garbled and no doubt contained some inaccuracies. Also, unlike you see on television, police and prosecutors aren’t always so meticulous to make sure they have the right person. Many times all the police want to do is arrest someone and are satisfied to let the courts figure out guilt or innocence. And, prosecutors are looking, not for the truth, but for convictions. For many lawyers, it’s a game and may the shrewdest attorney win. I have this from a reliable source...a judge who was a former assistant prosecutor.
     In June, through his attorney, Atadzhanov entered a plea of not guilty of murder and burglary charges claiming self-defense. According to court papers, Safran hired Atadzhanov to “work on his lights” in his home, even though Atadzhanov said he wasn’t an electrician. Supposedly Safran wasn’t satisfied with Atadzhanov’s work and complained, “This country cannot benefit from immigrants.” Atadzhanov, who is originally from Tajikistan, said he was offended, an argument ensued and the fight escalated. Atadzhanov said Safran tried to stab him with a combat knife and he was just defending himself. 
     Two days after the murder, Atadhanov met with a reporter in the visiting room at the Brooklyn Detention Complex looking nervous and confused. He told the reporter he was depressed and in shock. He said he did not know the family and dodged further questions before getting up to return to his cell. However, he had graduated from Brooklyn College where Safran's wife teaches.
     Prosecutors have a different story. They claimed that Safran was working out when Atadzhanov broke into his home and attacked him. According to newspaper reports, Safran's wife Jennifer and their daughter were in the home at the time. A neighbor who lives across the street saw what she thought was an intruder and alerted Safran's wife by sending her a text and then the two spoke outside and called 911. When police arrived they found Safran’s bludgeoned body and Atadzhanov hiding in the closet. 
     Interestingly, the neighbor was Doreen Giuliano. She gained national attention when she transformed herself from a homemaker into a sexy cougar to gather evidence to get her son, John Giuca, out of prison and her er story was recently featured on the television program 20/20. He son was convicted of murdering a New Jersey college student, but his mother refused to believe he did it, so, she went undercover to investigate one of the jurors who convicted him. She succeeded in overturning the conviction and winning him a new trial.
     Atadzhanov had previously been arrested in December 2016 for allegedly trying to rape a tourist at his apartment in Brooklyn. The woman, who connected with Atadzhanov through couchsurfing.com, told police she had to fight him off after he threw her onto a bed, punched her and tried to rape her. She managed to break free and cut Atadzhanov with a knife before fleeing down the fire escape. Atadzhanov was arrested on attempted rape, assault and forcible charges, but they were dismissed at his arraignment because his alleged victim had left the country. 
     His mother denied he was responsible for Safran's brutal killing. She lives in Russia and said, “He didn't do it. He is a smart boy. He has a master's in biology.” She added that he was planning to become a nurse and he was a cardiologist back in Russia and was the top chess player in the Republic. She also dismissed claims of burglary, saying they were not poor people and they were educated and treated people decent. 
     After the initial blaring newspaper headlines, nothing further concerning the case can be found.  Atadzhanov remains incarcerated in the Otis Bantum Correctional Center on Rikers Island in East Elmhurst, New York where he being held on a first degree murder charge. 
     Atadzhanov’s LinkedIn page says he graduated with a master's degree in biology from Brooklyn College in December 2017 and he claimed to have a medical degree from Tajik State Medical University in Tajikistan. His stated goal was to get his doctoral license in cardiology in New York and start his own practice. 
     With so many Grandmasters in the world these days I wondered who Mirzo Atadzhanov was. Was he a GM or an IM? After all, the papers reported him as being a “Soviet chess ace.”  According to his LinkedIn page he is a FIDE Candidate Master with over 5 years training and experience and had almost two years experience as an instructor in San Diego. He also claimed to be a “Chess Club Champion.” When I Googled the address of the chess club it turned out to be a pharmacy. 
     Atadzhanov’s FIDE profile lists him a being a US player with a rating of 1892 based on two games played in 2015 and four games in 2017, all played in New York. On the USCF rating list his rating is 1847 based on 15 games and his blitz rating based on 6 games is 1681. 
     

The Rise Of Bobby Fischer

     I can’t resist posting this photo from the October 7, 1957 issue of Life magazine. Life was published weekly until 1972, as an intermittent "special" until 1978, and as a monthly from 1978 to 2000. During its golden age from 1936 to 1972, Life was a wide-ranging weekly general interest magazine known for the quality of its photography. 
     The photo was part of a brief article on Fischer who at the time was making news news as the youngest Master in the U.S. The book Fischer is reading is Chess in Russia : the players and their games (annotated) by P. Romanovsky with forewords by Mikhail Botvinnik and C.H.O'D. Alexander. The 53 page booklet was published by Soviet News, London in 1946. 

The caption reads: 
MATERNAL SUMMONS to dinner in their Brooklyn apartment interrupt a problem Fischer is working out on his chessboard. Mrs. Fischer is completely certain that he can someday become world champion. “The sooner the better,” she says. “Then he can get over all this and get down to some real work.” 

     On the rating list published on May 20, 1956, Fischer's rating was only 1726. In July of 1956, Fischer won the US Junior Championship at Philadelphia with a score of 8.5-1.5 to become the youngest-ever Junior Champion at the age of 13.
     At the 1956 US Open Championship in Oklahoma City, he scored 8.5-3.5 to tie for 4th–8th places. In the Canadian Open at Montreal he scored 7.0-3.0 to tie for 8th–12th places. In November, Fischer played in the Eastern Open in Washington, D.C. and tied for second with William Lombardy, Nicholas Rossolimo, and Arthur Feuerstein. 
     Although Fischer's rating didn’t put him among the top 12, he received special consideration when he was invited to the 1956 Rosenwald Trophy tournament, a premier tournament of 12 players considered the best in the country. The 13-year-old Fischer could only score 4.5-6.5 and tie for 8th–9th place. That was the tournament in which he played the Game of the Century when he sacrificed his Queen against Donald Byrne. 
     In March of 1957, Fischer played a two-game match against former World Champion Max Euwe at New York and lost 0.5-1.5. 
     On the USCF rating list, published on May 5, 1957, Fischer was rated 2231; he had gained over 500 points in a year and was the country's youngest ever master up to that point. 
     In July,1957, he defended his US Junior title, scoring an impressive 8.5-0.5 at San Francisco. That victory put his rating at 2298, making him among the top ten players in the country. Yes, there’s been some rating inflation over the years! 
     By this time the fourteen-year-old Fischer was the latest prodigy in the chess world and created another sensation when he tied for first with Arthur Bisguier in the US Open held in Cleveland, Ohio, both scored 10-2. 
     Bisguier was originally proclaimed the winner and was driving back to New York with the first place trophy before a recalculation gave the title to Fischer instead. Bisguier later wrote an article for Chess Review in which he did his best to be sportsman like and praise Fischer copiously, but his bitterness with the tournament officials and tiebreaking systems in general was apparent. See my post Hey, Art. Give Back That Trophy!
     There were 176 entries, but Horst Kemper didn’t show to meet his first round opponent who won on forfeit. His opponent was Bobby Fischer. Fischer scored wins against Edward D. Stepans, John Rinaldo, Charles Witte, Igor Garais, Edmar Mednis, Donald Byrne and William Addison. He drew with Rudolf Pitschak, Arthur Bisguier, Robert Byrne and Walter Shipman. 
     Fischer won the New Jersey Open with a score of 6.5-0.5 and his next success was defeating the young Filipino master Rodolfo Tan Cardoso 6–2 in a New York match sponsored by Pepsi-Cola. 
     Based on his rating and results, the USCF invited him to play in the 1957–58 US Championship. Arthur Bisguier predicted Fischer would score slightly over fifty percent; he was wrong. Fischer scored and undefeated 10.5-2.5 and finished first thus becoming the youngest ever US Champion. 
     The victory earned him the IM title and qualified him to participate in the Portoroz Interzonal to be August of 1958. Fischer was also invited to be one of the ten distinguished players to participate in the highly regarded Hastings Christmas tournament, but he either didn't or couldn't accept. Keres won ahead of Gligoric and Filip. Leonard Barden was the top English player, finishing fifth. 
     Fischer had been hounding his mother about making a trip to Moscow and his mother wrote directly to the Soviet leader, Nikita Khrushchev, requesting an invitation for Bobby to participate in the World Youth and Student Festival, but the reply came too late for him to make the trip. In 1958, his mother finagled him an appearance on the game show I've Got a Secret and the producers arranged two round-trip tickets to the Soviet Union. View on Youtube
     Fischer was invited to Moscow and Lev Abramov served as a guide to Bobby and his sister, Joan. Once in Moscow, Fischer immediately demanded that he be taken to the Moscow Central Chess Club, where he played speed chess with two young Soviet masters, Evgeni Vasiukov and Alexander Nikitin. Fischer mopped up, winning all the games. 
     Fischer also defeated veteran Master Vladimir Alatortsev 3-zip in blitz prompting Alatortsev to tell his wife that Fischer was going to be world champion. 
     Fischer wasn’t done with his demands. He demanded to play World Champ Mikhail Botvinnik and when informed that was impossible, Fischer asked to play Keres who also was not available. Finally, Tigran Petrosian was summoned to play Fischer; Petrosian won most of the games. 
     When it became clear to Fischer that the Russians weren’t going to play anything but blitz games against him, he flew into a rage saying he was fed up "with these Russian pigs." Needless to say, coming from an honored guest, it offended and angered the Russians. Oddly, in a 1960 interview with Roman Toran during the Olympiad in Leipzig, Fischer stated, “Before the [1958] Interzonal I was invited by the USSR Chess Federation to visit Moscow, and I played some interesting training games there with notable young stars like Vasiukov, who was then champion of Moscow. Yes, the trip was very useful.”
     After Fischer’s tirade against his Moscow hosts, the Yugoslav chess officials stepped in and offered to take in Fischer and Joan as early guests to the Interzonal. Fischer took them up on the offer, arriving in Yugoslavia to play two short training matches against Dragoljub Janosevic and Milan Matulovic. He drew with Janosevic and defeated Matulovic. 
     At the Interzonal at Portoroz in1958, most doubted that a 15-year-old with no international experience could finish among the six qualifiers. Fischer had a different opinion. He told journalist Miro Radoicic, "I can draw with the GMs and there are half-a-dozen patzers in the tournament I reckon to beat." 
     He scored +6−2=12, tied for 5th–6th and qualified for the 1959 Bled-Zagreb-Belgrade Candidates tournament. In 1959, 
     Fischer was a sophomore at Erasmus High School where he was no better than average in his studies, displaying little interest in most of the subjects taught and being restless in class. His teachers were amazed when they heard of his chess victories because they hadn’t suspected that he would be able to sit still long enough to play five hours for a tournament game. 
     The school’s student council awarded him a gold medal for his chess achievements, but he dropped out of high school when he turned 16, the earliest he could legally do so. His reason, as he was later to explain to Ralph Ginzburg, "You don't learn anything in school." 
     At home chess set as always beside his bed and from the moment he woke up he studied, even during meals and while watching television. While his mother was proud of his success, she was by no means convinced that his devotion to chess was a good thing. For four years she tried everything she knew to discourage him, but it was hopeless. 
     During the summer vacation Fischer’s evenings were spent at the Manhattan Chess Club and sometimes his mother have to go over there at midnight to haul him out. 
     After dropping out of high school, Fischer taught himself several foreign languages so he could read foreign chess periodicals. At one time Tal and Alexander Koblencs were amazed at Fischer’s familiarity with the games of female Latvian players. The games of one in particular interested him, the almost unknown Flora Dmitrieva. It had never occurred to them to study the games of their women players. 
     Until late 1959, Fischer’s signature dress had been sweaters and corduroys, but Pal Benko encouraged him to dress better and so Fischer began buying hand-tailored suits, shirts and shoes from all over the world. 
     When Fischer was 16, his mother moved out of their apartment to pursue medical training. A friend named Joan Rodker, who had met Fischer’s mother when they living in Moscow in the 1930s, believes that Fischer resented his mother for being mostly absent, a communist activist and an admirer of the Soviet Union. She also believed this was what led to his hatred for the “Russians.”
     In letters to Rodker, Fischer's mother wrote about her desire to pursue her own obsession of training in medicine meant that Bobby would have to live in their Brooklyn apartment without her, but that he was probably happier that way. The apartment, by the way, was on the edge of Bedford-Stuyvesant, a neighborhood that had one of the highest homicide and crime rates in New York City.  
     When the 1959 Candidates tournament came around, unlike Portoroz, there weren’t any “patzers.” The tournament was won by Tal ahead of Keres, Petrosian and Smyslov. Fischer tied for 5th-6th with Glicoric ahead of Olafsson and Benko and had to wait until 1972 to fulfill Alatortsev’s prediction. 
     Despite their alienation, in 1960, Fischer’s mother protested the practices of the American Chess Foundation and staged a five-hour protest in front of the White House, urging President Eisenhower to send an American team to that year's chess Olympiad in Leipzig, East Germany and to help support the team financially. 
     The American Chess Foundation was founded in the 1950s to help Samuel Reshevsky battle the Soviets, adopted a new name to better reflect its primary activity. Since May 29, 1996, it has been known as Chess-in-the-Schools. 
     In the end, the US sent a team which was made up of Fischer, Lombardy, Robert Byrne, Bisguier, Rossolimo and Weinstein and they finished second behind the Soviet Union. It was t this event where Fischer played his only game ever against Botvinnik; it was a draw. 
     Fischer’s opponent in the following game was the well known Oklahoma player Dale Ruth who was rated about 1970 at the time. If memory serves, I think Ruth eventually reached the Master level. 

Play Online Chess

[Event "US Open Oklahoma City"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1956.7.25"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Dale Ruth"]
[Black "Robert Fischer"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteELO "?"]
[BlackELO "?"]

%Created by Caissa's Web PGN Editor
{B92: Sicilian Najdorf: 6 Be2} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5.
Nc3 a6 6. Be2 {Nowadays 6.Bg5 is considered the main line. This, the
Opocensky (or Classical) line which leads to a quieter positional game. Black
can now transpose into a Scheveningen with 6...e6 or keep the game in Najdorf
lines by playing 6...e5.} 6... e5 7. Nf3 {The main line is 7.Nb3 which offers
white slightly better chnace of success. Interesting but largely untested is
7.Nf5?!} 7... Be7 { Pachman recommended 7...h6 preventing 8.Bg5. The idea is
a struggle to control d5.} 8. O-O O-O 9. h3 Nbd7 {More logical is 9...h6
10.Re1 e6. Black's strategic goal should be to play ...d5 and white will try
to prevent it.} 10. Re1 b5 {As a result of his 7th move white has gotten a
rather passive position. Rather than play 11.a3 Ruth opts to allow ...b5 and a
change in the P-formation.} 11. a4 b4 12. Nd5 {Tricky play. If 12...Nxe4
13.Nxe7+ Qx37 14. Qd5 Nec5! white can't take the R because he will lose his
Q, but after 15.Bg5 white has plenty of compensation for the P.} 12... Nxd5
13. Qxd5 Qc7 {Can white take the R?! Of course doing so loses the Q, but it's
interesting that Stockfish thinks he gets adequate compensation after 14.Qxa8
Nb6 (The Q slips away after 14...Bb7 15.Qa7) 15.Qxa6 Bxa6 16.Bxa6. White has
a R,B and P for his Q, but not many players would like to play white's
position.} 14. Qb3 {This is to be too passive. 14.a5 isolating black's d-Pawn
would have been better.} 14... Nc5 { Black has a better chance of securing an
advantage with 14...Rb8.} 15. Qxb4 { Now with 15...Bb7 he has a solid position
that offers roughly equal chances. Instead, Fischer goes for complications.}
15... d5 {This move is not without risks.} 16. exd5 {Black's next move should
have resulted in white getting the upper hand. Better was 16...Nd3! 17.Qc3
Qxc3 18.bxc3 Ne1 with unclear complications. } 16... e4 {With his next move,
which is far too passive, Ruth fails to take advantage of Fischer's risky
play. 17.Ng5! eliminates the possibility of 17... Nd3?? 18.Qe4 Bxg5 19.Bxd3
and white is winning rather easily. So, after 17. Ng5! Bf5 white is a solid
two Ps up.} 17. Nd2 Nd3 18. Qxe4 Nxe1 {Clearly, this N is going to be lost and
it will take a P with it, so in the end, materially white will have a N+2Ps
against a R and good practical chances in such an unbalanced position. Now
either 19.Bd1 Nxg2! or 19.Bc4 Bxh3! are white's best choices.} 19. d6 {Winning
the R is inviting, but it's not enough to salvage the game.} 19... Bxd6 {Black
saves the N after 20.Bd1 Bh2+ and 21...Qe5, but that was white's best
option.} 20. Qxa8 Bb7 {Ruth probably realized that 21.Qa7 loses the Q after
21...Bh2+ 22.Kf1 Bxg2+} 21. Qxf8+ Kxf8 22. Kf1 Nxc2 23. Rb1 Nd4 24. Bd3 Bb4
{With only a R for the Q and black's threat of ...Qe5 white's position is
beyond hope.} 0-1

Sidney P. Johnston, A Promising Career Cut Short

     Sidney P. Johnston was born in Chicago on November 29, 1869, and died at the age of 35 on March 19, 1905. 
     As all Americans know, Chicago is known as the “Windy City”, but throughout the years it’s also been known as “Mud City” (possibly its oldest nickname, referring to the fact that the terrain of the city used to be a mud flat) and the “Heart of America" because it’s one of the largest transportation centers in the country and its location is near the center of the US. 
     And, if you are a Frank Sinatra fan, you will remember his rendition of the song "Chicago." It was a popular song written by Fred Fisher and published in 1922 and has been recorded by many artists, but the best-known version was Sinatra’s. The song mentions evangelist Billy Sunday as having not been able to shut down the city. 
     If you’re familiar with the song, you know it says that Chicago is a “toddlin' town,” but does anybody know what a toddlin' town is? Back in 1997 a writer for the Chicago Tribune set out to find out and discovered nobody knows what it means. 
     But, I have gotten off the subject. Most people think Windy City refers to, well, it being windy there, but that can’t be correct because Chicago is nowhere near the top when it comes to average wind speed. According to the National Climatic Data Center, exclusive of Alaska, the cities with the highest average wind speed are: Mt. Washington, NH (35.1mph), St. Paul Island, AK (16.9 mph), Cold Bay, AK (16.8 mph), Blue Hill, MA (15.3 mph) and Dodge City, KS (13.9 mph). Actually, Mt. Washington isn't a city, it's a mountain that is notorious for its erratic weather. On the afternoon of April 12, 1934, the Mt. Washington Observatory recorded a wind speed of 231 miles per hour at the summit, the world record from 1934 until 1996. Mt. Washington still holds the record for highest measured wind speed not associated with a tornado or tropical cyclone.
     Chicago doesn’t even make the top twenty, so the name “Windy City” must have another origin. One popular theory is city's boasting lobbyists and politicians earned Chicago the nickname "Windy City" in the New York press. But, that doesn’t sound right either because that would seem to apply to Washington DC more to than Chicago. 

     Back to Sidney P. Johnston. He was a graduate of Northwestern University in Chicago and served as an editor of "The American Artisan" magazine. He was also the author of the “Furnace Work Manual” as several magazine articles.
     Johnson also served as an officer of the Chicago Chess and Checker Club. It was renamed the Chicago Chess Club in 1961. The club was Chicago's longest-lived metropolitan chess club, enduring at least 89 years from its founding in 1891 to its dissolution in the early 1980s. During that time it was visited by such players as Pillsbury, Lasker, Marshall, Capablanca and Nimzovich. 
     Johnston drew Harry Pillsbury when he visited the Chicago Chess and Checker Club in 1898 and 1899. In December 1899 and January 1900, Johnston played Marshall a match for stakes of $150. The winner was the first to win seven games. Marshall barely won with a score of 7 -6 =2. Johnston hoped for a rematch, butit never happened. 
     In July of 1901, Johnston became chess editor at the Chicago Daily Tribune and took over the "Over the Chess Board" (later "Across the Chess Board") column from Louis Uedemann. His final column ran on March 5, 1905, two weeks before his unexpected death at home at the age of 35. 
     Johnston and Louis Uedemann were generally regarded as the best players in Chicago and in1903, both of them along with Max Judd tied for first place at the Western Chess Association's tournament in Chicago, with a score of 14.5-2.5. 
     The following game was played on board 2 of correspondence match in 1898 between Chicago and Brooklyn. Johnson’s opponent, Hermann Helms (1870 - 1963) was a player, writer, and promoter and member of the US Chess Hall of Fame. Helms was born in Brooklyn, but spent much of his childhood in Hamburg, Germany and in Halifax, Canada, where a schoolmate taught him chess. He returned to live in Brooklyn at age 17, and settled there. 
     As a player, Helms won the New York State Championship in 1906 and 1925. A sharp tactician, he had victories over Pillsbury and Marshall to his credit and he played on five cable matches against England, in the early part of the 20th century. He retired from most serious chess competition while in his forties, but remained active in blitz tournaments at the Marshall Chess Club until his late eighties. 
     Chessmetrics does not have a rating for Helms, but Edo Historical Ratings puts is at about 2350 in the early 1900s based mostly on club matches and the matches with England. 

Play Online Chess

[Event "Postal Match Chicago vs. Brooklyn"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1898.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Sidney Johnston"]
[Black "Hermann Helms"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteELO "?"]
[BlackELO "?"]

%Created by Caissa's Web PGN Editor
{C67: Ruy Lopez: Berlin Defense: 4 0-0 Nxe4} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 {
Dating ack to the days of Lasker the Berlin Defense has long had a reputation
for being solid and drawishness. Arthur Bisguier played it for decades, but
it wasn't until Kramnik used it in his 2000 match against Kasparov that other
GMs finally saw the light.} 4. O-O {An important alternative is 4.d3, dubbed
the Anti-Berlin, which avoids the notorious Berlin endgame. Wilhelm Steinitz
scored many spectacular successes with it} 4... Nxe4 5. Qe2 {Acceptable
alternatives are 5.d4 and 5.Re1.} 5... Nd6 6. Bxc6 dxc6 {White can, if he
wishes, offer to play a repetition here with 7.Qxe5+ Qe7 8.Qa5 Qd8 9.Qe5+ Of
course, both sides can avoid this if they are of a mind to.} 7. Nxe5 Be7 8.
Re1 Be6 9. d4 Nf5 10. c3 Qd5 {Helms intends to initiate a K-side attack, but
white has plenty of time to prepare a defense. 10...O-O followed by ...Re8 is
the modern treatment.} 11. Nd2 O-O-O 12. Ndf3 Rdg8 {Helms wants to save time
advancing his g-Pawn without the preparatory ...h6.} 13. Bg5 {White's idea
here was to hinder black's attack, but at the same time it forfeits any
advantage he may have had. Driving back the black Q with a gain of time by
13. c4 was probably better. Now black's best choice was probably to transpose
into an ending with 13...f6 14.Nxc6 Qxc6 15.Qxe6+etc.} 13... Bxg5 14. Nxg5
Re8 {An admission that his 12th move was a waste of time. With his next move
Johnston missed a neat little tactical trick that would have given him a
promising game. . 15.Qd3! And black can't fork the Ns with 15.f6?? because of
16.c4 Qd6 17. Nef7...a counter-fork!} 15. Ngf3 f6 16. Nd3 g5 {Black has
equalized. This leaves his f-Pawn weak, but white only exploits it with
further help from his opponent.} 17. Qc2 h5 18. Nc5 g4 {After this aggressive
move Helms gets into trouble. He should have kept things nice and equal with
18..Nd6 so that after exchanges on e6 a draw id likely.} 19. Rxe6 gxf3 {He
can't take on e6 because of 20.c4 chasing the Q away and then capturing the
N.} 20. Rxf6 Nh4 {According to an article in the American Chess Bulletin white
has a sure draw after 21. Qb3. Actually white has a slight advantage: 21...b6
22.Qxd5 and white comes out of the trades with a passed f-Pawn which may or
may not be enough to win.} 21. g3 b6 22. Nd3 Ref8 {Johnston spent more time on
his next move than any other move in the game. He wanted to play 23.Nc5 which
leads to a sharp tactical battle. After much analysis in which many lines
lead to a draw, Johnston reluctantly abandoned it for a safer continuation.
He was sure that positionally he has a won game after 23.Rxf8 and he was quite
correct.} 23. Rxf8+ {If Johnston had had Stockfish he would have saved a lot
of time because it immediately sees that 23.Nc5 would have been a losing
blunder.} 23... Rxf8 { Johnston's next move is alert play that sidesteps the
trap 24.gxh4+ Qg8+ followed by checks on g2 and h1 picking off the R on
a1...and winning.} 24. Ne5 Qe6 25. Kh1 Qh3 {Engines give this two ?? as it
loses quickly; they prefer a slow death by ...Nf5-h6.} 26. Rg1 Nf5 27. Qe4
{Decisive: it threatens mate, wins a P and forces the exchange of Qs.} 27...
Rf6 28. Qxf3 h4 29. Qg2 {Putting an end to any of black's monkeyshines. One
wonders why Helms even played on.} 29... Qxg2+ 30. Kxg2 hxg3 31. hxg3 Rd6 32.
g4 Ne7 33. f4 a5 34. Kf3 c5 35. Ke4 cxd4 36. cxd4 Kb7 37. f5 Ng8 38. g5 1-0

Frank Marshal Gets Knocked Out

     In the following game played at Pistyan 1912, Frank Marshall took a beating from Karoly Sterk (September 19, 1881 – December 10, 1946) of the kind Marshall himself often administered 
     Prior to WW1, Sterks’ best performance was probably sharing 2nd place with Barasz, behind Breyer, at Budapest 1917. He lost two matches to Géza Maróczy in 1907 and 1917, both by +1 –2 =3. 
     After World War I, he mainly played in Budapest with only modest results. Sterk played for Hungary in unofficial and official Olympiads at Paris 1924, Budapest 1926, and Prague 1931. 
    The victory at Pistyan, a small resort northeast of Bratislava, was one of Rubinstein's greatest triumphs. Despite making two quick draws at the end, he was still first by 2.5 points. The venue was Grand Hotel Royal in Pistyan, then part of Austria-Hungary, known today as Piestany in Slov. 

1) Rubinstein 14.0 
2) Spielmann 11.5 
3) Marshall 10.5 
4) Schlechter 10.0 
5-6) Duras and Teichmann 10.0 
7-8) Balla and Breyer 9.5 
9-11) Alapin, Sterk and Salwe 9.0 
12) Lowcki 8.0 
13-14) Barasz and Yates 6.0 
15-16) Hromadka and Cohn 5.5 
17) Leonhardt 5.5 
18) Johner 4.5 

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[Event "Bad Pistyan"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1912.5.31"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Karoly Sterk"]
[Black "Frank Marshall"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteELO "?"]
[BlackELO "?"]

%Created by Caissa's Web PGN Editor
{Four Knights Game} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. Bb5 {A speculative
attempt at complicating the game is the the Belgrade Gambit, 4.d4.} 4... Bb4
{This symmetrical variation is known as the Spanish Variation. The symmetrical
position is especially dangerous if for black if he gets lulled into
complacency by the quiet start because white has a very dangerous initiative
against the King. A move aggressive move is 4...Nd4 (the Rubinstein Variation)
trying to exchange the N for a B and obtaining the advantage of the B-pair.}
5. O-O O-O 6. d3 {Now black usually continues with 6...d6 and after 7.Bg5
it's dangerous for him to keep copying white's moves by 7...Bg4} 6... d5 {This
rarely seen move has actually fared quite well in practice. It was a
specialty of Marshall's and this was the only game he lost with it.} 7. Nxd5
{Here white has almost always played either 7.Bxc6 or 7.exd5, but this is
probably best.} 7... Nxd5 8. exd5 Qxd5 9. Bc4 Qd6 10. c3 Bc5 11. b4 Bb6 12.
a4 a5 13. b5 Ne7 {Now white's immediate attack on f7 holds little danger for
black. It would have been better to play 14.Qb3 followed by Re1 and then
Ng5.} 14. Ng5 Qg6 15. Qe2 Bf5 {Marshall's offer of the e-Pawn is unsound and
he should have defended it with ...Qf5 and ...Ng6. Sterk erred in not taking
it because after 16.Qxe5! attacking the N and leaving black no good followup.
If he defends it with 16.. .Rae8 then after 17.Re1 white is much, much better.
Likewise, if 16...h6 17. Qxe7 white stands well.} 16. g4 h6 {Retreating to d7
would have been safer.} 17. gxf5 Nxf5 18. Kh1 hxg5 19. Rg1 g4 20. Ba3
{Somewhat better was 20.Rxg4, but Sterk was probably counting on Marshall
moving his R to safety with 20... Rfe8 then after 21.Rxg4 and Rag1 white has
an overwhelming position.} 20... Nh6 { Best even though it costs the
exchange.} 21. Bxf8 Rxf8 22. Rg2 {Getting the out of range of black's B so he
can play f2-f3.} 22... Re8 23. f3 {This is a critical position for black. His
best chance was 23...Nf5 as after 24.Rxg4 Qf6 he has some chance of defending
himself.} 23... Qg5 {After this black's position disintegrates.} 24. Re1 Qe7
25. fxg4 Qa3 {Rather pointless and it allows a nice finish, but black is lost
anyway.} 26. g5 Nf5 27. g6 Re7 28. Qh5 {Black's K is in a mating net.} 28...
Nh6 29. Qxh6 {Nice! If 29...gxh6 30.gxf7+ and the P queens.} 1-0

1926 Western Championship

     In the gangster world of Chicago in 1926 there was a lot of action. It was during the time of prohibition so bootlegging was big buiness.
     Pasquale Tolizotte (affiliated with the Southside O'Donnell's gang) was murdered, but that was just the beginning. 
     Henry Spingola, brother-in-law to the Genna Brothers, was murdered by members of the Chicago Outfit. Genna Brothers member Edward Baldelli was found in a ditch outside Chicago and the brothers ally Vito Bascone, another bootlegger, was murdered in Stickney, Illinois. 
     James Russo, an independent bootlegger in Chicago's Little Italy, was murdered by Al Capone’s gunmen. While meeting with a lawyer, North Side Gang leader Hymie Weiss, along with his bodyguard, was gunned down in an ambush and two other gang members were severely wounded. 
     With Weiss's death, George "Bugs" Moran assumed gang leadership. In October John O'Berta and Joseph "Polack Joe" Saltis called a peace conference in a successful attempt to broker a ceasefire among the city’s major bootleggers. The Chicago Outfit and the North Side Gang divided the city into two territories. But, in December the ceasefire was broken when Sheldon Gang member Hillary Clements was killed by the Saltis-McErlane Gang. 
     In more pleasant news, in August eighteen year old Mae Greene was chosen as Miss Chicago out of 4,000 rivals at the Trianon Ballroom in Chicago. She went on to represent Chicago at the Atlantic City Miss America beauty pageant. 
     In baseball, the Chicago Cubs record of 82-72 was good enough for a 4th place finish while the White Sox finished 83-70 and finished in 5th place. 
     During the first 25 years if its existence the US Open was known as the Western Open. The Western Chess Association restricted its annual championship to "Western" players. Western players included the US and Canadian players who lived west of Pennsylvania. Practically speaking, west of Pennsylvania meant players from mainly Ontario and Manitoba.
     Eventually it was open to almost everybody except players from New York, presumably because they were considered just too strong. In 1925, the tournament was finally opened to everybody, including New Yorkers because the WCA had plans to become a national organization. 
     Their plan was to be an association of individual members as described in a letter by the secretary of the WCA, Samuel Factor, to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle in October of 1925. 
     In the letter Factor pointed out that for the past 26 years, the Western Chess Association had been a leading factor in maintaining and increasing interest in chess throughout the West and Middle West and in the meeting at Cedar Point, Ohio in 1925, it was unanimously voted to increase the field and scope by making it a national organization. With that end in mind, the WCA had reorganized and made membership open to all players in the United States and Canada. 
     Factor added that it was the duty of all players to give the organization both moral and financial support. Dues were $1 per year. As a member of the WCA, one was entitled to vote on all questions pertaining policy, receive the association’s Year Book, which would contain games scores of the games played in the championship tournaments. 
     By the following year there was a new proposal that would establish the National Chess Association of the USA. It would take over governance on the national level with the WCA being only a division. The result was the National Chess Federation came into existence, but it did little more than select teams for the Olympiad plus a few duties that pertained to national chess. 
     The WCA continued operations until the early 1930s, when a new generation of young masters began coming to the Western Championship in search of serious competition. In 1934 the Western Chess Association became the American Chess Federation and the tournament became the American Chess Federation congress. In 1939, that organization merged into the United States Chess Federation and the tournament became the U.S. Open. 
     In 1926 the WCA hosted a Masters Tournament in addition to the Western Championship that was held at the same time. They were held at the Hotel LaSalle in Chicago from August 21-September 2, 1926. The lineup for the Masters included six former Western champions, the current US Champion plus Geza Maroczy who was touring the US and had delayed his return home for this tournament. The final standings were:

1) Frank Marshall 8.5 
2-3) Geza Maroczy and Carlos Torre 8.0 
4-5) Charles Jaffe and Abraham Kupchik 7.5 
6) Isaac Kashdan 7.0 
7) Samuel Factor 6.5 
8) Edward Lasker 6.0 
9) Adolf J. Fink 5.0 
10) Newell Banks 4.5 
11) Oscar Chajes 4.0 
12) Jackson W. Showalter 3.0 
13 Lewis J. Isaacs 2.5 

     The following game is one in which Banks made and unsound Q sacrifice, but won when Kashdan missed the refutation.  The 21 year old Isaac Kashdan was just beginning his career while Newell Banks’s rating estimated rating was in the mid-2300s according to Chessmetrics. 
     In a side note, Kashdan's only surviving son, Richard (born 10/04/1944), is a San Francisco attorney who is also known by the pseudonym Mark Bernay and was a telephone hacker in his younger days. More details.  
     Newell Banks (October 10, 1887 – February 17, 1977) of Detroit was a master checker player who occasionally dabbled in chess. His father was Dr. W. B. Banks, also of Detroit, was the former Michigan State Checker Champion.

     Banks played his first game of blindfold checkers at age five and a half at the Detroit Chess and Checker Club. In 1947, at age 60, for 45 consecutive days (4 hours per day) Banks played 1,387 blindfold checker games, winning 1331 games, drawing 54 and losing only two.  He played them in batches of six games at a time. He also set a new blindfold speed record playing 62 games in four hours, winning 61 and drawing one at the Convention Hall, Detroit, Michigan.

     In this tournament he defeated Isaac Kashdan and Frank Marshall, and drew with Jackson W. Showalter, Samuel Factor, and Oscar Chajes. Edward Winter article on Banks 
     According to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle very few tournaments in this country could compare to this tournament which followed close on the heels of Lake Hopatcong. The results at the Lake Hopatcong were 1) Capablanca, Kupchik, Maroczy, Marshall and Lasker, so Capablanca was the only one missing from Chicago. Torre came in from Mexico for the Chicago event. 
     Prizes were for Chicago were: $150, $100, $75, $50 and $25...about $2,200 down to $360 in today’s dollars. The time limit was 20 moves per hour then 15 move per hour. 

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[Event "Chicago Masters"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1926.9.2"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Newell Banks"]
[Black "Isaac Kashdan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteELO "?"]
[BlackELO "?"]

%Created by Caissa's Web PGN Editor
{Torre Attack} 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 c6 3. Bg5 e6 4. Nbd2 d5 {The Torre Attack came
into being in 1925 when the young Mexican Champion used it at the
international tournament in Moscow that year. It allows white a strong
position with harmonious development and great flexibility. In those days
Torre's opponents were used to classical style and found it difficult to meet
this opening. Today it's often advertised by book authors as being one of
those universal systems that you can play against any black set up. While this
is true, the implication that it therefore requires little study is not.
White's correct strategy will depend on the set up that black chooses which
may include the French, Sicilian, Q-Indian, K-side and several others.} 5. e3
Nbd7 6. Bd3 Qb6 {Kashdan has chosen a very solid setup and after 6...Be7 white
can, if he wishes, continue in the more classical style c2-c4 or in the Torre
style with c2-c3. Black often plays ...Qb6 against the Torre leaving white the
choice of sacrificing the b-Pawn or defending it with Rb1 or Qc1.} 7. Rb1 {
After 7.O-O Qxb2?! white has two promising continuations: 8.c4 or 8.e4?!}
7... Be7 8. O-O O-O 9. Ne5 {A rather routine move. 9.e4 gives black more
problems. } 9... Re8 10. Ndf3 Nf8 11. c3 {Somewhat better was 12.c4.} 11...
N6d7 12. Bxe7 Rxe7 13. Nxd7 Bxd7 {Kashdan's play has left him with a bad B and
and his R poorly positioned. Even so, his position is quite solid.} 14. Qc2
f6 15. Nh4 c5 16. f4 Be8 17. Qf2 Ng6 {Kashdan is pursuing a policy of
exchanging and hopefully eliminating all of white's attacking chances. This is
typical Kashdan. While he was an excellent tactician who loved the two Bs, his
real strength was in the ending.} 18. g4 Nxh4 19. Qxh4 Bg6 20. Bxg6 hxg6 21.
Rf3 Ree8 22. Rh3 Kf7 23. f5 {This is too risky. Solid was 23.Qf2 with a rather
boring position.} 23... Rh8 {Black doesn't gain any advantage winning a P with
23.exf5} 24. fxg6+ Kxg6 25. Qg3 cxd4 26. exd4 e5 27. Rxh8 Rxh8 {Now with
28.Qf3 ot 28.Rd1 the chances would have been about equal. Instead Banks
embarks on an ingenious, but unsound, plan but Kashdan missed the refutation}
28. g5 Rh5 {Much the best. Chances are even after 28...fxg5 29.Qe5} 29. gxf6+
{Not good. After 29.h4 black is only slightly better.} 29... Rg5 30. Qxg5+
Kxg5 31. f7 {The point of Bank's Q sacrifice. Kashdan's next move is perfectly
logical in that it prevents the P from queening, but forking the P and R with
31...Qg6 is a different story. After 32.f8Q Qxb1+ 33.Kg2 Qxb2+ In Shootouts
using Stockfish black won all five ending. In practice, who knows?} 31...
Qd8 32. Rf1 Qf8 33. dxe5 {With his K cut off there's no way for black to stop
the Ps. The remaining moves are just a formality.} 33... a5 34. e6 Kg6 35.
Rf2 {White has to run black out of P moves so that he will be forced to move
either the Q or K.} 35... b5 36. a3 b4 37. axb4 axb4 { Of course 38.cxb4 Qxb4
39.f8Q Qe1+ 40.Kg2 Qxe6 also wins, but Banks takes advantage of the situation
afforded him by transposing into a won P ending. This way there is no
possibility of an accident by allowing black to keep his Q.} 38. e7 Qxf7 39.
Rxf7 Kxf7 40. cxb4 Kxe7 41. Kf2 {This position is easily won for white and
Kashdan could safely resign at any time.} 41... Kd6 42. Ke3 Kc6 43. Kd4 g5
44. h3 Kb5 45. Kxd5 Kxb4 46. Ke5 1-0

Edith Keller-Herman, Lady Powerhouse

     Edith Keller-Herrmann (November 17, 1921 – May 12, 2010) was a German WGM. She was married to surgeon Dr. Lutz Herrmann and was the sister of IM Rudolf Keller (1917 – 1993). 
     Her talent was promoted in the 1930s and 1940s by the Greater German Chess Federation. In 1936 there was an international tournament in Dresden in which four German players were pitted against six European masters, including the winner, Alekhine. She visited that tournament and became fascinated with the game. 
     She began studying intensively entered her first tournament in 1939. In August of that year the 17 year old Edith Keller, along with 15 year old Klaus Junge, 14 year old Wolfgang Unzicker and two others, Rudolf Kunath (age 15) and Karl Krbavac (age 17), played in Jugendschachwoche Fürstenwalde near Berlin. 

     In 1942 she had improved to the point that she won the Greater German Women's Championship. In the next German Women's Championship in 1943 she finished in third place, tied for 7th-8th at Bad Krynica (the fourth General Government tournament, won by Josef Lokvenc). 
     After the war, Keller-Hermann was the German Women's Champion in 1947, 1948, 1951, 1952 and 1953, and the Eastern German Women's Champion in 1950, 1952, 1956, 1957 and 1960. 
     She participated in the first women's Candidates Tournament in Moscow in 1949/1950, where she shared 5th to 7th place. In the following years she qualified three times for the candidates’ tournament. 
     In 1953 and 1958 she participated with respectable results in the men's championships of the East Germany. She played at the tournament in Dortmund in 1951, where she tied for 11th–12th, but drew with Efim Bogoljubow and won games against Rossolimo and Stojan Puc. 
     Keller-Hermann also played for East Germany in several Women's Chess Olympiads either at first or second board. 
     Chessmetrics assigns her a high rating of 2436 in 1952. At the time this game was played Chessmetrics lists Rossolimo at 2663, putting him among the top 25 best players in the world, so Keller-Hermann’s win was quite an accomplishment. 

1) O'Kelly 7.5 
2-3) Fuderer and Milic 7.0 
4) Pfeiffer 6.5 
5-6) Puc and Rossolimo 6.0 
7-9) Bogoljubow, Stoltz and Kieninger 5.0 
10) Lange 4.5 
11-12) Keller-Hermann and Grob 3.0 

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[Event "Dortmund"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1951.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Edith Keller-Herrmann "]
[Black "Nicolas Rossolimo"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteELO "?"]
[BlackELO "?"]

%Created by Caissa's Web PGN Editor
{King's Indian Saemisch} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3 {The
idea of the Saemisch is to reject immediate development in favor of securing a
position for both the QB and KN while avoiding harassment by either ...Bb4 or
. ..Ng4. Or, maybe even launch a K-side P-storm beginning with g2-g4.
However, black has a wealth of plausible responses.} 5... O-O 6. Be3 e5 7.
Nge2 exd4 8. Nxd4 Re8 9. Be2 Nbd7 10. O-O a5 11. Qd2 Nc5 12. Rfd1 Nfd7 13.
Nd5 Nf8 {Better was 13...c6.} 14. Re1 {White fails to take advantage of
black's lapse. With 14. Nbd5 the attack on c6 yields white a considerable
advantage.} 14... c6 15. Nc3 a4 16. Rad1 Qa5 17. Nc2 Be5 18. Bd4 Nfe6 19. Be3
Qd8 {Having established space on the Q-side and driven white's N back from d4
Rossolimo now switches his attention to the K-side.} 20. Bf1 {Black should now
begin a direct advance on the K-side beginning with 20...h5.} 20... Qh4 21.
g3 Qf6 22. Bg2 {Now 22...Bxc3 looks inviting but after 23.Qxc3 Qxc3 24.bxc3
while white is left with weak Ps black's d-Pawn is lost and white has active
play on the d-file.} 22... a3 {This switch back to the Q-side is ineffective.
Better was 22...g5 continuing operations on the K-side. } 23. f4 Bxc3 24.
Qxc3 Qxc3 25. bxc3 {So...black's faulty 22nd move has forced him to enter a
line similar to that after 22...Bxc3.} 25... Na4 26. Rxd6 Nxc3 {After this
black lands in serious trouble. It would have been better to have played
26...Nb2 and then he could have met 27.f7 with 27...Nxc4.} 27. f5 {Equally
good, maybe even better, was 27.Rd3 and 28.Rxa3.} 27... gxf5 28. exf5 Nf8 29.
Bd2 Bxf5 30. Nd4 Rxe1+ 31. Bxe1 {With his next move Rossolimo overestimates
the value on his advanced passed a-Pawn. Better would have been attacking
white's R with 31...Ne4. After 32.Nxf5 Nxd6 33.Nxd6 he would have had a R+2
Ps vs white's two Bs and the outcome would not be clear.} 31... Nxa2 32. Nxf5
Ne6 33. Rd1 c5 {Otherwise his N has no retreat square.} 34. Ra1 {Capturing the
b-Pawn was a good alternative.} 34... Nb4 35. Bxb7 Ra7 36. Be4 Ng5 37. Bb1
{Not the best. She should have played 37.Bg2 because after this black could
have played 37...a2 attacking the B. Then after 38.Bxb4 (note the B has no
move) 38...axb1Q+ 39. Rxb1 cxb4 40.Rxb4 white is a P up in a R and N ending
and the win would have been much more difficult.} 37... Nf3+ 38. Kf2 Nxe1 39.
Kxe1 a2 40. Be4 Ra6 41. Kd2 { This was probably the end of the time control
and while white does indeed have a theoretical win, Rossolimo's resignation
seems a bit premature. Several Shootouts ended up with white winning an
ending of a R+B+P vs R+P, but the ending were long and arduous, so he might
well have played on.} 1-0

Rowena Bruce, Iron Lady

     Rowena Mary Bruce (May 15, 1919 – September 24, 1999), nee Dew, was an English WIM who was an eleven-time winner of the British Women's Championship (1937, 1950, 1951, 1954, 1955, 1959, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1967 and 1969). In 1935, she won the FIDE World Girls Championship and in 1952 she participated in the Women's Candidates Tournament where she finished 12th. She also represented England in the Women's Olympiads. From the end of the 1930s to the end of the 1960s, she was one of England's strongest lady players. 
     She was born in Plymouth, the youngest child of Harvey and Mary Dew. One brother, Clement, worked in electronics and lived to the age of 90. Her other brother, Lanning, was an artist and pianist who died at 50. 
     Rowena’s mother had been a long time member of the Plymouth Chess Club and at one time was Devon Ladies Champion and played in the British Championship. She tried to interest her sons in the game, but they showed little interest. Rowena, however, took an early interest in chess and by the time she was 10 her mother realized that her talent was such that she needed someone of greater ability to bring out her talent. That’s when she approached the 22-year old Ronald Bruce (1903–1991), a strong Portsmouth club player, to give her two lessons a week. 
     That began a partnership that was to last 65 years. In 1940 she married Bruce and they remained married until his death. Under Bruce’s tutelage within 9 years she had become FIDE World Girls Champion. Rowena attended a private all-girl establishment. 
     Her secondary education was interrupted when she had a mastoidectomy. A mastoidectomy is an operation that removes part of the bone from behind the ear. It’s done is because of an infection or cholesteatoma (a skin growth which often forms a cyst) that spreads to the mastoid bone. The operation removes the diseased part of the mastoid bone. 
     The surgery resulted in the loss of a year’s schooling and her suffering with tinnitus. During that time she concentrated on her chess training and her music; she played the cello and became Principal Cellist with the Plymouth Orchestral Society. 
     In 1935 she competed (under the name Rowena Dew as at the age of 16 she was not married) in FIDE’s 10th Annual Girls’ Open Championship. It really wasn’t much of a tournament though...there were only 12 entrants, all from the UK. In 1937 she and her mother played in the British Championships. Rowena won the British Ladies Championship with an impressive 10-1. 
     In the 1939 Ladies Championship Rowena was upstaged by 13 year old Elaine Saunders who scored an undefeated 10-1 while Rowena was only able to score a minus one. 
     The war interrupted her chess career and throughout the war she worked in the Women's Voluntary Service (WVS). The service, founded in 1938, was originally set up to train women to be able to help with air raid precautions, but soon developed into running emergency rest centers feeding, giving first aid and assisting with the evacuation and billeting of children. One interesting activity was spinning and knitting dog hair garments. The garments were described as being “warm and hard wearing.” 
     She and Bruce were married in 1940. In August 1945 she gave birth to a son who died after 10 days and she was advised that it would be unwise to try again. 
     After the war her chess activity resumed with local club events. In June of 1946 she and Eileen Tranmer were part of the British team in the Anglo-Soviet Radio match. Tranmer lost both of her games against Bykova and Rowena also lost both her games against Rudenko. 

     She was 53 years old when in November 1972, while playing in the East European Zonal Tournament held near Sofia, Bulgaria, she suddenly slumped over the board in round 2 as a result of suffering a cerebral hemorrhage. 
     She spent several weeks in intensive care. When well enough she was flown to London where an ambulance that took to a hospital. After several weeks an ambulance took her home. Her right side was paralyzed, she was unable to speak and saliva constantly dripped from her mouth. By sheer will power she taught herself to speak and walk again. Her recovery was never complete and she walked with a limp and she was never able to play her cello again. 
     In 1974 she was able to begin playing chess again though not up the level at which she had previously played. In 1974 she returned to her annual participation in the British Ladies Championship, playing up to the mid-1980s, though she generally struggled to reach a 50 percent score. In those later days she was often happy to settle for quiet draw claiming, “I don’t mind the draws – it’s the losses I can’t stand!” 
     In addition to their chess activities, she and her husband were expert and regular bridge players, though on a strictly non-competitive basis. Her husband died at the age of 86. Rowena continued to live in the family home. She began to suffer a series of mini-strokes and died at home on April 24, 1999 at the age of 84. 
    See my post on Fenny Heemskerk HERE. 

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[Event "6th Danlon Womens Champ Amsterdam"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1961.10.16"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Rowena Bruce"]
[Black "Fenny Heemskerk"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteELO "?"]
[BlackELO "?"]

%Created by Caissa's Web PGN Editor
{Bird's Opening} 1. f4 {A very aggressive opening. White's strategic ideas
involve control of the e5-square, offering good attacking potential at the
expense of slightly weakening his K-side. Henry Bird demonstrated its
potential in the second half of the 19th century . In the 1920s Nimzovich and
Tartakower won several very nice games with it. Later Larsen and Soltis
played it. It is rarely een nowadays, but not because there is anything
especially wrong with it.} 1... d5 2. Nf3 c5 3. e3 Nc6 4. Bb5 {Frequesntly
seen is 4.b3. The text is a straightforward attempt to gain control of e5.}
4... Bd7 5. Bxc6 Bxc6 6. d3 f6 {Interesting. Black makes sure the N can't
occupy e5 at the cost of compromising her K-side.} 7. O-O Qc7 8. Qe1 O-O-O {To
counter white's strategy of attacking on the K-side, Heemskerk adapts a risky
strategy of placing her K on the other side.} 9. a3 {Pretty straightforward
play... Bruce intends a Q-side P-storm.} 9... e6 10. b4 Nh6 11. Bd2 Nf7 12.
a4 Bd6 {Instead of closing the Q-side with 13.b5 white has an interesting
alternative in 13. Nc3! and if 13...cxb4 14.Nb5! with promising play on the
opened up Q-side.} 13. b5 Bd7 14. Ba5 b6 15. Bc3 d4 {This is wrong on
principle because it opens up the game to a better developed opponent. She
would have done better to move one of the Rs along the 8th rank.} 16. exd4
Bxf4 {The lesser evil was 16... cxd4.} 17. dxc5 Qxc5+ 18. Bd4 Qd6 {White has a
won position and could have ripped the guts out black with 19.a5!} 19. Be3
Bxe3+ 20. Qxe3 e5 21. Ra3 {This lapse allows black to equalize. Correct was
21.Nbd2 followed by 22.a5} 21... Kb8 { Excellent! Now Rc3 allows black to
challenge on the c-file and the N on b1 can't develop because it must guard
the R. Hence, Bruce corrects her mistake, but the loss of time allows black
to equalize.} 22. Ra1 Rhe8 {Better would have been 22...Rc8 and 23...Qc5
exchanging Qs.} 23. Nbd2 f5 {After this white gets a smashing attack. Better
was 23...Rc8 forcing white to take time to guard the c-Pawn.} 24. Nc4 Qc7 25.
a5 {Now black should trade Qs with 25...Qc5. Instead, she grabs a P and
fatally exposes her K.} 25... Bxb5 26. axb6 {Bruce finished off her opponent
with cold blooded efficiency.} 26... axb6 27. Rfb1 Rd5 28. Nxb6 Rc5 29. Nd7+
{Ruthless.} 29... Qxd7 30. Qxc5 Nd6 31. Ra5 Re7 32. Rbxb5+ Nxb5 33. Rxb5+ Ka8
34. Ra5+ {It's mate in 9 at most.} 1-0

Reti Memorial, Trencianske Teplice, 1949

     Things had started to turn around in 1949. After the Depression and World War II postwar prosperity started to get underway. Auto companies began to sell cars and televisions and other goods demanded by consumers began to appear. 
     Cars and televisions got bigger and with nearly 10 million TVs in American homes, a new type of program appeared...Soap Operas, so called because soap manufacturers sponsored the shows with the idea that they would be able to reach stay at home housewives. 

1949 Cadillac

     In chess news in 1949, the first FIDE Grandmaster list appeared with and it contained 17 GMs. Claude Shannon presented a paper on programming a computer to play chess and we all know where that ultimately lead although computers and software for the public didn’t onto the market in the mid-1970s.

     In 1949, Eileen Tranmer scored a perfect 11-0 score to win the British Ladies' Chess Championship and Harry Golombek won the first British Championship to use the Swiss system. The first USSR correspondence chess championship tournament was began. It finished in 1951 and Alexander Konstantinopolsky was the winner. David Bronstein and Vasily Smyslov tied for the Soviet Championship. Nicholas Rossolimo won Hastings 1948/49. 

     In the US, Albert Sandrin won the US Open, held in Omaha. James B. Cross, Arthur Bisguier and Larry Evans tied for first in the 4th annual Junior Championship. Reuben Fine won the New York International ahead of Najdorf, Euwe and Pilnik. 
     Among the forgotten international tournaments in 1949 was a 20 player event, the Reti Memorial, held in Trencianske Teplice, a health resort and small spa town in western Slovakia. The town is renowned for its sulfur and thermal springs. 
     It was also one of Gideon Stahlberg’s great victories. At that time, according to Chessmetrics, Stahlberg was one of the top rated players in the world. The top ten players were: Botvinnik (2813), Smyslov (2756), Bronstein (2750), Kotov (2744), Najdorf (2743), Fine (2738), Doleslavaky (2728), Reshevsky (2728), Stahberg (2728) and Keres (2725). 

Final Standings: 
1) Stahlberg 14.0 
2-3) Szabo and Pachman 13.5 
4-5) Julio Bolbochan and Rossolimo 12.0 
6) Foltys 11.5 
7-8) Prins, and O'Kelly 11.0 
9) Emil Richter 10.5 
10) Kottnauer 10.0 
11) Szily 9.5 
12-13) Sefc and Golombek 9.0 
14) Ujtelky 8.0 
15-16) Erdelyi and Rohacek 7.0 
17) Ojanen 6.5 
18) Paoli 5.5 
19) Platt 5.0 
20) Wade 4.5 

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[Event "Trencianske Teplice"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1949.9.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Emil Richter"]
[Black "Enrico Paoli"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteELO "?"]
[BlackELO "?"]

%Created by Caissa's Web PGN Editor
{Queen's Gambut Accepted} 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 c6 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. e3 dxc4
6. Bxc4 b5 7. Bd3 a6 8. O-O c5 9. Qe2 {The opening has transposed from the
Semi-Slav into a variation of the QGA where black has lost a tempo compared to
normal variations.} 9... Bb7 10. dxc5 {Black is already at a considerable
disadvantage here. He can't play 10...Bxc5 on account of 11.Bxb5+. Perhaps
his best try was 10...Nc6.} 10... Qa5 11. e4 Bxc5 12. e5 Nd5 13. Ne4 {White
has more space and his N on e4 is very well placed. It's also clear that
black is not going to be ale to castle.} 13... Be7 14. Bg5 {This excellent
move eliminates the B that is guarding d6 and black runs into troible if he
castles. 14...O-O 15. Bxe7 Nxe7 16.Nfg5 and he will likely succumb to a
K-side attack as the are no pieces that can come to the aid of his K.} 14...
Qb6 15. Bxe7 Kxe7 16. Rac1 Nd7 17. Bb1 {A typical preparatory move to forming
a B and Q battery aimed at h7.} 17... h6 18. Rfe1 {A far sighted move that, as
will be seen, prepares for the occupation of d6 by the N.} 18... Rac8 19.
Rxc8 Rxc8 20. Nd6 {This is the critical position for black and it is at this
point that all chances to save the game disappear because of his next move.
White is going to place his Q on e4 and invade on h7 and the best defense
black has is 20...Rd8 which threatens ... Nxe5 removing the support of white's
powerful N on d6. Consequently, white has to play 21.Nb7 Qxb7 22.Qe4 Qa8!
And white has at best only a modest advantage. If white plays 23.Qh7 the reply
is 23...Nf4! and white dare not open the g-file with 24.Qxg7 because of
24...Rg8 and it's black who wins.} 20... Rc7 {After this black is lost. The
move looks like a reasonable one because it keeps the R on the open c-file.
But, in this position the c-file has little value.} 21. Qe4 {Hopeless is
21...Nxe5 22.Nf5+} 21... Qc5 {Now even better would have been 22.Qh4+ first.
If 22...Kf8 23.Qd8 mate. So, black has to play 22... f6 23.Nxb7} 22. Nxb7
{This is the simplest way to win material, so in practical play it has some
merit.} 22... Rxb7 23. Qh7 Qb4 24. Qxg7 Qf4 25. Be4 {Very good! Black has
gotten his Q into difficulties and can't meet both od white's threats: 26.g3
and 26.Bxd5.} 25... h5 26. Bxd5 Rc7 27. g3 Qg4 28. Ng5 1-0

The Fusifrom Face Area and Chess

     According to a 2011 article in Psychology Today in quoting the Journal of Neuroscience, an area at the bottom of the brain called the fusifrom face area (FFA), which is thought to be important for facial as opposed to object recognition, is the place that gets activated when both expert and casual players viewed and interpreted a position. 
     No differences were seen between the experts and casual players and thw FFA was activated to a greater extent when players viewed faces than when they viewed a chess board. However, when viewing chess positions the FFA was activated more in experts than in casual players. 
     Simply viewing a chess board with the pieces in the starting position created greater FFA activation in the experts. This difference in activation increased even further when the two groups were asked to analyze other than the starting position. 
     The question is, Why? To recognize a face, we need to see more than the eyes, nose, and mouth. We also need to analyze the spatial relationships between all these features. In a similar fashion an understanding of the spatial relationships between the pieces is crucial for chess players. It’s believed that the FFA is particularly good at recognizing global spatial patterns. 

     It’s not known if the FFA is a facial recognition area at birth or becomes one soon after, but its role as such is bolstered by our lifelong experience with viewing faces and the importance of facial recognition in everyday life.
     Interestingly, if another demand that requires spatial processing or comprehension of the parts of something as intimately interconnected and explicable only by reference to the whole, the FFA may be honed for that skill as well. In expert chess players the FFA is used for that purpose. 
     The article points out that our brain is highly adaptable and opportunistic. While certain areas may be wired for specific functions and skills, novel demands and extensive experience can recruit and perhaps rewire those regions to allow us to develop expertise in all sorts of ways. 

Further reading: 
Chess Expertise and the Fusiform Face Area: Why It Matters 
Fusiform Face Area in Chess Expertise