Harold Morton

     Harold Morton (January 10, 1906 - February 17, 1940, 34 years old) was a strong from Providence, Rhode Island. 

     Even though he was a strong payer, Morton had dismal performances in the two US Championships in which he participated. In the first modern 1936 championship which marked Frank Marshall’s retirement Morton finished last with a +1 -10 =4 score. His result in the 1938 championship was a bit better; he scored +3 -9 =4 and finished next to last. 

     I. A. Horowitz and Morton frequently traveled together giving tandem simultaneous exhibitions in which they would alternate making moves. On February 17, 1940 while enroute to Minneapolis, Minnesota after touring in the south and west, they were involved in a car accident on highway 30 about seven miles west of Carroll, Iowa when the car apparently skidded on a curve and collided with a van driven by Frank S. Robbins of Denver, Colorado. 

 

 

     Robbins was uninjured. Morton, who was driving, was thrown from the car and killed outright. He had the dubious distinction of being the county’s first traffic fatality of the year. 

     Horowitz was taken to St. Anthony's Hospital in Carroll where he was able to give his name. He had, among other injuries, a skull fracture and he was initially not expected to recover.. He was hospitalized for some time and during his stay in the hospital his brother, Irving, went to Iowa to be with him. The US Championship was held in April in 1940, but Horowitz still had not recovered sufficiently to play in it. 

     Morton’s opponent in the following game was Augustus N, Towsen (1905-1991, 85 years old). He was champion of Central Pennsylvania in 1930. He was a medical technician in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. During the Spanish Civil War (1936-39), almost forty thousand men and women from fifty-two countries, including 2,800 Americans, volunteered to travel to Spain and join the International Brigades to help fight fascism. The US volunteers served in various units and came to be known collectively as the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. 

     Towsen was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and attended Albright College and possibly Millerville University in the summer of 1927. He received passport on May 17, 1937 which listed his address as 264 North Street, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. On May 19, 1937 he sailed aboard the Normandie and arrived in Spain on May 29, 1937 and began serving with Medical Services. He returned to the US on August 14, 1938. 

     After WWII he served as an urban renewal activist. Urban renewal was a nationwide program in which the Federal government cities in the 1950s and '60s. The federal government gave cities billions of dollars to tear down blighted areas and replace them with affordable housing. At least, that's what was supposed to happen. Towsen died in Spalding, Georgia. 

 

[Event "ACF Congress. Prelim A, Milwaukee"] [Site "Milwaukee, WI USA"] [Date "1935.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Augustus Towsen"] [Black "Harold Morton"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D95"] [Annotator "Stockfish 16"] [PlyCount "50"] [EventDate "1935.??.??"] {Gruenfeld Defense} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. e3 Bg7 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Qb3 c6 7. Bd3 b6 {Both 7...e6 and 7...dxc4 can be considered the main lines.} 8. cxd5 (8. O-O Be6 9. Bd2 h6 10. cxd5 cxd5 11. Rfc1 {White stands well. Cvek,R (2517) -Walek,M (2350) Czechia 2010}) 8... cxd5 9. Bd2 Bb7 10. Rc1 Ne4 11. Rc2 { Castling was to be preferred. Oddly enough white never doubles Rs on the c-file. And, eventually this R on c2 will be a problem for white.} e6 (11... e5 {Grabs the initiative. After} 12. Nxe5 Bxe5 {This is perfectly safe because white's K-side attacking prospects are zero.} 13. Bxe4 (13. dxe5 Nc5 {Black wins heavy plastic.}) 13... dxe4 14. dxe5 Nd7 15. O-O Nxe5 {Black can claim a slight advantage.}) 12. Ke2 {[%mdl 8192] This strange move leaves his K vulnerable even though it is not yet apparent exactly how.} (12. O-O Nc6 13. Rfc1 {with a perfectly even position.}) 12... Nc6 13. a3 e5 {[%mdl 32]} 14. Nxe4 dxe4 15. Bxe4 Na5 16. Qd3 Bxe4 17. Qxe4 f5 18. Qh4 e4 19. Ng5 {This loses the N!} (19. Qxd8 {is the only way for white to try and stay in the game.} exf3+ 20. Kxf3 Raxd8 21. Bxa5 bxa5 22. Rhc1 f4 {Black is clearly better.}) 19... h6 20. f4 hxg5 21. fxg5 Rc8 22. Bc3 (22. Rhc1 {would have hels out longer, but he would still be lost.} Rxc2 23. Rxc2 Qd7 24. Bxa5 bxa5 25. Qf4 Rc8 26. Rxc8+ Qxc8 27. Kd2 Qa6 28. Qb8+ Bf8 29. Qb3+ Kg7 30. d5 a4 31. Qc3+ Kh7 32. Qd4 Bg7 33. Qc5 Qd3+) 22... Qd5 {Notice how vulnerable the R on c2 is.} 23. Qf2 (23. Qf4 {prevents black's next move, but after} Qa2 24. Rd2 (24. Rhc1 Nb3 25. Rd1 Rxc3 {wins easily.}) 24... Nb3 25. Rhd1 Nxd2 {with an easy win.}) 23... f4 24. exf4 Bxd4 (24... Nb3 {was also good...} 25. Rd1 e3 26. Qf3 Qf5) 25. Qg3 (25. Qxd4 Qxd4 26. Bxd4 Rxc2+ {That vulnerable R again.}) 25... Qb5+ {[%emt 0: 00:33] White resigned.} (25... Qb5+ 26. Kd2 Bxc3+ 27. bxc3 Nb3+ 28. Ke1 Nc5 29. Qe3 (29. Rd2 e3 30. Rd1 Nd3+) 29... Nd3+ 30. Kd2 Rxf4 {and black's pieces are swarming all over white.}) 0-1

Tragic Auto Accident

      In 1940 Al Horowitz, owner and publisher of the fairly new Chess Review took on Harold Morton, a strong New England player as his business partner. Morton (born in 1906) had a dismal performance at New York 1936, finishing at the bottom in the first modern United States championship following Frank J. Marshall's retirement. This was followed by an equally dismal performance in the 1938 championship. Despite those results Morton was a solid player who was capable of defeating some of the best players in the country.
      Horowitz and Morton frequently traveled together giving tandem simultaneous exhibitions where they would follow one another around the boards, alternating moves. On one trip they were involved in a car accident that took the life of Morton and left Horowitz with serious injuries. Hermann Helms gave a brief account of the accident in the American Chess Bulletin in the January-February 1940 edition.
      On February 17, 1940 while traveling through Iowa, Horowitz and Morton were involved in a serious car accident while crossing Iowa on the return journey after a tour of the south and far west. Morton, driving the car, was killed outright in a collision with a truck and Horowitz, suffering a concussion and other injuries, was taken to St. Anthony's Hospital in Carroll, Iowa. Horowitz remained in the hospital for some time and his brother, Irving, went to Iowa to be with him while he was hospitalized. Horowitz had not recovered sufficiently to play in the 1940 US Championship.

      According to the Des Moines Register, the accident happened on highway 30, about seven miles west of Carroll, Iowa, when a van, driven by Frank S. Robbins of Denver, Colorado, collided with the car in which Horowitz and Morton were traveling eastward.

Route 30 approximately 7 miles west of Carroll, Iowa as it appears today.

 

      Deputy Sheriff Arnold R. Witt of Carroll County said that Morton was thrown out of the car and was killed instantly. Horowitz was taken to St. Anthony's Hospital, where he was able to give his name. The pair were en route to Minneapolis, Minnesota, when the accident occurred and was the first traffic fatality of 1940 in Carroll County.  

The Amazing Donald MacMurray

    Donald MacMurray was born on November 14, 1914. His father was an alcoholic who drowned after falling off a pier. His mother was a cleaning lady who lived in the slums of Hell’s Kitchen in New York City. Despite the odds of such a background MacMurray possessed the highest IQ ever recorded up to the early 1930s, earned a BA degree from the University of Chicago in eight and a half months, and a law degree from Columbia University in one year. He was also a strong chess master.

    “Meckele” as he was generally known in New York chess circles was also an expert in languages and learned to speak Yiddish so he could frequent the Yiddish Theater. In 1935 to 1936 MacMurray completed his degrees and returned to New York and was married to his childhood girlfriend. 

    During the mid-1930s he played in several Manhattan chess club championships, always scoring well. Among his victims were Isaac Kashdan and Arnold Denker. Before leaving for Chicago to participate in the 1932 Western Chess Association tournament Denker and MacMurray played a short warm-up match that was drawn. Other well-known master who went down in defeat against MacMurray were Weaver Adams and I.A. Horowitz. 

    In the US Open Championship of 1937 he shared third place with George Treysman and then in 1938 he scored a remarkable 10.5 out of 11 in the Consolation Master’s section of the US Open after having narrowly missed qualifying for the finals. 

    In late summer in 1938, MacMurray was playing in the New York State Championship in Cazenovia when he began experiencing a worsening of nausea and stomach pains that were especially noticeable when he was laughing. At one point MacMurray was having dinner with Arnold Denker and the pain was so bad he had to leave the table and at Denker’s request. Another tournament participant, long time master Dr. Joseph Platz, examined MacMurray and discovered a cancer in his stomach that was the size of q grapefruit. Just three months later on December 2, 1938, MacMurray died at age 24. 

    In this game MacMurray easily defeats veteran master Harold Morton of Providence, Rhode Island. Morton was born on January 19, 1906 and won the championship of New England many times. He won the Massachusetts Championship in 1933, 1934, and 1935 and played in the 1936 US Championship. On February 17, 1940, he was killed in a car accident in Iowa when he hit a truck. His passenger, I.A. Horowitz, survived. The two were giving simultaneous exhibitions throughout the country. 

 

[Event "Chicago"] [Site ""] [Date "1937.09.04"] [Round ""] [White "Donald MacMurray"] [Black "Harold Morton"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C49"] [Annotator "Stockfish 18"] [PlyCount "35"] [EventDate "1937.??.??"] {C49: Four Knights Game} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bb5 Bb4 {The Rubinstein Variation 4...Nd4 is an attempt to unbalance the position, but it also fizzles out to boring equality.} 5. O-O O-O 6. Bxc6 bxc6 7. Nxe5 Re8 8. d4 Bxc3 9. bxc3 Nxe4 10. Re1 Nd6 {This looks rather awkward, but it is best and there is no way for whi.e to take advantage of it} (10... d5 {is more common.} 11. f3 Nxc3 12. Qd2 Nb5 13. Nxc6 Rxe1+ 14. Qxe1 Qd7 {looks drawish.}) 11. Qg4 Qf6 12. Ba3 {[%mdl 2048]} Rd8 {The idea is apparently to guard the d-Pawn so the B can be developed. It does not speak well for black’s position to have to waste time using his R to guard the P.} (12... Re6 13. c4 Ba6 {and black has full equality.}) 13. Re3 {This R-lift is a handy idea worth remembering.} Nf5 {Walking into a pin can’t be good, but black wants to free his game with ...d5.} 14. Rf3 d5 {This defends the c-Pawn and exposes white's Q to a discovered attack, but now white gets a strong attack Black's best chance was to sactifice a P in order to dislodge white's N.} (14... d6 15. Nxc6 Re8 16. d5 Bd7 {and black has finally gotten developed and his position is organically sound/}) 15. Qh5 {Excellent, Black is threatened with 16.g4 and is at a loss for a decent move.} g6 {This results in a fatal weakening of the K's position ans MacMurry forcfully demonstrates.} (15... Qe6 {removes the Q fron danger and after} 16. g4 Nd6 17. Re3 Re8 18. Rae1 Qf6 19. Nxc6 Rxe3 20. Rxe3 Be6 { White is clearly better, but black ha avoided immediate disaster.}) 16. Ng4 Qh8 {It’s hard to believe this loses immediately! Other moves would not have saved the game though.} (16... Qe6 17. Qg5 Re8 18. Nf6+ {wins}) (16... gxh5 17. Nxf6+ Kg7 18. Nxh5+ Kh8 19. Re1 {White is winning.}) ({This is black's best try.} 16... Kh8 17. Nxf6 gxh5 18. Re1 h4 19. Re5 {Material is equal, but black's position is lost. He will sacrifice a R for two pieces leaving him with great piece activity while black's position remains very passive.}) 17. Qg5 Be6 18. Rxf5 {[%mdl 512] Black resigned. Why?!} (18. Rxf5 Bxf5 19. Nh6+ Kg7 20. Be7 {Technically this is not as strong as the immediate 20.Nf5+, but it is the most practical. The threat is Bf6+} (20. Nxf5+ Kg8 21. Ne7+ Kg7 22. Qe5+ f6 (22... Kh6 23. Bc1+ g5 24. Qxg5#) 23. Qxc7 {and all that remains is for white to bring his R into play with Re12 and black is helpless.}) 20... Rd6 21. Nxf5+ Kg8 22. Bxd6 cxd6 23. Re1 {White is a piece up.}) 1-0

Who Was Albert Roddy, Jr.?

  

     The year was 1940. WWII had started in September of 1939, but the US didn't enter it until December of 1941. In England they had been enduring the German Blitzkreig which had started on September 7, 1940 and lasted until May 21, 1941

     On the US chess scene Adele Rivero won the women's championship, Samuel Reshevsky the men's and Reuben Fine the US Open. Al Horowitz was seriously injured and New England champion Harold Morton died in Iowa after a car wreck when Morton collided with a truck. The strong Boston amateur John F. Barry died at the age of 66. 

     In Russia Igor Bondarevsky and Andor Lilienthal tied for first in the USSR Championship. 

     The 59-year old Polish champion David Przepiorka was present at a forbidden meeting of the Warsaw Chess Circle when the Germans arrested everyone there. As a result, he was executed by the Nazis in part of what became known as the Palmiry massacre, a series of mass executions carried out near the village of Palmiry in the Kampinos Forest northwest of Warsaw. 

     Alexander Alekhine's whereabouts at the time was not known, but in September the New York Times reported that both Alekhine and Capablanca were in Buenos Aires and Alekhine was hoping they could play a match. 

     Capablanca had said that two other players were worthy of consideration: Paul Keres and Mikhail Botvinnik. Fred Reinfeld wrote that he suspected they were mentioned only because they were not available ...they were in Russia and the war was going on. Reinfeld also mentioned that he was baffled by the snootiness of their ignoring Samuel Reshevsky and Reuben Fine. 

     As mentioned, Reuben Fine won the US Open that was held in Dallas, Texas when he scored 8-0 in the finals ahead of Herman Steiner, Weaver Adams, Erich Marchand, W.N. Kendall, J.C. Thompson, Arpad Elo, Howard Ohman and Harold Burge. 

     In one of the preliminary qualifying sections Fine finished ahead of Thompson, Elo, Albert Roddy, Jr., Joseph Rauch, Edgar Hartsfield, R.S. Underwood and R.D. Allentharp In that section Fine and Thompson scored 6.5-1.5 and Elo scored 6-2.

     Albert Roddy, Jr., who was living in Tulsa, Oklahoma just missed qualifying, but in the process he created a stir with a sensational draw against Fine. 

     Almost nothing is known about Roddy, but I discovered an Albert Roddy (1900-1966) who is listed as registering for the WWI draft in the September 26, 1918 issue of the Ada (Oklahoma) Weekly News. 

     There was also an Albert H. Roddy (1919-1999) who lived in Tulsa for a while and registered for military service in 1942. He died at the age of 79 on February 6, 1999, in Dallas, Texas. This may have been Junior and the Army Second Lieutenant that I discovered who was captured by the Nazis while serving in Germany and was sent to Stalag Luft 3 near Sagan, Germany. He was freed in 1945. 

     I searched the first USCF rating list in 1950 and the list for 1951 and did not find a Roddy listed. Only three of Roddy's games seem to be known and they are from the 1940 US Open. Did he ever play any tournament chess again?! One wonders how good he really was. Here's one of his games from that 1940 US Open. 

[Event "US Open. Prelims, Dallas"] [Site ""] [Date "1940.08.20"] [Round "2"] [White "Arpad Elo"] [Black "Albert Roddy"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B58"] [Annotator "Stockfiah 15.1"] [PlyCount "82"] [EventDate "1940.??.??"] {Sicilian Dragon} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. Be2 g6 {In his 1953 autobiography, the Russian master and amateur astronomer Fyodor Dus-Chotimirsky claimed that he coined the name Dragon Variation in 1901, after the fancied resemblance between black's K-side P-structure and the constellation Draco.} 7. O-O Bg7 8. Nb3 O-O 9. f3 Be6 10. Nd5 Rc8 (10... b5 { was played in Euwe,M-Landau,S Netherlands 1939 which continued...} 11. a4 bxa4 12. Rxa4 Bxd5 13. exd5 Qb6+ 14. Kh1 Nb4 {with equal chances.}) 11. c4 {More solid would have been 11.c3} b5 (11... Ne5 {would have challenged white's last move. After} 12. Nd2 {This N wanted to go to d4, but now it's needed to defend the c-Pawn.} (12. Nd4 {works out in black's favor after} Nxc4 13. Nxe6 fxe6 14. Nf4 d5 {and now} 15. Nxe6 {would lose to} Qb6+) 12... h5 {This hinders any white advances on the k-side. here black can claim to have at least equalized.} ) 12. Nxf6+ Bxf6 13. cxb5 Qb6+ 14. Kh1 Nb4 15. Bd2 Nc2 16. Rb1 Ne3 17. Bxe3 Qxe3 {Here white must figure out how to avoid getting his Q-side Ps wrecked by ...Bxb3} 18. Nc1 {But this isn't the way to do it.} (18. Na5 Bxa2 19. Ra1 Be6 20. Nc6 {is completely equal.}) 18... Rc7 19. Re1 Qb6 {Certainly not bad, but he had an even stronger continuation.} (19... Qh6 {This strongly threatens ... Be5} 20. g3 {and black has two promising continuations: 20...Rfc8 and 20...d5}) 20. b3 Rfc8 {[%mdl 3072] Black has good piece activity for the P.} (20... d5 { was also quite good according the engines, but no human could see the long sequence that leads to the advantage. In fact, at the end it's not likely that black, a P up with all Ps on the same side, could win.} 21. exd5 Rd7 22. Bc4 Bxd5 23. Bxd5 e6 24. a4 Rxd5 {Black is actually better here. A sample line...} 25. Qc2 Rfd8 26. b4 Be7 27. Rf1 Rd2 28. Qc4 R2d4 29. Qc6 Qb8 30. Ne2 Rd2 31. Ng3 Rc8 32. Qe4 Ra2 33. Ra1 Rcc2 34. Rxa2 Rxa2 35. Qc6 Qd8 36. Ne4 Rxa4 37. b6 Ra6 38. Qb7 Rxb6 39. Qxa7 Rxb4) 21. Bd3 Qf2 22. Ne2 Qh4 {This prevents Nf4, but 22...Qe3 was a better way to do it.} 23. g3 Qh6 24. Rc1 {[%mdl 8192] This is a tactical blunder!} (24. Nf4 {does not work out too well against} Be5 25. Ne2 d5 26. exd5 Bxd5 {and white's position is unenviable.}) (24. Kg1 {This move would have allowed white to claim he had equalized because black no longer has any forcing continuation.} Bh3 (24... Be5 25. f4 {leads nowhere for black.}) 25. Nf4 Bc3 26. Re2 Bd4+ 27. Kh1 {White's K is quite safe and black can't make any use of the c-file.}) 24... Rxc1 25. Nxc1 Bc3 26. Rf1 Bh3 27. Rf2 {This not only gets out of the line of fire of the B on h3, but it will, white thinks, prevent ...Bb2} (27. f4 {was the best try he had, but after} Bb2 { From the human point of view this is better than winning the exchange at once.} (27... Bxf1 28. Bxf1 {and black has winning chances.}) 28. Ne2 Qh5 {and white has to surrender the exchange anyway.} 29. f5 (29. Rg1 Qf3+ {mate next move.}) (29. Rf2 Rc1) 29... Bxf1 30. Qxf1 Qg4 31. fxg6 hxg6 {Black is clearly better.}) 27... Bb2 {[%mdl 512] There is absolutely no way to meet this.} 28. Ne2 Qe3 29. Ng1 {This allows a nifty finish. Technically 29.Qg1 was no better, but it would have made black work for the point.} (29. Qg1 e5 30. Bc4 Rxc4 31. bxc4 Ba3 32. g4 Bc5 33. Nc1 Qxf2 34. Qxf2 Bxf2 35. Nd3 Bb6 36. a4 Bf1 37. Nb4 Bxc4 38. Nc6 {is Stockfish's line.}) 29... Qxf2 30. Nxh3 {Black still has his work cut out to score the point!} Qd4 31. Qe2 Ba3 32. Bc4 e6 33. Nf4 Kg7 34. Kg2 g5 35. Bxe6 Rc3 (35... fxe6 {Of course this is not playable.} 36. Nxe6+) (35... Rc1 {was a bit better.} 36. Nh5+ Kg6 37. Bg4 Qc3 {and white is in even more serious trouble}) 36. Nh5+ Kg6 37. Bf5+ Kxh5 {[%mdl 32]} 38. f4+ Kh6 39. fxg5+ Kg7 40. Qh5 {Threatening mate with Qh6+, but the fun is over!} Rc2+ 41. Kh3 { A most interesting situation has arisen! Black has only one move that secures the win!} Kf8 {Very nice. White resigned. A fine attacking game by Roddy.} ( 41... Qg1 42. Qh6+ Kg8 43. Bxh7+ {mates in 3}) (41... Qf2 42. Qxh7+ Kf8 43. Qh6+ Ke8 44. Qh8+ Ke7 45. Qf6+ {draws}) (41... Qf2 42. Qh6+ Kg8 43. Bxh7+ Kh8 44. Bg6+ {draws}) (41... Kf8 {The only move to avoid the draw.} 42. Qh6+ { and black can play either 42...Qg7 or 42...Ke8 and white will be helpless.}) 0-1

Rosenberg Spy Ring and a Chess Master

Morton Sobell, spy

     Morton Sobell (April 11, 1917 – December 26, 2018), yes, he was 101 years old, was an American engineer who is known for having been convicted of spying for the Soviet Union when it was an ally of the United States during late World War II. 
     Sobell was born in New York City to Jewish immigrant parents who arrived in the US in 1906 from a small village in what is today the Ukraine. He graduated from the City College of New York with a degree in engineering. 
     In 1939 he began working in Washington, D.C. for the Navy Bureau of Ordnance and in 1943 took a job with General Electric which had major defense contracts. According to an NKGB agent, Sobell, a top specialist in his field, was recruited as a spy in the summer of 1944. When approached Sobell readily agreed to spy for the Russians. 
     In June 1944, Max Elitcher, a prosecution witness in the Julius and Ethel Rosenberg trial in 1951 and a close friend of both Sobell and Rosenberg, claimed he was phoned by Julius Rosenberg who requested a meeting in which Rosenberg tried to recruit Elitcher. 
     Rosenberg said that many people were aiding the Soviet Union by providing classified information about military equipment and that Morton Sobell was one of them. 
     After David Greenglass, Ethel Rosenberg's brother, was arrested on charges of espionage, Sobell and his family fled to Mexico in June of 1950 where they lived under assumed names. On August 16, 1950, Sobell and his family were abducted by armed men, taken to the United States border and turned over to the FBI who arrested him for conspiring with Julius Rosenberg to commit espionage. 
     Sobell was tried and found guilty and sentenced to 30 years while both the Rosenbergs were executed. Sobell was initially sent to Alcatraz, but was transferred to Lewisburg Penitentiary when Alcatraz closed in 1963. Sobell was released in 1969 after serving 17 years and 9 months. 
     After his release he became an advocate of progressive causes and conducted public speaking tours regaling audiences with his account of being falsely prosecuted and convicted by the federal government. He also made trips to Vietnam during the war, to East Germany before the fall of the Soviet Union and to Cuba. In 1974, he published a memoir, On Doing Time, in which he maintained that he was innocent. 
     Sobell's purported innocence became a cause among progressive intellectuals who organized a Committee to Secure Justice for Morton Sobell. In 1978 the Corporation for Public Broadcasting produced a television special that maintained Sobell was innocent of the government charges. The Monthly Review, an independent Socialist magazine, maintained that the government had presented "absolutely no proof" of Sobell's guilt, but had tried him merely "to give the impression that an extensive spy ring had been in operation." 
     At the age of 91 Sobell, for the first time, told The New York Times that he had given military secrets to the Soviets during World War II. He claimed he had passed only material about defensive radar and artillery devices. The reporter said that military experts contended that one device Sobell mentioned in the interview was later used against US military aircraft during bothe the Korean and Vietnam wars. Sobell also said that his co-defendant Julius Rosenberg had been involved in spying, but his wife was not. A committed communist, in 2018 he told the Wall Street Journal, "I bet on the wrong horse." 

Phillips in 1904

     Sobell’s defense attorney was Harold M. Phillips (December 15,1874 - January 7, 1967, age 92), a lawyer and President of the United States Chess Federation from 1950-54. Phillips also served as President of the Manhattan Chess Club in the 1930s, President of the Marshall Chess Club, President of the Intercollegiate Chess League and was a New York State Champion and Manhattan Chess Club Champion (1903). He was the organizer and director of the great 1924 New York tournament. In 1930, he played for the US in the Olympiad at Hamburg (drawing one and losing one). He played in chess tournaments for over 70 years. In his earlier years, he was known as “Der Kleine Morphy.” 
     Phillips was born in Kalvaria, south western Lithuania and came to the United States at the age of 13. After receiving his first degree from the College of the City of New York in 1896, he went on to study law at Columbia University and started to practice in New York City in 1899. In 1907, Phillips became attorney for the New York Taxpayers' Association, and subsequently became legal adviser to other well known organizations. 

Phillips later in life

     Phillip's career as a chess-master started with his winning the New York Sun chess tournament in 1895. Thereafter he participated in various local, national and international tournaments. Phillips was co-author of the Book of the Warsaw Tournament (1935). For a time he served as chairman of Scripta Methematica, a journal devoted to mathematics and science, and was also a director of Yeshiva College. 
     In 1942, he won the following game, played in the Metropolitan League match. Phillips played for the Manhattan CC and his opponent for the Bronx-Empire City team. 

Play Online Chess

[Event "Metropolitan League match"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1942.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Harold M. Phillips (Manhattan CC)"]
[Black "Harry Gilgulin (Bronx-Empire City CC)"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteELO "?"]
[BlackELO "?"]

%Created by Caissa's Web PGN Editor
{French: Classical System} 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e5 Nfd7
6. Bxe7 Qxe7 7. f4 a6 8. Nf3 c5 9. Bd3 {The results with this move have not
been as good as with the more popular 9.Qd2 and 9.dxc5} 9... Nc6 10. dxc5
Nxc5 11. O-O Nxd3 12. cxd3 Bd7 13. d4 Na5 {This move turns out to be a waste
of time as the N won't find a home on c4. Better was ...O-O and ...Qb4} 14.
Qd3 g6 { Black is taking precautions against f4-f5, but ultimately this leads
to a weakening of his K-side. Saddled with a bad B and lack of play it's hard
to suggest an active plan for black and it's clear he is going to be on the
defensive for a long time.} 15. Rf2 Rc8 16. Rc2 O-O 17. Rac1 Qb4 18. b3 Rc6 {
White has two good choices, the move he played and the immediate 19.f5! After
19.f5! black has no good move. If 19..exf5?? 20.Nxd4. If 19...gxf5 20.g4!
fxg4 21.Ng5 wins. Black's best chance lies in meeting 19.f5! with 19...Rfc8
20.f6 Qf8 but he would still be facing a dangerous K-side attack after 21.h4,
etc.} 19. g4 Kh8 20. f5 exf5 {Opening up the position around his K cannot be
good strategy. Defending with ...Rfc8 and ...Qf8 was a better idea. Possible
was 20...gxf5?! which results in the opening of the g-file, but white will
have to work at the win.} 21. Nxd5 Qa3 22. Nf6 Rxc2 23. Rxc2 Bc8 24. Qe3 {With
all of his pieces in poor positions black has little hope of surviving. His
position is so bad that Komodo give white an evaluation of over 22 Ps after
24. ..f4 25.Qxf4 Kg7. The immediate 24..Kg7 leads to mate in 9 moves.} 24...
Kg7 {White mates in 9 with 25.Nh5+ gxh5 26.Qg5+ etc.} 25. h3 Rd8 26. Nh4 {The
best move was still 26.Nh5+ and if the K retreats then 27.e6 winning.} 26...
fxg4 27. hxg4 Nc6 28. Rf2 {This is really bad and rates two question marks.
He should have continued 28.d5! which should win fairly quickly. With his next
move black misses the chance to force with to tke a draw by perpetual check:
28...Qb4 was much better 29.d5 Rxd5 30.Nxg6 Rd1+ 31.Kh2 Qd4 32.Ne8+ Kg8
33.Nf6+ Kg7 34.Nh5+ Kg8 35.Nf6+ Kg7} 28... Qe7 29. Rh2 h5 30. gxh5 Rh8 31.
h6+ {A nice finish.} 31... Kf8 32. Rf2 {Faster would have been 32.h7 and
33.Qh6+} 32... Qd8 33. d5 Nb4 34. Qc5+ Qe7 35. Qxc8+ 1-0

First US Championship Tournament - 1936

In December 1935, Frank Marshll resigned as U.S. champion and urged the adoption of regularly scheduled tournaments to choose his successors. It wasn’t certain that a tournament was a good idea though.  How many players would be willing to compete for the $600 (abour $9700 in today’s purchasing power) first prize?  Most of the players had jobs of some sort: Kashdan was an insurance salesman as was Horowitz who was also editor of the magazine Chess Review.  There were also a host of other problems that would have to be answered by somebody: how to select the players…there was no rating system in effect and perhaps most important, how would it be financed?
       There existed at that time a lot of new players making a name for themselves plus several players were capable of winning a strong championship tournament: Isaac Kashdan, Samuel Reshevsky, Reuben Fine, Arthur Dake, Arnold Denker, I.A. Horowitz and Herman Steiner were the main contenders, but veterans Edward Lasker  (50 years old) and Abraham Kupchick (44 years old) were also still very strong.
       Kashdan was the favorite of Chess Review which opined, "none can boast of as imposing a record as Isaac Kashdan."  It made sense; Kashdan had played in 11 international tournaments, scoring four first-places and five seconds and he led the U.S. Olympic team four times.  In Olympic play Kashdan had an incredible score: 40 wins, 20 draws and 4 losses.  And, there was talk that he could be a challenger to Alekhine for the World Championship.  Kashdan had played Alekhine seven times, losing one game and drawing the rest…pretty impressive.
       Reuben Fine, on the other hand, had played in only one international tournament: Hastings, just three months before the championship tournament, but he had scored a brilliant first there. Fine had also won the very strong Marshall Chess Club Championship three times and the Western Open once.
      However, despite the reputations of Kashdan and Fine, Reshevsky was the favorite.  He had been the best-known player in the country since his highly publicized tours as a nine-year-old chess prodigy after his family brought him from Poland in 1920.
       Reshevsky had been in retirement while he graduated from college with a degree in accounting. After college and before starting his business career, Reshevsky had won the 1934 State Championship in Syracuse in 1934 ahead of both Kashdan and Fine.  Then in 1935 he finished first at Margate, England, ahead of Capablanca. Later in 1936 at the great international tournament in Nottingham, he had tied for 3rd-5th with Fine and Euwe behind Capablanca and Botvinnik.
       The organizers planned for a large number of entries, to be split into preliminary round robins from which there would be eight qualifiers for the 16-man finals. The eight qualifiers would meet eight seeded players - Reshevsky, Fine, Dake, Kashdan, Kupchik, Steiner, Horowitz and Alexander Kevitz ( the Manhattan Chess Club Champion.)  But, they did not get enough entries.  They ended up dropping the entry fee from $10 to $5.  Remember that in 1936 dollars $10 was the equivalent of $160 dollars today and few people had that kind of money.
       Dropping the EF proved successful and 48 players entered.  Because most of the best players were from New York, that’s where the tournament was held.  Eleven of the finalists were from New York as were most of the players. The Illinois State Champion Samuel Factor, Harold Morton from Boston and the New England Champion, Weaver W. Adams also managed to qualify.
      Two New York players, George N. Treysman and Albert C. Simonson, qualified.  What was interesting about Treysman (at the ripe old age of 55) was that he had never played in a tournament before! Treysman was a professional coffeehouse player, earning dimes at speed, offhand and odds games wherever he could find someone willing to play.  Simonson was the youngest player in the tournament; he played a lot at the Manhattan Chess Club where he was recognized as one of the best bridge and backgammon players in New York City.
       Then there was Arthur Dake.  At first it appeared that Dake was going to finish clear first. Dake, a Portland, Oregon master, had earned an international reputation when he achieved the best score (13 wins, 5 draws, no losses) at the Olympiad team tournament the previous year in Warsaw.   Dake had also defeated Herman Steiner in a match for the Pacific Coast Championship a few months before. By Round 9 Dake had scored five wins and four draws, with no losses, and seemed to be headed for first place.
      As for Reshevsky, he started with a win and a draw in the first two rounds but then he blundered badly against Sidney Bernstein and lost in round 3 and was completely outplayed by Horowitz in Round 4. After this disastrous start Reshevsky went on a rampage and won nine and drew only one in the next ten games.  In the meantime, Fine had played nine draws and Dake finally collapsed, scoring only tewo points in the last six games. Dake’s collapse started with a loss to Reshevksy in a long ending. Almost as remarkable as Reshevsky’ surge was that of Simonson. He defeated Morton, Fine, Bernstein, Horowitz, Denker and Milton Hanauer all in a row. Going into the final round the standing were: Reshevsky and Simonson 11, Treysman 10.5 and Fine 9.5. 
       In the final round Fine and Reshevsky, both having Black, played cautiously.  Reshevsky out-maneuvered Kupchik and  while Fine easily outplayed was Treysman's risky opening; 

1. Reshevsky

2. Simonson

3-4. Fine

3-4. Treysman

5. Kashdan

6-7. Dake

6-7. Kupchik

8-9 A. Kevitz

8-9. Horowitz

10. Factor 

11-12. Denker

11-12. Steiner

13. Bernstein

14. Hanauer

15-16. Adams

15-16. Morton

The 1941 Reshevsky – Horowitz Match

 

    In 1941, US Champion Samuel Reshevsky defeated I.A. Horowitz in a match for the US Championship by a score of +3 -0 =13. 

    In February 1940, Horowitz had been on an exhibition tour along with a close friend, a Master named Harold Morton, when one night they were traveling by car when they were involved in an accident in which Morton was killed and Horowitz seriously injured. It took a few months, but he fully recovered. 

    In 1940, the next US Championship was two years in the future, so Horowitz decided to challenge Reshevsky to a mtch for the title, Reshevsky was the favorite, but Horowitz had beaten him in the 1936 Championship in what was one of the few games Reshevsky had lost to an American in five years. Also, a healthy prize fund sweetened the pot AND there was a rumor going around that a Reshevsky-Alekhine match might be possible, so Horowitz would be a good warm up. 

    The Reshevsky-Horowitz match was to be a grueling 16 games played in seven venues over the course of three weeks. The schedule was so tight that Reshevsky said it became a matter of endurance rather than chess. This game, the 6th, played on May 13th, 1941 in Philadelphia, was probably the most exciting of the match. 

 

[Event "uS Champ Match, Philadelphia"] [Site "Philadelphia, PA USA"] [Date "1941.05.13"] [Round "6"] [White "I. A. Horowitz"] [Black "Samuel Reshevsky"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C99"] [Annotator "Stockfish/Reuben Fine"] [PlyCount "81"] [EventDate "1941.??.??"] {C99: Ruy Lopez: Chigorin Defense} 1. e4 {Except for the 14th game, Horowitz played this every time and succeeded in getting a good game out of the opening. } e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 {Black has two main systems here: this and the Open Defense (5...Nxe4).} 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3 Na5 9. Bc2 c5 10. d4 Qc7 11. h3 O-O 12. Nbd2 cxd4 {So far the players have been following what was considered the main line, but now instead of the then popular 12...Nf6, Reshevdsky plays what ha become the main line today.} 13. cxd4 Nc6 14. d5 Nb4 15. Bb1 a5 16. a3 Na6 17. b3 Nc5 18. Nf1 Bd7 19. Ra2 { This rather odd looking move has a point - it gets the R into play.} Rac8 { Threatening 20...Ncxe4} 20. Ng3 (20. Kh1 {A pass to show the thrat.} Ncxe4 21. Bxe4 Nxe4 22. Rxe4 Qxc1 {winning a piece.}) 20... Rfd8 {Just as a reminder of the tremendous amount of theory there is on the Ruy Lopez, this has all been played before! Reuben Fine was of the opinion that this move is proof of the inferiority of black's game and commented that the R serves no useful purpose on d8 and black is just marking time because he is unable to undertake anything constructive. Fine is correct concerning 20...Rfd8, but in a game he may not have been familiar with (thankfully we have huge databases today) Kashdan had found the more active 20...Qa7 in a game played in New York in 1930.} (20... Qb7 {is an alternative.} 21. Kh2 Ne8 22. Ng1 Bh4 23. Nf5 Bxf5 24. exf5 Nc7 {with equal chances. Steiner,Lajos-Kashdan,Isaac New York 1930}) 21. Bg5 h6 22. Be3 Qb7 23. Rc2 {The point of his 19th move shows up.} Qb8 {He cannot acceot the offered e-Pawn.} (23... Nfxe4 24. Nxe4 Nxe4 25. Rxc8 { Unmasking the B.} Rxc8 26. Bxe4 {White has won a piece.}) 24. Rc1 Bf8 25. Re2 a4 {This and his next move lead to the loss of a P. There is no reason for this sacrifice, so Reshevsky probably played it because he did not want to be reduced to complete passivity. The sound option was 25...Rc7 and doubling Rs on the c-file which would have left white with only a minimal advantage.} 26. b4 Nb3 {Fine gave this moive a ? and suggested 26...Na6 which he thought was good for a draw. Actually, 26...Na6 is slightly inferior to the text which, at least, gives black some play.} 27. Rxc8 Rxc8 28. Ba2 Rc3 29. Rb2 {The N is stuck here and a P will soon be lost.} Qa8 {The point of this wily move will be seen if white plays the immediate 30.Bxb3} 30. Qb1 {Fine gave this move a ? and claimed it would have been better to have won the P at once, but there is little difference in the move played and winning the P immediately.} (30. Bxb3 axb3 31. Rxb3 Qa4 {White is on the defensive and has to find the right moves or see his slight edhe disappear.} 32. Nd2 h5 33. Qb1 Rxb3 34. Qxb3 Qxb3 35. Nxb3 h4 36. Ne2 Nxe4) 30... Qc8 31. Bxb3 axb3 32. Rxb3 Rc2 {Fine notes that now white must constantly be on guard against a possible sacrifice on h3. It's not clear what he had in mind because I tried out several "neutral" moves and the sacrifice never even came close to working. In fact, the Q has to stay on the c-file else the R on c2 is hanging. I think Fine (and othe contemporary annotators) completely misjudged the position based on the fact that it was the invincible Reshevsky who was playing black because engines give Horowitz at least a one P advantage here!} 33. Qd1 g6 34. Qd3 Nh7 35. Bd2 {Horowitz wants to get rid of that annoying R by playing Rc3.} Rc4 36. Rc3 f5 {Black's only chance lies in a counterattack.} 37. Nh4 {This small slip allows black to equalize. Ir was necessary to simplify.} (37. exf5 Rxc3 38. Bxc3 Qc4 39. Qxc4 bxc4 40. fxg6 {with the advantage.}) 37... f4 (37... fxe4 38. Rxc4 bxc4 39. Qxe4 {+is winning for white.}) 38. Ne2 Be7 39. Nf3 Nf6 {Storm clouds appear to be gathering towards white's K.} 40. Rxc4 bxc4 41. Qc2 {Draw Agreed. Reuben Fine wondered about this. He stated that first he was amazed to find "such a complicated position called a draw." He then went on to explain that his subsequent analysis confirmed his first impression that black had enough for his P and white cannot win. He was absolutely correct as engine evaluation is 0.00!} (41. Qc3 Nxe4 42. Qc1 Qa6 43. Be1 Bf5 44. Nd2 Nxd2 45. Bxd2 Qa4 46. Nc3 Qb3 47. Kh2 h5 48. Be1 Bd3 49. b5 Bd8 50. a4 Kf7 51. Qa1 Ba5 52. Ne2 Bxe1 53. Qxe1 Bxe2 54. Qxe2 Qxa4 55. b6 Qb5 56. Qc2 Qxb6 57. Qxc4 Qc5 58. Qa2 Qc7 59. f3 g5 60. Qa8 g4 61. hxg4 hxg4 62. fxg4 Qd7 {This drawn position was reached by Stockfish after about 15 minutes of analysis.}) 1/2-1/2

Reshevsky's Undefeated Streak in US Championships

 

Mr & Mrs Reshevsky in 1944

    After obtaining his college degree Reshevsky devoted himself to tournament play and between 1936 and 1942, he had a streak of 75 games without a loss in US Championship competition, scoring 43 wins and 32 draws.  But, as you will see, he had some incredible luck along the way. 
     Reshevsky won the first US Championship in 1936 after Frank Marshall retired and put his title up for grabs in a tournament rather than match play. In winning that event ahead of the surprising second place finisher, coffeehouse player Albert Simonson, where he had a disastrous start in the early rounds when he lost to I.A. Horowitz and Sidney Bernstein, Reshevsky recovered and in his final games scored 9 wins and one draw. He finished with a +10 -2 =3 score. 
      At the next championship in 1938 he was in a horse race with Reuben Fine. Fine's score was uneven; he won more games than anyone (11 wins), but also lost two games. He had surprising losses to Anthony Santasiere and Milton Hanauer. The loss to Hanauer was especially painful because Hanauer had a horrible position at move 20 but hung on and Fine misplayed the ending. One move by Fine would have forced the win of two Ps, but he miscalculated and handed over the initiative and ended up losing in 68 moves. In the end Reshevsky scored +10 -0 =6 to beat out Fine by a scant half point.
 

Kashdan & Fine playing Blitz in 1944

      The next event, in 1940, was another race between Reshevsky and Fine when their last round game decided the title. This year though it was a runaway for the duo. In the early rounds fourth place finisher Albert Pinkus, who was returning to chess for the first time in nearly decade, was playing well and Isaac Kashdan had developed an early lead and after 12 rounds he was ahead of Reshevsky. Fine was some distance back due to a loss to Abraham Kupchik. But, Reshevsky's luck held when in his game against Kashdan, the latter blundered badly and turned his draw into a loss. Kashdan was so unnerved that he lost the next round to Weaver Adams. In the meantime Fine had scored 10 wins and 5 draws and was a half point behind Reshevsky. When they met in the last round at one point Reshevsky was on the brink of defeat. But, Fine blundered badly on his 27th move and Reshevsky was able to grimly hang on for a draw. His luck had held again and he finished first with +10 -0 =6, half point ahead of Fine.

Mrs. Kashdan, Isaac, Marshall, Horowitz and Mrs. Marshall

     Then in 1941 Al Horowitz, who was lucky to be alive because in February 1940 he had been on a national exhibition tour with his close friend and co-editor, Harold Morton, when in Iowa they were in a car accident and Morton was killed instantly while Horowitz was severely injured. Horowitz quickly bounced back and was confident he could beat Reshevsky in a match. Horowitz didn't want to wait for the next championship so he challenged Reshevsky to a match. Reshevsky accepted and the match was scheduled for seven different playing sites for 16 games in three weeks. Reshevsky later said the match became a matter of endurance more than ability. Reshevsky won +3 -0 =13.
     Next was the 1942 tournament. This one was a race between Reshevsky and Kashdan both of whom walked all over the rest of the field. They both scored 8.5 out of their first nine games! This was the event where tournament director L. Walter Stephens incorrectly forfeited Denker instead of Reshevsky who had overstepped the time limit and then refused to change his decision. 

Stephens

     The result was Reshevsky at +10 -0 =5 ended up tied with Kashdan (+11 -1 =3) for first place. The funny thing is that Reshevsky had yet another last round miracle when Horowitz managed to let a good game slip into a draw and leave a very disappointed Kashdan who had been watching the game and gradually saw his clear first slip into a tie with Reshevsky. As a result Reshevsky and Kashdan had to engage in a playoff match of 16 games. 
     The match was held at US Army camps for the benefit of the troops. At least this match was not nearly as hectic as the match with Horowitz had been and the games were hard fought. By this time Reshevsky had not lost in 74 straight US title games and he added to his streak in the first game with difficult win.
     Then in the second game Reshevsky's luck ran out. In a service club in Camp Upton, Yaphank, New York with a theatrical show going on near by and a noisy dance being held in an adjacent hall, Reshevsky got into his usual time trouble and had less than five minutes to make 20 moves and then at the end only 30 seconds for six moves.   His position deteriorated and he resigned after making the time control. When it was all over Reshevsky won the match handily 7.5 – 3.5, but his long undefeated streak had ended.

Al Horowitz

     There was no such thing as a rating list back in old days, but thanks to Chessmetrics the strongest tournaments and matches of all time have been rated. In those days people just played and let others figure out how strong they were.
     In 1943 the top players in the world were Samuel Reshevsky, Alexander Alekhine, Mikhail Botvinnik, Max Euwe, Paul Keres, Vassily Smyslov, Gideon Stahlberg and Miguel Najdorf. The two players that rounded out the top 10 seem a little surprising: Paul Schmidt and Al Horowitz. 
     Paul Schmidt (1916 – 1984) was originally from Estonia, emigrated to Germany in the autumn of 1939. In 1951, he earned a PhD in chemistry from Heidelberg University, moved first to Canada and then to the United States, settling in Philadelphia, where he took a job as a professor. Later, he and his wife Eva moved to Allentown, Pennsylvania, where he made contributions to electrochemistry and anodic oxidation of silicon, was expert in neutron activation analysis, and published many papers, until his retirement in 1982. He continued playing occasional games of chess, regularly visiting Reuben Fine in New York. 
     Israel Albert Horowitz (November 15, 1907 – January 18, 1973) is better known but mostly as an author and the man behind Chess Review magazine. Little is known of his childhood, but he used to tell how rabbis frequently visited his home and would sit around debating the Talmud and nobody seems to know exactly when or how he learned to play chess. 

     If you look in Wikipedia you won’t find much information. It tells us Horowitz was the chess columnist for The New York Times, writing three columns a week for ten years. He was the owner and editor of Chess Review magazine from 1933 until it was bought out and taken over by the United States Chess Federation in 1969 and merged into Chess Life. 
     Chess Review was founded in 1933 as a partnership between Horowitz and Isaac Kashdan. Kashdan dropped out after just a few issues and Horowitz became sole owner. Before that, Horowitz had been a securities trader on Wall Street. He had been partners with chess masters Maurice Shapiro, Mickey Pauley, Albert Pinkus and Maurice Wertheim, but when the depression years struck and he couldn’t make a living he quit Wall Street and began hustling chess. According to Arnold Denker, Horowitz returned to chess on the theory that he could always win a quarter and that was enough to buy a meal. 

Today apples cost 10 times as much

     During the depression for those lucky enough to be working, the average wage was about $100 a month and a quarter was worth almost $5.00 these days.  I remember my dad, who was one of the lucky few to remain employed on the railroad during the Great Depression, telling me that he and my mother bought a house from the bank for $600.  The banker told them he had repossessed the house three times and didn't want to see it again.
     It was in 1933 that he got the idea for a chess magazine filed with interesting articles and photographs and Chess Review was born. To keep the magazine afloat Horowitz wrote a lot of books, mostly aimed at beginners, and toured the country, sometimes for months at a time, giving exhibitions and free simultaneous exhibitions in return for subscribers.  It was on one such tour in 1940 that he and Harold Morton were involved in a car accident in which Morton was killed and Horowitz seriously injured. 
     Denker described how Horowitz “burned the candle at both ends.” In a typical day he would put in a full day at Chess Review then pop in at the Marshall Chess Club around 7pm. At about 11pm he would be at the Manhattan Chess Club playing skittles. When the chess was over he would head to his favorite delicatessen for a hot dog and beans or a hot pastrami sandwich “to chase the one he ate for lunch” as Denker put it. After that, he go to bead around 4am. 

     A review of more than 7,000 clinical studies examining the connection between diet and health came to a stark conclusion that no one should eat processed meats. This includes bacon and hot dogs, cold cuts like pastrami, salami, ham and corned beef which are high in high-calorie saturated fat and bad for your heart. Add to this life style the fact that he smoked three packs of cigarettes a day and one wonder how he lived to be 65 years old. 
     He retired in 1969 after he sold Chess Review to the USCF and with the exception of correspondence chess, all vestiges of Chess Review disappeared.  His heath deteriorated rapidly after that and he left this world in 1973. 
     It’s said Reshevsky never studied chess or prepared for games, but I always found that hard to believe. His wife, Norma, said he did not have a chess set except for a small magnetic set that he might occasionally take out to look at a game and that he had no chess books in his library except the ones he wrote, or at least had his name on them. It’s believed his books were actually ghosted by Fred Reinfeld. 
     I know he did study openings early in his career and he prepared for his 1942 match with Kashdan. Also, in his book The Bobby Fischer I Knew, Denker gave a game between Horowitz and Reshevsky from a training match to prepare Reshevsky for the upcoming 1948 world championship tournament and as far as I know, it’s only known game from that match. But, clearly Reshevsky did, at least to some extent, occasionally prepare for matches and tournaments.  It seems one would need more than a pocket set to do that.

Play Online Chess

[Event "Training Game"]
[Site "New York City"]
[Date "1948.2.8"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Samuel Reshevsky"]
[Black "I.A. Horowitz"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteELO "?"]
[BlackELO "?"]

%Created by Caissa's Web PGN Editor
{Reti Opening} 1. Nf3 {Reshevsky used to play this on occasion, but he almost
always followed it up with a quick d4. One gets the impression here that
Reshevsky was experimenting in the opening.} 1... d5 2. c4 d4 {The classic
Reti in which white plans to bring the P on d5 under attack from the flank, or
entice it to advance to d4 and undermine it later. White will combine this
with a K-side fianchetto to create pressure on the light squares in the
center. However, in this game Reshevsky takes a slightly different approach in
an immediate Q-side expansion.} 3. e3 {Rarely played. Black can play 3...dxe3
but after 4.fxe3 and 5.d4 white has more space in the center but at the cost
of slightly weakening his K-side.} 3... c5 4. exd4 cxd4 5. b4 {Reshevsky aims
for Q-side play immediately which is a good plan if black chooses a K-Indian
setup. But, whta if he doesn't? Is white's setup was effective?} 5... g6
{Black often plays 5...f6 here which white meets by continuing his Q-side
expansion with 6. c5. There is not a lot of experience with this line.} 6. d3
Bg7 7. g3 a5 8. b5 Nd7 9. Ba3 {A most unusual place for the B! From here it
hinders the advance of black's e-Pawn which never does move.} 9... b6 10. Bg2
Bb7 11. Nbd2 {Reshevsky's strategy has paid off because if black plays
11...Ngf6 the B is blocked from defending the d-Pawn and after 12.O-O white's
B on g2 is defended and he threatens Nxd4.} 11... Nh6 {Black has to play this
rather awkward move so he can castle.} 12. O-O O-O 13. Ng5 {Here Reshevsky
seems to head down the wrong path as establishing a N on e4 does not yield him
anything. Stepping up the pressure on the d-Pawn with 13.Nb3 seems like a
better idea. Also, the disappearance of his light squared B is going to be
felt.} 13... Bxg2 14. Kxg2 Rc8 15. Re1 Nf5 16. Nge4 {Denker suggested the
interesting 16.g4 and thought white may be better. Actually, after 17.Kh3 Ne5
the Ns get traded off and the chances are about equal.} 16... h5 {Horowitz is
preparing to play an eventual ...h4 in an attempt to weaken white's K-side.}
17. Rc1 Re8 18. Qb3 Qc7 {This doesn't seem to be an especially good
idea...placing the Q opposite white' R. He probably should have played
18...Ne5.} 19. c5 bxc5 20. Nxc5 Nxc5 {It's hard to see what's wrong with
Reshevsky's next move. He enjoys a slight advantage here owing to his play on
the Q-side, but his next move allows Horowitz to turn the tables.} 21. Bxc5 {A
surprising oversight. Reshevsky made a few of these little tactcal oversight
in his career which is surprising because in spite of the perception many had
of him, he was not unskilled in tactics. He should have taken with the R.
After 21.Rxc5 Qb7 22.Kg1 he would have been better.} 21... Bh6 {Attacking the
undefended and pinned N suddenly puts white on the defensive.} 22. Re2 {Yet
another mistake. It leaves the N pinned and the R on c1 undefended. Better
would have been 22.f4 but after 22...Ne3 black is suddenly much better.}
22... Qb7+ {Launching a winning attack seemingly out of nowhere.} 23. Kg1 h4
{Now if 24.Ba3 Bxd2 25.Rxd2 h3 25.f4 e5 and black has a winning attack.} 24.
g4 h3 25. f4 Bxf4 26. gxf5 Be3+ {and mates next move. Reshevsky's sudden and
total collapse must have come as a real shock.} 0-1

Ventnor City 1940

    In 1940, in the United States the military draft went into effect. The first Social Security checks were mailed on January 30th. The Pennsylvania Turnpike, the first multi-lane in the country opened. The first McDonald's hamburger stand opened in Pasadena, California. 

CBS demonstrated color television in New York City and WNBT, the first regularly operating television station, debuts in the city with an testimated 10,000 viewers. Superman, the radio show debuted as did he first Bugs Bunny cartoon. In the world of science freeze drying was adapted for food preservation. Plasma was discovered to be a substitute for whole blood in transfusions. 

    On February 17, 1940, New England champion Harold Morton died in a car accident in Iowa and his passenger, I.A. Hprpwirz, was seriously injured. On April 9, 1940, the strong amateur player John F. Barry (1873-1940) died in West Roxbury, Massachusetts at the age of 66. 

    Adele Rivero won the US women's championship. Arnold Denker won the Manhattan Chess Club championship for the second year in a row. Samuel Reshevsky won his third US Championship. Reuben Fine took won the US Open in Dallas. 

    In the resort town of Ventnor City, New Jersey the second Ventnor tournament was held in early July. The players were especially pleased because the bonus money for non-prize- winners had been increased. 

    Shortly before the tournament was slated to start, it suffered two minor setbacks when Jacob Levin and Fred Reinfeld, who had originally accepted invitations, became unavailable at the last moment for business reasons. Fortunately two other players, the strong Jeremiah Donovan and the not so strong L. Walter Stephens, were available. Jeremiah Donovan’s performance was a pleasant surprise as he reinforced the good impression he had previously made in the Marshall CC Championship. 

    An innovation of the tournament was the exclusive use, for the first time in tournament history, of all-electric clocks which were designed and made by one of the tournament officials, Gerald Phillips. The clocks worked very well, but they never caught on.

 

    The finish was exciting because both Sidney Bernstein and Milton Hanauer had to win their last round games in order to to tie for first. 

 

[Event "Ventnor City"] [Site "?"] [Date "1940.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Anthony Santasiere"] [Black "Milton Hanauer"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "A29"] [Annotator "Stockfish 16"] [PlyCount "72"] [EventDate "1940.??.??"] {A29: English Opening: Four Knights Variation} 1. c4 {Although Santasiere was critical of players who played, dull, boring chess, he, himself, was guilty of playing a plodding style. In a dispute they had, Larry Evans asked where werre the games that qualified Santasiere as the spokesman fore Ropmaticisim?} e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. d3 d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. g3 Be7 7. Bg2 Be6 8. O-O O-O 9. a3 f6 {The openig is similar to a Dragon Sicilian Reversed.} 10. Qc2 (10. e4 Nb6 11. Be3 Nd4 12. Bxd4 exd4 13. Ne2 c5 14. Nf4 {with a slight advantage for white. Agrest,E (2605)-Chuchelov,V (2608) Mainz 2003}) 10... Qd7 11. Ne4 { White wants ti invade on c5.} b6 {A bold decision...it opens up the diagonal and weakens the c-Pawn, but at the same time black himself figths for play on the c-file.} 12. b4 {Hanauer did not like this move because it neglects development and it's not so important that it cannot be delayed. He favored 12. Bd23 followed by Rc1. Giving the move a ? was a bit harsh though.} (12. e3 { ios the modern GM's move.} a5 13. b3 Rad8 14. Bb2 Na7 15. d4 {as in Filippov,A (2598)-Grishchenko,S (2464) Dagomys RUS 2010 where wgite's strong initiative lead to a win.}) 12... a5 (12... Nd4 {was a better way to take advantage of white's last move.} 13. Nxd4 exd4 14. Bb2 f5 15. Nd2 c5 {with an aggressive position.}) 13. b5 Nd4 14. Nxd4 exd4 15. a4 (15. Bb2 {keeps the balance.} Qxb5 16. Bxd4 c5 17. Nc3 Qd7 18. Nxd5 Bxd5 19. Bxd5+ Qxd5 20. Be3) 15... Rac8 { [%mdl 32] Putting into action the plan mentioned in the note to move 11.} 16. Nd2 c6 17. bxc6 Rxc6 18. Qb2 {Moving the Q away from the R makes sense, but after this white lands in serious difficulties.} (18. Nc4 Rfc8 19. Bd2 { Black stands well, but there is no clear way for him to make progress.}) 18... Nc3 {Not bad, but both players have overlooked the tactical shot 16...Bb4!} ( 18... Bb4 {There is no way to meet ...Bc3} 19. Nb1 (19. Ra2 Nc3 20. Ra1 (20. Bxc6 Nxe2+ 21. Kh1 Qxc6+ 22. f3 Bh3 23. Re1 Bxd2 {mates in 5} 24. Rf1 Bxf1 25. Qb3+ Kh8 26. Qd5 Qxd5 27. h3 Qxf3+ 28. Kh2 Qg2#) 20... Nxe2+) (19. Nf3 Bc3 20. Qb1 Bxa1 21. Qxa1 Nc3 {with a decisive advantage.}) 19... Rfc8 20. Ra2 Rc5 21. Bd2 Bc3 22. Nxc3 dxc3 23. Bxc3 Nxc3 {and wins}) 19. Re1 (19. Bxc6 Nxe2+ 20. Kh1 Qxc6+ 21. f3 Nc3 {Materially black only has a B+P agaonst a R, but his active play assures him of an advantage. Shootouts from this posion resulted in white scoring +0 -3 =2}) 19... Bb4 {This is less effective than it would have been last move.} 20. e3 {[%mdl 8192] this allows black to gain a decisive advantage. } (20. Bxc6 {Oddly enough, after black's last move this is now white's correct reply because after} Qxc6 21. Nf3 Bh3 22. e4 dxe3 23. Rxe3 Nd5 24. Re4 { Black should probably take the draw by repeating moves.}) 20... dxe3 21. fxe3 ( 21. Rxe3 Rd6 22. Qc2 Rc8 23. Nc4 Nxa4 {is winning for black.}) 21... Rd6 { Black is not interested in winning a mere P with 21...Nxa4} 22. d4 Rc8 23. Rf1 Ne2+ {Black is clearly winning.} 24. Kf2 Bc3 25. Qb1 Nxc1 (25... Bxa1 {is also good.} 26. Qxa1 Nc3) 26. Rxc1 Bxd2 27. Rxc8+ Qxc8 {Being a piece up the win is only a matter of technique for black.} 28. Qd3 Bb4 29. d5 Bf5 30. e4 Qc5+ 31. Qe3 Qc2+ 32. Qe2 Bc5+ 33. Kf1 Qc3 34. Rd1 Bd7 35. Rd3 Qa1+ 36. Rd1 Qxa4 { White resigned.} 0-1