The Great Depression affected France in 1931, a bit later than other countries so when the following game was played in the 1930 Paris City Championship, which won by Josef Cukierman ahead of Tartakower, things were still fairly normal.
The year before Cukierman had only tied for 5-6th in Paris (Tartakower won) and the following year he finished first again. In 1933, he took 6th (Alekhine won) and in 1939, he tied for 5-6th in Paris (Rossolimo won).
Who was the almost unknown Josef Cukierman? GM Greg Serper commented that he had come across a number of beautiful combinations played Cukierman, but at the same time found some really bad games and as a result he was somewhat puzzled.
Josef Cukierman was born March 28, 1899 in the small village of Grodek which is in Eastern Poland near the Belarus border. Not much is known of him, but he did the Second Moscow City Championship in 1920/21 and in the early 1920s, he lived in Białystok, Poland which is a large city near where and he won the club championship in 1926.
Cukierman was strong enough to draw Capablanca and he had wins over Tartakower and Vera Menchik to his credit.
The May 30, 1935 edition of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle had an article that stated Poland was preparing for the Olympiad and that Poland was leaving “no stone unturned to have a winning team.” The article stated that Tartakower had recently left Paris to return to Poland where he was supervising the training of candidates. There was a “test tournament” at Lodz to which Cukierman, another resident of Paris had been invited. What was interesting about the article was that Cukierman was referred to as “Dr. Cukierman.”
Poland did manage to field a strong team for the 1935 Olympiad in Warsaw, but Cukierman wasn't on it. The team consisted of Tartakower, Frydman, Najdorf, Friedman and Makarczyk.
According to Alekhine, Cukierman committed suicide in 1941 by jumping from a balcony “for no apparent reason, since he enjoyed excellent health and fortune.” The Polish team finished in 3rd place behind the United States (Fine, Marshall, Kupchik, Dake and Horowitz) and Sweden.
[Event "Paris City Championship"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1930.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Josef Cukierman"]
[Black "Savielly Tartakower"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteELO "?"]
[BlackELO "?"]
%Created by Caissa's Web PGN Editor
{Queen's Indian Defense} 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 b6 {The Q-Indian was in its infancy
when this game was played. Black attempts to gain control over the central
light squares e4 and d5.} 3. c4 Bb7 4. g3 {Even today this is the most popular
variation because it contests the long diagonal.} 4... c5 5. d5 e6 6. Nc3
exd5 7. cxd5 b5 {A typical Tartakower experiment. A couple of annotators
sharply criticized this move and one even called it one of Tatakower's worst
moves ever. After this white gets a very strong attack. Better was 7...d6 but
black's position is already fairly passive.} 8. Bg5 {White avoids trading his
d-Pawn for the b-Pawn with 8.Nxb5 Nxd5. Black's next move drives white's N to
e4 so probably isn't the best. He should probably have played 8...a6. Note
that after 8...a6 8.Ne4 is ineffective: 8...Qa5+ 10.Bd2 Qb6.} 8... b4 9. Ne4
{ Unlike in the previous note black does not have ...Qa5+ available. As a
result he is already on the verge of being busted. Playing 9...Be7 is no help
as after 10.Bxf6 black's position is shattered because he has to capture with
the P. If 10...Bxf6 11.Nxd6+ and 12.Nxb2.} 9... d6 10. Bxf6 gxf6 11. Qa4+
{Black has no good reply to this, not even 11...Nd7 12.Bh3 can be considered
better.} 11... Ke7 12. Nh4 Bc8 13. Bg2 Qb6 14. Rc1 Na6 15. Qb3 Bh6 16. Qf3 f5
{While white's position is vastly superior there is no forced win after
16...Bg7. After 16... f5 white has a tactical opportunity that results in a
swift conclusion.} 17. Rc4 {Now if 17...Bg7 18.Nxf5+ black will find his K is
too exposed and his pieces are unable to come to it's aid.} 17... fxe4 18.
Rxe4+ Kf8 19. Qf6 Bg7 {Mate in 9 moves!} 20. Qe7+ Kg8 21. Qe8+ Bf8 22. Re7
Be6 23. dxe6 Rxe8 24. exf7+ Kg7 25. fxe8=Q+ {It's mate in three.} 1-0
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