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| Reshevsky at Margate in 1935 |
In the U.S., President Roosevelt opened the second phase of his New Deal calling for Social Security, better housing, equitable taxation, and farm assistance.
Down Louisiana way, Huey Long (the Kingfish) was assassinated. The Kingfish (1893–1935) was a farm boy who grew up to be an extremely successful traveling salesman before studying law at Tulane University. He was admitted to the bar in 1915 and practiced in Winnfield and Shreveport, Louisiana.
Long was elected to the Louisiana railroad commission in 1918, was reelected in 1924, served as its chairman and attorney for the state in public utility litigation.
In 1924 he was narrowly defeated for governor, but was swept into office four years later. Once in office, the state legislature obstructed his programs for economic and social reforms. However, through extensive use of patronage he severely lessened the influence of the rich folks that controlled the Louisiana legislature and managed to take over control of the state for himself.
Long built badly needed roads and bridges, expanded state-owned hospitals, and the extended the school system into remote rural regions. In the process, he increased taxes on large Louisiana businesses, especially the oil companies. The state legislature was either bulldozed or bribed into passing his laws. As a result, in 1929, Long was impeached on charges of bribery and gross misconduct, but he was not convicted.
The Kingfish was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1930, but he did not take his seat until January of 1932, after he had made sure one of his supporters was elected governor. From over 1,000 miles away in Washington D.C., Long continued to direct things in Louisiana and in 1934 he began a reorganization of the state, which virtually abolished local government and gave him the power to appoint all state employees.
As a senator, Long was at first a supporter of Roosevelt, but soon became a vociferous critic. President Roosevelt branded Long as the most dangerous man in America.
Long wanted to be president and was gaining a national following. Early in 1934 he introduced his plan for national social and economic reform that was called the Share-the-Wealth program; it would guarantee family annual income and a homestead allowance for every family.
In September 1935, on a trip to Louisiana, Long was assassinated by Dr. Carl A. Weiss...or was he? Weiss in turn was killed by Long's bodyguards. The whole incident remains a mystery to this day. Read the story...
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| Long lies mortally wounded |
Long's political machine flourished for several years after his death and his family remained important in state politics.
In the chess world C.J.S. Purdy won the Australian Chess Championship, scoring an amazing 12-1. In the Hungarian championship 18-year old Laszlo Szabo won the first Championship with a score of +10 -1 =6.
On January 5, 1935, the Hastings Christmas Congress ended. The Premier section saw a three-way tie between Salo Flohr, Max Euwe, and Sir George A. Thomas. Capablanca finished 4th with Botvinnik and Lilienthal tied for 5th-6th place. In the Soviet Union, the GM title was re-created for the benefit of Mikhail Botvinnik.
Jackson W. Showalter (born 1859) died on his 76th birthday at his home in Georgetown, Kentucky on February 5, 1935. On March 16, 1935, Aron Nimzowitsch (born 1886) died of pneumonia in Copenhagen.
Soviet Master Ilya Rabinovich (1891-1942) was ordered to lose to Botvinnik (1911-1995), to ensure that Botvinnik would finish in a tournament in Moscow, but Botvinnik got wind of it and refused to go along and so the plan was aborted. The game was drawn and Botvinnik shared first with Salo Flohr (1908-1983) of Czechoslovakia. Earlier, Flohr had proposed to Botvinnik that they both draw their final game and share first. Apparently Botvinnik had no objection to that arrangement.
In August 1935, Agnes Lawson-Stevenson, age 52, was on her way to Warsaw to play for England in the ladies’ world championship. She had arrived at the Posen, Poland airport from Berlin and after completing passport formalities she was rushing back to her plane and walked into the propeller which split her head open, killing her instantaneously. Her widower, Rufus Henry Streatfeild Stevenson, married Vera Menchik in October of 1937.
The 6th International Team Tournament was held in Warsaw and was won the USA team (Fine, Marshall, Kupchik, Dake, Horowitz) for the third consecutive time. Alekhine attended the FIDE Congress in Warsaw as part of a commission to make a list of challengers for the next world championship match. Capablanca was first choice, Botvinnik the second.
From October 3 to December 15, the world championship match was held in 13 cities in Holland and Euwe defeated Alekhine.
After the international tournament at Margate (won by Reshevsky ahead of Capablanca and Thomas), Reshevsky stayed in England to participate in the Major Open which was held at Yarmouth in conjunction with the British Championship.
The two notable events of Yarmouth 1935 were Menchik's win against Reshevsky and it was the only time Menchik played Sonja Graf in a mixed gender event.
Menchik was not allowed to play in the British Championship because she did not obtain her British citizenship in 1937. In addition to the British Championship (won by William Winter) the British Women's Championship was held as well as a number of other sections which were open to all nationalities.
Often the Major Open would have mostly non-British players and be the strongest section and some of these events were among Menchik's better results...1931 she took first place, second in 1932 and third at Yarmouth.
Final Standings
1) Samuel Reshevsky 10.0
2) Jakob Seitz 8.5
3) Vera Menchik 7.0
4-5) Adrian Conde and Sammi Fajarowicz 6.5
6) Ernst Klein 5.5
7-8) Sonja Graf and Baruch H. Wood 5.0
9-10) A.J.G. Butcher and Lodewijk Prins 4.0
11) V. Ivanoff 2.5
12) Francis Kitto 1.5
There was one amusing incident. In the adjourned game between Graf and her compatriot Fajarowicz, the position was incorrectly recorded in the sealed envelope. Neither player noticed the error when the game was resumed and it ended in a draw.
In the meantime some spectators had set up the correct position and after their game was finished even Graf and Fajarowicz joined the analysis and it was discovered that it was a dead win for Graf. Under FIDE Rules she could have demanded a replay from the correct position, but she elected to abide by the drawn result because to have replayed it would have been unfair to Fajarowitz who was a major contributor to finding the winning line for Graf.
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