During the Great Depression, Al Horowitz (1907-1973) was trader on Wall Street, but in 1932 it had gotten to the point that he couldn't make a living at it. That's when he abandoned trading and began hustling chess with the belief that he could always win a quarter and that was enough to buy a meal.
Then right in the heart of the Depression he got the idea of publishing a chess magazine, borrowed money from his friend Fritz Brieger and Chess Review was born. Brieger was a devotee of the game and an apartment house owner who also served as a patron and tournament director.
In the initial issue of January 1933, Chess Review proclaimed that for the past three years new clubs had been springing up like mushrooms, chess books were being bought, they were being added to library shelves and newspapers were giving more space to the game and correspondence leagues were thriving.
Also, during the last three years names like Salo Flohr, Sultan Khan, Gosta Stoltz and Erich Eliskases, all well under thirty years old, were beginning to make names for themselves.
In the United States Isaac Kashdan, Arthur Dake, Al Horowitz and Herman Steiner were becoming well known. Plus there was Samuel Reshevsky, the Polish boy wonder and 18-year old Reuben Fine who making an impression.
Thus for the new era Horowitz was offering a new magazine with the aim of providing both entertainment and instruction. The magazine would offer games of the masters authoritatively annotated, innovations in the openings would be discussed and interesting endings would be features. Additionally, the problem
lover would find a rich selection. The articles aimed to be both serious and witty. It would also present the latest news of chess events and personalities everywhere.
Horowitz also tried an innovation for a chess magazine in that there was a section devoted to bridge because contract bridge had reached
a point where it almost equaled the fascination, if not the depth, of chess.
The magazine was published monthly from its offices in Woodside, New York which was located in Brooklyn. A yearly subscription in the US and Canada was $2.50. That was actually a pretty hefty price... $50.00 in today's money. Single issues were $0.25, or about $5.00 today.
The Editor in Chief was Isaac Kashdan, I.A. Horowitz was Associate Editor, Otto Wirzburg was Problem Editor, Fritz Brieger was the Business Manager and George Reith the Bridge Editor.
Contributing Editors were Fred Reinfeld, Arthur Dake, Reuben Fine, Donald MacMurray, Barnie Winkleman and Lester Brand.
The games Depatment featured Alekhine-Winter and Flohr-Thomas (London 1932), Flohr-Naegeli, Alekhine-Sultan Kahn and Alekhine-Flohr from Berne 1932, Bogoljubow-Vidmar (Sliac 1932), Bogoljubow-Spielman (Semmering 1932) and Euwe-Flohr and Spielman-Euwe from Amsterdam 1932.
Reinfeld presented analysis on a popular variation of the Caro-Kann and there were some positions given in Mistakes of the Masters. A humorous article on annoying your opponent by Donald MacMurray was included.
There was also an article of instruction on a R+P vs. R ending and finally, a brief review of Kashdan's recent activities followed by several problems in the Problems Department. An article containing analysis of a position from Dake vs. Alekhine, Pasadena, 1932 was also presented.
The magazine stated that each month they desired to present one or two games more fully annotated than the rest with the view to giving the underlying motives of the moves. The idea was to point out how favorable middlegames depend on the opening and how the
endgame structure must be kept in mind throughout the game.
To that end in the first issue Isaac Kashdan presented two of his own games. Let's take a look at the game between Kashdan and Euwe that was played at Hastings, 1931/32. That Hastings event marked the beginning of Flohr's streak of three Hastings victories in a row.
After reading Kashdan's brief notes to the two games it makes me wish he had published a book of his best games! As far as I know there is only one book of Kashdan's games and that's Isaac Kashdan, American Chess Grandmaster by Peter P. Lahde. The book contains 757 of his games. According to one reviewer "a fair number" are annotated by Kashdan and "one can learn much from his pragmatic and methodical approach to the game."
Flohr and Kashdan dominated the tournament. By round 2 they already were a full point clear of the field. They drew in round 3, then it was a race to the finish. Kashdan took the lead briefly in round 4, but Flohr won his last five games, but in the last round Kashdan could only manage a draw against Stoltz and so finish a half point behind Flohr.
Isaac Kashdan - Max Euwe
Result: 1-0
Site: Hastings
Date: 1932.01.02
Alekhine's Defense
[...] 1.e4 ♘f6 Alekhine's Defense was in vogue in the 1920s but by the time this game was played it was infrequently seen. 2.e5 ♘d5 3.c4 ♘b6 4.d4 d6 This is about the only good move here. At Pasadena in in 1932 Fine played 4...Nc6 against Borochow and lost a piece.
4...♘c6 5.d5 ♘xe5 6.c5 ♘bc4 7.f4 (7.♕d4 was actually better.) 7...e6 8.♕d4 ♕h4+ 9.g3 ♕h6 10.♘c3 exd5 11.fxe5 1-0 Harry Borochow-Reuben Fine/Pasadena 1932
5.exd6 This leads to a quieter game than the 4Ps Attack (5.f4), but according to Kashdan it does give white a tiny positional edge because of his greater freedom and control of the center. 5...exd6 6.♘f3 Kashdan believed 6.Nc3 was a shade better. Indeed, it is more popular and yields slightly better results. Kashdan pointed out that when there is a choice of developing moves the proper order to be followed depends on two considerations. First) move the piece which has only one good square. That is the reason for the well known maxim Ns before Bs because the Ns are generally best placed at c3/b6 and f3/f6 whereas the best post for the B will depend on the position. Second make the move which gives your opponent least choice. In this game black can immediately pin the N. This could have been delayed by Nc3 and even Be3. 6...♗g4 7.h3 ♗h5 8.♗e2 ♘c6 This is probably better than the more popular alternative of 8...Be7.
8...♗e7 9.O-O O-O 10.♘c3 ♖e8 11.b3 ♘8d7 12.♗f4 ♗f8 13.♖e1 ♘f6 Vorobiov, E (2590)-Dvalishvili,P (2428)/Moscow 2014. White is slightly better.
9.d5 This move isn't in the books. As Kashdan explained, it deliberately loses time to force black to play ...Bxf3. He added that experience has shown that the possession of the two B's is an advantage and this was typical of Kashdan who was known for his exaggerated love of the two Bs. However, he did add that losing moves in the opening is always dangerous and this game will show the type of difficulties that have to be met.
9.♘bd2 ♗e7 10.O-O O-O 11.d5 ♗xf3 12.♘xf3 ♘e5 13.♘xe5 dxe5 14.♗e3 is equal. Baeta,A-Matozis,P/Brasilia 2005
9...♗xf3 (9...♘e5 at once loses a P. 10.♘xe5 ♗xe2 11.♕xe2 dxe5 12.♕xe5+) 10.♗xf3 ♘e5 11.♗e2
11.b3 would be a mistake according to Kashdan because after 11...♕f6 the threat is ...Nxf3 and ...Qxa1. This note reveals Kahdan's disire to keep the two Bs. 12.♘c3 ♘xf3+ 13.♕xf3 ♕xf3 14.gxf3 when both Stockfish and Komodo evaluate the position as dead equal. Actually, to a human though white's position is not appealing.
11...♕h4 White's c-Pawn is now o attacked three times, and only defended once. (11...♘exc4 12.♗xc4 ♘xc4 13.♕a4+ wins material.) 12.O-O When he played 9.d5 Kashdan had to see that black still could not take the c-Pawn. 12...g5 After his last move Euwe is pretty much committed to this rash attempt at a K-side even though his pieces are not coordinated and white has ample defensive resources. Even so, white still faces a dangerous attack which comes very near to succeeding. One consideration which prompted Euwe to play this is that otherwise white plays f4 driving back black's only well placed piece. (12...♘exc4 is still a blunder. 13.g3 ♕f6 14.♗xc4 ♘xc4 15.♕a4+) 13.♕c2 ♖g8 14.♘d2 g4 15.hxg4 ♘xg4 16.♕e4+ According to Kashdan this move was a mistake. The idea was that after ...Be7 white maintains the pin and thus delays black's playing ...O-O, but, things didn't wotk out that way. He recommended 16.Nc3. Actually Kashdan was being a bit harsh on himself because even after 16.Qe4+ he has the advantage.
16.♘f3 was actually a shade better that either 16.Qe4+ or Kashdan's recommendation of 16.Nc3. After 16...♕h5 17.♖e1 O-O-O and white is slightly better.
16...♗e7 17.♘f3 ♕h5 18.♗f4 f5 19.♕c2 White had trusted that he could play Qe6 attacking the R but overlooked that he would lose his Q. He referred to 19.Qc2 as a abject retreat, but again that's too harsh a judgment as white still has the better position. (19.♕e6 ♖g6 and the Q is trapped.) 19...O-O-O Kashdan stated that now that black has been allowed to place his B on e7 and his P on f5 without any penalty the game is in black's favor. Once again, the engines don't agree' even the conservative Komodo give white the edge at slightly less than P. 20.♖fe1 This threatens to attack black's B.
20.♘d4 This promising looking move can be met by 20...♖df8 21.♘e6 ♖f6 22.♗xg4 ♖xg4 23.g3 with unclear complications.
20...♘d7 An interesting position. Komodo evaluates the position as 0.00 but Kashdan gave it a ! explaining that it's the last piece to enter the fray. 21.♘h2
21.♘d4 ♗h4 22.g3 ♗xg3 23.♗xg3 f4 24.♕f5 ♕xf5 25.♘xf5 fxg3 26.♘e7+ ♔b8 27.f4 ♖g7 28.♘f5 with an unclear position.
21...♕f7 22.♗d3 ♘xh2 So far Euwe has played quite well, but according to Kashdan here he goes astray and this proves the turning-point of the game. He had to play ...Rdf8 not so much to protect the , as to prevent the entry of the white B at f5. White is well satisfied with the exchange of Ns, which relieves the pressure considerably. Here again the engines find no fault with Euwe's actual move. 23.♗xh2 f4 24.♗f5 ♖g5 A wee bit of a slip that hands white a slight advantage.
24...f3 with a sharp position that keeps the chances balanced. 25.♗g3 ♖g7 26.♗e6 ♕h5 27.♖e3 ♖f8 and, again, both sides have chances in this sharp position.
25.♗h3 f3 26.♕e4 ♕g7 Of this move Kashdan wrote...This is a miscalculation, which loses more quickly. He is right, but instead of "more quickly" he should have written "at once."
26...♖g7 and white can hardly be considered to be winning. 27.♖e3 fxg2 28.♖ae1 ♖f8 29.♗xd7+ ♔xd7 and the position is equal.
27.♕xe7 ♖xg2+ 28.♔h1 ♖g8 29.♕e8+ ♖xe8 30.♖xe8#Powered by Aquarium
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