According to Arnold Denker, if it had not been for the Great Depression Horowitz might have been one of those nearly forgotten masters of the 1930s.
At the time he was working as a trader on Wall Street, but by 1932 he could no longer make a living at it so he abandoned Wall Street and started hustling chess. As Horowitz put it, "I returned to chess on the theory that I could win a quarter a game and that a quarter could buy a meal."
In 1933, at the height of the Depression, Horowitz started a new business even though many businesses were going under. With Isaac Kashdan as a partner, he borrowed money from a friend, rented space in a building Queens and started publishing Chess Review, one of the world's best magazines.
Also, their postal tournaments were very, very popular. I played in many of them in the 1960s and on a couple of occasions met several over the board masters, including a one time US Championship competitor Arthur Feuerstein against whom I lost two games.
To keep the magazine afloat, he wrote about 20 chess books and traveled the whole country by car giving simultaneous exhibitions and hustling subscribers to the magazine.
The featured game was played in one of Horowitz' many exhibitions, this one in 1940. He and another master, Harld Morton , were returning form a tour out west when they were involved in a car accident in Iowa that killed Morton and left Horowitz with serious injuries. See my post about the accident HERE.
[Event "Simultaneous, Los Angeles"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1940.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "I. A. Horowitz"]
[Black "Amateur"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C25"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 15"]
[PlyCount "27"]
[EventDate "1940.??.??"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.05.12"]
{Vienna Game} 1. e4 e5 2.
Nc3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 (3... Nf6 {is normally seen here.} 4. d3 Na5 5. Nge2 {
Black frequently plays 5...Nxc4, but he gets better results with 5...Be7}) 4.
Qg4 {Black must now play 4...g6 or 4...Nd5, or he could even get away with 4...
Kf8. Instead, his next move is a mistake.} Qf6 5. Nd5 {There is little doubt
that black saw this possibility, but assumed that his attack on f2 and the
subsequent position of white's K on d1 was sufficient reason to allow Nd5.}
Qxf2+ 6. Kd1 Kf8 (6... Kd8 7. Qxg7 d6 8. Nf3 (8. Qxh8 {is too hasty.} Qxg2 {
is only equal.}) 8... Bh3 9. d4 Qxg2 10. Bg5+ Kd7 11. Rf1 exd4 (11... Bb6 12.
Ne3 {traps the Q}) 12. Qxf7+ Nge7 13. Bxe7 Qg6 (13... Nxe7 14. Qxe7+ {mate
next move}) 14. Nf6+ Kc8 15. Be6+ Kb8 16. Nd7+ Kc8 17. Bxh3 Qxf7 18. Nxc5+ Kb8
19. Nd7+ Kc8 20. Nde5+ Kb8 21. Nxf7 {wins}) 7. Nh3 Qd4 {After this black is
clearly lost.} (7... h5 {would have at least given him a fighting chance.} 8.
Qg5 (8. Nxf2 hxg4 9. Nxg4 d6 10. Nge3 Bxe3 {and it's black who can claim a
slight advantage.}) 8... Qd4 9. d3 Be7 10. Qf5 b5 11. Bxb5 Nd8 {Black is
hanging on by the skin of his teeth.}) 8. d3 Bb6 {Defending c7.} (8... Be7 {
Was better if for no other reason than it baits a trap.} 9. Nxc7 d5 {and it's
black who is winning because he wins the B on c4.}) (8... Be7 {White stays on
the winning path with} 9. Rf1 Nf6 10. Nxf6 Bxf6 11. Qh5 d5 12. Bxd5 Nd8 13. Ng5
{Black succumbs to the attack on f7.}) 9. Rf1 {It's hard to believe, but this
was all played before, in 1931!} Nf6 {There was no saving the game.} (9... Nd8
10. c3 Qc5 11. Ng5 Nh6 12. Qh4 d6 {Black resigned because it's mate in 4.
Alekhine, A-Lugowski,S Belgrade 1931} 13. Ne6+ Nxe6 14. Qe7+ Kg8 15. Qe8+ Nf8
16. Ne7#) 10. Rxf6 {Nice, but the follwup is even more amazing.} d6 {This
allows a spectacular mate in 5, but there wasn't really anything better.} 11.
Qxg7+ {An incredible move especially considering the fact that Horowitz likely
spotted it in just a few seconds.} Kxg7 12. Bh6+ Kg8 {White can mate in 2 with
the humdrum 13.Ne7+ Nxe7 14.Bxf7# Or, he has a mate in 3 with 13.Rf3 clearing
the way for Nf6# But, why not sacrifice a R?} 13. Rg6+ hxg6 14. Nf6# {
According to the auto-analysis with Chessbase Horowitz' play was "flawless."}
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