Harkness Rating System, Yankton Int'l, First Move Advantage and William Streeter

     The first modern rating system was used by the Correspondence Chess League of America in 1939, but it wasn't until 1950 that the USCF adopted the Harkness system which was expounded by then tournament organizer Kenneth Harkness. The USCF switched to the Elo rating system in 1960, which was adopted by FIDE in 1970. For a detailed explanation of the Harkness system see Mark Weeks' article The Harkness System Explained HERE.  

     When the system was introduced the USCF took care to emphasize that the system is independent of any international designation of titles. The USCF also warned that some players may have been over-rated or under-rated and it was possible that a number of players were deprived of full recognition merely because the data was not available. 

     On that first list was an inactive Master named William F. Streeter (January 24, 1902 - June 16, 1973, 71 years old.). He was never married and died at St. Vincent Charity Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio. 

     Streeter was a railway post office clerk. He served as Secretary (1927-1929) and President (1929-1930) of the Cleveland Chess and Checker Club and he was President of the Cleveland Chess League in 1930.

     Streeter was the Ohio Champion (Northern section) in 1931. According to a Cleveland Plain Dealer article on October 11, 1931, it was at the suggestion of Cincinnati players that the state championship had been divided into two sections. After Streeter's victory he stated that he was ready to meet the winner of the southern section that was held in Cincinnati, but no reply was ever received. The article added that, "in the meantime William F. Streeter is a fitting state champion.” 

     In 1946, Streeter, at the request of President Elbert Wagner, Jr., and Secretary Paul G. Giers of the United States Chess Association, completed the task of answering the controversial question as to whether or not it was an advantage to have the white pieces. His findings were published in the May 1946 issue of Chess Review under the title Is The First Move An Advantage? Does it actually pay off in terms of successful results? He also examined the length of tournament games to see if they were getting longer, shorter, or remaining about the same. 

     To complete the task he utilized 45 tournament books, covering the period 1851-1932 and embodying 5598 games. His conclusions: 

 

Overall white won 38 percent, black 31 percent, 31 percent were drawn. The percentages by yearly span were:

 

1851-1878, white: 46, black: 40, draws:14 

1881-1914, white: 37, black: 31, draws: 32 

1919-1932, white: 27, black: 26, draws: 37 

 

     His conclusion was that it was becoming increasingly difficult to win with black, but somewhat easier to draw. 

     In 1946, the new South Dakota Chess Association issued the first of its monthly bulletin. Among the Association's planned activities was a State Correspondence Championship tournament to begin on December 1st; it was open to members of the Association who were residents of the state. 

     The Association started off with a burst of activity with events from September 15th to September 22nd at the Hotel Charles Gurney in Yankton. I posted on the event HERE. 

     The Major Open tournament ended in a 3-way tie between L. Gladstone (Boulder City, Colorado), William Streeter (Cleveland, Ohio) and Jack Spence (Omaha, Nebraska). 

     In the following game Streeter defeats Alfred C. Ludwig (1912-1953, 40 years old), the Nebraska Champion in 1943, 1944, 1947, 1948, 1949 and 1950. Ludwig also won the 1945 CCLA Grand National tournament and with it the title of US Correspondence Champion.

[Event "Yankton (South Dakota) Major Open"] [Site "Yankton, SD USA"] [Date "1946.09.??"] [Round "?"] [White "William F. Streeter"] [Black "Alfred C. Ludwig"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B18"] [Annotator "Stockfish 15"] [PlyCount "71"] [EventDate "1946.09.??"] [Source "Tournament book "] {Caro-Kann} 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bf5 5. Ng3 Bg6 6. Nf3 Nd7 7. Bd3 (7. h4 {is an interesting alternative.} h6 8. h5 Bh7 9. Bd3 Bxd3 10. Qxd3 e6 {White can choose between 11.Bf4 and 11.Bd2 followed by Q-side castling.}) 7... Qc7 8. O-O e6 9. Re1 Ngf6 10. c4 {[%cal Od4d5]} Bb4 (10... Be7 11. b3 O-O 12. Bxg6 hxg6 13. Qc2 Rfe8 14. Bb2 Rad8 {equals. Godena,M (2558)-Sanikidze,T (2426) Dresden 2007}) (10... O-O-O 11. a3 c5 12. Bxg6 hxg6 13. b4 cxd4 14. c5 Nb8 15. Bg5 Rd5 {White is better. Getz,N (2219)-Khenkin,I (2634) Tromsoe 2009}) 11. Re2 {[%cal Od4d5]} O-O (11... Bxd3 12. Qxd3 O-O 13. c5 Ba5 14. Ne5 Qc8 15. Bg5 Bc7 16. Nxd7 Nxd7 {White is better, but black managed to obtain a draw in Tylor,T-Flohr,S Hastings 1932}) (11... O-O-O {This too risky. In Habib,C-Vives, G (2047) Villa Ballester 2004 white had the advantage after} 12. a3 Bd6 13. b4 Bxd3 14. Qxd3 h5 15. Bg5 Bf4 16. Bxf4 Qxf4) 12. c5 Ba5 13. a3 Qd8 (13... Bxd3 14. Qxd3 Qd8 15. Qb3 Qc8 16. Ne4 Nxe4 17. Rxe4 Bd8 18. Qd3 b6 {with equal chances.Asztalos,L-Flohr,S Bled 1931}) 14. Bxg6 hxg6 15. Qb3 Rb8 16. Bg5 Qc8 17. Ne4 {Strongly threatening Nd6.} Bc7 18. Nc3 Re8 19. Ne5 Nxe5 20. dxe5 Nd7 { [%csl Bc5,Be5]} 21. Rae1 {Inviting black to win a P.} Nxe5 (21... Nxc5 { leads to an unclear position after...} 22. Qc4 Nd7 23. Qh4 Bxe5 24. Rxe5 Nxe5 25. Rxe5 Qd7 26. Re1 f6 27. Ne4 Qe7 28. Bd2 {White is better according to Stockfish. In Shootouts white scored +3 -0 =2. However, this is the type of position where the stronger player is likely to win regardless of which side they are playing.}) 22. Ne4 Nd7 23. Qh3 b6 24. Rd2 {Not at all bad, but it might have been better to play 24.Nd6. What's cute about this move is that it sets a nasty little trap.} (24. Nd6 Bxd6 25. cxd6 {and the d-Pawn will prove to be a bone in black's throat.}) 24... f6 (24... Nxc5 {is a self mate.} 25. Nf6+ {[%mdl 512]} gxf6 26. Bxf6 Bxh2+ 27. Qxh2 Kf8 28. Qh8#) 25. Red1 Nf8 { [%mdl 8192] This move, like 25...Nxc5, turns out very badly.} (25... Nxc5 { is still very bad.} 26. Nxf6+ gxf6 27. Bxf6 Kf7 28. Bd4 Rh8 29. Qf3+ Kg8 30. Qf6 Bxh2+ 31. Kf1 Qa6+ 32. Rd3 Rh7 33. Qxg6+ Kf8 34. Bxc5+ bxc5 35. Qxh7 { White is winning.}) (25... Re7 {keeps the chances equal after 26.Be3} 26. Nxf6+ {Unlike before, this now loses.} gxf6 {The f-Pawn is defended so white has no followup.}) 26. Nxf6+ {[%mdl 512] ...and wins.} gxf6 27. Bxf6 Nh7 28. Qh6 Bxh2+ {So that the R on b8 can guard the second rank. It's also a tricky move.} 29. Kh1 {[%csl Gf6][%cal Rh6g7]} (29. Kxh2 {This allows black to spit the hook and get away.} Qc7+ 30. Kg1 Nxf6 {and white is forced to take a perpetual check.} 31. Rd7 (31. Qxg6+ Qg7 {is winning for black.}) 31... Nxd7 32. Qxg6+ Kf8 33. Qh6+ {etc.}) 29... Rb7 30. Qxg6+ Kf8 31. Rd8 {Black could safely resign here.} Rxd8 32. Rxd8+ Qxd8 33. Bxd8 Bb8 34. Qxe6 bxc5 35. Qc8 Rxb2 36. Bf6+ {Kudos to both players for a very well played game! In the Fritz auto-annotation using Stockfish 15, the Weighted Error Values were: White=0.17 (very precise) and Black=0.22 (precise).} 1-0