At the time, the U.S. Navy was patrolling at least 2,000 miles off the coast and within 1,500 miles of western British ports for the purpose of spotting Axis surface ships, submarines and aircraft. The Navy's orders was to report their location and maintain contact until British forces arrived. The Navy was under strict order not to fire unless it was necessary in order to avoid getting sunk.
In other news, back on February 2, 1941, 24-year-old Patsy Lasasso and his partner, Michael Gurlo robbed Louis Ozinsky, a laundry collector; they got 7 cents. They told Ozinsky that they thought he had a lot more money on him. He replied, "Not today. I make my next collection on March 8th. See you then; same time and place."
The brainless bandits kept the appointment and detectives concealed nearby as the result of Ozinsky's report of the first hold-up arrested them.
It turned out that after the Ozinsky incident the two thieves had also robbed Frank Purpura, a barber, on February 8th. For his crimes, on May 3rd, 1941, Lasasso was sentenced to 15-30 years in Sing-Sing prison; his partner was still awaiting sentencing.
Buried on the back page of the Eagle was a story about how the previous year four Brooklyn police detectives were returning by train from Auburn prison with a prisoner who they wanted to question concerning the shooting of two police officers.
When the train pulled into Yonkers, the prisoner tried to escape and according to the article, the prisoner "was pumped full of .38 calibre bullets, one of which would be enough to rip a horse." The prisoner later died in the hospital and the four detectives were commended in a Brooklyn Police Department bulletin for foiling the escape.
About that Met league championship...it was determined in 1941, as usual, by the match in the final round between the Manhattan CC and the Marshall CC. Playing 18 boards, the Marshall team emerged victorious with a final score of 9.5-8.5.
Having drawn one of their earlier matches (with North Jersey), the Marshall team had to beat the Manhattan team to win back the title. A drawn match would give the championship to the Manhattan team which was undefeated.
The upset of the match was Albert Pinkus' victory over Reuben Fine in what was the first game Fine had lost for a long time and after he had just scored an impressive win in the Marshall club championship.
At the conclusion of four hours of play the Marshall team was one point ahead but the games at boards 2, 6 and 11 were unfinished.
Frank Marshall at board 2, fought a grueling battle with Arnold Denker and emerged with a Rook and Bishop against Denker's Rook, Bishop and Pawn. Although Denker was a Pawn up the game was a sure draw.
On board 6, Herbert Seidman had blundered away a whole piece early in his game against State Champion Robert Willman, but fought back and reached a Rook and Pawn ending only a Pawn down. The two didn't adjourn and played on until Seidman
finally succeeded in establishing a drawn position.
The remaining unfinished game between Irving Heitner and Geoffrey Mott-Smith was a different story. After he sacrificed the exchange, Mott-Smith failed to find the winning continuation and by adjournment even his drawing chances were in jeopardy and Heitner had excellent winning chances.
That meant the result of the match depended upon this game. For Marshall to win the match and the championship Mott-Smith needed to salvage a draw.
The game was resumed eight days later and on May 11th after 40 more moves Mott-Smith managed to salvage the draw the game and so win the match for Marshall.
Here is Albert Pinkus' win by very precise play over Reuben Fine. As sometimes happened to Fine in domestic tournaments, he made a gross blunder in an even position. Over confidence maybe?
[Event "Metropolitan League Match, New York"]
[Site "New York Marshall CC-Manhattan"]
[Date "1941.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Reuben Fine (Marshall)"]
[Black "Albert Pinkus (Manhattan)"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E02"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 15"]
[PlyCount "102"]
[EventDate "1941.??.??"]
{Open Catalan} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 {The Catalan is a combination of
the Queen's Gambit and Reti. White's play will be on the Q-side. Black has two
main approaches: the Open Catalan where he plays ...dxc4 and either try to
hold on to the pawn with ...b5 or give it back to gain time to free his game.
In the Closed Catalan, black does not capture on c4 which can lead to a
somewhat cramped position, but one that is quite solid.} 4. Bg2 dxc4 {Pinkus
was an attacker so he goes for the Open Catalan.} 5. Qa4+ {Black does very
slightly better against this than he does against 5.Nf3} Bd7 {[%mdl 32]} 6.
Qxc4 Bc6 7. Nf3 Bd5 8. Qd3 Nc6 (8... c5 9. Nc3 Bc6 10. O-O cxd4 11. Nxd4 Bxg2
12. Kxg2 Nbd7 13. Rd1 Be7 14. e4 O-O {equals. Nogueiras,J (2560)-Korchnoi,V
(2655) Clermont Ferrand 1989}) 9. O-O (9. Nc3 Nb4 10. Qd1 Bxf3 11. Bxf3 Qxd4
12. Qxd4 Nc2+ 13. Kf1 Nxd4 14. Bxb7 {equals. Petrovs,V-Mikenas,V Rosario 1939
1-0 (59)}) 9... Be4 10. Qd1 (10. Qb3 {keeps more tension in the position.} Bxf3
11. Bxf3 Nxd4 12. Qxb7 Nxf3+ 13. exf3 Qd5 14. Qxc7 Qxf3 15. Be3 {White is
slightly better.}) 10... Be7 11. Nc3 Bd5 12. Nxd5 exd5 13. Ne5 O-O 14. Bf4 Bd6
15. Rc1 Ne7 16. Bg5 Ne4 17. Bf4 c6 18. f3 Nf6 19. e4 $14 Ne8 20. Rf2 f5 {Risky!
} (20... dxe4 21. fxe4 Bxe5 22. dxe5 Ng6 {is completely equal.}) 21. Nd3 Bxf4
22. Nxf4 Nc7 23. Qb3 g5 24. Nd3 Rb8 25. Rd1 Kh8 26. exf5 Nxf5 27. Ne5 Qd6 {
[%cal Of5d4]} 28. Qc3 $1 Rbe8 29. f4 gxf4 $1 30. Rxf4 {Black must now prevent
Rdf1.} Ne6 {But this is not the best way to o it.} (30... Nb5 31. Qe1 Kg8 32.
Rg4+ Ng7 33. Qd2 Nxd4 {Black is better.}) 31. Rf2 Kg8 {Guarding the R so that
now ...Nexd4 would win.} (31... Nexd4 32. Rxd4 Qxe5 33. Rdf4 Qxc3 34. bxc3 Re1+
35. Bf1 {wins the N on f5}) 32. Bh3 (32. Ng4 {was more accurate.} Kh8 33. Rdf1
Nfxd4 34. Nh6 Rxf2 35. Rxf2 {with equal chances.}) 32... Nexd4 {This position
is equal, but black would have a slight advantage after taking with the other
N because it would have avoided the annoying pin on the N on f5. Fine's next
move is a miscalculation that costs him the game. That said, the best move is
hard to find.} (32... Nfxd4 33. Rxf8+ Nxf8 34. Rxd4 Qxe5 {and black is better.}
) 33. Rxd4 {[%mdl 8192] A losing blunder in a position that offered equal
chances.} (33. Bxf5 {favors black after} Nxf5 34. Re1 Qf6 {Oddly, there is no
way for white to take advantage of the pinned N.} 35. Rf4 (35. g4 Qg7 36. h3
Nd6) 35... h5) (33. Nd7 {This surprising move keeps things equal.} Ne2+ 34.
Rxe2 Rxe2 35. Nxf8 Qh6 (35... Qxf8 36. Rf1 {wins the N.}) 36. Qd3 Qe3+ 37. Qxe3
Nxe3 38. Bf1 Rxb2 39. Re1 Nc2 40. Re8 Kf7 41. Rb8 {The complications are
enormous. In Shootouts five games were drawn.}) 33... Nxd4 {The correct reply.
Black now has a won game.} (33... Qxe5 {This move only results in equality.}
34. Bxf5 Rxf5 {And not} 35. Rg4+ Rg5 36. Re2 Qxc3 37. Rxg5+ Kf7 38. Rf5+ Kg7
39. Rxe8 Qc1+ 40. Rf1 Qc5+ {In this position the chances are even.}) (33...
Rxe5 {is just plain bad.} 34. Rdf4 Qe6 35. Qf3 Re1+ 36. Kg2 Qe3 37. Qg4+ Kh8
38. Rxf5) 34. Rxf8+ Kxf8 35. Nd7+ {Now it's too late for this to do any good,
but there was nothing better.} (35. Qxd4 Qxe5 36. Qxa7 Qxb2 {Black is winning.}
) 35... Qxd7 {[%mdl 512]} 36. Bxd7 Ne2+ {[%mdl 32]} 37. Kf1 Nxc3 38. Bxe8 Nxa2
{[%mdl 4096] The ending is won for black, but the K+P ending after 39...Kxe8
would have been even easier.} 39. Bd7 Nb4 {The ending still requires some
finesse on the part of Pinkus.} 40. Ke2 Ke7 41. Bf5 h6 42. g4 Kf6 43. h4 c5 44.
Kf3 d4 {[%mdl 32]} 45. Be4 (45. Ke4 {and here, too, white is hopelessly lost.}
d3 46. Ke3 c4 47. Be4 b5 48. Kd2 Ke5 49. Bh1 Kf4 50. g5 hxg5 51. h5 Kf5 52.
Be4+ Kf6 53. h6 g4 54. h7 Kg7 55. Ke1 a5) 45... c4 46. Bxb7 c3 47. bxc3 dxc3
48. Ke3 a5 {[%mdl 32]} 49. Be4 Ke5 50. g5 h5 51. Bg6 a4 {White resigned.} (
51... a4 52. Bxh5 Nd5+ 53. Kf2 c2 54. g6 Kf6 55. Bf3 c1=Q) 0-1
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