Queen Sacrifice by Orrin Frink

 

     The years 1920 was an interesting year in the United States. Many people familiar with US history know that was the year that the 19th amendment to the Constitution was ratified. It's the one that gave women the right to vote.

     There was also an event that took place that I had never heard of...the Red Scare that was lead by President Woodrow Wilson's Attorney General, A. Mitchell Palmer. 

     During its height in 1919-1920 many foreigners suspected of involvement in radical political activity were deported.  The deportations occurred as a result of witch hunts over the effects of radical political agitation and the feared spread of communism and anarchism in the American labor movement. 

     Under the leadership of J. Edgar Hoover, Federal agents, without search warrants, broke into homes of suspected anarchists, jailed labor leaders and held about 5,000 people while disregarding their right to legal counsel. The government had amassed a storehouse of information about radicals in the country. They had infiltrated many organizations and following raids made in November 1919 and January 1920, had seized thousands of boxes of records and interrogated thousands of those arrested. 

     Though the agency knew very well that the evidence about plans for an attempted overthrow of the government on May Day 1920 were quite remote, Hoover warned the nation to expect assassinations, bombings and general strikes. Possibly Hoover was remembering the May Day riots that took place in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1919.

     Thanks to the hysteria generated by Palmer and Hoover newspapers headlined Terror Reign by Radicals and city police forces prepared themselves and some states mobilized their militias. New York City's 11,000-man police force worked for 32 hours straight. Boston police mounted machine guns on automobiles and positioned them around the city. May Day came and went with no incidents. 

     Even so, Federal agents rounded up suspected radicals and many of them ended up getting deported. Some communists agreed to be deported while others were put in a concentration camp at Camp Upton in New York pending deportation hearings.

     As unbelievable as it sounds, in Centralia, Washington, some members of the American Legion attacked members of the Industrial Workers of the World (the members of which are commonly called Wobblies), an international labor union that was founded in Chicago in 1905. Twelve of the Wobblies were arrested, one was beaten, castrated and then shot. The New York State Legislature expelled five Socialist representatives, twenty-eight states banned the public display of red flags. It seemed as though the witch hunt would never end, but eventually responsible citizens began to speak out against Palmer's raids and demanded that civil liberties be respected.

    Chessplayers lost in 1920 were Polish master Georg Rotlewi (1889-1920, 31 years old) and Romanian master Adolf Albin (1848-1920) who died of tuberculosis in Vienna. William Crane (1851-1920), the Australian champion in 1888 and 1897, died in Stanmore, Australia. And, on December 20th, Horatio Caro (1862-1920) died in London.

     In 1920, the first All-Russian Chess Olympiad (won by Alekhine) was held in Moscow. About half way through the event the players went on strike demanding more food rations and prize money. Their demands were finally met. Douglas Griffin published a full account of the event on his site HERE.

     On January 23, 1920, Capablanca and Lasker agreed to play a World Championship chess match in 1921, but in June, Lasker, who began his reign in 1894, resigned his world championship to Capablanca. 

     On August 10, 1920, a broke Emanuel Lasker, who was living in The Hague, re-considered after Cuban enthusiasts raised $20,000 and agreed to a match of 24 games to be played in Havana with him being the challenger and Capablanca the champion. After 14 games the score stood at 9-5 in favor of Capablanca and so Lasker resigned the match. 

     Closer to home, in New York City Metropolitan Chess League play, Brooklynite and Columbia team player Orrin Frink, Jr. downed M.I. Lockwood of the Staten Island Chess Club with a Queen sacrifice in a game in which auto-annotation with Fritz 17 and Stockfish 15 labeled his play "very precise." 

Frink in 1931

     Orrin Frink, Jr. (May 31, 1901 - March 4, 1988) was born in Brooklyn and earned his Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1926 and joined the Penn State faculty two years later where he taught in the mathematics department for 41 years from 1928 to 1969. He was chairman of the university's mathematics department from 1949 to 1960.

     Before his professional career he was active in both New York and Chicago chess circles, his best result being a tie with David Janowski for 3rd-4th in the 1923-24 Manhattan Chess Club championship. 

     Frink also played postal chess and was an endgame composer; most of his endings were published in the magazine The Chess Amateur. The magazine ran for 24 volumes from October 1906 to June 1930, each volume running from October until the following September except the final volume 24 which ceased after 9 issues. It was an important periodical that had many well known contributors such as Alain White, T. R. Dawson, Rev. E. E. Cunnington, W. Moffatt, I. Gunsberg and W. A. Fairhurst.

      Frink passed away at his home in Kennebunkport, Maine at the age of 86

[Event "League Match, New York City"] [Site "?"] [Date "1920.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "M.I. Lockwood"] [Black "Orrin Frink, Jr."] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D40"] [Annotator "Stockfish 15"] [PlyCount "38"] [EventDate "1920.??.??"] {Queen's Gambit Declined: Semi-Tarrasch} 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 c5 { Recommended by Tarrasch, this move is an aggressive bid for central space. After White plays cxd5 and dxc5, black will be left with an isolated d-Pawn. It may be weak or it may be strong depending on how the game progresses.} 4. Nf3 (4. cxd5 exd5 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. g3 Nf6 7. Bg2 Be7 8. O-O O-O 9. Bg5 cxd4 10. Nxd4 {is the main line of the Tarrasch and it is what is usually today.}) 4... Nc6 {Unlike the regular Tarrasch, in the Semi-Tarrasch black does get the isolated d-Pawn.} 5. e3 Nf6 6. a3 {White also plays 6.cxd5 quite often and then black has a choice between playing either 6...exd5 or 6...Nxd5} (6. cxd5 { is also seen quite often,}) 6... a6 7. Bd3 {Capturing 7.cxd5 is more popular.} dxc4 8. Bxc4 b5 9. Bd3 (9. Ba2 {is a viable alternative.} Bb7 10. O-O Qc7 11. Qe2 {equals.}) 9... Bb7 10. dxc5 (10. O-O Qc7 (10... cxd4 11. exd4 Be7 12. Bc2 b4 13. axb4 O-O {with equal chances. Abergel,T (2449)-Louis,T (2244) Sitges ESP 2015}) 11. Qe2 Rd8 12. dxc5 Bxc5 13. e4 Ng4 14. g3 Qb6 15. Bc2 O-O { black has a good game. Langeweg,K (2450)-Olafsson,F (2550) Wijk aan Zee 1976}) 10... Bxc5 11. b4 {Black is already slightly better. Note how all of his pieces are aimed at the K-side where white's K must eventually take up residence. It's surprising how the lurking danger grows.} (11. O-O Qc7 12. b4 Be7 13. Bb2 Rd8 14. Qc2 {This position is fully even. Anit,T (1881)-Ibarra Chami,L (2389) Dresden 2008}) 11... Bd6 12. Bb2 O-O 13. Qc2 {With the c-file open this is not a good square for the Queen,} (13. Ne4 {eliminating on of black's potential attackers is correct. After} Nxe4 14. Bxe4 {followed by castling would have left white safe enough.}) 13... Rc8 {Not only does this prevent a veiled threat to the Q it prevents the aforementioned Ne4 by white.} 14. Rd1 (14. Ne4 Ne5 15. Nxf6+ Qxf6 16. Bxh7+ Kh8 17. Qb1 g6 18. Bxe5 Bxe5 19. Nxe5 Qxe5 20. Bxg6 Qc3+ 21. Ke2 fxg6 22. f3 (22. Qxg6 Qb2+ {mates in 3}) 22... Qc4+ {black is left with a winning position.}) 14... Qe7 15. O-O (15. Ne4 { is still bad.} Nxe4 16. Bxe4 Nxb4 17. Bxh7+ Kh8 18. Qb1 f5 19. axb4 Kxh7 { black is better.}) 15... Ne5 16. Nd4 (16. Nxe5 {eliminates one of black's attackers, but it was no safer.} Bxe5 17. h3 Bxc3 18. Bxc3 Nd5 19. Bxh7+ Kh8 20. Rxd5 Bxd5 21. Bd3 e5 {black has a winning game.}) 16... Nfg4 17. Qe2 { Stepping on a land mine.} (17. Bxh7+ {was his best chance to play on.} Kh8 18. Be4 Bxe4 19. Qxe4 Nxh2 20. Rfe1 f5 21. Qc2 Qh4 22. f4 Nc4 23. Bc1 Rf6 24. Qf2 { Strategically black is winning, but at least white has hopes of holding on for some time.}) 17... Qh4 {[%csl Gg4][%cal Rh4h2] Setting up a devastating finish. } 18. h3 Nxd3 19. Rxd3 Qxh3 {White resigned before black could deliver mate in 2.} (19... Qxh3 20. gxh3 Bh2#) 0-1