It's probably a good thing most of us weren't around in 1932. In the US, life expectancy for men was a scant 61.0 years; women did a little better: 63.5 years
It was also the year the government found yet another way of taking money out of our pockets. The Revenue Act of 1932 was enacted, creating the first gasoline tax in the United States at 1 cent per gallon.
The most infamous person in the country was probably Al Capone, but the Crime of the Century was the kidnapping of Charles Lindbergh. Jr. the infant son of Charles and Anne Lindbergh from their home near Hopewell, New Jersey. I remember my mother telling me about it some 25 years later.
In London in 1932 there was what the British Chess Magazine referred to as a "select company of masters" who participated in a tournament.
The following game from that event features what Hans Kmoch coined as the Benoni Jump, an attacking idea that presents itself when castling has taken place on opposite sides and, particularly, in fianchettoed Pawn formations.
[Event "London"]
[Site "London ENG"]
[Date "1932.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Vera Menchik"]
[Black "George A. Thomas"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E85"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 15"]
[PlyCount "47"]
[EventDate "1932.02.01"]
{King's Indian: Saemisch Attack} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3 {
This system gave Bobby Fischer all kinds of trouble in his early years to the
point that he eventually avoided the K-Indian if he believed he would face the
Saemisch; it wasn't until his 1992 rematch with Spassky that he finally
figured it out.} O-O 6. Be3 e5 7. Nge2 b6 {This method of meeting the Saemisch
is inferior, but that was not known at the time. Today 7...c6 is amost
universally played.} 8. Qd2 Nc6 (8... c5 9. d5 a6 10. Rb1 Ne8 11. g4 b5 12.
cxb5 axb5 13. Nxb5 f5 14. gxf5 gxf5 {Black's position has little promise.
Castaldo,F (2330)-Likavsky,T (2485) Arvier 2007}) (8... Ba6 9. b3 Nbd7 10. d5
Nh5 11. O-O-O f5 12. Kb1 f4 {Skalski,M (2327) -Jamashev,E (2320) Ternopil 2006.
this position looks like it might be favorable to black, but white's position
is actually is to be preferred and he went on to win the game.}) 9. d5 Ne7 10.
g4 {One thing is clear: black has zero counterplay on the Q-side and instead
has chosen indulge in hand to hand combat on the K-side.} Nd7 (10... h5 {
was worth a try.} 11. gxh5 Nxh5 12. Ng3 Nf4 13. O-O-O (13. Bxf4 {It's not
worth taking the P because black gets lots of play.} exf4 14. Qxf4 f5 15. Qh4
Bf6 16. Qh6 {Black has a choice between 16...Bg7 or 16...fxe4}) 13... f5 14.
Rg1 {If anybody's K is in danger it's black's.}) 11. Rg1 a5 {Black has to ove
and in this position it doesn't particularly matter what it is.} 12. O-O-O Nc5
13. Ng3 Bd7 14. h4 {[%mdl 32]} a4 15. h5 Qb8 {The position is ripe for a
Benoni Jump. In fact, it could be played now.} 16. Bh6 {Menchik decides to
eliminate dark squared Bs first leaving black's K weakened even further.} Qa7
17. Bxg7 Kxg7 18. Nf5+ {[%mdl 512] Here it is...the famous Benoni Jump.} Nxf5 (
18... Kf6 19. g5#) (18... gxf5 19. Qg5+ Ng6 20. h6+ Kg8 21. Qf6 {mates}) (18...
Bxf5 19. gxf5 Ng8 20. Kb1 Qb8 21. Bh3 Qd8 22. fxg6 fxg6 23. Bf5 Nf6 24. hxg6 {
and it's all over.}) (18... Kg8 {Black can't avoid taking the N either.} 19.
Qh6 Bxf5 20. gxf5 Nd7 21. hxg6 fxg6 22. fxg6 hxg6 23. Rxg6+ Kf7 (23... Nxg6 24.
Qxg6+ Kh8 25. Be2 {mates}) 24. Rg7+ Ke8 25. Qe6 Kd8 26. Qxe7+ Kc8 27. Qxd7+ Kb8
28. Nb5 {mates in 9}) 19. gxf5 {[%mdl 32] One wonders if Thomas saw what was
coming and just surrender to his fate.} a3 (19... Rh8 {was this only defense...
if you can call it that.} 20. f4 h6 21. Be2 Rag8 22. fxe5 dxe5 23. hxg6 f6 24.
Rh1 {White doubles Rs on the h-file and then penetrates black's position and
there is little black can do about it.}) 20. f6+ {A forceful conclusion. At
best black can oly delay mate.} Kh8 21. Qh6 axb2+ 22. Kb1 Rg8 23. hxg6 fxg6 24.
Qxh7+ {[%mdl 512] Black resigned. Menchik's play was not only forceful, it was
very precise.} 1-0
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