Chess and the Depression

     1933 was the worst year of the depression with unemployment peaking at one in 4 people unemployed. In the United States tens of thousands traveled the roads and rails looking for work and the US banking system, which was under great strain, was propped up by the US government. The Banking Act of 1933 tried to stop the panic of people withdrawing their money from the banks. 

     There was also the continuing drought in the Midwest that turned even more of the land into dust bowls. 

     The 1930s were in direct contrast to the prosperity of the Roaring Twenties. Clothes were mended, not replaced. A lot of people who read could not afford books so they read in the library. 

     The great American national pastime, baseball, changed profoundly during the Great Depression. Major League rosters and players’ salaries were cut, many minor league teams were eliminated and in an effort to bolster attendance that had fallen by more than 40 percent by 1933, night games were introduced. 

     And, with the end of Prohibition in 1933, nightclubs became legitimate places not only to consume liquor but to socialize, dance, enjoy other forms of entertainment. 

     People indulged in inexpensive amusements like backyard games, puzzles, card games and board games such as Monopoly which was introduced in 1935.

     Chess survived, too. In 1933, Reuben Fine won the Marshall Chess Club championship and Marjorie Luce (aka Mrs. William Seaman) won the Marshall women's championship with a perfect 11-0 score. 

     It was the year that the Manhattan Chess Club moved to the Hotel Alamac and Robert Willman won the club championship. 

     Fred Reinfeld scored 8 wins and 3 draws to win the New York State Chess Championship that was held in Syracuse. Arnold Denker took second and Reuben Fine and Anthony Santasiere tied for third. 

     Three thousand miles away from New York City Herman Steiner became the chess editor of the Los Angeles Times and was hob-nobbing with the Hollywood crowd and so was instrumental in establishing the Hollywood Chess Club, the Yiddish Chess Club, the Los Angeles Chess and Checker Club, the Los Angeles Athletic Club and the Caltech Chess Club in Pasadena. 

     In January 1933, Isaac Kashdan published the first edition of The Chess Review which later became just Chess Review under I.A. Horowitz and, also, one of the premier postal chess organizations in the country. In November 1969, it merged with Chess Life to become Chess Life & Review. 

     Also in 1933 after a two year layoff during which time Isaac Kashdan was the official titleholder, the Manhattan Chess Club resumed its annual championship tournament. Robert Willman and Abraham Kupchik tied for 1st place, I.A. Horowitz finished 3rd followed by Alabert S. Pinkus. In a playoff Kupchik defeated Willman with +2 -1 =2 to take the title. 

     At the Folkestone Olympiad only 15 teams participated. It was originally scheduled to be played in Chicago, but these plans were canceled due to financial problems. The USA team (Isaac Kashdan, Frank Marshall, Reuben Fine, Arthur Dake and Albert Simonson won with a 39-17 score. 

     The 34th Western Open (later the US Open) was held in Detroit and Reuben Fine won it with a +10 -1 =0 score. Samuel Reshevsky was 2nd, followed by Arthur Dake. Fine lost to Reshevsky in round 6, but won all his other games. Reshevsky drew to Arthur Dake, Samuel Factor, Albert Margolis and George Barnes. 

     Arthur Dake (1910-2000) had an extraordinary talent for chess even though he learned the game at the late age of 17. By the age of 21, he won gold with the US team at the Chess Olympiad in Prague 1931. 

     A merchant seaman, in the late summer of 1929 he arrived in New York with nothing more than a duffel bag slung over his shoulder, and the determination to meet and beat the great masters of the city. 

     In New York he met Kenneth Grover, a checkers player, and the two set up a chess and checkers stand to play against all comers for a small fee. Things didn’t work out very well because of the depression so they tried organizing private poker games, but one day their poker room was robbed by gangsters and they got out of that business. 

     In any case, after he arrival in New York Dake quickly became one of the best players in the country. And, that was even though he lost a match held at the Marshall and Manhattan chess clubs to Reuben Fine who scored +4−2=3. In April of that year he also lost a match to I.A. Hozowitz who scored +4 -0 =4; it was supposed to be for 10 games, but the last two weren’t played. 

     Dake does a better job of strutting his stuff in the following game from the Folkestone Olympiad in which he overwhelmed one of England’s best players, C.H.O’D. Alexander. 

[Event "Folkestone Olympiad"] [Site ""] [Date "1933.06.17"] [Round "?"] [White "Arthur Dake (USA)"] [Black "C.H.O'D. Alexander (England)"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E94"] [Annotator "Stockfish 15.1"] [PlyCount "61"] [EventDate "1933.06.12"] {King's Indian Defense} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Be2 O-O 6. Nf3 Nbd7 7. O-O e5 8. d5 Nc5 9. Nd2 a5 10. Qc2 Ne8 11. Nb3 b6 (11... f5 12. Nxc5 dxc5 13. exf5 gxf5 14. f4 e4 15. a4 Bd4+ 16. Kh1 Ra6 {Draw agreed. Bischoff,K (2505) -Kindermann,S (2560) Bern 1990}) 12. Nxc5 bxc5 13. Bd2 f5 14. exf5 (14. Bd3 f4 15. f3 h5 16. Rae1 g5 17. Kf2 {The K begins an amazing journey!} g4 18. Ke2 h4 19. Kd1 Nf6 20. Kc1 g3 21. hxg3 hxg3 22. Rh1 {Chances are equal, but in the game white managed to outplay his opponent. Sivuk,V (2517)-Bitensky,I (2384) Jerusalem ISR 2015}) (14. f3 fxe4 15. fxe4 Rxf1+ 16. Rxf1 Nf6 17. Nb5 Bd7 18. Bg5 {White enjoys a slim advantage. Sondermann,D (2116) -Sieberg,R (2004) Dortmund 2008}) 14... gxf5 15. f4 e4 16. Nb5 Bb7 17. Bc3 Nf6 18. a4 Qd7 {Preferred by Komodo 14, but Stockfish likes the anti-positional looking 18...Ne8 exchanging Bs.} 19. Qd2 e3 {The idea is to offer a P to give the N access to e4 and also to open up the e-file for his Rs. Actually, it's a bluff and there was no reason for white not to take the P.} ( 19... h6 20. Rfe1 Kh7 {and neither side can boast of having any advantage.}) 20. Qd3 (20. Qxe3 Ne4 21. Bf3 Nxc3 22. bxc3 Rae8 23. Qd3) 20... Bc8 {This seems to be a rather pointless move. Why not somply 20...Rae8?} 21. Rae1 Re8 ( 21... Ne4 {is the logical followup to his 19th move.} 22. Qxe3 Bxc3 23. Nxc3 Qg7 24. Nxe4 fxe4 25. b3 {White is better.} (25. Qxe4 Qxb2 {is also in white's favor.})) 22. Bf3 (22. Rf3 {was also good.} Ne4 23. Rxe3 Nxc3 24. bxc3 Rxe3 25. Qxe3 {White's advantage should prove decisive.}) 22... Ng4 {With the disappearance of dark squared Bs after this move black's position quickly collapses, but it's hard to suggest anything that is totally satisfactory. Perhaps a waiting move like 22...Ba6 is best.} 23. Bxg7 Kxg7 {After this move which leaves his K naked and exposed black is totally lost. He needed to recapture with the Q.} (23... Qxg7 24. Bxg4 fxg4 25. f5 Rf8 26. Rxe3 {But even here black's prospects are grim.}) 24. Re2 (24. Bxg4 {was also pretty good!} fxg4 25. f5 Rf8 26. Qxe3 Rxf5 27. Rxf5 Qxf5 28. Nxc7 Rb8 29. Ne8+ Kg6 30. Qe7 { and white is winning.}) 24... Rb8 {There's not much black can to except make pointless moves.} 25. Qc3+ Kg8 26. Rfe1 (26. Bxg4 {was an even harder blow. After} fxg4 27. f5 Rf8 28. f6 Ba6 29. Rxe3 Bxb5 30. Re7 {black is doomed.}) 26... Qg7 27. Qxg7+ Kxg7 28. Nxc7 {Grabbing an extra P can't hurt.} Re7 29. Nb5 Rb6 30. Bxg4 {Finally!} fxg4 31. Rxe3 {Black resigned. The ending is hopelessly lost.} 1-0