The other day I recently received some additional information from a gentleman who was Celia Neimark’s nephew; she was his father’s younger sister. She must have been a very modest lady because he stated that he never knew about her chess playing days. Or, about his grandfather’s chess playing. He added that his father played a little chess as well, so it’s clear that chess was part of what they did growing up in the household.
She had three other sisters, Bella, Sophie and Sadie. Her father was Louis Neimark and her mother’s name was Libby. Her father was one of Samuel Rzeschewski’s (Reshevsky) simultaneous opponents in Cleveland, Ohio on January 27, 1921.
She and her sisters grew up on a farm that was apparently a frequent gathering place and they were a very generous and charitable family.
Each of the siblings were descried “as sturdy a specimen … as you’d wish to see.” They all worked extremely hard on the farm (it was a sometimes very difficult and physical life for the family) and they were all quite bright.
Celia, known more familiarly by her family as Cele, married Lou Ginsberg and moved to Los Angeles in the early 50s where they had one son, Peter. As an adult Peter moved to Las Vegas and after the death of her husband Lew, Cele following her son to Vegas where she passed in 1998.
Her nephew added that Celia was “whip smart and said what was on her mind and very kind, as was the entire family.”
Her nephew also noted that Fannie Neimark, who was a first cousin to Celia, was a daughter to Louis’s brother Samuel Neimark.
Both Louis and Sam along with their spouses sailed to America around 1906 from Russia, landing in New York at Ellis Island and ultimately settled in the Youngstown/Coitsville, Ohio area where they raised their families, ran the farm and started in business.
The following casual game played in West Austintown, Ohio, a small unincorporated community near Youngstown. In the game the Ohio Champion gets defeated bt 7-year-old Celia Neimark. It was the only game of hers that I could locate.
[Event "Casual game, West Austintown, Ohio"]
[Site "West Austintown, OH USA"]
[Date "1921.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Celia Neimark"]
[Black "Irving Spero"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C43"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 16"]
[PlyCount "113"]
[EventDate "1921.??.??"]
[Source "American Chess B"]
{C43: Petrov Defense} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. d4 {This is the move preferred by
Steinitz. Black can now capture either Pawn.} exd4 4. e5 Nd5 {Rarely played.
This move does not yield nearly as good results as the standard 4...Ne4} 5.
Qxd4 c6 6. Bc4 Qb6 {After this black's position is difficult. He offers a
trade of Qs probably hoping to ease his game.} (6... Be7 7. O-O O-O 8. a3 Nb6
9. Bd3 d5 10. exd6 Qxd6 {is nearly equal. Naesborg,J-Edvardsson,H Helsingor
2008}) (6... Nb4 {is just a bad move.} 7. O-O h6 8. Qf4 {and in Handke,F (2471)
-Vano Perez,J (2083) Andorra 2002 white went on to win.}) (6... Nc7 7. Nc3 Ne6
8. Qd1 d5 9. exd6 Bxd6 10. O-O O-O {is roughly equal. Butneva,L (1925)
-Smirnova,S (2022) Vladimir 2007}) 7. Qxb6 {This is not so good as white could
have gotten a good game with 7.Bxd5.} (7. Bxd5 cxd5 8. Nc3 Bc5 (8... Qxd4 9.
Nxd4 Bb4 10. Ndb5 O-O (10... d6 11. Bd2 Be6 12. Nc7+) 11. Bd2 d4 12. Nd5 Bxd2+
13. Kxd2 Nc6 14. Nd6 {Black is in a miserable situation.}) 9. Qg4 Bxf2+ 10. Ke2
Kf8 11. Nxd5 Qc5 12. Qe4 b6 13. c4 Bb7 14. b4 Qxb4 15. Kxf2 {White is winning.}
) 7... Nxb6 8. Bb3 a5 {This demonstration is a waste of time; black should be
concerned with development. I am sure black knew this, but was taking
liberties against his opponent.} 9. Ng5 {The position is deceptive as things
are very tricky, especially if black plays the best reply, 9...f6.} Nd5 (9...
f6 10. Be3 (10. exf6 gxf6 11. Nf7 {is deceptive because after} a4 12. Nxh8 axb3
13. Na3 bxc2 14. Nxc2 Bg7 {it's black who is better.}) 10... d5 11. exd6 (11.
Bxb6 fxg5 {actually favors black.}) 11... Nd5 12. Bxd5 cxd5 13. Nf3 Bxd6 14.
Nc3 Bb4) 10. a4 {White clearly wants to keep her B on the diagonal} Be7 11. O-O
O-O 12. Bxd5 cxd5 13. Nc3 d4 14. Nd5 Nc6 15. Ne4 {It may seem surprising, but
the moves of both players have been in Stockfish’s top two or three choices.
Very impressive especially for a seven year old girl/.} Bb4 {Black is hard
pressed to find a really decent move here.} 16. c3 {As recommended by
Stockfish. Impressive!} dxc3 17. bxc3 Be7 18. Nxe7+ Nxe7 19. Ba3 Re8 20. Nd6 {
Inhibits Nf5.} Rd8 {So far white’s play has been impeccable! But, her next
move should have been 21.Bc5!} 21. Nxb7 $2 {The temptation to win a P is too
much, but it allows black to get some breathing room and Bs of opposite color.
This move yields no more than equality.} Bxb7 22. Bxe7 Rdc8 23. Rab1 Be4 24.
Rbc1 Bd3 25. Rfd1 Bf5 {[%mdl 32]} 26. Rd5 Be6 27. Rc5 Re8 28. Bd6 Bb3 29. Ra1
Re6 30. Rc7 f6 31. Rxd7 fxe5 32. Bc7 e4 33. Bg3 Rc8 34. Bc7 $16 Ra8 35. Rd8+
Rxd8 36. Bxd8 {[%mdl 4096]} Rd6 37. Bxa5 Bxa4 38. Bb4 Rd3 39. h3 Bc6 {Both
sides habe handled the ending reasonable well and a draw seems probable here.
One wonders about the circumstances that the remainder of the game was played
under. Was the state champion trying to wear the little girl out?} 40. Kf1 Bb5
41. Ke1 e3 42. fxe3 Rxe3+ 43. Kf2 Re2+ 44. Kf3 Rc2 45. Ra8+ Kf7 46. Rf8+ Kg6
47. Rc8 Bd7 48. Rc7 Be6 49. Rc6 Kf7 50. Rc7+ Kf6 51. Be7+ Kg6 52. g4 Bd5+ 53.
Kf4 Rf2+ 54. Kg3 Rf3+ 55. Kh4 Kh6 {This is a serious error.} (55... h6 $18 {
and Black is okay.} 56. Bd6 Kf6 57. Be7+ Kg6 58. c4 Rc3 59. Ra7 Bxc4 {draw})
56. Rc5 {Missing her chance, but the winning line was difficult to see.} (56.
Rd7 $1 Bc4 57. Rd6+ g6 58. Rf6 Rxf6 (58... Rxc3 59. Bf8#) 59. Bxf6 {Black is
threatened with 60.g5#, so...} g5+ 60. Bxg5+ Kg6 {This is most likely a
theoretical win for white as Stockfish won five Shootouts. To be honest though,
the wins took in excess of 100 moves and so the win is probably beyond the
ability of most players.} 61. Be3 {with a won ending.}) 56... Be6 {[%mdl 8192]
A gross oversight that should have lost.} (56... Rd3 {and Black has nothing to
worry.} 57. Rc7 Bg2 58. g5+ Kg6 59. Bf8 Kf5 60. Rc5+ Kf4 61. Rc4+ {White ,ust
take the draw.}) 57. Rc6 {pinning the B which is now lost, so black resigned.}
1-0
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