A Marvel of the Age

    In England in 1920, popular toys included mechanical model trains, wind-up metal cars, trucks, and lead soldiers modeled after World War I as were Teddy bears and a stuffed toy dog with a sad, droopy face. For one famous little boy it was chess pieces.

    In 1920, Samuel Reshevsky (spelled Rzeszewski at the time) was 8 years old when he played the following game in a simultaneous display in Leeds, England. According to a report in the Yorkshire Evening Post local players were amazed at his skill when he played 15 games simultaneously and won 11 and drew three. The report described him as “one of the marvels of the age.” 

    Did you know that Reshevsky, who was the youngest child, had two brothers and three sisters? It was said that none of them possessed his precocity. While a great deal is documented about Samuel, very little biographical information has been recorded regarding siblings. What is known is that during his early childhood tours across Europe the income generated from his simultaneous exhibitions was used to support his parents (Jacob and Shaindel) and his five siblings. 

    When he, his parents and a secretary named C. A. Arensberg arrived in New York the morning of November 3, 1920, in order to capitalize on his chess prowess his brothers and sisters remained behind in Europe. 

    Upon arrival they were met by a New York businessman named Max Rosenthal, who was a relative of the family. Rosenthal took over managing the young prodigy and organized simultaneous displays throughout the country. 

    In a 1921 interview with the press Reshevsky expressed that he was homesick and said he would like to have his brothers and sisters with him. Because they remained in Europe during that time biographical information on them appears to have been lost. 

    In the following game Stiockfish did a lot of nitpicking over the moves of both players, but the game had some head whirling complications and for the 8-year old Reshevsky to have seen his way through them as well as he did in a simul is pretty amazing. 

 

[Event "Simul, Leeds, England"] [Site ""] [Date "1920.08.31"] [Round "?"] [White "Samuel Reshevsky"] [Black "G. W. Beaumont"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C34"] [Annotator "Stockfish 19"] [PlyCount "59"] [EventDate "1920.??.??"] [Source ""] {C34: King's Gambit Accepted} 1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 d6 4. Bc4 Be6 {Theoretically this move is quite good, but in my database it was played 49 times with black scoring poorly with +16 -27 =6. He gets the best results with 4...h6} 5. Bxe6 fxe6 6. d4 g5 {Sharp play! 6...Qf6 is safer.} 7. O-O (7. h4 $1 {is white's most active reply.} Be7 {This loses!} (7... g4 8. Ng5 {leaves black without a good reply.}) 8. Nxg5 Bxg5 9. Qh5+ Kd7 10. hxg5 {White has a winning position, but eventually agreed to a draw in a winning position! Gardner,R (2185)-Czebe,A (2340) Budapest 1995}) (7. h4 gxh4 $1 {is the only good reply, but even then black's position is not so great. After} 8. Nc3 Nd7 9. Bxf4 Qf6 10. Qd2 {White has an excellent position.}) 7... h6 {Two better alternatives were either 7...Bg7 o7 7...Nd7} 8. Qe2 (8. g3 {is the engine's way to take advantage of black's passive play.} fxg3 9. Nc3 gxh2+ 10. Nxh2 {An absolutely crazy position! Wgite is two Ps down, but he has the better position. For example} Nf6 11. Ng4 Nbd7 12. Qf3 Bg7 13. e5 dxe5 14. dxe5 Nxe5 15. Nxf6+ Bxf6 16. Qxf6 Qxf6 17. Rxf6 Ke7 18. Rf2 {White has a B vs. 4 Ps in what seems to be s highly unclear position, but in Shootouts white wcored _2 -0 =3.}) 8... a6 {This move serves no real purpose. 8...Bg7 was better.} (8... g4 {would be a bad slip as after} 9. Qb5+ Qd7 10. Qh5+ {white has the advantage.}) 9. Ne1 $2 {This repositioning of the N is a waste of time.} (9. g3 {forces black to make a decision on how he shpuld proceed. Moves like 9...Nc6, 9...Nd7. 9...Qf6, 9...Bg7, 9...g4 or even 9...e5 as in the game are to be considered.}) 9... Qe7 10. g3 {This does not have the same effect as it would have if he had played it last move because of the loss of time with the N.} e5 11. Nc3 Nf6 (11... exd4 $4 {is met by} 12. Nd5 Qd7 13. Qh5+ Kd8 14. gxf4 {and white has a decisive advantage.}) 12. dxe5 dxe5 13. Nd3 Nc6 14. Nd5 Nxd5 {Neither side has played the opening with precision and after this move the position is equal.} (14... Qg7 {shuts white down on the K-side and so after, say,} 15. Nxf6+ Qxf6 16. Qh5+ Qf7 17. Qxf7+ Kxf7 18. Bd2 {black is a solid P up and has good chances in the ending.}) 15. exd5 Nd4 16. Qh5+ Kd8 17. Bd2 {Even at the age of 8 and in a simultaneous display where he was moving rapidly from board to board Reshevsky demonstrates a characteristic for which he was famous...quick sight of the board and rapid calculation. Here he offers black the opportunity to play 17...Nxc2 calculating that it would result in equal chance. However, in order to keep things equal black would need to walk a tightrope.} Qf6 $2 {This is inaccurate. Either 17...Qh7 or 17...e4 were acceptable.} (17... Nxc2 18. Rac1 {Very tricky! Black ghas only one good move.} Qh7 $1 19. Nxe5 {Again, there is only one move that doesn't lose.} Bc5+ $3 20. Kh1 Qe4+ 21. Qf3 Qxe5 22. gxf4 gxf4 23. Rxc2 Bd6 24. Bxf4 {with equal chances.}) 18. Nxe5 {Here Reshevsky failsed to take advantage of black's inaccuracy. That said, it's tactically a difficult position and black's position is is so precarious that he has only one move that doesn't lose and he fails to find it.} (18. Bc3 Bd6 19. Rae1 {and black is under a lot of pressure.}) 18... Rh7 $2 {[%mdl 8192]} (18... Qxe5 {had to be played.} 19. Rae1 {Threatening mate on e8} Ne2+ 20. Rxe2 Bc5+ 21. Kg2 Qxd5+ {with equal chances.}) 19. Rae1 {White is clearly winning.} Bd6 20. gxf4 {[%mdl 32]} Bc5 21. Kh1 c6 {[%mdl 32]} 22. fxg5 {[%mdl 64]} Qd6 23. Nf7+ Rxf7 24. Qxf7 Qxd5+ 25. Qxd5+ cxd5 26. gxh6 {Black can safely resign at any time.} Kc7 27. h7 Rh8 28. Rf7+ Kb8 29. Bf4+ Ka7 30. Be5 {Black resigned.} 1-0