This tournament marked a transtion in the history of chess in the United States, when at the closing dinner an announcement was made of the agreed merger between the American Chess Federation and National Chess Federation. Beginning the next year, the United States Chess Federation would organize the US Open, and the tournament took another step in its development.

As for 1939, there is some confusion about the official name of the tournament. Usually, it's called the 40th American Chess Federation Congress, keeping the traditional numbering alive. And officers of the ACF were heavily involved in the organization, particularly Milton Hanauer and Fred Reinfeld (did the man do everything?). However, the report in <The Chess Review> of September 1939 called it "1939 North American Championship", perhaps in recognition of continued Canadian participation. However, I'm going to stick with the ACF designation, as the original Western Chess Association allowed Canadians to play almost from the beginning, and even had one Canadian champion.

With international play stifled by the winds of war, Samuel Reshevesky and Reuben Fine were back in town. Reshevsky was attempting to be the first to hold the US Championship and ACF titles simultaneously, but Fine was a perfect 4/4 in this tournament. Nor could 1936 champion Al Horowitz be counted out.

Preliminary Section 1

1 Samuel Reshevsky    5.5 Championship
2 Olaf Ulvestad       4.5 Championship
3 Weaver Warren Adams 4.0 Championship
4 Joseph Lyon Rauch   3.0 Consolation
5 Irving Rivise       2.5 Consolation
6 Nicholas R Bellome  1.0 Class A
7 Bernard Wolk        0.5 Class A

Preliminary Section 2

                          1 2 3 4 5 6 7
1 Reuben Fine             X ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 4.5 Championship
2 Herbert Seidman         ½ X 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ 4.0 Championship
3 Bernard Friend          ½ 0 X 0 1 1 1 3.5 Consolation
4 Gabriel Hellman         0 ½ 1 X 0 1 1 3.5 Championship
5 Daniel Abraham Yanofsky ½ 0 0 1 X 1 1 3.5 Consolation
6 Boris Garfinkel         0 ½ 0 0 0 X 1 1.5 Class A
7 Mark Peckar             0 ½ 0 0 0 0 X 0.5 Class A

Preliminary Section 3

1 Israel Albert Horowitz 4.5 Championship
2 Charles Jaffe          4.5 Championship
3 Matthew Green          3.5 Championship
4 Samuel Kitces          3.0 Consolation
5 Michael Neckerman      2.5 Consolation
6 Schuyler Broughton     1.5 Class A
7 John E Fulop           1.5

Preliminary Section 4

1 Albert Pinkus           5.0 Championship
2 Boris Blumin            4.5 Championship
3 Anthony Santasiere      4.5 Championship
4 Walter Bradford Suesman 3.5 Consolation
5 Carl Pilnick            2.0 Consolation
6 Thomas J Connelly       1.0 Class A
7 Joseph Hidalgo, Jr.     0.5 Class A

Championship

                          1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2
1  Reuben Fine            X ½ 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 10.5
2  Samuel Reshevsky       ½ X 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 10.0
3  Israel Albert Horowitz 0 0 X ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 1 1  8.0
4  Albert Pinkus          0 ½ ½ X 0 ½ 1 1 1 1 1 1  7.5
5  Anthony Santasiere     0 0 0 1 X ½ ½ 1 0 1 1 1  6.0
6  Herbert Seidman        0 0 ½ ½ ½ X ½ 0 1 1 1 1  6.0
7  Matthew Green          0 0 0 0 ½ ½ X ½ ½ 0 1 1  4.0
8  Gabriel Hellman        0 0 0 0 0 1 ½ X 1 ½ 0 1  4.0
9  Weaver Warren Adams    0 0 0 0 1 0 ½ 0 X 0 1 1  3.5
10 Olaf Ulvestad          0 0 0 0 0 0 1 ½ 1 X 0 1  3.5
11 Boris Blumin           0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 X 1  3.0
12 Charles Jaffe          0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 X  0.0

Consolation Tournament

                          1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
1 Daniel Abraham Yanofsky X 1 ½ 1 1 1 ½ 1 6.0
2 Bernard Friend          0 X ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 5.0
3 Michael Neckerman       ½ ½ X 0 1 1 ½ 1 4.5
4 Samuel Kitces           0 0 1 X ½ 0 ½ 1 3.0
5 Joseph Lyon Rauch       0 0 ½ ½ X ½ 1 ½ 3.0
6 Carl Pilnick            0 0 0 1 ½ X 0 1 2.5
7 Walter Bradford Suesman ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 1 X 0 2.5
8 Irving Rivise           0 0 0 0 ½ 0 1 X 1.5

Class A

                     1 2 3 4 5 6 7
1 Bernard Wolk       X 0 1 1 1 1 1 5.0
2 Boris Garfinkel    1 X 1 0 1 1 ½ 4.5
3 Nicholas B Bellome 0 0 X 1 1 ½ 1 3.5
4 Mark Peckar        0 1 0 X 0 1 1 3.0
5 Schuyler Broughton 0 0 0 1 X 1 0 2.0
6 Thomas J Connely   0 0 ½ 0 0 X 1 1.5
7 Joseph Hidalgo, Jr 0 ½ 0 0 1 0 X 1.5

That's how the pre-US Open era ended. After a few slow years due to war, the tournament would soon expand beyond recognition.

-----
Sources:

Chess Results 1936-1940 / Gino di Felice, p. 257-258.

"1939 North American Championship". <Chess Review>, September 1939, p. 173-183.

Reuben Fine : a comprehensive record of an American Chess Career, 1929-1951 / Aidan Woodger. Jefferson, NC : McFarland, 2004.

-----

PREVIOUS: Game Collection: US Open 1938, Boston = 39th ACF Congress

NEXT: Game Collection: US Open 1940, Dallas