For links to other post-Marshall and pre-Fischer US championship collections, see Game Collection: US championship tournaments (meta).

The 1942 US championship tournament (Game Collection: 1942 US Championship) saw the first co-winners. Reshevsky and Kashdan tied for first, and it was decided to hold a playoff match. Held about six months after the tournament and planned as a 14-game match, it was ended after 11 games once Reshevsky secured a winning 4-point margin. The first three games were held at Army facilities under the sponsorship of the USO. Games 4 and 6 were held at the Marshall Chess Club and Game 5 was at the Queens Chess Club. The final five games were held at the Henry Hudson Hotel under the sponsorship of <Chess Review>. Kenneth Harkness was the match referee. The time control was 45 moves in 2 hours and 15 minutes.

Game       1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10 11
Reshevsky  1  0  1  0  1  =  1  =  =  1  1 7.5
Kashdan    0  1  0  1  0  =  0  =  =  0  0 3.5

Reshevsky +1  0 +1  0 +1 +1 +2 +2 +2 +3 +4

Kashdan had twice won against Reshevsky in the first five games and that was no mean feat, as Reshevsky rarely lost in US championship games. However, Kashdan slightly misplayed the opening in <Game 6> (Horowitz thought Kashdan transposed 11. h3 and 12. a4) and got the slightly worse game, but held the draw. <Game 7> (Reshevsky vs Kashdan, 1942) was the breaking point for Kashdan. Fine's introduction to his annotation of the game was, <"Not an outstanding performance by either side."> Reshevsky let a winning position slip to "an easy draw" with 43. b4 (either 43. Nc4 or 43. exf5+ is better, although Houdini thinks White is still winning after 43. b4 fxe4 44. b5) and then Kashdan a few moves later returns the favor with 50...h4? (Fine gave 50...e4 51. Ne3+ Kf6! <"and White can make no progress">), giving Reshevsky the win. This gave Reshevsky a 2 point lead, and Kashdan never recovered, drawing the next two games and losing the final two.

Game 8 and <Game 9> were fairly uneventful draws. While in a longer match they might have helped Kashdan get his bearings, they only served Reshevsky and his 2-game lead in a short 14-game match. In <Game 10>, Kashdan relied too much on a Knight tour (e5-g4-e3-d5) and pushing forward his pawns. Ultimately, he overextended and lost. Horowitz wrote of 28. f4, <"Feinting a faint counterattack. But White is at a loss for a good continuation. If 28. Rxa4 28...Nxc3 wins."> Houdini agrees that 28. f4 is not best, but thinks 28. Rxa4 Nxc3 29. Qb2 is better, temporarily pinning the Knight against the Queen. Kashdan had only the slightly worse game until 49...Ra1? instead of 49...Ra8, which would have been a tougher defense. Reshevsky could then get his passed pawn moving and forced an exchange of Rooks, resulting in a won Bishop ending.

Reshevsky now had an insurmountable 4-point lead with only three games remaining, so the final games were cancelled. This is as close as Kashdan ever got to being US champion.