<35th ACF Congress
Chicago, Illinois
July 21-August 1, 1934>

Almost since its inception in 1927, the National Chess Federation of the U.S.A. had been pointing toward one great ambition: a major chess event in 1933 at Chicago as part of the Century of Progress Exhibition. When the time came, they staged a 32-board blindfold simul by Alekhine, some exhibitions of Living Chess, a chess museum, and a small intercollegiate tournament. All very nice, but you have to wonder if it was what people were expecting.

No doubt by sheer coincidence, the Western Chess Association decided to hold their 1934 tournament in Chicago. At some point around the time of tournament, the old Western Chess Association (WCA) was replaced by the new American Chess Federation (ACF). It's very tempting to call this the first event held under ACF auspices, but all sources I've seen say the WCA was still in charge at the time. Certainly the tournament marked a departure the size and format of the event/

If one goal of the new organization was to increase the general popularity of chess among all levels of play, it succeeded: the tournament drew a record total of 32 players. Previously (for example, in 1906 and 1908) the practice with an overly large turnout was to divide the field into preliminary sections, from which the top finishers would advance to a championship final. Ideally, the best players be seeded into different preliminaries so that each section would be approximately equal in strength. This was simple in the Excelsior days, when most of the players were local and their approximate strength well known. But the 1934 event drew players from all over the country, making seeding more difficult due to unfamiliarity with a player's level of skill. In addition, <Arpad Elo> was playing rather than devising a rating system.

So local official <Kirk D. Holland> devised a system of setting up qualification sections which did not involve seeding as such. Here we go. Good luck.

Preliminary Round 1

The players were paired, more or less at random, and played a single game. Here are the results (actual colors are unknown):

The results for the Preliminary rounds come from <Chess results>, Since every decisive results appears to be 1-0, it can be assumed the the source of these results did not correctly indicate colors.

Hahlbohm 1 Araiza Munoz; Eastman 1 Jensen; Margolis 1 Freeman; Dake 1 Jefferson; B. Illsley 1 Lew; Hanauer 1 Barnes; Kashdan 1 Palmi; Engholm 1 Nash; Waggoner 1 Holland; Marks 1 Heyn; Reshevsky 1 Grigorieff; Elo* 1/2 Osher; Jackson 1 R. Illsley; Woods 1 <Fine>; MacMurray 1 Belson; Denker 1 Rundell

Elo was counted as a winner following a coin flip. And, yes, Fine lost.

Preliminary Round 2a

The sixteen winners were played, with these results. (Again, in a drawn game a "winner"* was decided by coin flip.

MacMurray 1 B. Illsley; Margolis 1 Engholm; Eastman 1 <Kashdan>; Dake 1 Jackson; Hahlbohm* 1/2 <Reshevsky>; Denker 1 Waggoner; Marks 1 Elo; Hanauer 1 Woods

The eight winners here were assigned to Qualifying Section A, from which four players advanced to the Championship final. The losers, including Kashdan and Reshevsky (after coin flip) were assigned to Qualifying Section B, which had three qualifiers.

Preliminary Round 2b

This paired the sixteen losers from Preliminary Round 1:

Friedman 1 Belson; Araiza Munoz 1 Rundell; Fine 1 Holland; Nash* 1/2 Jensen; Barnes* 1/2 Osher; Lew 1 Heyn; Grigorieff 1 R. Illsley; Jefferson 1 Palmi

The winners advanced to Qualifying Section C, with two qualifiers for the final; the losers to Qualifying Section D, with one qualifier.

Qualifying Section A

                      1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
1 Arthur William Dake X = = 1 1 = 1 1 5.5
2 Arnold Denker       = X = = 1 = 1 1 5.0
3 Donald MacMurray    = = X 1 = 0 1 1 4.5
4 George Eastman      0 = 0 X 0 1 1 1 3.5
5 Herman H Hahlbohm   0 0 = 1 X 1 0 = 3.0
6 Milton Loeb Hanauer = = 1 0 0 X 0 1 3.0
7 Albert Margolis     0 0 0 0 1 1 X 1 3.0
8 Howard Landis Marks 0 0 0 0 = 0 0 X 0.5

Kashdan, Reshevsky, and Fine did not make it to the top qualifying section. Had they done so, it's likely that only one of the actual qualifiers from this section would have made the Championship Final, which hardly seems fair. Denker and Dake, in particular, were both worthy.

So the preliminary "failures" of Kashdan, Reshevsky and Fine worked well for the top players. They had easier paths to the final, and with a grueling schedule including two rounds on many days this was important. Plus, this way all the best New York players made it to the championship instead of some being relegated to Consolation sections.

Did Kashdan and Fine deliberately lose in the prelims? Was there collusion between the New York players for some to take a fall early to improve the chances of all? There is no proof of this that I know of, but this particular tournament system was not used again.

Qualifying Section B

                   1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
1 Samuel Reshevsky X 1 = 1 1 1 1 1 6.5
2 Isaac Kashdan    0 X 1 1 1 1 1 1 6.0
3 Nels G Engholm   = 0 X 1 1 1 1 1 5.5
4 Henry M Woods    0 0 0 X 1 1 1 1 4.0
5 Arpad Elo        0 0 0 0 X 1 1 1 3.0
6 W Waggoner       0 0 0 0 0 X 1 1 2.0
7 M C Jackson      0 0 0 0 0 0 X 1 1.0
8 B Illsley        0 0 0 0 0 0 0 X 0.0

Qualifying Section C

                            1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
1 Reuben Fine               X 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 6.0
2 Jose Joaquin Araiza Munoz 1 X 1 = 0 1 1 1 5.5
3 Wladimir Grigorieff       0 0 X 1 1 1 1 1 5.0
4 Bradford B Jefferson      0 = 0 X 1 1 1 1 4.5
5 George Samuel Barnes      0 1 0 0 X 0 1 = 2.5
6 Sol R Friedman            0 0 0 0 1 X = 0 1.5
7 Edmund Nash               0 0 0 0 0 = X 1 1.5
8 Harry Lew                 0 0 0 0 = 1 0 X 1.5

Qualifying Section D

                      1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
1 John Harold Belson  X = 1 1 1 0 1 1 5.5
2 Bjarne Jensen       = X 1 1 = = = 1 5.0
3 Fred J Rundell      0 0 X 1 = 1 = 1 4.0
4 Walter Heyn         0 0 0 X 1 = 1 1 3.5
5 Andrew Hansen Palmi 0 = = 0 X 1 1 = 3.5
6 R Illsley           1 = 0 = 0 X = = 3.0
7 Seymour Osher       0 = = 0 0 = X 1 2.5
8 Kirk D Holland      0 0 0 0 = = 0 X 1.0

Championship Final

                             1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
1  Reuben Fine               X = 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 7.5
2  Samuel Reshevsky          = X 1 = 1 = 1 1 1 1 7.5
3  Arthur William Dake       1 0 X = 1 = 1 1 1 = 6.5
4  Arnold Denker             0 = = X 0 1 1 = 1 1 5.5
5  George Eastman            0 0 0 1 X = 1 1 = = 4.5
6  Isaac Kashdan             0 = = 0 = X 1 1 = = 4.5
7  Donald MacMurray          0 0 0 0 0 0 X 1 1 1 3.0
8  Jose Joaquin Araiza Munoz 0 0 0 = 0 0 0 X 1 1 2.5
9  John Harold Belson        0 0 0 0 = = 0 0 X 1 2.0
10 Nels G Engholm            0 0 = 0 = = 0 0 0 X 1.5

Thirty-eight of the 45 games have been found, and it is possible to chart the course play. Dates come for Lahde's biography of Fine; I have been unable to verify them from contemporary sources. An asterisk (*) indicates a missing game; colors are uncertain in these, and results have been indicated as "+", "-", or "=".

Round 1 (Friday, July 27):
Belson 0 Dake; Engholm 1/2 Eastman; Fine 1 Araiza Munoz; Denker 1 Kashdan; Reshevsky + MacMurray*

Round 2 (Friday, JUly 27):
Fine 1 Denker; Reshevsky 1 Dake; Engholm 0 Ariaza Munoz; Belson 1/2 Kashdan; Eastman + MacMurray*

Round 3 (Saturday, July 28)
Denker 0 Eastman; Engholm 1/2 Dake; Reshevsky 1 Ariaza Munoz; Kashdan 0 Fine; MacMurray + Belson*

Round 4 (Sunday, July 29)
Araiza Munoz 0 MacMurray; Engholm 0 Denker; Belson 0 Fine; Reshevsky 1 Eastman; Kashdan 1/2 Dake

Round 5 (Monday, July 30)
Araiza Munoz 0 Eastman; Denker 1 MacMurray; Dake 1 Fine; Kashdan = Reshevsky*; Belson + Engholm*

Round 6 (Monday, July 30)
Dake 1/2 Denker; MacMurray 1 Engholm; Eastman 0 Fine; Belson 0 Reshevsky; Kashdan 1 Araiza Munoz

Round 7 (Tuesday, July 31)
Araiza Munoz 1 Belson; Dake 1 Eastman; MacMurray 0 Kashdan; Fine 1 Engholm; Reshevsky 1/2 Denker

Round 8 (Tuesday, July 31)
Dake 1 Araiza Munoz; Eastman 1/2 Kashdan; Fine 1 MacMurray; Engholm 0 Reshevsky; Denker + Belson*

Round 9 (Wednesday, August 1)
Araiza Munoz 1/2 Denker; MacMurray 0 Dake; Fine 1/2 Reshevsky; Engholm 1/2 Kashdan; Eastman = Belson*

Consolation Tournament

                        1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
1  Milton Loeb Hanauer  X = = = = 1 1 1 1 1 7.0
2  Herman H Hahlbohm    = X = 0 1 1 0 1 1 1 6.0
3  Bjarne Jensen        = = X 1 = 1 = 0 1 1 6.0
4  Fred J Rundell       = 1 0 X 0 1 = 1 1 1 6.0
5  Sol R Friedman       = 0 = 1 X = = 1 0 1 5.0
6  Arpad Elo            0 0 0 0 = X 1 1 = 1 4.0
7  Harry M Woods        0 1 = = = 0 X 0 = 1 4.0
8  Bradford B Jefferson 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 X 1 0 3.0
9  Andrew Hansen Palmi  0 0 0 0 1 = = 0 X 1 3.0
10 W Waggoner           0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 X 1.0

Class A:

                 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
1 Seymour Osher  X = 1 1 1 1 1 1 6.5
2 Harry Lew      = X = = 1 1 1 1 5.5
3 R Illsley      0 = X 0 1 1 1 1 4.5
4 Walter Heyn    0 = 1 X 0 1 1 = 4.0
5 B Illsley      0 0 0 1 X 0 1 1 3.0
6 Kirk D Holland 0 0 0 0 1 X 0 1 2.0
7 M C Jackson    0 0 0 0 0 1 X = 1.5
8 Edmund Nash    0 0 0 = 0 0 = X 1.0

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Sources:

American Chess Bulletin, September/October 1934, p.p.124-125. (ACB)

Brooklyn Daily Eagle, July 19, 1934. (BDE)

Chess Results 1931-1935 / Gino di Felice, p.222-224. (CR)

Cincinnati Enquirer, September 9, 1934.

Isaac Kashdan, American Chess Grandmaster : a Career Summary with 757 Games / Peter P. Lahde. Jefferson, NC : McFarland, 2009. (Lahde)

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

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SEE ALSO: Game Collection: US Open Tournament Index