Samuel Reshevsky

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Samuel Reshevsky 1968.jpg
Samuel Reshevsky, 1968
Surname Samuel Herman Reshevsky
Association United StatesUnited States United States
Born November 26, 1911
Ozorków
Died April 4, 1992
Suffern (New York)
title Grand Master (1950)
Best Elo rating 2565 (July 1972)

Samuel Herman Reshevsky (born November 26, 1911 in Ozorków , then the Russian Empire , now Poland , as Szmul Rzeszewski, † April 4, 1992 in Suffern , New York ) was an American chess master of Polish descent.

Life

Samuel Reshevsky plays simultaneously (1920).

Samuel Reshevsky was the sixth child to Jewish parents. At the age of six he was already playing against several adult opponents simultaneously . In the spring of 1917, at the age of five, he showed such astonishing skill in free games in the New Vienna Chess Club that some observers even assumed it was a trick (see Golden Chess Times of Milan Vidmar ). Among other things, he defeated the master player Siegfried Reginald Wolf and also demanded all the skills of the top player Milan Vidmar. As a child prodigy , he toured the United States in 1920 and stayed there. At the age of eleven he won a tournament game against David Janowski . In 1923 his chess career was interrupted, he attended school and later completed an apprenticeship as an accountant at the University of Chicago , which he completed in 1933.

From 1935 he took part in international tournaments again. He won a tournament in Margate and defeated José Raúl Capablanca there . In the tournament in Nottingham in 1936 he finished 3rd – 5th. Rank together with Euwe and Fine . In the same year he was first champion of the USA , followed by the wins of the US championship in 1938, 1940 and 1946. In 1937 he won the tournament in Kemeri together with Flohr and Petrovs , in the tournament in Semmering / Baden he achieved 3rd / 4th . Rank. Reshevsky won the tournament in Hastings in 1937/38. In the 1939 Leningrad / Moscow tournament he was second behind Flohr. In 1941 he married his wife Norma, with whom he later had two children (Sylvia and Joel).

Reshevsky won the Pan American 1945 tournament. In the 1948 World Chess Championship , he finished 3rd – 4th. Space. In the Amsterdam tournament in 1950 he finished second behind Najdorf , in 1951 he won the Wertheim Memorial. In 1952 he shared 1st place in Havana with Najdorf, in the same year he won a competition against the same opponent 11: 7 and was considered the best player in the western world during this time. Vasily Smyslow said of him: A tough little man with brilliant ideas ( TIME , November 2, 1953).

Reshevsky played in two prestigious competitions against the USSR on the first board for the American team: in 1954 he reached a draw against Smyslov, in 1955 he defeated Mikhail Botvinnik with 2.5: 1.5.

Reshevsky won the Rosenwald tournament in New York in 1956, in 1957 in Dallas he shared 1st place with Gligorić . In 1958 he won a tournament in Haifa / Tel Aviv, in 1960 he and Kortschnoi won the tournament in Buenos Aires . In 1961 he designed a match against Bobby Fischer over eleven games with a 5½: 5½ draw. In 1968 he lost in the quarter-finals of the Candidates Tournament against Korchnoi. In 1969 he won a tournament in Netanya and the US championship. In 1971 Reshevsky won the national championship for the seventh and last time, in Palma de Mallorca he finished 3rd / 4th. Space. He remained active in chess well into old age and took part in several well-attended tournaments in 1989. Samuel Reshevsky died in 1992 after a heart attack .

His best historical Elo rating before the introduction of Elo ratings was the 2785th He reached it in October 1953. He was also temporarily terms (for a total of 14 months from 1942 to 1953) of its historical Elo rating of the best players in the world.

Because of his international success, he was awarded the title of Grand Master by FIDE in 1950 .

National team

Reshevsky participated with the United States in the 1937 , 1950 , 1952 , 1958 , 1964 , 1968 , 1970 and 1974 Chess Olympiads . He won with the team in 1937 and reached third place in 1974, in 1950 he achieved the third best result on the top board in the individual ranking. In 1970 he was nominated for the USSR against the rest of the world on the sixth board of the world selection and reached a 1.5: 1.5 draw against Vasily Smyslow .

literature

  • Bernhard Kagan (Ed.): Samuel Rzeschewski, the chess prodigy. Kagan, Berlin 1920, OCLC 1957431 .
  • Bernhard Kagan (ed.): The chess boy Samuel Rzeschewski in America. Kagan, Berlin 1921, OCLC 6673459 .
  • S. Reshevsky: My chess career. 2nd Edition. Verlag De Gruyter, Berlin 1986, ISBN 3-11-010797-X . (Translation of Reshevsky on chess , first published 1948, written by the ghostwriter Fred Reinfeld)
  • Stephen W. Gordon: Samuel Reshevsky. McFarland, Jefferson 1997, ISBN 978-0-7864-0275-5 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Samuel Reshevsky's historical Elo numbers at chessmetrics.com (English)
  2. ↑ Willy Iclicki: FIDE Golden book 1924-2002. Euroadria, Slovenia 2002, p. 74.
  3. ↑ Samuel Reshevsky's results at the Chess Olympiads on olimpbase.org (English)

Web links

Commons : Samuel Reshevsky  - collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Reshevsky, Samuel
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rzeszewski, Szmul (maiden name); Reshevsky, Samuel Herman (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American chess player
DATE OF BIRTH November 26, 1911
PLACE OF BIRTH Ozorków
DATE OF DEATH April 4, 1992
Place of death Suffern (New York)