Isaac Kashdan

Isaac Kashdan (born November 19, 1905 in New York , NY , USA , † February 20, 1985 in Los Angeles , California ) was an American grandmaster and author in chess . In the 1930s he was one of the ten strongest chess players in the world. In 1950 he became an international champion , and finally a grandmaster in 1954.

Life

Isaac Kashdan graduated from City College in New York. From 1923 he was a member of several chess clubs in the city. On the occasion of the New York International Tournament in 1924, he won a competition in solving chess problems before Grandmaster Réti . Despite being one of the best American players in the 1930s, Kashdan decided against a professional career and worked for various Wall Street companies. In 1956 he appeared on the television quiz show You Bet Your Life , hosted by Groucho Marx , with his fellow candidate Helen Schwartz, the mother of actor Tony Curtis .

He was married for over 50 years and had two sons. In 1982 he suffered a stroke , the sequelae of which he died in 1985.

Chess Olympiads

Kashdan took part in five Chess Olympiads . After taking 2nd place with the USA team in The Hague in 1928 and 6th place in Hamburg in 1930 , he won the 1931 Olympics in Prague , 1933 in Folkestone and 1937 in Stockholm .

From 79 games at Chess Olympiads, he achieved 52 wins, 5 defeats and 22 draws (79.7%). In 1928 and 1937 he took first place on his board (gold), in 1933 he won silver.

USA championships

In 1938 he won the US Open , shared with Horowitz . He took part in the USA national championships four times:

• 1940 3rd place
• 1942 2nd place after a playoff against Reshevsky
• 1946 2nd place
• 1948 2nd place

He was the Life Director of the United States Chess Federation since 1949 and was inducted into the US Chess Hall of Fame a year after his death .

International success

Further successes in international tournaments were 2nd place in 1930 in Frankfurt (behind Nimzowitsch ), winner in Stockholm 1930, 2nd place in Hastings 1931/32 (behind Flohr ), shared 3rd place in London in 1932 (behind Alekhine and Flohr) and 2nd place in Pasadena (behind Alekhine).

Because of his good positional play and his endgame treatment, he was also called the Little Capablanca .

His best historical rating was 2742 in March 1932, making him the third best player in the world.

Game example

The following game is also known as "Kashdan's Immortals". Isaac Kashdan, leader of the black stones, sacrifices a bishop, both rooks and the queen in order to finally checkmate with two knights .

Boris Siff - Isaac Kashdan , New York 1933

1. d2-d4 Ng8-f6 2. c2-c4 e7-e6 3. Nb1-c3 Bf8-b4

The Nimzowitsch-Indian Defense .

4. Qd1 – c2 d7 – d5 5. a2 – a3 Bb4 – e7 6. c4xd5 e6xd5 7. Bc1 – f4 c7 – c6 8. h2 – h3 0–0 9. e2 – e3 Rf8 – e8 10. Bf1 – d3 Nb8 –D7 11. Ng1 – f3 Nd7 – f8 12. Nf3 – e5 Be7 – d6 13. 0–0 Nf8 – e6 14. Bf4 – h2 g7 – g6 15. Ne5 – f3?

a b c d e f G H   8th 8th 7th 7th 6th 6th 5 5 4th 4th 3 3 2 2 1 1   a b c d e f G H

All commentators agree that this spring retreat without need is too passive. With this move White gives up his previously good counterplay and leaves the initiative to Black.

15.… Ne6 – g7 16. Bh2xd6 Qd8xd6 17. Rf1 – c1 Bc8 – f5 18. Nf3 – d2 Re8 – e7 19. b2 – b4 Ra8 – e8 20. Ra1 – b1 Bf5xh3!

a b c d e f G H   8th 8th 7th 7th 6th 6th 5 5 4th 4th 3 3 2 2 1 1   a b c d e f G H

The round of sacrifices begins.

21. g2xh3 Re7xe3! 22. Bd3-f1

The immediate acceptance of the rook sacrifice with 22. fxe3 would have quickly led to mate after 22.… Qg3 + 23. Kf1 / Kh1 Qxh3 +.

22.… Ng7 – f5 23. f2xe3 Qd6 – g3 + 24. Bf1 – g2 Qg3xe3 +

Of course not 24.… Nxe3? 25. Nf1 !, the attack is repulsed and White keeps the material plus .

25. Kg1 – h1 Nf5 – g3 + 26. Kh1 – h2 Qe3 – f4 27. Nd2 – f3 Re8 – e2!

a b c d e f G H   8th 8th 7th 7th 6th 6th 5 5 4th 4th 3 3 2 2 1 1   a b c d e f G H

28.Nc3xe2?

With 28. Kg1! White could have saved himself in a draw with very accurate play.

28.… Ng3xe2 + 29. Kh2 – h1 Nf6 – h5 30. Qc2 – d2 Nh5 – g3 + 31. Kh1 – h2 Ng3 – f1 + 32. Kh2 – h1

a b c d e f G H   8th 8th 7th 7th 6th 6th 5 5 4th 4th 3 3 2 2 1 1   a b c d e f G H

It seems that Black has to be content with perpetual chess, but Kashdan sacrifices the queen in the end.

32 ... Qf4 – h2 + !! 33 Nf3xh2 Nf1 – g3 mate

a b c d e f G H   8th 8th 7th 7th 6th 6th 5 5 4th 4th 3 3 2 2 1 1   a b c d e f G H

An extraordinary two-jumping mat.

organizer

Kashdan organized numerous tournaments, including the Lone Pine Open, funded by his friend Louis Statham, and the 1961 competition between Fischer and Reshevsky .

author

In 1933 he co-founded the magazine Chess Review with Horowitz . He also published a tournament book on the 1933 Chess Olympiad in the magazine's publishing house. From 1955 to 1982, Kashdan was in charge of the Los Angeles Times chess column . He wrote the two tournament books about the Piatigorsky Cup in 1963 and 1966, in which he was also a referee .

literature

• Peter P. Lahde: Isaac Kashdan, American chess grandmaster . Jefferson, McFarland 2009. ISBN 978-0-7864-3296-7 .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Willy Iclicki: FIDE Golden book 1924-2002 . Euroadria, Slovenia, 2002, p. 74.
2. ↑ Isaac Kashdan in Groucho Marx , Chessbase , October 6, 2011
3. ↑ MEN'S CHESS OLYMPIADS - Kashdan, Isaac (United States) on Olimpbase (English)
4. ^ Peter Köhler: Legendary chess games. Ingenious moves and spectacular mistakes from 400 years of chess history , humboldt / Schlütersche , 2nd edition 2010, p. 129 ff.
5. ↑ According to other sources, the game was played in 1948.

Web links

• Literature by and about Isaac Kashdan in the WorldCat bibliographic database
• 20 combinations of Isaac Kashdan (English)
• Replayable chess games by Isaac Kashdan on chessgames.com (English)