Samuel Reshevsky
Encyclopedia
Samuel "Sammy" Herman Reshevsky (born Szmul Rzeszewski, November 26, 1911, Ozorków
Ozorków
Ozorków is a town in central Poland with 20,731 inhabitants , located on the Bzura River. It is situated in the Łódź Voivodeship , having previously been in Łódź Metro Voivodeship .- External links :* * *...

 near Łódź, (then Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...

, today Poland) – died April 4, 1992, New York City) was a famous chess prodigy
Chess prodigy
Chess prodigies are children who play chess so well that they are able to beat Masters and even Grandmasters, often at a very young age. Chess is one of the few sports where children can compete with adults on equal ground; it is thus one of the few skills in which true child prodigies exist...

 and later a leading American chess
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...

 Grandmaster. He was a strong contender for the World Chess Championship
World Chess Championship
The World Chess Championship is played to determine the World Champion in the board game chess. Men and women of any age are eligible to contest this title....

 from the mid-1930s to the mid-1960s; coming equal third in the World Chess Championship 1948
World Chess Championship 1948
The 1948 World Chess Championship was a tournament played to determine a new World Chess Champion following the death of the previous champion Alexander Alekhine in 1946. The tournament marked the passing of control of the championship title to FIDE, the International Chess Federation which had...

 tournament, and equal second in the 1953 Candidates Tournament
Candidates Tournament
The Candidates Tournament is a chess tournament organized by the world chess federation FIDE since 1950, as the final contest to determine the challenger for the World Chess Championship...

. He was also a seven-time winner of the U.S. Chess Championship
U.S. Chess Championship
The U.S. Chess Championship is an invitational tournament held to determine the national chess champion of the United States. Since 1936, it has been held under the auspices of the U.S. Chess Federation. Until 1999, the event consisted of a round-robin tournament of varying size...

. He was an accountant by profession, and a well-regarded chess writer.

Early life

Reshevsky learned to play chess at age four, and was soon acclaimed as a child prodigy
Chess prodigy
Chess prodigies are children who play chess so well that they are able to beat Masters and even Grandmasters, often at a very young age. Chess is one of the few sports where children can compete with adults on equal ground; it is thus one of the few skills in which true child prodigies exist...

. At age eight he was beating accomplished players with ease, and giving simultaneous exhibition
Simultaneous exhibition
A simultaneous exhibition or simultaneous display is a board game exhibition in which one player plays multiple games at a time with a number of other players. Such an exhibition is often referred to simply as a "simul".In a regular simul, no chess clocks are used...

s. In November 1920, his parents moved to the U.S. to make a living exhibiting their child. Reshevsky played thousands of games in exhibitions all over the U.S. He played in the 1922 New York Masters tournament; at that stage he was likely the youngest player to have competed in a strong tournament.

In his youth, Reshevsky did not attend school, and his parents wound up in District Court in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...

, facing a charge of improper guardianship. However, Julius Rosenwald
Julius Rosenwald
Julius Rosenwald was a U.S. clothier, manufacturer, business executive, and philanthropist. He is best known as a part-owner and leader of Sears, Roebuck and Company, and for the Rosenwald Fund which donated millions to support the education of African American children in the rural South, as well...

, wealthy co-owner of Sears, Roebuck and Company
Sears, Roebuck and Company
Sears, officially named Sears, Roebuck and Co., is an American chain of department stores which was founded by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck in the late 19th century...

 in Chicago, soon after became Reshevsky's benefactor; Rosenwald guaranteed Reshevsky's future on condition that he would complete his education.

University, marriage, family

As an adult, however, Reshevsky was never truly a professional chess player. He temporarily gave up competitive chess for seven years, from 1924 to 1931, to complete his secondary education. He enrolled at the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...

, graduating in 1934 with a degree in accounting. He supported himself and his family by working as an accountant. His 1941 marriage to the former Norma Mindick produced three children. Reshevsky was a devout Orthodox Jew and did not play on the Jewish Sabbath
Shabbat
Shabbat is the seventh day of the Jewish week and a day of rest in Judaism. Shabbat is observed from a few minutes before sunset on Friday evening until a few minutes after when one would expect to be able to see three stars in the sky on Saturday night. The exact times, therefore, differ from...

, with his games scheduled accordingly.

Early chess career

He won the U.S. Open Chess Championship
U.S. Open Chess Championship
The U.S. Open Championship is an open national chess championship that has been held in the United States annually since 1900.-History:Through 1938, the tournaments were organized by the Western Chess Association and its successor, the American Chess Federation .The United States Chess Federation ...

 in 1931 at Tulsa; this event was known as the Western Open at the time. Reshevsky shared the 1934 U.S. Open title with Reuben Fine
Reuben Fine
Reuben Fine was one of the strongest chess players in the world from the early 1930s through the 1940s, an International Grandmaster, psychologist, university professor, and author of many books on both chess and psychology.Fine won five medals in three chess Olympiads. Fine won the U.S...

 at Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

.

Dominates U.S. Championship

Reshevsky won the U.S. Chess Championship
U.S. Chess Championship
The U.S. Chess Championship is an invitational tournament held to determine the national chess champion of the United States. Since 1936, it has been held under the auspices of the U.S. Chess Federation. Until 1999, the event consisted of a round-robin tournament of varying size...

 in 1936, 1938, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1946, and 1969. He also tied for first in 1972, but lost the playoff in 1973 to Robert Byrne. He competed in a record 21 U.S. Championships, and achieved a plus score every time except for 1966–67, when he scored just 4.5/11. He also holds U.S. Championship records for most finishes in the top three places (15), most games played (269), and most games won (127).

International debut

Reshevsky's international career began in 1935 with a trip to England, where he won at Great Yarmouth
Great Yarmouth
Great Yarmouth, often known to locals as Yarmouth, is a coastal town in Norfolk, England. It is at the mouth of the River Yare, east of Norwich.It has been a seaside resort since 1760, and is the gateway from the Norfolk Broads to the sea...

 with 10/11. He then won first place at the Margate
Margate
-Demography:As of the 2001 UK census, Margate had a population of 40,386.The ethnicity of the town was 97.1% white, 1.0% mixed race, 0.5% black, 0.8% Asian, 0.6% Chinese or other ethnicity....

 tournament where he beat, among others, former world champion José Raúl Capablanca
José Raúl Capablanca
José Raúl Capablanca y Graupera was a Cuban chess player who was world chess champion from 1921 to 1927. One of the greatest players of all time, he was renowned for his exceptional endgame skill and speed of play...

; the game followed the Exchange Variation of the Queen's Gambit Declined
Queen's Gambit Declined
The Queen's Gambit Declined is a chess opening in which Black declines a pawn offered by White in the Queen's Gambit:This is known as the Orthodox Line of the Queen's Gambit Declined...

. The game score follows. Reshevsky had the white pieces:
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Bg5 Nbd7 5. cxd5 exd5 6. e3 Be7 7. Bd3 0-0 8. Qc2 c5 9. Nf3 c4 10. Bf5 Re8 11. 0-0 g6 12. Bh3 Nf8 13. Bxc8 Rxc8 14. Bxf6 Bxf6 15. b3 Qa5 16. b4 Qd8 17. Qa4 a6 18. b5 Re6 19. Rab1 Rb8 20. Rb2 Be7 21. bxa6 Rxa6 22. Qc2 Ne6 23. Rfb1 Ra7 24. a4 Nc7 25. Ne5 Qe8 26. f4 f6 27. Ng4 Qd7 28. h3 Kg7 29. Nf2 Ba3 30. Ra2 Bd6 31. Nfd1 f5 32. Nb5 Ra5 33. Nxc7 Bxc7 34. Nc3 Qd6 35. Qf2 b6 36. Qf3 Rd8 37. Rab2 Qe7 38. Rb4 Rd7 39. Kh1 Bd8 40. g4 fxg4 41. hxg4 Qd6 42. Kg1 Bc7 43. Kf2 Rf7 44. g5 Bd8 45. Ke2 Bxg5 46. Rxb6 Qa3 47. Kd2 Be7 48. Rb7 Rxa4 49. Qxd5 Ra5 50. Qxc4 Rh5 51. Kd3 Qa8 52. Qe6 Qa3 53. Rd7 Rhf5 54. Rb3 Qa1 55. Rxe7 Qf1+ 56. Kd2 1–0


A year later he shared third place at the Nottingham 1936 chess tournament
Nottingham 1936 chess tournament
Nottingham 1936, was a 15-player round robin chess tournament held August 10-28 at the University of Nottingham. It was one of the strongest of all time....

. In 1937 he shared first at Kemeri
Ķemeri
Ķemeri resort is a part of Jūrmala in Latvia, 44 km from Riga. From 1928 to 1959, Ķemeri was a separate town, famous for the healing mud baths and luxurious hotel. Now about 2 200 inhabitants live there, while the main hotel is under reconstruction....

, Latvia, and in 1938 shared fourth in the famous AVRO tournament
AVRO tournament
The AVRO tournament was a chess tournament held in the Netherlands in 1938, sponsored by the Dutch broadcasting company AVRO. The event was a double round-robin tournament...

 in the Netherlands, which featured arguably the eight strongest players in the world. Reshevsky won his third U.S. Open title at Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

 1944.

Contends for World Championship

Reshevsky was a serious contender for the World Championship
World Chess Championship
The World Chess Championship is played to determine the World Champion in the board game chess. Men and women of any age are eligible to contest this title....

 from roughly 1935 to the mid-1960s. He was one of the five chess grandmasters to compete in the World Championship match tournament
World Chess Championship 1948
The 1948 World Chess Championship was a tournament played to determine a new World Chess Champion following the death of the previous champion Alexander Alekhine in 1946. The tournament marked the passing of control of the championship title to FIDE, the International Chess Federation which had...

 in The Hague
The Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...

/Moscow 1948 and finished in joint third place with Paul Keres
Paul Keres
Paul Keres , was an Estonian chess grandmaster, and a renowned chess writer. He was among the world's top players from the mid-1930s to the mid-1960s....

, behind Mikhail Botvinnik
Mikhail Botvinnik
Mikhail Moiseyevich Botvinnik, Ph.D. was a Soviet and Russian International Grandmaster and three-time World Chess Champion. Working as an electrical engineer and computer scientist at the same time, he was one of the very few famous chess players who achieved distinction in another career while...

 and Vasily Smyslov
Vasily Smyslov
Vasily Vasilyevich Smyslov was a Soviet and Russian chess grandmaster, and was World Chess Champion from 1957 to 1958. He was a Candidate for the World Chess Championship on eight occasions . Smyslov was twice equal first at the Soviet Championship , and his total of 17 Chess Olympiad medals won...

. This tournament was organized because World Champion Alexander Alekhine
Alexander Alekhine
Alexander Alexandrovich Alekhine was the fourth World Chess Champion. He is often considered one of the greatest chess players ever.By the age of twenty-two, he was already among the strongest chess players in the world. During the 1920s, he won most of the tournaments in which he played...

 had died in 1946 while holding the title, which was an unprecedented situation.

In 1950, Reshevsky was awarded the title of International Grandmaster by FIDE, the World Chess Federation, on its inaugural list. Although eligible, he did not play in the Candidates Tournament in Budapest
World Chess Championship 1951
The 1951 World Chess Championship was played between Mikhail Botvinnik and David Bronstein in Moscow from March 15 to May 11, 1951. Botvinnik retained his title.-Results:The match was played as best of 24 games...

. It has generally been believed that he was barred from attending by the U.S. State Department due to the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...

, and this is consistent with the fact that the only other eligible active player from a NATO country, Max Euwe
Max Euwe
Machgielis Euwe was a Dutch chess Grandmaster, mathematician, and author. He was the fifth player to become World Chess Champion . Euwe also served as President of FIDE, the World Chess Federation, from 1970 to 1978.- Early years :Euwe was born in Watergraafsmeer, near Amsterdam...

 of the Netherlands, also did not play. In 1991, however, Reshevsky said the decision not to go was his.

Foiled by Soviet collusion

The following Candidates in Zurich 1953
Zurich 1953 chess tournament
Zurich 1953 was a chess tournament won by Vasily Smyslov. It was a Candidates Tournament for the 1954 World Chess Championship.-References:...

 was probably his best chance to qualify for a World Championship match, but he finished in joint second place with David Bronstein
David Bronstein
David Ionovich Bronstein was a Soviet chess grandmaster, who narrowly missed becoming World Chess Champion in 1951. Bronstein was described by his peers as a creative genius and master of tactics...

 and Keres, two points behind Smyslov. Bronstein, in his last book, Secret Notes, published in 2007 just after his death the previous year, confirmed long-standing rumours by writing that the nine Soviet grandmasters (out of a field of 15 players) at Zurich were under orders from both their chess leadership and the KGB
KGB
The KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...

 to not let Reshevsky win the tournament under any circumstances, with Smyslov being the preferred victor. When Reshevsky maintained his strong contention late into the two-month event, Bronstein claims that the Soviets prearranged several results in games amongst themselves to successfully prevent Reshevsky's overall victory, while also ensuring that Reshevsky faced the maximum test in his own games against the Soviet players; Bronstein had earlier (1995) written that he was ordered by the Soviet delegation leader to win as Black against Reshevsky in the second cycle at Zurich, and managed to do so after a very hard struggle. Several other writers, including GM Alexei Suetin (who was the second of Tigran Petrosian
Tigran Petrosian
Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian was a Soviet-Armenian grandmaster, and World Chess Champion from 1963 to 1969. He was nicknamed "Iron Tigran" due to his playing style because of his almost impenetrable defence, which emphasised safety above all else...

 at Zurich 1953), also confirmed the Soviet collusion
Collusion
Collusion is an agreement between two or more persons, sometimes illegal and therefore secretive, to limit open competition by deceiving, misleading, or defrauding others of their legal rights, or to obtain an objective forbidden by law typically by defrauding or gaining an unfair advantage...

 in Zurich.

Reshevsky qualified for one more Candidates' in 1967, but lost the subsequent quarterfinal match to Viktor Korchnoi
Viktor Korchnoi
Viktor Lvovich Korchnoi ; pronounced in the original Russian as "karch NOY"; Ви́ктор Льво́вич Корчно́й, born March 23, 1931 is a professional chess player, author and currently the oldest active grandmaster on the tournament circuit...

 the following year.

Excels at Chess Olympiads

He competed eight times for the USA at the Chess Olympiad
Chess Olympiad
The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams from all over the world compete against each other. The event is organised by FIDE, which selects the host nation.-Birth of the Olympiad:The first Olympiad was unofficial...

s, six times on board one, over a 37-year span, helping the U.S. team to win the gold in 1937 and bronze in 1974, and winning an individual bronze medal for his performance on board one in 1950. His complete results were (+39 −12 =49) in 100 games, for 63.5 percent. He played at Stockholm 1937
7th Chess Olympiad
The 7th Chess Olympiad, organized by the FIDE and comprising an open and women's tournament, as well as several events designed to promote the game of chess, took place between July 31 and August 14, 1937, in Stockholm, Sweden]....

, Dubrovnik 1950
9th Chess Olympiad
The 9th Chess Olympiad, organized by the FIDE and comprising an open and women's tournament, as well as several events designed to promote the game of chess, took place between August 20 and September 11, 1950, in Dubrovnik, SR Croatia, Yugoslavia .The final results were as follows:-Final :The...

, Helsinki 1952
10th Chess Olympiad
The 10th Chess Olympiad, organized by the FIDE and comprising an open and women's tournament, as well as several events designed to promote the game of chess, took place between August 9 and August 31, 1952, in Helsinki, Finland.-References:* OlimpBase...

, Munich 1958
13th Chess Olympiad
The 13th Chess Olympiad, organized by the FIDE and comprising an open and women's tournament, as well as several events designed to promote the game of chess, took place between September 30 and October 23, 1958, in Munich, West Germany.-References:...

, Tel Aviv 1964
16th Chess Olympiad
The 16th Chess Olympiad, organized by the FIDE and comprising an open and women's tournament, as well as several events designed to promote the game of chess, took place between November 2 and November 25, 1964, in Tel Aviv, Israel.-References:* OlimpBase...

, Lugano 1968
18th Chess Olympiad
The 18th Chess Olympiad, organized by the FIDE and comprising an open and women's tournament, as well as several events designed to promote the game of chess, took place between October 17 and November 7, 1968, in Lugano, Switzerland.-References:* OlimpBase...

, Siegen 1970
19th Chess Olympiad
The 19th Chess Olympiad, comprising an open team tournament and the Annual Congress of the Fédération Internationale des Échecs, took place between September 5 and September 27, 1970, in the small town of Siegen, West Germany.-Tournament report:...

, and Nice 1974
21st Chess Olympiad
The 21st Chess Olympiad, organized by the FIDE and comprising an open and women's tournament, as well as several events designed to promote the game of chess, took place between June 6 and June 30, 1974, in Nice, France.-References:* OlimpBase...

.

Outstanding match player

In 1952, New York hosted the first eight games of an informal match for "The Championship of the Free World" between Reshevsky and Polish
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

Argentine
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

 grandmaster Miguel Najdorf
Miguel Najdorf
Miguel Najdorf was a Polish-born Argentine chess grandmaster of Jewish origin, famous for his Najdorf Variation....

. An additional five games were played in Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...

 and five more in San Salvador
San Salvador
The city of San Salvador the capital and largest city of El Salvador, which has been designated a Gamma World City. Its complete name is La Ciudad de Gran San Salvador...

. Reshevsky won the match, 11–7. The following year a rematch took place in Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...

. Reshevsky again won, 9½–8½.

In his long career, Reshevsky proved a formidable match player. In 1941, he defeated I.A. Horowitz in a U.S. Championship playoff match by (+3 −0 =13). In 1942, he defeated Isaac Kashdan
Isaac Kashdan
Isaac Kashdan was an American chess grandmaster and chess writer. Kashdan was one of the world's best players in the late 1920s and early 1930s. He was twice U.S. Open champion...

 by (+6 −2 =3). In 1952, he defeated Svetozar Gligorić
Svetozar Gligoric
Svetozar Gligorić is a Serbian chess grandmaster. He won the championship of Yugoslavia a record twelve times, and is considered the best player ever from Serbia...

 by (+2 −1 =7). In 1956, he defeated William Lombardy
William Lombardy
William James Lombardy is an American Grandmaster of chess, writer, teacher, and one-time Catholic priest.- Life and career :...

 by (+1 −0 =5). In 1957, he defeated Arthur Bisguier
Arthur Bisguier
Arthur Bernard Bisguier is an American chess Grandmaster, chess promoter, and writer. Bisguier won two U.S. Junior Championships , three U.S. Open Chess Championship titles , and the 1954 United States Chess Championship title. He played for the United States in five chess Olympiads...

 by (+4 −2 =4). In 1957, he defeated Donald Byrne
Donald Byrne
Donald Byrne was one of the USA's strongest chess players during the 1950s and 1960s.Born in New York City, he won the U.S. Open Chess Championship in 1953, was awarded the International Master title by FIDE in 1962, and played for or captained five U.S. Chess Olympiad teams between 1962 and 1972...

 by (+7 −3 =0). In 1960, he defeated Pal Benko
Pál Benko
Pal Benko is a chess grandmaster, author, and composer of endgame studies and chess problems.- Early life :Benko was born in France but was raised in Hungary. He was Hungarian champion by age 20. He emigrated to the United States in 1958, after defecting following the World Student Team...

 by (+3 −2 =5).

Reshevsky lost his first match in 1964 but it was a four game play-off match following the Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...

 1964 Interzonal, where he had tied for 8th-9th with the Hungarian Champion Lajos Portisch
Lajos Portisch
Lajos Portisch is a Hungarian chess Grandmaster, whose positional style earned him the nickname, the "Hungarian Botvinnik"...

. The final spot for advancement to the Candidates Match was at stake and there was little time between the end of the Interzonal and the start of the match. Reshevsky's earlier matches had always had a lead time of several months, which allowed him to prepare his openings, but he proved to be at a distinct disadvantage in this area against Portisch, who was a full-time chess professional and always excellent in his opening preparation. Reshevsky was quickly outplayed on the White side of the Queen's Gambit Accepted in the first game and eventually fell on time in a lost position. In the second game, he played sharply with Black but Portisch was able to exchange the queens and a pair of rooks, thus draining much of the tension in the position. A draw by three fold repetition of position soon ensued. In his last game with White, Reshevsky had to go for broke. An Open Sicilian arose but Portisch seized the initiative on the queenside; having gained a clear advantage, he was able to translate it into a crushing kingside attack, thus winning the match and the final Candidates spot. Amsterdam 1964 was the first meeting between these two chess greats and Portisch was to prove a difficult opponent for Reshevsky, whose lifetime score against him was (+0 -4 =9).

It was only in 1968, in his 57th year, that he finally lost a match where he had time for extensive preparation. This was against Viktor Korchnoi
Viktor Korchnoi
Viktor Lvovich Korchnoi ; pronounced in the original Russian as "karch NOY"; Ви́ктор Льво́вич Корчно́й, born March 23, 1931 is a professional chess player, author and currently the oldest active grandmaster on the tournament circuit...

 in Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...

 in the first round of the Candidates. The match was scheduled for ten games but the younger Grandmaster proved too much for Reshevsky, who didn't win a game and lost by the final score of 5.5-2.5.

Reshevsky played on top board for the USA in the 1955 team match against the USSR, held in Moscow, and defeated world champion Mikhail Botvinnik
Mikhail Botvinnik
Mikhail Moiseyevich Botvinnik, Ph.D. was a Soviet and Russian International Grandmaster and three-time World Chess Champion. Working as an electrical engineer and computer scientist at the same time, he was one of the very few famous chess players who achieved distinction in another career while...

 over four games, winning one and drawing three.

Fierce rivalry with Fischer

In 1961 Reshevsky began a 16-game match with the then-current U.S. Champion Bobby Fischer
Bobby Fischer
Robert James "Bobby" Fischer was an American chess Grandmaster and the 11th World Chess Champion. He is widely considered one of the greatest chess players of all time. Fischer was also a best-selling chess author...

; it was jointly staged in New York and Los Angeles. Despite Fischer's recent meteoric rise, consensus opinion favored Reshevsky. After eleven games and a tie score (two wins apiece with seven draws), the match ended due to a scheduling dispute between Fischer and match organizer Jacqueline Piatigorsky
Jacqueline Piatigorsky
Jacqueline Rebecca Louise de Rothschild is a French-American chess and tennis champion, author, sculptor and a member of the Rothschild banking family of France. The daughter of the enormously wealthy and influential banker, Édouard Alphonse de Rothschild, and Germaine Alice Halphen, she is the...

, with Reshevsky receiving the winner's share of the prize fund.

Once Fischer made his debut at age 14 in the U.S. Championship with the 1957–58 event, he dominated completely, winning on each of his seven attempts, leaving Reshevsky, the seven-time former champion, back in the chasing pack. There was little love lost between the two players. Ahead of the Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...

 1960 tournament, Reshevsky reportedly said, "I would settle for 19th place – if Fischer placed 20th." Reshevsky in fact won the Buenos Aires 1960 tournament, with Fischer well back; this was the only time Reshevsky finished ahead of Fischer in an international tournament.

In the 1967 Sousse
Sousse
Sousse is a city in Tunisia. Located 140 km south of the capital Tunis, the city has 173,047 inhabitants . Sousse is in the central-east of the country, on the Gulf of Hammamet, which is a part of the Mediterranean Sea. The name may be of Berber origin: similar names are found in Libya and in...

 Interzonal
Interzonal
Interzonal chess tournaments were tournaments organized by FIDE, the World Chess Federation, and were a stage in the triennial World Chess Championship cycle.- Zonal tournaments :...

, Fischer turned up 53 minutes late (only seven minutes short of an automatic time forfeiture) for his game with Reshevsky, and made his opening move without a word of apology. Reshevsky, who had been convinced that Fischer had withdrawn from the tournament, lost the game badly and complained furiously to the organizers. Despite losing that game, Reshevsky advanced to the next stage. Reshevsky also refused to play for the U.S. team in the Chess Olympiads of 1960, 1962 and 1966 because Fischer was chosen ahead of him for the top board. He did, however, finally consent to play on a lower board in 1970, the only time the two men appeared in the same team.

Although Reshevsky and Fischer had one of the fiercest rivalries in chess history, Fischer greatly respected the older champion, stating in the late 1960s that he thought Reshevsky was the strongest player in the world in the mid-1950s, around the time when he defeated world champion Mikhail Botvinnik
Mikhail Botvinnik
Mikhail Moiseyevich Botvinnik, Ph.D. was a Soviet and Russian International Grandmaster and three-time World Chess Champion. Working as an electrical engineer and computer scientist at the same time, he was one of the very few famous chess players who achieved distinction in another career while...

 in their four-game mini-match, which was the top board of the USA vs USSR team match held in Moscow.

Other major victories, legacy, writings

During his long chess career, Reshevsky played eleven of the first twelve World Champions, from Emanuel Lasker
Emanuel Lasker
Emanuel Lasker was a German chess player, mathematician, and philosopher who was World Chess Champion for 27 years...

 to Anatoly Karpov
Anatoly Karpov
Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov is a Russian chess grandmaster and former World Champion. He was the official world champion from 1975 to 1985 when he was defeated by Garry Kasparov. He played three matches against Kasparov for the title from 1986 to 1990, before becoming FIDE World Champion once...

, the only player to do so (he met Garry Kasparov
Garry Kasparov
Garry Kimovich Kasparov is a Russian chess grandmaster, a former World Chess Champion, writer, political activist, and one of the greatest chess players of all time....

 but never played him). He defeated seven World Champions: Lasker, José Raúl Capablanca
José Raúl Capablanca
José Raúl Capablanca y Graupera was a Cuban chess player who was world chess champion from 1921 to 1927. One of the greatest players of all time, he was renowned for his exceptional endgame skill and speed of play...

, Alexander Alekhine
Alexander Alekhine
Alexander Alexandrovich Alekhine was the fourth World Chess Champion. He is often considered one of the greatest chess players ever.By the age of twenty-two, he was already among the strongest chess players in the world. During the 1920s, he won most of the tournaments in which he played...

, Max Euwe
Max Euwe
Machgielis Euwe was a Dutch chess Grandmaster, mathematician, and author. He was the fifth player to become World Chess Champion . Euwe also served as President of FIDE, the World Chess Federation, from 1970 to 1978.- Early years :Euwe was born in Watergraafsmeer, near Amsterdam...

, Mikhail Botvinnik
Mikhail Botvinnik
Mikhail Moiseyevich Botvinnik, Ph.D. was a Soviet and Russian International Grandmaster and three-time World Chess Champion. Working as an electrical engineer and computer scientist at the same time, he was one of the very few famous chess players who achieved distinction in another career while...

, Vasily Smyslov
Vasily Smyslov
Vasily Vasilyevich Smyslov was a Soviet and Russian chess grandmaster, and was World Chess Champion from 1957 to 1958. He was a Candidate for the World Chess Championship on eight occasions . Smyslov was twice equal first at the Soviet Championship , and his total of 17 Chess Olympiad medals won...

, and Bobby Fischer
Bobby Fischer
Robert James "Bobby" Fischer was an American chess Grandmaster and the 11th World Chess Champion. He is widely considered one of the greatest chess players of all time. Fischer was also a best-selling chess author...

.

Aside from U.S. Championships, Reshevsky's important tournament titles included Syracuse
Syracuse, New York
Syracuse is a city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States, the largest U.S. city with the name "Syracuse", and the fifth most populous city in the state. At the 2010 census, the city population was 145,170, and its metropolitan area had a population of 742,603...

 1934, Hastings
Hastings International Chess Congress
The Hastings International Chess Congress is an annual chess congress which takes place in Hastings, England, around the turn of the year. The main event is the Hastings Premier tournament, which was traditionally a 10 to 16 player round-robin tournament. In 2004/05 the tournament was played in the...

 1937–38, Leningrad
Leningrad
Leningrad is the former name of Saint Petersburg, Russia.Leningrad may also refer to:- Places :* Leningrad Oblast, a federal subject of Russia, around Saint Petersburg* Leningrad, Tajikistan, capital of Muminobod district in Khatlon Province...

/Moscow 1939, Hollywood 1945 (Pan American Championship
Pan American Chess Championship
The first Pan-American Championship was held in Hollywood, 28 July - 12 August 1945. The line-up was as follows: 1. Samuel Reshevsky 10.5, 2. Reuben Fine 9, 3. Herman Pilnik 8.5, 4. Israel Horowitz 8, 5. Isaac Kashdan 7, 6. Hector Rossetto 6.5, 7-8. Weaver Adams , Herman Steiner 5.5, 9-10....

), New York 1951 (Maurice Wertheim
Maurice Wertheim
Maurice Wertheim was an American investment banker, chess player, chess patron, environmentalist, and philanthropist. He financed much of the activity in American chess during the 1940s. Wertheim founded Wertheim & Co. in 1927.-Biography:Maurice Wertheim graduated from Harvard University in 1906...

 Memorial), Havana
Havana
Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...

 1952, New York 1956 (Lessing Rosenwald Trophy), Dallas 1957, Haifa
Haifa
Haifa is the largest city in northern Israel, and the third-largest city in the country, with a population of over 268,000. Another 300,000 people live in towns directly adjacent to the city including the cities of the Krayot, as well as, Tirat Carmel, Daliyat al-Karmel and Nesher...

/Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...

 1958, Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...

 1960, Netanya
Netanya
Netanya is a city in the Northern Centre District of Israel, and is the capital of the surrounding Sharon plain. It is located north of Tel Aviv, and south of Haifa between the 'Poleg' stream and Wingate Institute in the south and the 'Avichail' stream in the north.Its of beaches have made the...

 1969, and the Reykjavík
Reykjavík
Reykjavík is the capital and largest city in Iceland.Its latitude at 64°08' N makes it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói Bay...

 Open 1984 at age 72. Reshevsky competed seriously at least semi-regularly, virtually until his death in 1992. He defeated old rival Vasily Smyslov
Vasily Smyslov
Vasily Vasilyevich Smyslov was a Soviet and Russian chess grandmaster, and was World Chess Champion from 1957 to 1958. He was a Candidate for the World Chess Championship on eight occasions . Smyslov was twice equal first at the Soviet Championship , and his total of 17 Chess Olympiad medals won...

 in a tournament game in 1991.

Reshevsky's books include Reshevsky on Chess (1948), How Chess Games Are Won (1962), Great Chess Upsets (1976), and The Art of Positional Play (1978). He also wrote a book on the 1972 World Championship match between his great rival Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky
Boris Spassky
Boris Vasilievich Spassky is a Soviet-French chess grandmaster. He was the tenth World Chess Champion, holding the title from late 1969 to 1972...

. As well, he authored columns in chess magazines and The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

.

Style

Reshevsky was a tough and forceful player who was superb at positional play, but could also play brilliant tactical chess when warranted. He often used huge amounts of time in the opening
Chess opening
A chess opening is the group of initial moves of a chess game. Recognized sequences of opening moves are referred to as openings as initiated by White or defenses, as created in reply by Black. There are many dozens of different openings, and hundreds of named variants. The Oxford Companion to...

, a dangerous tactic which sometimes forced him to play the rest of the game in a very short amount of time. That sometimes unsettled Reshevsky's opponents, but at other times resulted in blunders
Blunder (chess)
In chess, a blunder is a very bad move. It is usually caused by some tactical oversight, whether from time trouble, overconfidence or carelessness. While a blunder may seem like a stroke of luck for the opposing player, some chess players give their opponent plenty of opportunities to blunder.What...

 on his part. Reshevsky's inadequate study of the opening and his related tendency to fall into time-pressure may have been the reasons that, despite his great talent, he was never able to become world champion; he himself acknowledged this in his book on chess upsets. This Reshevsky shortcoming was similarly noted by GM Larry Evans
Larry Evans
For the football player of the same name, see Larry Evans .Larry Melvyn Evans was an American chess grandmaster, author, and journalist. He won or shared the U.S. Chess Championship five times and the U.S. Open Chess Championship four times...

 in commentary contained in the book My 60 Memorable Games, written by Fischer.

Reshevsky specialized in closed openings with the White pieces, usually opening with 1.d4, and was a virtuoso with the Exchange Variation of the Queen's Gambit Declined
Queen's Gambit Declined
The Queen's Gambit Declined is a chess opening in which Black declines a pawn offered by White in the Queen's Gambit:This is known as the Orthodox Line of the Queen's Gambit Declined...

. He rarely opened with 1.e4 against strong opposition. With the Black pieces, he employed a broad and varied repertoire during his long career.

Contemporary American GM Arnold Denker
Arnold Denker
Arnold Sheldon Denker was an American chess player, Grandmaster, and chess author. He was U.S. Chess Champion in 1945 and 1946....

 complimented Reshevsky's extraordinary tenacity and fighting spirit, and noted that Reshevsky developed a vital advantage in his great head-to-head battles with his main American rival, GM Reuben Fine
Reuben Fine
Reuben Fine was one of the strongest chess players in the world from the early 1930s through the 1940s, an International Grandmaster, psychologist, university professor, and author of many books on both chess and psychology.Fine won five medals in three chess Olympiads. Fine won the U.S...

, particularly in U.S. Championships from the mid-1930s through the early 1940s. Trouble in games against Reshevsky was the main reason Fine was never able to win the U.S. Championship; Fine abandoned professional chess by the late 1940s, and switched to a successful career as a psychologist
Psychologist
Psychologist is a professional or academic title used by individuals who are either:* Clinical professionals who work with patients in a variety of therapeutic contexts .* Scientists conducting psychological research or teaching psychology in a college...

.

Quotes

  • "By playing slowly during the early phases of a game I am able to grasp the basic requirements of each position. Then, despite being in time pressure, I have no difficulty in finding the best continuation. Incidentally, it is an odd fact that more often than not it is my opponent who gets the jitters when I am compelled to make these hurried moves."

  • His self-description, "My style is somewhere between that of Tal
    Mikhail Tal
    Mikhail Tal was a Soviet–Latvian chess player, a Grandmaster, and the eighth World Chess Champion.Widely regarded as a creative genius, and the best attacking player of all time, he played a daring, combinatorial style. His play was known above all for improvisation and unpredictability....

     and Petrosian
    Tigran Petrosian
    Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian was a Soviet-Armenian grandmaster, and World Chess Champion from 1963 to 1969. He was nicknamed "Iron Tigran" due to his playing style because of his almost impenetrable defence, which emphasised safety above all else...

    ", is sometimes circulated as an ironic comment (given that these two players are considered to represent opposite extremes of style) but makes more sense in its full context; from his book Great Chess Upsets: "I am essentially a positional player, although I can conduct an assault with precision and vigor, when the opportunity arises. My style lies between that of Tal and Petrosian. It is neither over-aggressive nor too passive. My strength consists of a fighting spirit, a great desire to win, and a stubborn defense whenever in trouble. I rarely become discouraged in an inferior situation, and I fear no one."

Notable chess games

  • Larry Evans vs Reshevsky, 1963 1/2–1/2
  • Reshevsky vs F Vasconcellos, 1944 1–0
  • Botvinnik vs Reshevsky, 1948 0–1
  • Reshevsky vs Petrosian, 1953 1/2–1/2
  • Szabo vs Reshevsky, 1953 1/2–1/2
  • Reshevsky vs Capablanca, 1935 1–0
  • Reshevsky vs G Treysman, 1938 1–0
  • Lasker vs Reshevsky, 1936 0–1
  • Reshevsky vs Najdorf, 1952 1–0
  • Reshevsky vs Fischer, 1961 1/2–1/2

External links

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