US Championship 1936 — New York

Incomplete record. This archive holds 116 of the 120 games played; 4 are missing.

For more than a quarter of a century the championship of the United States had belonged to Frank Marshall, who took it from Jackson Showalter in 1909 and defended it exactly once. In December 1935 he wrote to the National Chess Federation that he would neither defend it nor play for it again, and in the spring of 1936 sixteen players gathered at the Hotel Astor to settle the title by tournament instead. Samuel Reshevsky won by half a point, on the last afternoon, and afterwards called the whole thing something of a nightmare.

◇Marshall lets the title go

Marshall had won the American championship from Showalter in 1909 and defended it only in 1923, against Edward Lasker. Would-be challengers could rarely raise the stakes his conditions required, and the long silence built pressure for a championship decided on a regular schedule instead. Marshall at first said he would play; then, as the plan hardened into a real tournament, he formally resigned the title and withdrew.

The Marshall Chess Club presented a trophy for the new event, named the Frank J. Marshall trophy. Marshall himself served as one of the finals directors alongside Hermann Helms and Fritz Brieger.

◇Eight seeds and eight qualifiers

Dake, Fine, Horowitz, Kashdan, Kevitz, Kupchik, Reshevsky and Herman Steiner were seeded straight into the final; Edward Lasker was to have been seeded too, but did not play. The remaining eight places went to the top two finishers in each of four 12-player preliminary sections, which began at the end of March: Factor and Simonson came through Section A, Adams and Denker through B, Bernstein and Treysman through C, Hanauer and Morton through D.

One of those qualifiers made the tournament's reputation. George Treysman was a coffee-house player from Manhattan's Lower East Side who made his living betting on games at the Stuyvesant Chess Club; in the finals he beat Kashdan, Dake, Kevitz, Steiner and Denker and tied for third with Reuben Fine on 10½.

“Having held the title of chess champion of the United States for over twenty-five years, it is better for me not to endeavour to retain the title in the forthcoming tournament but to let the honor go to some new champion.”

“The tournament will long remain something of a nightmare.”

◇Decided on the last afternoon

Reshevsky lost twice in the first week — to Sidney Bernstein in round three and to I. A. Horowitz in round four — and spent the rest of the event climbing back. Kashdan, Fine, Dake, Treysman and Albert Simonson all led or came within striking distance at some point; every player in the field lost at least one game, and everyone except Fine lost at least two.

After fourteen rounds Reshevsky and Simonson stood level on 11 points. In the final round, on 16 May, Treysman lost to Fine and Simonson pushed too hard with White against Samuel Factor and lost as well. Reshevsky, standing better against Abraham Kupchik, took the draw that gave him the title by half a point.