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Samuel Factor: 1927-1928

First National Federation Meeting - Kalamazoo, Michigen.

ACB 1927 p.152:

Beginning on Aug.25 and lasting until Sept. 05 1927 at the  New Burdick Hotel, Kalamazoo, Mich., the first meeting of the National Chess Federation of the USA, which was also 28th WCA, while not very largely attended, was nevertheless a most satisfactory one, reflecting credit upon those who, at short notice, were called upon to step into the breach. For the success thus obtained special recognition is due to the members of the Kalamazoo  Chess Club and particularly to Dr. Arthur E. West of that city, one of the regional vice president of the federation. He gave freely of his time and money to the end that the first year of the federation's existence might not pass without a congress worthy of the national body. In this he and his co-workers were entirely succesful.

Three very succesful tournaments constituted the pogram at Kalamazoo, the winners being N.T.Whitaker of Washington in the major, Albert Margolis of Chicago in the Western championship and Oskar A. Drake of Kalamazoo in the minor. Whitaker started with a defeat by Marvin Palmer in the first round. Then he drew with A.Kupchik of New York, the second prize winner, and had his bye in the third. Fromthen on he won six games in succession and thereby nosed out Kupchik by half a point.

Several times the victor has been near the top in Western Association meetings. At Detroit, in 1924, he was in a triple tie for second place, 2,5 points below Carlos Torre. He was bsent from Cedar Point, Ohio, in 1925 and Chicago last year.

Kupchik was the only one of the nine competitors who did not lose a game outright, but he drew four, which was only one too many. His strenght, to some extent, was sapped by series of long games during the early part of the meeting. Herman Steiner of New York surprised the talent and led until he lost his  first game to Whitaker in the semifinal round. On the following day he lost again to Stasch Mlotkowski, who thereby tied with him and Samuel  Reshevsky of Detroit for third places.

"A living chess game" was one of the features of this tournament. The 32 pieces was represented by approprialty costumed persons. 16 year old chess prodigy Sammy Reshevsky and Samuel Factor, Illinois Champion, was at opposite sides of the board. The game was played in the open.

The tournament results:

1.Whitaker - 6.5

2.Kupchik - 6.0

3-5.Mlotkowski, Reshevsky, Steiner -5.0

6. Isaacs - 3.5

7. Factor -3.0

8.Palmer -1.5

9. Roesch -0.5.

Samuel Factor won against Palmer and Roesch, drew with Mlotkowski and Reshevsky but in the end of tournament lost to Whitaker, Kupchik, Steiner and Isaacs and finally was 7th.

Very known Samuel Factor's  game against Nietsche wasn't played in 1942 but probably in 1928 or earlier. This game was published (without data when this game was played) in Manitoba Free Press,Winnipeg, Canada at 31.03.1928.

 

 

 

In 1928, Factor represented USA at third board (+4 –2 =5) in the 2nd Chess Olympiad in The Hague. He won team silver medal. Factor won against H.Mueller, M.Duchamp, Schoenmann and K.Gilg; lost to E.Voellmy and to his chess friend from Lodz, T.Regedzinski.

Comments

  • 3 years ago

    batgirl

    I see. Very nice continuation. I underestimated the force behind  19...Rd8.

    Thanks!

  • 3 years ago

    henry55

    Very interesting is 18.Nc8 but probably winning isn't simple: 18...Rxc8 19.Qxd7 Rd8 20.Qxd8 Rxd8 21.Rxd8 Bxd8...

    This game wasn't published in the ACB.

  • 3 years ago

    batgirl

    In Factor vs Kupchik,  Is there some tactical reason that I can't find why Factor didn't simply play 18.Nxc8, winning the Knight on d7?

  • 3 years ago

    henry55

    National Federation Meeting at Bradley Beach, New Jersey, was held from September 5-12 1928 at the Hotel La Reine.

     

    Eight players accepted the invitations issued for the championship competition. The list included Israel Horowitz, Abraham Kupchik, Edward Lasker and Oscar Tenner of New York; Samuel D.Factor and Lewis J.Isaacs of Chicago; I.S.Turover of Washington and Stasch Mlotkowski of Camden, N.J.

    After a close finish to a contest in which some unusual reversals of form were witnessed, Kupchik emerged as winner of first prize and assumed the title of Federation champion. In token of this achievement he received a gold medal, in addition to the first cash prize. Kupchik won five of his seven games and lost two. The real merit of his performance is appreciated the more when it is considered that he was defeated twice in the first three rounds – the first time by Horowitz on the opening day and again by Factor in the third round. After that he won four times consecutively, leading the field at the end by just half a point.

       The other two prizes were divided between Horowitz and Lasker, who finished on even terms. Horowitz, who for some time has shown great promise in Metropolitan chess circles, made a distinctly favorable impression by his steady and masterful play. He lost but one game outright, and in this respect,at least, made the best showing of any of the eight contenders. But for the fact that he drew all of his last three games, he might easily have been first.

       By general consensus of opinion Edward Lasker played the best chess of the tournament, but spoiled his chances for the chief prize by exposing himself repeatedly to time pressure. The fact that he suffered from the unpleasant effects of hay fever did not help any. He lost to Turover in the third round and to Kupchik in the sixth.

       The record made by Factor, who was also not in the best of health, was perhaps the most remarkable. In the beginning he won three games in a row, after which, in the next four games, he scored but half point. Consequently, he finished below the three prize winners and on a level with Turover, whose play was somewhat more even. The latter wound up strongly by drawing two games and winning one in the last rounds.

       Next in line was Mlotkowski, who, with but a drew in the first three rounds, made an indifferent start. In the next three, however, he scored 2.5. Isaacs, after defeating Tenner in second round, did not win again until the sixth, when he scored a signal triumph over Factor.

       Tenner did not come up to expectations by any means. His single win was at the expense of Mlotkowski in the third round. However, in the final he held Horowitz to a draw and this had considerable bearing upon the the distribution of the prizes.

     

    Players and visitors beguiled some of their spare time by taking in three rapid transit tournaments. The prize winners in these were the following:

    First tourney – A.Kupchik, S.D.Factor and H.Helms (triple tie), each 4-2.

    Second tourney – S.Mlotkowski and N.T.Whitaker (tie), each 4-1, A.Kupchik, 3-2.

    Third tourney – A.Kupchik, 6.5-1.5; S.D.Factor and I.Kashdan (tie), each 6-2

    (ACB 1928)

     

  • 3 years ago

    batgirl

    Ah, so the Nietsche-Factor game was played in 1928! 12...Qxe5 is, of course, a brilliant conception.

    The article mentions the "first meeting of the National Chess Federation of the USA."  This is an interesting and confusing topic. Both the American Chess Federation (ACF), which was then called the Western Chess Association, and the National Chess Federation (NCF) could trace their roots back to 1900 when the Western Chess Association held it's first Western Championship. Actually the AFC could arguably be traced back to 1857. The Western Chess Association didn't change its name to the American Chess Federation until 1934.  There was no unified chess organization in the USA, and each federation had its own tournaments and its own champions, until 1937 when all the confusion ended and the two main associations merged as the United States Chess Federation (USCF). 

    Thanks for the article and for setting right the date of the Nietsche-Factor King's Gambit.  

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