Chess in 1913
by Bill Wall
In 1913, the 16th Amendment, federal income tax, was ratified. Marcel Duchamp was playing chess and introduced his painting to America. Woodrow Wilson, a chess player, became the 28th President of the Unites States.
On January 9, 1913, Oxford defeated Cambridge in their annual university match.
On January 17, 1913, Lev Loshinsky was born. He was perhaps the greatest chess composer of three-movers. He died in 1976.
On January 27, 1913, Lodewijk Prins was born in Amsterdam. He was awarded the International Master (IM) title in 1951, and was made an honorary grandmaster (GM) in 1982. In 1965, he won the Dutch championship. He organized the Amsterdam 1950 International, Amsterdam 1954 (the Chess Olympiad) and Amsterdam 1956 (the Candidates tournament). Prins was an International Arbiter (1960) and an endgames judge. In his later years he had a problems column, organizing yearly composing competitions. He also coauthored several chess books with Max Euwe. He died in 1999.
On February 5, 1913, Capablanca won the 2nd American National Tournament, ahead of Frank Marshall. It was held at the Manhattan Chess Club. Capablanca won his first 10 games in a row.
On February 15, 1913, Erich Eliskases was born in Innsbruck, Austria. He became an IM in 1950 and a GM in 1952. He won the Austrian championship at the age of 16. He won the Hungarian championship in 1934. He won the German championship in 1938 and 1939. He represented Austria, Germany, and Argentina in international competition. He was stranded in Argentina during World War II and washed dishes for a living before being hired as a chess teacher. At one time, he was considered a potential contender for a world championship match. During his career, he defeated Max Euwe 3 times, Capablanca twice, and beat Bobby Fischer one. He died in Argentina in 1997.
In February-March 1913, Alexander Alekhine defeated S. M. Levitsky in a match held in St. Petersburg with 7 wins and 3 losses. Years later, Alekhine published and falsified a game score from this match, showing a brilliant combination that never occurred.
On March 6, 1913, Frank Marshall won at the Havana Congress, ahead of Jose Capablanca and David Janowski. Marshall defeated Capablanca with the Black pieces. Capablanca had the mayor of Havana clear the tournament room so that Capablanca could resign his game to Marshall without anyone seeing him resign.
On April 6, 1913, Carlos Guimard (Car-Ri-Mard) was born in Argentina. He became an IM 1950 and a GM in 1960. He was Argentine champion in 1947, 1949, and 1953. Guimard was a partner with Miguel Najdorf in the insurance business and became wealthy. He died in 2001. Happy 100th birthday.
On April 22, 1913, Alekhine and Levenfish tied at St. Petersburg.
On May 12, 1913, Igor Bondarevsky was born in Rostov-on-Don, Russia. He was the USSR champion in 1940. He was awarded the GM title in 1950. He was awarded the GM of Correspondence Chess (GMC) title in 1961. He was a coach to Boris Spassky until the 1972 match with Fischer. He was an economist by profession. He died in 1979.
On June 24, 1913, Rudolf Spielmann won the Jubilee tournament of the Vienna Chess Club, ahead of Tartakower and Reti.
In July 1913, Frank Marshall played 57 players simultaneously in Pittsburgh, and won all 57 games.
On August 8, 1913, Alekhine won the 40th Anniversary of the Nederlandschen Schaakbond (NSB) Commemorative Tournament in Scheveningen, Holland, ahead of David Janowski.
On August 12, 1913 Alexander Kotov was born in Tula, Russia. He was Moscow champion in 1941. He was the USSR co-champion in 1948 (with Bronstein). He was awarded the GM title in 1950 (he was the 3rd Soviet GM after Botvinnik and Levenfish). He was a Candidate 1950 and 1953. He wrote several chess books, including “Think Like a Grandmaster.” He died 1981.
On August 18, 1913, Capablanca won the Rice Chess Club Summer Tournament with the score of 13-0.
On August 23, 1913, Frederick Yates won the British chess championship (British Federation Congress) at Cheltenham. He won again in 1914.
On August 24, 1913, Bradford Jefferson of Memphis, Tennessee, won the 14th Western Chess Association (US Open) in Chicago.
In August 1913, Emanuel Lasker agreed to play Akiba Rubinstein for the world championship match to be held in 1914. World War I interrupted that match.
In September 1913, Capablanca obtained a post in the Cuban Foreign Office. He was expected to be an ambassador-at-large for Cuba. His official title was "Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary General from the Government of Cuba to the World at Large." He had no specific duties except to play chess around the world. In October 1913, he departed for St. Petersburg to take up his duties as chancellor of the Cuban embassy.
In September 1913, Alekhine defeated Edward Lasker in a match in Paris, France, and won 1,000 francs. Shortly after that, his 1,000 francs was stolen. He had to borrow money from Edward Lasker to return home.
On November 4, 1913.11, Elizaveta Bykova was born in Bogoliubovo, Russia. She was the 3rd world’s women champion from 1953 to 1956 and the 5th word’s women champion from 1958 to 1962. She was the first woman to lose her title, and then regain it again. From 1956 to 1958 she lost her title to Olga Rubtsova. In 1962 she lost her title to Nona Gaprindashvili. She was USSR Women’s champion in 1947, 1948, and 1950. She earned the Women's International Master title in 1950. In 1953, she earned the men's International Master title. She earned the Women’s Grandmaster title in 1976. She was the first woman to be ranked as a Soviet master. She died in 1989.
In 1913, at the age of 21, Alekhine fathered an illegitimate daughter, Valentina (born on December 15, 1913) with a Russian baroness (Anna von Sewergin). Alekhine and the baroness married in 1920 to legitimize the daughter's birth. Valentina died in the mid 1980s in Vienna.
In 1913, H.J.R. Murray (1868-1955) published “History of Chess.”
In 1913, the first edition of “Modern Chess Openings” was published by R.C. Griffith and J.H. White.