Abraham Kupchik
Kupchik Abraham (born 25 March 1892 in Brest, † November 26, 1970 in Montclair, New Jersey) was an American chess player.
Kupchik grew up in a Jewish family in Brest in what was then the Russian Empire (now Belarus ) on. In 1903 the family emigrated to the United States.
He won ten times divided alone and once the championship of the Manhattan Chess Club. In 1915 he reached New York the split third and fourth place with Oscar Chajes, José Raúl Capablanca behind and Frank Marshall. The following year he was again at the same place behind Capablanca shared second - fourth Dawid Janowski, and with Boris Kostic. In 1918 he won in Rye Beach (New York).
After the First World War he won in 1919 in Troy the championship of the State of New York. In 1923 he finished second in Lake Hopatcong at the 9th American Chess Congress with Marshall shared first place. In New York in 1924, he lost a match against Efim Bogolyubov ( 1 -3 = 2). A year later, he held, again in New York, a match against Carlos Torre Repetto draw ( 1 -1 = 4). In 1926, he took second place behind Capablanca, Lake Hopatcong.
Kupchik played for the U.S. national team at the Chess Olympiad 1935 in Warsaw. On the third board he reached a record of six wins and eight draws with no defeats. He won the gold medal with the team and the bronze medal in the individual competition. He played in nine board to radio competition USA - Soviet Union in 1945, losing to Wladimir Makogonow ½: 1 ½.
His best Historical Elo rating was calculated in 2641 for the August 1926; so that he was on the 14th place in the world rankings.
His playing style was solid and pragmatic. " Kuppele ," as he was known in American chess circles, played mostly undemanding openings, resorted to the defensive, trying to exploit enemy mistakes. This proved especially in blitz chess as a very effective, but was unattractive for spectators. Because of this reputation he was not invited to the 1924 international tournament in New York, although he belonged at that time to the best American players.
Kupchik was a professional accountant and lived with his family in Brooklyn. He had two children.