Alexander Kevitz

Alexander ( Alex) Kevitz ( born September 1, 1902 in Brooklyn, † October 24, 1981 in Manhattan) was an American chess player.

Life

Kevitz studied at Cornell University, where he was in 1921 treasurer of the local chess clubs, and at Brooklyn College. He achieved degrees in pharmacy and law. In 1924 he played in New York in simultaneous exhibitions against Alexander Alekhine, José Raúl Capablanca and. While he lost to Alekhine, Capablanca, he brought in an orangutan opening defeat in just 13 trains at. Kevitz was a spectator at the international tournament New York in 1924 and was greatly influenced present there in his own words through the opening ideas of Richard Réti in his chess development. He joined the Manhattan Chess Club, whose club championship in 1927, 1928-29 and 1935-36 won, and played for Manhattan at the Metropolitan Chess League. In 1928 he succeeded in a simultaneous exhibition victory against Emanuel Lasker.

In 1929 he took part in a tournament champion in Bradley Beach and finished there with four points from nine games the 7th Place. With his victory in the match against the reigning national champion Frank Marshall he had a moderate success. In 1931 he took part in a tournament champion in New York and arrived there with 7 points from 11 games on the third place. In the game against the winner of the tournament Capablanca he was better after a good treatment of Réti - opening, the game ultimately lost but still. In March 1935, he succeeded in the Metropolitan League again a win against Marshall. For the U.S. Championship in New York in 1936 Kevitz received because of its success a free place and therefore did not have to take part in the qualifications. With 7.5 points from 15 games, he finished in the tournament, which took place from 25 April to 16 May, he saw number 8 This result in a failure, retired for almost ten years of tournament chess and worked in his profession as a pharmacist.

In September 1946, when comparing struggle he succeeded USA - USSR in Moscow a comeback by defeating Igor Bondarewski with 1.5-0.5. In June 1951, he tried again to qualify for the national championship of the United States, but failed in the elimination tournament in New York, in which 24 players participated. In 1953 he came to the shared 13th place at the U.S. Open in Milwaukee. In another comparative fighting against the USSR in 1954, he lost a match against Paul Keres and 1955 two games against Alexander Kotov. He took a few more times participate in the championships of the Manhattan Chess Club and promoted emerging talents like Arthur Bisguier, who described him as his mentor. He also played correspondence chess to try opening variations. He used the pseudonym Palmer Phar derived from his workplace Palmer Pharmacy. In 1966 he retired and entered only rarely in evidence: In 1971, he played at the Manhattan Chess Club a blitz game against Bobby Fischer, which he lost in 27 trains, 1972, he took part in the U.S. Open, but could not place it in the front of the field itself.

He died at the age of 79 years at Cabrini Medical Center in Manhattan. He is survived by his wife Helen, with whom he had two children, a son and a daughter.

Playing strength

His best historical Elo rating was 2578 in September 1931, that he was ranked 30 in the world rankings. In the first published by the United States Chess Federation Elo rankings from July 31, 1950 Kevitz was with a rating of 2610 at # 3 behind Reuben Fine and Samuel Reshevsky. In later lists but was not performed because it was not running at that time.

Fred Reinfeld described him in 1936 in the magazine Chess as an excellent strategist who has a sophisticated opening repertoire and particularly plays very strongly with white.

Contributions to chess theory

Kevitz was considered a good analyst. His preferred systems included the English Opening, 1.c4 Nf6 variation in the 2.Nc3 e6 3.e4 Nc6 was named after him. In the English version symmetry, he was also with the Gambit 1.c4 c5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e5 d5 5.Sb5.

In the 1940s, he recommended against the Marshall Attack the 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 variant a6 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 4.La4 6.Te1 b5 8.c3 d5 7.Lb3 0-0 9.exd5 Nxd5 10.Sxe5 Sxe5 11.Txe5 c6 13.d4 Bd6 12.Lxd5 cxd5 14.Te3. The idea is that on the 14th ... Dh4 the train can follow 15.h3 and the tower on the third row is a useful defense figure.

With Black Kevitz preferred against both 1.e4 and 1.d4 against the train 1 ... Nc6. In the Nimzowitsch defense he played the variant 1.e4 Nc6 2.d4 e5, among other things, against Keres 1954. Nc6 1.d4 or 1.d4 Nf6 After 2.c4 Nc6 created a separate opening in the U.S. originally Kevitz - Traikovich Defense was called. Also, since the Mexican Carlos Torre Repetto Grandmaster employed with this system, it is referred to as a predominantly Mexican defense in the German language area.

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