Isaac Kashdan

Isaac Kashdan ( born November 19, 1905 in New York, NY, USA; † 20 February 1985 in Los Angeles, California ) was an American grandmaster and chess author. In the 1930s, he was one of the ten strongest chess players in the world. In 1950 he became an International Master in 1954 finally grandmasters.

Life

Isaac Kashdan graduated from City College in New York. From 1923 he was a member of several chess clubs in the city. On the occasion of the International Tournament New York in 1924, he won a competition in solving chess problems before Grandmaster Réti. Although he was one of the best American players in the 1930s, to Kashdan decided against a professional career and worked for several Wall Street firms. In 1956 he appeared in the show hosted by Groucho Marx television quiz show You Bet Your Life, with its Mitkandidatin Helen Schwartz, was the mother of actor Tony Curtis.

He was over 50 years long married to his wife Helen, with whom he had two sons. In 1982 he suffered a stroke, at the long-term consequences, he died in 1985.

Chess Olympiads

Kashdan took five chess Olympiads and finished with the team in the USA

Overall, his record was in Chess Olympiads: 52 wins, 5 losses and 22 draws ( 79.7 %). In 1928 and 1937, he was number one on his board ( gold). In 1933 he won silver.

USA Championships

In 1938, he won, shared with Horowitz, the U.S. Open. He took four times at the national championship of the United States in part:

Since 1949 he was a Life Director of the United States Chess Federation, a year after his death, he was inducted into the U.S. Chess Hall of Fame.

International success

Further successes in international tournaments were rank 2, 1930 in Frankfurt ( behind Nimzowitsch ), winner in Stockholm in 1930, rank 2 in Hastings 1931/32 ( behind Flohr ), shared 3rd place in London in 1932 ( behind Alekhine and Flohr ) and rank 2 in Pasadena ( behind Alekhine ).

Because of his good positional play and his final treatment it was called the little Capablanca.

His best Historical Elo rating was 2742 in March 1932 that he was the third-best player in the world.

Organizer

Kashdan organized numerous tournaments, including the financed by his friend Louis Open Statham Lone Pine and the match between Fischer and Reshevsky in 1961.

Author

In 1933 he was, along with Horowitz, co-founder of the magazine Chess Review. The publisher of the journal he published a book about the tournament Chess Olympiad 1933. Kashdan From 1955 to 1982 oversaw the chess column in the Los Angeles Times. He wrote two books about the Piatigorsky Cup tournament in 1963 and 1966, where he was also a referee.