Samuel Reshevsky
Samuel Herman Reshevsky (* November 26, 1911 in Ozorków (then Russian Empire, today Poland) as Szmul Rzeszewski, † April 4, 1992 in Suffern, New York) was an American chess master of Polish descent.
Life
Samuel Reshevsky was the sixth child of Jewish parents. At the age of six, he played simultaneously against several adult opponents. A child prodigy, he undertook in 1920 a tour to the USA and stayed there. At the age of 11 he won a tournament game against David Janowski. 1923 interrupted his chess career, he attended school and later graduated from the University of Chicago trained as an accountant, which he completed in 1933.
In 1935 he again took part in international tournaments. He won a tournament in Margate, defeating José Raúl Capablanca there. In tournament in Nottingham in 1936 he won 3rd - 5th Rank together with Euwe and Fine. In the same year he was first master of the USA, followed by the profits of the U.S. Championships in 1938, 1940 and 1946., 1937, he won the tournament in Kemeri together with Flohr and Petrov, in the tournament in Semmering / Baden he won the 3 /4. Rank. Reshevsky won the tournament in Hastings 1937 /38. In tournament Leningrad / Moscow in 1939, he finished second behind Flohr. In 1941 he married his wife Norma, with whom he later had two children (Sylvia and Joel ).
Reshevsky won the tournament in 1945 when Pan American tournament for the World Chess Championship 1948, he finished shared third -. 4th place. In Amsterdam Tournament 1950, he took 2nd place behind Najdorf, 1951, he won the Wertheim Memorial. In 1952 he shared the first place in Havana with the Najdorf, the same year he won a match against the same opponent with 11:7 and was considered at that time as the best player in the Western world. Vasily Smyslov said of him: A tough little man with brilliant ideas (TIME, November 2, 1953). As David Bronstein later admitted, it came at the Candidates Tournament in Zurich in 1953 under pressure from officials to batch collusion among the Soviet players in order to prevent a tournament victory Reshevskys.
Reshevsky played in two prestigious competitions against the USSR on the first board for the American team in 1954 he achieved a draw against Smyslov, 1955, he defeated Mikhail Botvinnik with 2.5:1.5.
Reshevsky won the Rosenwald tournament in New York in 1956, in Dallas in 1957, he shared the first place with Gligorić. In 1958, he won a tournament in Haifa / Tel Aviv, 1960, he won the tournament together with Korchnoi in Buenos Aires. In 1961 he designed a match against Bobby Fischer eleven games in a draw. In 1968, he lost in the quarterfinals of candidate tournament against Korchnoi. In 1969, he won a tournament in Netanya and the U.S. Championship. 1971 Reshevsky won for the seventh and last time the national championship, in Palma de Mallorca, he finished 3 / 4 Place. He remained active into old age schachlich and took another 1989 participated in several heavily occupied tournaments. Samuel Reshevsky died in 1992 after a heart attack.
His best historical Elo rating was 2785th This he reached in October 1953. He was also at times the best player in the world.
Due to his international success in 1950, he received the title of FIDE Grand Master.