US vs. USSR radio chess match 1945

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The US vs. USSR radio chess match 1945 was a

Uedemann Code.[2] It took an average of 5 minutes to transmit a move. The US team played at the Henry Hudson Hotel
in New York. The Soviet team met at the Central Club of Art Masters in Moscow. The USSR team won the match 15+124+12.

This result was met with astonishment around the chess world, since the US had won four straight

Chess Olympiads from 1931 to 1937; however, the Soviet Union had not competed in those tournaments. The Soviet program for producing a new generation of chess masters, originated and supervised by Nikolai Krylenko from the early 1930s, clearly was paying dividends. From 1945 onwards, Soviet players would dominate international chess for most of the rest of the 20th century. The radio match proved a watershed and a changing of the guard in the chess world.[3]

Other radio matches took place around this time.

The matchups

The matchup and results are in this table. Scores are from a Soviet point of view: "1" for a Soviet win, "0" for an American win and "½" for a drawn game.[4][5][6]

USSR vs. US radio match 1945
Board  Soviet Union Game 1 Game 2  United States Result (USSR–US)
1 Mikhail Botvinnik 1 1 Arnold Denker 2–0
2 Vasily Smyslov 1 1 Samuel Reshevsky 2–0
3 Isaac Boleslavsky 12 1 Reuben Fine 1½–½
4 Salo Flohr 1 0 I.A. Horowitz 1–1
5 Alexander Kotov 1 1 Isaac Kashdan 2–0
6 Igor Bondarevsky 0 12 Herman Steiner ½–1+12
7 Andor Lilienthal 12 12 Albert Pinkus 1–1
8 Viacheslav Ragozin 1 1 Herbert Seidman 2–0
9 Vladimir Makogonov 1 12 Abraham Kupchik 1½–½
10 David Bronstein 1 1 Anthony Santasiere 2–0
Total 15½–4+12

Nine of ten Americans and six of ten Soviets were Jewish.[7][8]

The match featured most of the leading players in the world: including the first, second and equal third placegetters at the 1948 World Championship (Botvinnik, Smyslov, Reshevsky); Fine, who declined his invitation to the 1948 Championship; and the top two placegetters in the 1950 Candidates tournament (Bronstein and Boleslavsky).

Reserve players

The following players were reservists in the U.S. team, to be called on, in the order given, if any of the primary team are unable to compete:

Peter Romanovsky.[10]

Other radio matches

The USSR also won these matches:

  • USSR vs. United Kingdom, 1947
  • USSR vs. United Kingdom, 1954
  • USSR vs. United States, 1954
  • USSR vs. United States, 1955 (Brace 1977:233).

See also

Notes

  1. ^ "Sinfree.net". Sbchess.sinfree.net. Archived from the original on 2008-10-10. Retrieved 2013-12-12.
  2. ^ Uedemann Code is usually an incorrect name for Gringmuth notation which was designed for transmission over telegraph. Both systems assign two-letter names to each square of the chessboard and moves are transmitted as a four-character group giving the starting and ending square.
  3. ^ (Hooper & Whyld 1992:330)
  4. ^ "USA vs USSR radio match, 1945". Archived from the original on October 28, 2009. Retrieved 2013-12-12.
  5. ^ https://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http://www.geocities.com/al2055perv/matches/1945/ursusa45.html&date=2009-10-25+16:13:02 [dead link]
  6. ^ "Archived copy". www.geocities.com. Archived from the original on 28 October 2009. Retrieved 12 January 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. ^ "Exhibit Page @ Virtual Museum". Jews In Sports. Retrieved 2013-12-12.
  8. ^ JINFO (1985-08-16). "Jewish Chess Players". Jinfo.org. Retrieved 2013-12-12.
  9. ^ "Sinfree.net". Sbchess.sinfree.net. Retrieved 2013-12-12.
  10. ^ "Sinfree.net". Sbchess.sinfree.net. Archived from the original on 2009-08-30. Retrieved 2013-12-12.

References