The Player I'd Most Like to Have Met

     Throughout the history of the game, chess has produced innumerable fascinating personalities.  Some were stars, others played supporting roles.  Many of them, at least from the hazy vantage point of my clouded rear window, could capture my attention were I granted the opportunity to spend a few hours with them. 
     Choosing just one player of old for that mystical visit is more than difficult.  Would I pick George Walker, the early 19th century English font of information, or maybe Paul Morphy whose genius was bookended by courtesy and kindness?  Perhaps the witty, hard-working Joseph Blackburne, the suave, handsome José Capablanca or the intense and affable Mikhail Tal would fit my bill.   The more attention I gave the fantasy, the more my compass jitterbugged in the unlikely direction toward Israel Albert Horowitz.

 

     Best known to most people today as an author of novice and intermediate books as well as the founder and editor of the popular and long-lasting periodical, "Chess Review,"  Horowitz lived in a fascinating time which he helped create as well as record.

     Louis Horowitz' son, Albert, came into the world on November 15, 1907.  He died at the relatively young age of 65 —a lifetime of heavy cigarette smoking exacting its revenge— on January 18, 1973, the same year I was born.  Perhaps that partly explains my affinity.

     "The Pittsburg Gazette," Feb. 25, 1939 informs us that Al played his first game of chess at age eight and that during his four years at NYU, Horowitz "lost only one match - to a man named [John] Vanderslice who is now Albert Einstein's protoge."  According to "Recollections of Princeton" by Malcolm Robertson, 1984,  "Vanderslice, besides being the chess champion, with his incredible memory, would whistle whole symphonies and concertos of Beethoven, Brahms, and Tschaikovsky, to our applause and appreciation."
     Herman Helms, in his "Brooklyn Eagle" chess column on Aug. 20, 1942, wrote, "Horowitz played his first chess [presumably, competitive chess] at the old Commerical High School, now Axexander Hamilton.  He won the interscholastic championship. For four years he captained teams at New York University, 1925-8."
     After earning his business degree from NYU, Horowitz took a white collar job at the investment house of Holt, Rose and Troster. The same "Pittsbugh Gazette" article as above tells us, "He once tried working in Wall Street. Howard Holt, a big broker, decided that expert chess players would make good traders and hired some of them.  They did very well, but Mr. Horowitz decided to make a little on the side investing his own money. He lost it."
     Larry Evans claims Horowitz found that once the Depression hit, Wall Street work became untenable and Horowitz deduced "that if he could win a quarter a game and 'a quarter could buy a meal,'" chess would support him better.  So, Al Horowitz abandoned Wall Street in 1932 and in the middle of the Great Depression,  and joined with Isaac Kashdan, part insurance salesman, part leading US chess player, to found "Chess Review."  Since Helms was already publishing "The American Chess Bulletin," the premiere American chess periodical, also NYC-based, Horowitz and Kashdan were really putting all their cards on the table, competing for an audience during a time when money was scarce.  But Horowitz was brash and daring in life as well as in chess and his magazine exuded an excitement that captured the imagination of his seemingly staid and somber target demographics.

     The maiden issue, January 1933, spotlighted Kashdan:

 

     But by November 1933, Kashan's name was gone and Horowitz was "the" editor where he'd remain for the next 36 years. November 1969 saw it merging with "Chess Life" to become "Chess Life and Review" under the auspices of the USCF.

     Frank Brady, during his editorship of "Chess Life" in 1961, changed it from it's newspaper format to a more appealing magazine format, breathing new life into the periodical while making it compatible to "Chess Review," paving the way towards its merger.  It's a sobering thought that Mr. Brady wasn't even born when the first issue of "Chess Review" came out.

    Horowitz' recovery, much of which took place in St. Anthony's Hospital in Carroll, Iowa, was slow, as might be expected.



     There was no February edition of "Chess Review" in 1940:

     After the accident, Horowitz doesn't appear to have been very active for a while. In 1941 he played a match with Reshevsky for the U.S. Championship but lost decisively with no wins, 3 loses and 13 draws. Reshevsky was the perpetual U.S. champion during those years.
     The match started in the spacious home of Maurice Wertheim, president of the Manhattan Chess Club, with about 150 invitated guests. The rest of the games were played at various locations in New York, New Jersey and even Washington D.C.  What started as a game every other day, turned into a greuling game/day schedule. Reshevsky was hardier than Horowitz. Noteworthy is that L. Walter Stevens, who referreed the entire match, transported the players, arranged for accompodations and contributed financially, had his car stolen during the 11th game. It was recovered the next day.

     In 1943 Horowtz won the US Open. He'd won before on 2 occasions when it was still the American Chess Federation Championship. His wife, Edna, also played in that Open in the expert section where she came in 7th. Shortly after the US Open, Horowitz came in third, behind Reshevsky and Kashdan in the US Speed Chess championship. 
    In 1944 Horowitz came in second in the speed chess contest, behind the invincible Reuben Fine but ahead of both Reshevsky and Kashdan. Earlier that year, he had come in 3rd behind Denker and Fine in the very closely contested US Championship.
    More than his speed chess ability was his odds-giving facility. Arnold Denker claimed, "Next to George Treysman, Al Horowitz was the best odds-giver in the United States. He would never hesitate to grant Knight-odds to players strong enough to warrant only pawn and move. Yet he was successful thanks to psychological tactics and engaging banter, not to mention a natural genious for the game."




     As shown below, Edna Horowitz also took an active role in chess, not just on the playing side, but also on the commercial side.

    

     A shining moment came for Horowitz in September 1945 when the Soviet team crushed the US team in the highly publicized Radio Match.  Herman Steiner was the man of the hour by achieving the only plus score among the 10 players (1½ - ½ against Igor Bondarevsky) but Horowitz was the only other American player with a face-saving win (1-1 against Salo Flohr). None of the others —Denker, Fine, Reshevsky, Kashdan, Seidman, Santasiere, Pinkus and Kupchik— scored a single win.

     That same year, Horowitz placed 4th in the Pan-Am Chess Congress played in Hollywood. It seems he did as much sight-seeing as playing:

    Unlike some of the leading American players such as Fine or Reshevsky, Horowitz has very little international  experience. One exception was a rematch with the Soviets, played face-to-face in Moscow on Sept. 12-13, 1946. The palatial playing hall, coupled with the previous disastrous match must have really intimidated the ten American players, but the results were much better this time with the US winning 3 games and holding the Soviets to only 8 wins. Horowitz had 2 draws (against Bonarevsky).

     A stop-over in Stockholm on September 2nd provided an interesting lightning chess match including the American players and the Swedish players.  The Americans were accustomed to a 10 sec./move rapid-transit format but the Swedes played at a X-min./game. It was agreed that the games would be 8 minutes.  The event took place at the Winter Garden of the Grand Hotel where the 1937 Olympiad was held before an audience of 300.

   Returning home, Horowitz shared 5th-6th place with Denker in the US Championship which was won, of course, by Reshevsky. Below shows the cramped playing conditions:

     Horowitz also continued making his annual barnstorming tours: