Samuel Reshevsky: From 8-Year-Old Prodigy To World Championship Contender
We've all heard of Magnus. We've all heard of Kasparov. We've also heard of many older chess players such as Steinitz, Lasker, or Alekhine. But there is one grandmaster who was around at the same time Alekhine was -- and was at his level, too!
This man's name was Samuel Reshevsky, and I have chosen him as a topic for today's chess blog of mine. I will go through Reshevsky's whole life, and along with it, as many important details as I can. At the end, I hope you have a deeper understanding of a player who I often think is underrated, and quite frankly forgotten in my opinion. Don't worry, if you all know him, I'm just saying that I don't have dementia.
Okay, goodbye to the jokes. Samuel Reshevsky has long been known for being able to master quiet positions, although he can get very explosive a lot of the time. Of course, this will make an interesting topic for you to read and for me to write, although it has taken a long time for me to write it.
1. Early Life
2. 1931-1947
3. 1948
4. 1949-1970
5. Later Life
6. Legacy
Samuel Herman Reshevsky was born on the 26th of November, 1911, in Ozorkow, Poland, to Jakob Reshevsky and Szajndla Ejbuszyc, as a Jew. At about 4 years old, his father, Jakob Reshevsky, taught our beloved game of chess to him, to astonishing results. It didn't take long for Reshevsky to fall in love with the game, working hard to study many aspects of it. Just two years later, at 6 years old, he had become a powerful prodigy.
It was that same year, in 1917, that Reshevsky began touring Europe just to play Chess! In my opinion and in undoubtedly many others, 2 years of playing chess is not much, which means that Reshevsky must have worked hard in order to get this far.
One of Reshevsky's most notable childhood accomplishments was a simultaneous exhibition match against 20 Chess masters. Based in Paris, France, in 1920, Reshevsky was only 8 years old when he came into this simul. Of course, he was the underdog coming into this, but he didn't care. He ended up beating every single master brutally! This gave Reshevsky quite a reputation, and he began to become known by many across Europe.
Later in 1920, in November, Reshevsky's parents decided to move to the USA. In the US, Samuel was able to play many more games in many great tournaments all across the country. In the 1922 New York Masters Tournament, he even defeated the former World Championship runner-up David Janowski! Can you find the key moment where Reshevsky took the advantage? Janowski had just sacrificed a knight and was coming forward with an attack. What can you possibly do to save the game?
Great game, Reshevsky!
After playing in the New York Masters Tournament, Samuel Reshevsky continued to play chess in exhibition matches all across America. There are even rumours that he was with Charlie Chaplin during the filming of The Three Musketeers! During filming of that movie in 1921, Reshevsky played a game against Douglas Fairbanks, actor and filmmaker, while Chaplin watched on. Unfortunately, this game was not recorded. However, a game between Reshevsky and Charlie Chaplin himself was recorded in 1923, although I am not sure if it is the real game.
That was a truly special game. Reshevsky managed to exploit Charlie Chaplin's queenside weakness and was awarded with victory.
In 1924, Reshevsky switched nationality to the US, where he had now been living for a few years.
However, he did not stay in competitive chess much longer in his youth. In 1924, at 13 years of age, he decided to pause competitive chess, to complete his education. Nevertheless, he still played a few tournaments during this period, which lasted until 1931, but he only returned to serious competitions afterward.
Between 1931 and 1940, Reshevsky was back to Chess and really doing a lot.
In 1931, Samuel solidified his reputation as a leading player by winning the US Open Chess Championship, known then as the Western Open. This is not the same as the US Chess Championship.
Five years later, Reshevsky won his first US Chess Championship. In the future, he would win seven more, in 1938, 1940, 1941, 1942, and 1946, and also later in 1969. He shares the record for most of these won along with Bobby Fischer.
In 1934, Reshevsky graduated from the University of Chicago and began working as an accountant. He and his wife, Norma Mindick, had three children.
During the 1936 championship, Reshevsky ended up with 11.5/15 points, beating second place by half a point. In the final round, he faced a tough opponent, Weaver Warren Adams, and the game was equal for some time. However, 25-year-old Reshevsky soon pulled ahead and finished the tournament with a win. Can you find the brilliant move that Reshevsky used to win the game?
In the 1946 US Championship, Samuel Reshevsky earned a ticket to the World Chess Championship in 1948! This meant that he would be able to play for a chance to become World Champion! I'll explain more of that in the next section.
1948 was unarguably the most important year for Samuel Herman Reshevsky. First of all, let me list down all the things that he did.
- Participated in the World Chess Championship.
- Wrote his first book, Reshevsky on Chess.
- Played arguably his best game, against Arnold Vasconcellos.
This year is so important for Reshevsky, I could write a blog about it as long as my second one (which is very short, by the way).
Anyways, lets start off with Samuel's participating in the World Chess Championship. Following the death of current champion Alexander Alekhine, the tournament in 1948 was to determine the new world champion. After winning the 1946 US Championship, Reshevsky qualified for the Championship. Although he ultimately finished third alongside Paul Keres, that is still a great result. Mikhail Botvinnik took home the trophy that year. You would have thought that he won every game against Reshevsky, but of the five games that Samuel played against Botvinnik, he won one, drew one, and lost three, which is a great result against the one who became world champion.
Here is the game that Reshevsky won against Botvinnik. In the opening, both players played with a stunning 100% accuracy, but Samuel pulled ahead and won in just over 40 moves. Can you take the advantage like Reshesvky did?
Brilliant game!
Although Reshevsky ended up losing the championship, as I have told you, placing third is a remarkable result that you should appreciate. In fact, put down whichever device you're reading this on and give him a round of applause.
There.
Anyways, 1948 was also the year when Reshevsky decided to become a Chess author, finishing his first book, called Reshevsky on Chess. In 1947, he had written a book called Learn Chess Fast! along with Fred Reinfeld, but Reshevsky on Chess was the first book he wrote by himself. With a foreword from Sam Sloan, this book included an autobiography of Reshevsky himself. Also, Samuel presents 110 of his best games, which he annotated.
I suggest you check this book out if you haven't already! However, time is ticking and we need to move on.
Okay, onto Samuel Reshevsky's third achievement in 1948. That year, Reshevsky also played what many experts regard as his best game. This was played against Arnold Vasconcellos, a player who has mysteriously disappeared from all archives! During this game, Reshevsky managed to deliver not one, not two, but three brilliant sacrifices, all of which led to his amazing victory. Here is the game. Can you play those moves like Reshevsky did? Let's see!
And, with this masterpiece of a game, 1948 for Samuel Reshevsky has come to an end. In conclusion, this year was definitely his most successful, and paved the way to become a greater player, even past 60 years of age.
Let's move on!
From 1949 to 1970, Samuel Reshevsky stayed a competitive player, even when he was becoming old. Around 1950-1960, I would say, were Reshevsky's prime years, where he was at his best. A few years in the 1940s would also qualify, but let's not go into all that.
In 1950, he participated in the Amsterdam International Tournament, which went from November 10 all the way to that same date in December. Ultimately, Reshevsky came 2nd, with Miguel Najdorf coming first. However, a draw at the start of this tournament between 1st and 2nd themselves put them behind 3 other players for half the event! It was only after this that the two of them climbed back up the ladder. Hilariously, Reshevsky celebrated his 39th birthday during this event!
That same year, Reshevsky was awarded the title of International Master by FIDE, who also put him on their list of inaugural list of grandmasters. Congrats!
Around 1950-1952, Samuel also qualified for the upcoming 1953 Candidates Tournament in 1953, where he tied second place along with David Bronstein and Paul Keres, at 16 points. Vasily Smyslov claimed first place with 18.
However, Reshevsky held the lead from rounds 9-11. In round 12, Smyslov, the winner of the tournament, overtook him, but the American was leading quite early on. At halftime of the tournament, Smyslov remained undefeated, leading Reshevsky and Bronstein by one point. By round 21, Reshevsky was tied with Smyslov again. In round 25, Reshevsky met Smyslov for the second time in the tournament. If Samuel won, he would obtain the lead by half a point.
Unfortunately, Reshevsky resigned after 56 moves, meaning that Vasily Smyslov was able to lead by 1.5 points. This led to Smyslov's victory in the Candidates Tournament and his eventual match against Botvinnik in the 1954 World Chess Championship.
In the late 1950s, a rivalry rose between Reshevsky and the rising star, Bobby Fischer. This was mostly due to the fact that Fischer was much younger, but still was able to win many US Chess Championships. He soon became tied with Reshevsky in the number of those championships won.
In 1960, their rivalry took a dangerous turn when, before a tournament, Reshevsky reportedly said:
I'll settle for 19th - if Fischer places 20th.
Samuel Herman Reshevsky
In fact, Reshevsky placed first in that tournament, with Bobby Fischer way behind. Reshevsky lived up to his set standards.
Unfortunately, Reshevsky began becoming overshadowed by the rising Bobby Fischer in the 1960s, which is probably the reason that you know Fischer but not Reshevsky. In 1961, Samuel played a famous match against Fischer, but both players were on 5.5 points when disaster struck. Because Reshevsky was Jewish, he followed the rules of The Sabbath and refused to play chess on Saturday, his day of rest. Because of this, arguments broke out, and the match was never finished. Reshevsky eventually took home the prize.
Reshevsky settled his rivalry with Fischer with a final win in 1965.
In 1969, Reshevsky won his eighth and final US Chess Championship after 23 years since he had won his last one, finally equalising with his rival, Fischer. While he began to age, his positional style lived on. Although his prime years were beginning to fade, he still regularly participated in tournaments, becoming one of the oldest players still moving pieces on the board around this time, at about 60 years of age.
That will bring us to the end of Reshevsky's prime. As his prowess began to fade away, though, he still accomplished some other great things, which I will talk about in the next section.
When his prime had passed, Samuel continued to write books and often taught people about chess. He often played chess, but not at the competitive level anymore. He last participated in a Veterans' Tournament in Moscow, where he played his last recorded chess game, against Vasily Smyslov. Reshevsky played with a stunning 96.7% accuracy, something very rare at the time. He also played like a 2750-rated player according to chess.com game review. Here is the game. Try and find Reshevsky's key move, a brilliant, which was quite the only one.
After this game in 1991, Reshevsky played no more recorded games. In his last year, he did not do much recorded things at all, in fact. Samuel Herman Reshevsky passed away on the 2nd of April in Suffern, New York, 1992, due to a heart attack, at the age of 81.
Samuel Herman Reshevsky wrote 7 books in total. He is known today for quiet, positional play, although his bursts of brilliance could cause much mayhem too. One unique fact about his style of play is that he usually wasted much time calculating in the opening because he often forgot opening lines, sometimes coming up with strange moves in the opening, as you may have seen in his game against Vasconcellos.
This style of play meant that Reshevsky was able to surprise his opponents, and with his shortened amount of time let his intuition guide him, which ended up successful. Nevertheless, this might also be the reason that, however famous he is, that he never, ever become world champion. What I love about Samuel Herman Reshevsky is his positional style, which, however different we are, is quite like mine, with bursts of brilliancy occasionally.
By the time he had died, Samuel had won against 7 world champions, never playing many that he did not beat. Here is perhaps his most famous quote.
No matter how much theory progresses, how radically styles change, chess play is inconceivable without tactics.
Samuel Herman Reshevsky
Here are his recorded books in chronological order.
1. Learn Chess Fast!
Written in 1947 along with Fred Reinfeld
2. Reshevsky on Chess: The U.S. Champion Tells How He Wins
Written in 1948 with foreword from Sam Sloan
3. Reshevsky's Best Games
Written in 1960
4. How Chess Games Are Won
Written in 1962
5. First Piatigorsky Cup: International Grandmaster Chess Tourament Held in Los Angeles, California, July, 1963
Written in 1965 and edited by Isaac Kashdan
6. Reshevsky on the Fischer-Spassky Games for the World Championship of Chess: The Complete Match with Analysis by Samuel Reshevsky
Written in 1972
7. Reshevsky Teaches Chess
Written in 1973 with Sam Sloan
8. The Art of Positional Play
Written in 1976
Congrats! You made it to the end of a ridiculously long blog (compared to my others)!
I hope you've learnt a lot about Samuel Reshevsky, a player who I believe is heavily underrated. His legacy shaped the chess world we know today. It has taken me not many, but heavily sacrificed days and sessions staring at a screen to finally get to this conclusion. Thanks for reading, and I hope you are here again next time!
Goodbye until the next blog!
