2 DAYS WILL BE 2  ROUNDS AND THE FINAL BETWEEN THE BEST NINE PLAYERS

November 26, 1911, Samuel Reshevsky was born.

Defeating seven world champions and winning the US championship eight times, Reshevsky is considered one of the greatest American talents ever. A tough positional player, his rivalry with Bobby Fischer caught the eyes of the world.

Samuel Herman Reshevsky, born Szmul Rzeszewski on November 26, 1911, Ozorków near Lódz, (today Poland), died in April 1992 in New York City. "Sammy", as was always simply known, was possibly the greatest child prodigy in the game. He learned chess at the age of four, and at eight was giving simultaneous exhibitions and beating masters with ease. When he was eight his parents took him to the U.S. to make a living exhibiting their child.

Reshevsky played thousands of games in exhibitions all over the U.S. At eleven he played in the New York Masters, the youngest player to compete in a strong tournament. He did not attend regular school as a child, but from the age of 13 gave up competitive chess for seven years to complete his secondary education. In 1934 he graduated from the University of Chicago with a degree in accounting and from then on supported himself and his family by working as an accountant. He married Norma Mindick and the couple had three children. Reshevsky was a devout Orthodox Jew and did not play on the Jewish Sabbath – his games always had to be scheduled accordingly.

Sammy Reshevsky won the U.S. Championship for the first time in 1931 at Tulsa, at the age of nineteen. He shared the 1934 title with Reuben Fine at Chicago, and then went on to win the U.S. Championship in 1936, 1938, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1946, and 1969. He competed in a record 21 U.S. Championships, and also holds records for most finishes in the top three places (15), most games played (269), and most games won (127).

Reshevsky's international career began in 1935 with a trip to England, where he won at Great Yarmouth with 10/11. He then won first place at the Margate tournament where he beat, among others, former world champion José Raúl Capablanca, and in 1938 shared fourth in the famous AVRO tournament in the Netherlands, which featured arguably the eight strongest players in the world. Reshevsky won his third U.S. Open title at Boston 1944.

Samuel Reshevsky was a serious contender for the World Championship from roughly 1935 to the mid-1960s. He finished joint third (with Keres, behind Botvinnik and Smyslov) in the World Championship match tournament in The Hague/Moscow 1948, a tournament organized because World Champion Alexander Alekhine had died while holding the title. In the Zurich 1953 Candidates he finished in joint second place with David Bronstein and Keres, two points behind Smyslov. Bronstein wrote in his last book, Secret Notes (2007) that the nine Soviet grandmasters (out of 15 players) were under orders from both their chess leadership and the KGB to not let Reshevsky win the tournament under any circumstances, with Smyslov being the preferred victor. When Reshevsky maintained his strong contention late into the two-month event, Bronstein claims that the Soviets prearranged several results in games amongst themselves to successfully prevent Reshevsky's overall victory, while also ensuring that Reshevsky faced the maximum test in his own games against the Soviet players. Reshevsky qualified for one more Candidate’s in 1967 but lost the subsequent quarterfinal match to Viktor Korchnoi the following year.

In 1969, he won in Netanya, Israel.

In 1981, at the age of 70, he tied for 3rd place in the U.S. Championship.

In 1984, at the age of 72, he took 1st place at the Reykjavik International Tournament.

In 1989, a poll in the British Chess Magazine showed that Karpov and Reshevsky were the world’s most boring chess players.

Reshevsky played in a record 21 U.S. Championships.   He took one of the top 3 places in 15 of them.  He played 269 games in US championships, a record.  He won 127 games in US championships, a record.

Reshevsky played 11 of the first 13 World Champions.  He played Lasker, Capablanca, Alekhine, Euwe, Botvinnik, Smyslov, Tal, Petrosian, Spassky, Fischer, and Karpov.  He never played Garry Kasporv, the 13th world champion.  He defeated 7 world champions (Lasker, Capablanca, Alekhine, Euwe, Botvinnik, Smyslov, and Fischer).

Reshevsky played more simultaneous exhibitions than any other player in the history of chess.

Reshevsky’s books include Reshevsky on Chess (1948, with Fred Reinfeld), How Chess Games Are Won (1962), Reshevsky on the Fischer-Spassky Games for the World Championship (1972), Great Chess Upsets (1976), and The Art of Positional Chess (1978).

Besides chess, Reshevsky enjoyed reading, ice skating, classical music, and singing.

Reshevsky died of a heart attack on April 4, 1992, at Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern, New York.   He was 80 years old and lived in Spring Valley, New York.  His funeral was held at Congregation Kehilath Israel in Spring Valley.