On Jan 15, 6:31 am, "Rob" wrote:
Chessville has a new section that those interested in chess history may

enjoy.

http://www.chessville.com/misc/Histo...ttes/index.htm

Check it out. It is unique in that it is reader driven.

A few comments on the Kashdan article:

1) It says: "In 1932 [Kashdan] ... tied 2nd with Flohr at
Hastings." Incorrect. At Hastings 1931-32, Flohr was clear first,
Kashdan clear second. Neither of them tied with anyone else.

2) "He was 2nd, right behind Capablanca in New York, 1931." The
phrase "right behind" implies that Kashdan was only ½-point
behind, but in fact he was 1½ points behind, 8½-2½ to Capa's 10-1.

3) "In 1932 he tied 2nd behind Alekhine in Pasadena ..." Again,
incorrect. At Pasadena 1932, Alekhine was clear first, Kashdan clear
second. Neither of them tied with anyone else. I suspect the Polish
writer here has some problems with English, though elsewhere he uses
the word "tied" correctly.

4) "[Kashdan] was US Open Champion in 1938 (jointly) and 1947 but
never won the Open Championship outright." False. He won clear 1st in
the 1947 US Open. I suppose what was meant is that he never won the
Closed Championship.

5) "He tied with Samuel Reshevsky in 1942 US Open ..." False.
That was the 1942 US Championship, not the US Open. The writer does not
seem to understand the difference between the US Open, a Swiss System
event open to all comers, and the US Championship, which in Kashdan's
time was a round-robin tournament by invitation only.

6) "After World War II, Kashdan ... was also the co-founder of
Chess Review." I believe Kashdan was the sole founder of Chess
Review, and that was in 1933, not after WW II.

7) Of Kashdan's Olympic record, the article says "He won two
gold, one silver, one bronze, individual medals and one fourth place
overall finish." This is wording is a bit awkward and creates some
confusion as to whether individual or team medals are being discussed.
As an individual, Kashdan had the following Olympic results:

1928: Best board one score (individual gold medal) and best overall
(86.7%).
1930: 4th-best board one score (82.4%, behind Alekhine, Rubinstein,
and Flohr). However, it was not a "fourth place overall finish" as
claimed in the article: Kashdan's score was also exceeded by
Havasi's 85.7% (+10 =4) at 5th board for Hungary.
1931: 3rd-best board one score (70.6%, behind Alekhine and
Bogolyubov, individual bronze medal).
1933: 2nd-best board one score (71.4%, behind Alekhine, individual
silver medal).
1937: Best board three score (87.5%, individual gold medal). This
appears to be the best overall score as well, though Foldeak's
"Chess Olympiads" says that prize went to Andre Steiner, despite
the crosstable showing him with a score of 80.6%.

US teams with Kashdan had the following results:

1928: 2nd place (silver medal)
1930: 6th place
1931: 1st place (gold medal)
1933: 1st place (gold medal)
1937: 1st place (gold medal)

8) "He defeated Lajos Steiner (+5, =2, -3) ..." The Oxford
Companion says the score was +5 -1, but checking other sources (e.g.
Feenstra Kuiper's "Hundert Jahre Schachzweikämpfe"), I believe
+5 -2 =3 is correct. If not, ChessBase has four spurious
Kashdan-Steiner games on its MegaDatabase 2005. It's nice that the
article gets at least this right.

9) "Few have contributed more to the development of the chess life
in USA than GM Isaac Kashdan." That is very true.