Isaac Kashdan facts for kids
Isaac Kashdan (born November 19, 1905, in New York City – died February 20, 1985, in Los Angeles) was a famous American chess player. He earned the title of grandmaster, which is the highest title a chess player can achieve. Isaac Kashdan was also a talented chess writer.
He won the U.S. Open Chess Championship twice, in 1938 and 1947. He played for the United States team five times in the Chess Olympiads, which are like the Olympic Games for chess. He won an amazing nine medals there, and his performance is still the best ever for an American player.
In Europe, people often called him 'der Kleine Capablanca', which means "The little Capablanca". This was because he was very good at winning games even when they looked like they would be a draw. Alexander Alekhine, a World Chess Champion, even thought Kashdan might become the next World Champion.
However, Isaac Kashdan couldn't focus on chess full-time because of money. His best chess years were during the Great Depression, a time when many people struggled financially. So, he worked as an insurance agent to support his family instead.
Contents
Biography
Early life
Isaac Kashdan was Jewish and went to college at CCNY in New York City in the 1920s.
Chess Olympiad star
Isaac Kashdan played for the U.S. team five times in the Chess Olympiads. These are big international team chess tournaments.
He played at the top board (meaning he was considered the strongest player on the team) in four Olympiads:
- In 1928, in The Hague, he won 12 games, lost 1, and drew 2.
- In 1930, in Hamburg, he won 12 games, lost 1, and drew 4.
- In 1931, in Prague, he won 8 games, lost 1, and drew 8.
- In 1933, in Folkestone, he won 7 games, lost 1, and drew 6.
In 1937, at the Olympiad in Stockholm, he played on the third board. He had an incredible score of 14 wins out of 16 games, which was the best individual result of any player there.
His overall record at the Olympiads is very impressive. He won 52 games, lost only 5, and drew 22. This means he won nearly 80% of his games, which is the best record for any American player in history.
Kashdan won four team medals: three gold (1931, 1933, 1937) and one silver (1928). He also won five individual medals: two gold (1928, 1937), one silver (1933), and two bronze (1930, 1931).
Among players who have played in four or more Olympiads, Kashdan's winning percentage is the fourth best ever. Only World Champions Mikhail Tal, Anatoly Karpov, and Tigran Petrosian have better records.
Success in tournaments
Isaac Kashdan had many great results in chess tournaments both in Europe and the Americas.
In 1930, he came in second place in Frankfurt and won a tournament in Stockholm. He also won in Győr with a score of 8.5 out of 9 games. He won a match against Lajos Steiner in 1930.
In 1931, he took second place in a tournament in New York City, behind José Raúl Capablanca. At Bled 1931, he tied for 4th-7th places, while Alekhine won. In 1931/32, at Hastings, Kashdan finished second.
He tied for first place with Alekhine in Mexico City in 1932. He also took second place behind Alekhine in Pasadena. At London 1932, he tied for 3rd-4th places.
Kashdan continued to do well, placing second in Syracuse in 1934. He also had good results in the U.S. Open Chess Championship in Chicago (1934) and Milwaukee (1935).
U.S. Open wins and championship challenges
Isaac Kashdan won the U.S. Open Chess Championship twice. He shared the title in 1938 in Boston and won it outright in 1947 in Corpus Christi. He also tied for 2nd-4th place in the U.S. Open in Baltimore in 1948.
However, Kashdan never managed to win the U.S. Chess Championship, which was a closed tournament for the country's top players. Some chess experts believe this was a big disappointment for him. Winning it might have given him the money to play chess professionally.
From 1928, many thought Kashdan was the best player in the U.S. But Frank Marshall held the U.S. Championship title for a long time. When Marshall finally gave up the title, the first modern U.S. Championship tournament was held in 1936. By then, younger players like Reuben Fine and Samuel Reshevsky had become very strong.
In the U.S. Championships, Kashdan often came close to winning:
- In 1936, he placed 5th.
- In 1938 and 1940, he placed 3rd.
- In 1942, he tied for 1st place with Reshevsky but lost the playoff match.
- In 1946, he placed 2nd, behind Reshevsky.
- In 1948, he tied for 1st place with Herman Steiner but lost the playoff match again.
There was even a controversy in 1942. Kashdan would have been U.S. champion, but a scoring error by the tournament director meant Reshevsky won instead.
Wartime and later years
During World War II, competitive chess slowed down. Kashdan won a tournament in Havana in 1940. He also tied for 2nd-4th place in the New York State Championship in 1941.
In 1945, he played in a radio match against the Soviet Union. He lost both his games against Alexander Kotov. This match showed that the Soviet Union was becoming the leading country in world chess.
After the war, in 1946, Kashdan got some revenge by winning 1.5-0.5 against Kotov in a rematch in Moscow. He continued to play in some tournaments, but his competitive career slowly wound down. His last big event was a match against the USSR in 1955.
In 1956, Isaac Kashdan appeared on Groucho Marx's TV show You Bet Your Life. Groucho Marx jokingly called him "Mr. Ashcan" and offered to play him for money. Kashdan and his partner won $175.
Organizer, arbiter, and writer
Isaac Kashdan was given the Grandmaster title in 1954. He also became an International Arbiter in 1960, which means he was qualified to be a chief referee for major chess tournaments.
He was the captain of the American Olympiad team in Leipzig 1960, where the team won a silver medal. Many people praised his leadership and knowledge.
In 1933, Kashdan helped start Chess Review, a chess magazine. He also edited the tournament book for the 1966 Piatigorsky Cup tournament.
For many years, from 1955 to 1982, Kashdan wrote the chess column for the Los Angeles Times newspaper. He stopped writing after he had a stroke.
As an arbiter, he directed many chess tournaments, including the Piatigorsky Cup events in 1963 and 1966. He also helped organize the Lone Pine International tournaments in the 1970s. Later, he served as a vice-president for the United States Chess Federation.
Playing style
Chess experts Arnold Denker and Larry Parr said that Kashdan was a strong tactician, meaning he was good at finding clever moves. But his real strength was in the endgame, the final part of a chess game. He was especially good at using two bishops together.
However, Denker also noted that sometimes Kashdan's play could be a bit stiff. He might try too hard to get two bishops, even if it wasn't the best plan. Because he couldn't play chess full-time after the mid-1930s, his skills slowly declined from the very top level.
Family
One of Isaac Kashdan's children had serious health problems. Because of this, the family moved to California in the 1940s, as the climate there was better for their child's health.
His only surviving son, Richard Kashdan, is a lawyer in San Francisco. He is known in some technology circles by his nickname "Mark Bernay". He has an archive of "phone trips," which are recordings from the 1960s and 1970s where he explored different telephone networks across the United States. Richard is interested in chess news but does not play competitively.
Quotes
It has never been a disgrace to lose to Kashdan.
See also
In Spanish: Isaac Kashdan para niños
