Then and Now : Reflections On the 1951 Illinois State Championship
By Neil Brennen and Kimball Nedved
Milestones are both occasions to celebrate and occasions to look back , and often in chess you can do both . In 2001 , on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of his winning the Illinois State Championship , I visited National Master Kimball Nedved at his home in Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania . Mr . Nedved was happy to share his reflections on some of the changes that have happened in American chess over the past half-century , and offer insight into his victory of fifty years before .
A front-page headline reading " Nedved Triumphs in Illinois Event " was how the USCF ' s twice a month newspaper Chess Life , in its September 20 , 1951 , issue , announced the result of the Championship . The article went on to describe the event as " the strongest Illinois State Championship of recent years " and noted that Nedved , with a score of 6 – 1 , won on Sonnenberg-Berger tiebreaks ahead of the Latvian-born John Tums and Hugh E . Myers . In later life Hugh Myers would write a number of books on the Nimzowitch Defense , and publish the Myers Opening Bulletin , a magazine devoted to opening theory .
Chess Life underlined the strength of the event by listing some of the participants in the field : Nedved , Myers , former US Open Champion Albert Sandrin and his brother Angelo , former Champion of Chile Dr . Tulio Pizzi , former IL state Champion Paul Poschel , and Chicago City Champion and Lithuanian master Povias Tautvaisis . But what was left unstated by Chess Life was a problem noticeable only in retrospect . As Nedved described it :
" There were few tournaments , and I kept playing the same players . I played both of the Sandrin brothers and both of the Tums brothers over and over again . When we went over to Davenport , Iowa for the Trans-Mississippi , the St . Louis players would come up , and sometimes Curt Brasket came down from Minneapolis ." As an example of how often players played the same opponents , Nedved said , " I once traveled to a tournament and played all three of the men who traveled with me !"
The USCF rating system , taken for granted by present-day chessplayers , was still something of an experiment at the time of the Illinois State Championship . The first published rating list was in the November 20 , 1950 Chess Life , less than a year before the 1951 Illinois State Championship . Nedved points out that one reason he didn ' t make master until 1964 was that " when they set up the rating system , they just didn ' t give the second-largest city any rating points ".
Then & Now
Nedved ' s rating at the time of the championship was 1939 , and then rising to 2105 in the next rating list , partly as a result of his successful championship . Povilis Taitvaisis , who Nedved described as " at least an IM ", and who was to lose to Nedved in the final round , emerged with a rating of 2262 in 1952 .
One feature of American chess that hasn ' t changed is the large number of immigrants in the tournament rooms . They were here in the 1950 ' s as well , although the forces that brought them to the United States have changed . As Nedved put it , " We had the DPs ", meaning Displaced Persons , the refuges of both World War II and the following Soviet annexation and occupation of Eastern Europe . However , the " DPs " almost didn ' t make it to the 1951 Illinois Championship . The Chess Life article on the event notes a " vicious rumor that non-residents would be barred " had been circulating before the tournament , but this turned out to be unfounded . In fact , " the Lithuanian and Latvian players turned out in force and contributed largely to the strength and success of the event ."
The name " Kimball Nedved " was by this time a familiar one to Chess Life readers . Nedved ' s first published game in Chess Life appeared nineteen months before , a wild attacking victory from a team match in the Chicago City League . Nedved ' s team , from the Illinois Institute of Technology , was a strong one , and possessed no less than two future US Amateur Champions ; 1971 US Amateur Champion Clarence Kalenian was second board , behind Nedved .
Kimball Nedved − Schoenenberger [ B37 ] Chicago City League Team Match , 1949 Notes by Kimball Nedved
1 . e4 c5 2 . �f3 d6 3 . d4 cxd4 4 . �xd4 g6 After the game Black said that he deliberately sought the Maroczy Bind . Previously it had worked well for him . I believe , however , that Black gets a futureless and starved game in this variation . 5 . c4 �f6 6 . �c3 �g7 7 . �e2 0-0 Black develops as fast as possible . White ' s expansion lags somewhat by comparison . 8.0-0 �c6 9 . �c2 To remove an object of attack , and also head to control or occupation of e3 and d5 . 9 ... �d7 10 . f4 To stop the use of e5 as pivot square to either N to g5 or an attack of the c pawn . 10 ... �c8 Concentrating on the pieces , not pawns . 11 . �e1 Inaccurate . 11 . �d2 , 11 . �f3 , or 11 . �e3 were better ideas . 11 ... �g4 Looking for freedom . 12 . �xg4 An aimless exchange . 12 ... �xg4 13 . �h1 I was afraid of something like 13 . h3 �b6 + 14 . �h1 �xc3 15 . �xc3 �f2 + 16 . �h2 �xe4 13 ... �a5 14 . �d2 �h5 15 . �g3 f5 Black ' s first attempt to hit the center with pawns . Neither the d pawn nor the e pawn can well be moved . 16 . h3 �d4 17 . �xd4 �xd4
Illinois Chess Bulletin 15