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