Isaac Kashdan

Isaac Kashdan (November 19, 1905, in New York City – February 20, 1985, in Los Angeles) was an American chess grandmaster and chess writer.

Kashdan, who was Jewish, attended CCNY in the 1920s.

He played five times for U.S. team in the Chess Olympiads, with his detailed results below:

Denker and Parr state that "from 1928 onwards, Kashdan was clearly the best player in the United States, but the aging Frank Marshall was attached to his title."

In Frankfurt in 1930, Kashdan took second place (behind Aron Nimzowitsch) and won in Stockholm.

He won at Győr 1930 with 8.5/9.

In 1930, he defeated Lajos Steiner in a match (+4 -3 =2) in Győr, and lost a match against Gösta Stoltz, (+2 -3 =1), in Stockholm.

Kashdan defeated Charles Jaffe by 3–0 in a match at New York 1930.

Kashdan won four team medals: three gold (1931, 1933, 1937), one silver (1928), and five individual medals: two gold (1928, 1937), one silver (1933), and two bronze (1930, 1931).

Among players who have played in the open section of four or more Olympiads, Kashdan's winning percentage is the fourth best in history, behind only World Champions Mikhail Tal, Anatoly Karpov, and Tigran Petrosian.

At New York City 1931, Kashdan took second place with 8.5/11, behind José Raúl Capablanca.

In 1931/32, at Hastings, Kashdan took second place, behind Salo Flohr, with 7.5/9.

In 1932 in Mexico City, he tied for first place with Alekhine with 8.5/9, and took second place behind Alekhine at Pasadena with 7.5/11.

At London 1932, Kashdan tied 3rd-4th places with 7.5/11, with Alekhine winning.

In the U.S. Open Chess Championship / Western Open, Chicago 1934, Kashdan scored 4.5/9 in the finals, to tie for 5th-6th places, with Reshevsky and Reuben Fine sharing the title.

In the U.S. Open Chess Championship (then known as Western Open), Milwaukee 1935, Kashdan placed 3rd with 6.5/10, as Fine won.

Kashdan "bargained and haggled with Frank for years until Marshall voluntarily relinquished the crown. The result: the first modern U.S. Championship tournament in 1936. But by this time, (Reuben) Fine and Samuel Reshevsky had surpassed" Kashdan.

In U.S. Championships, Kashdan

1) placed 5th in 1936 at New York with 10/15, with Reshevsky winning 2) placed 3rd in 1938 at New York with Reshevsky repeating;

In Stockholm 1937, he scored 14/16, the best individual record of all the players.

His all-time Olympic record stands at 79.7% (+52 -5 =22), the best all-time among American players.

He was twice U.S. Open champion (1938, 1947).

He played five times for the United States in chess Olympiads, winning a total of nine medals, and his Olympiad record is the all-time best among American players.

Kashdan was often called 'der Kleine Capablanca' (German for "The little Capablanca") in Europe because of his ability to extract victories from seemingly even positions.

Alexander Alekhine named him one of the most likely players to succeed him as World Champion.

Kashdan could not, however, engage seriously in a chess career for financial reasons; his peak chess years coincided with the Great Depression.

He resorted to earning a living as an insurance agent and administrator in order to support his family.

Kashdan was U.S. Open Champion in 1938 (jointly with Al Horowitz) at Boston, and in 1947 at Corpus Christi.

Kashdan drew 5–5 in a match against Horowitz at New York City 1938.

With the arrival of World War II in 1939, competitive chess was significantly reduced.

Kashdan won at Havana 1940 with 7.5/9.

Kashdan tied 2nd-4th in the New York State Championship, Hamilton 1941, with 7/10, with Fine winning.

Kashdan would have been U.S. champion in 1942, but lost out to Reshevsky when the Tournament Director, L. Walter Stephens, scored Reshevsky's time-forfeit loss to Denker as a win instead.

Kashdan lost both of his games against Alexander Kotov in the 1945 radio match against the USSR, a match which marked the definitive shift in world chess power to the Soviet Union.

Kashdan also tied 2nd-4th places in the U.S. Open at Baltimore 1948 with 9/12, half a point behind Weaver Adams.

But Kashdan never won the U.S. (Closed) Championship.

Arnold Denker and Larry Parr note this as the central failure of his chess life, since, had he been able to win it, this might have provided him with the financial resources to pursue chess full-time.

At Syracuse 1934, Kashdan finished 2nd with 10.5/14, as Samuel Reshevsky won.

3) placed 3rd at New York 1940 with 10.5/16, with Reshevsky winning his third straight title; 4) tied for 1st-2nd with Reshevsky at New York 1942 with 12.5/15, but lost the subsequent play-off match (+2 −6 =3) 5) placed 2nd in 1946 at New York City with a strong 14.5/19, 1.5 points behind Reshevsky; 6) tied 1st-2nd in 1948 at South Fallsburg, with Herman Steiner, but again lost the playoff match.

At Bled 1931, Kashdan scored 13.5/26 to tie for 4-7th places, as Alekhine scored an undefeated 20.5 points.