Reuben Fine joins Harry Nelson Pillsbury in the annals of Caissa as stellar potential candidates for an American World Chess Champion before Bobby Fischer. His abbreviated career is similar to that of William Napier and Oldrich Duras who also retired for the mundane necessity of making a living. The 1930s was a golden era of chess in the US, when names like Samuel Reshevsky, Arthur Dake, Isaac Kashdan, Herman Steiner, Fred Reinfeld, and others excited the imaginations of chess players all over the country. None shone brighter than Reuben Fine.
Fine was born in New York City. He learned to play tournament level chess at the famous Marshall Chess Club in New York City, stomping grounds for many future grandmasters like Bobby Fischer. Fine was also considered one of the best players of blitz chess in the world. By 1937 he had won a string of international tournaments and was one of the most successful players in the world. He had represented the U.S. in numerous Chess Olympiads where the U.S. team consistently finished in first place. Although active in U.S. tournaments, he was never able to finish first in the U.S. championship, usually placing behind his American rival, Samuel Reshevsky. However, Fine's international tournament record in the 1930s was far superior to Reshevsky's. In 1950 when the first US Chess rating list was published, Fine was ahead of Reshevsky rating-wise. In 1938, he tied for first place with Paul Keres in the prestigious AVRO tournament in the Netherlands. This was one of the most famous tournaments of the 20th century. The winner of AVRO, a double round-robin tournament, was to be challenger to the world champion and that was then held by Alexander Alekhine. Fine finished ahead of future champion Mikhail Botvinnik, current champion Alekhine, former world champions Max Euwe and José Raoúl Capablanca and Grandmasters Samuel Reshevsky and Salo Flohr. Fine coincidentally won both of his games against Alekhine. World War II interrupted any world championship matches and Alekhine passed away in 1946.
In 1941 Fine wrote the classic Basic Chess Endings, a compendium of endgame analysis which is considered one of the best works on the subject even today. Serious students of the game find the work unmatched in its depth and range. A handy guide for the practical player, Basic Chess Endings focuses on the aspects of the ending that occur most frequently in the course of play. With clear language, it reinforces knowledge of the standard position and tried-and-tested rules. Grandmaster Pal Benko has revised this classic with the latest innovations in the endgame and adapted the book to algebraic notation. The result is a veritable modern Bible on basic chess endings. Mikhail Botvinnik had this to say: "Grandmaster Fine has done a brilliant piece of work. There is no doubt that it will receive the recognition of the entire chess world."
His The Ideas Behind the Chess Openings is also considered an important work for concentrating more on the underlying ideas of chess openings than on sequences of particular moves. He also edited the sixth edition of Modern Chess Openings (MCO).During World War II he worked for the U.S. Navy, performing the Pynchonesque task of calculating the probability of German U-boats surfacing at certain points in the water.
After the war, Fine continued playing chess, receiving an invitation from FIDE to take part in the 1948 World Chess Championship tournament. He was invited as he was the co-winner in the AVRO tournament. He declined to participate and there is speculation as to the real reason why. The official reason was that he was working on his doctoral dissertation in psychology. However, some suggest that he was skeptical of the Russian players throwing games against each other in order to win the championship. Even GM Larry Evans stated in the August 2004 issue of Chess Life that "Fine told me he didn't want to waste three months of his life watching Russians throw games to each other." This was an allegation Fischer made years later.
Regardless, he eventually received his doctorate in psychology from the University of Southern California and mostly abandoned playing professional chess to concentrate on his new profession. In 1956 he wrote an article "Psychoanalytic Observations on Chess and Chess Masters" for a psychological journal. That article would later become the book The Psychology of the Chess Player. It is a fascinating subject, and Fine gives his insights into the topic, insights often steeped in Freudian dogma. Much earlier, Alfred Binet, the inventor of the IQ test, had studied the mental functionality of good chess players, and found that they often had enhanced mental traits, such as a good memory.
Fine continued playing chess casually throughout his life (a 1963 blitz game against Bobby Fischer is included in Fischer's My Sixty Memorable Games), but as time went on he began to focus more on psychology. Someone noted that this was "a loss for chess, and at best a draw for psychology". Fine went on to publish A History of Psychoanalysis in 1979, as well as other books on psychology. One of Fine's more interesting beliefs was that homosexuality could be "cured", and his opinions regarding this were used in conjunction with legal battles in the U.S. involving homosexuality, including the legislative battle over same-sex marriage in Hawaii.
Many chess historians believe that Fine would have had the best chance to defeat Alekhine in a title match had it been arranged in 1938. More than Paul Keres, Fine's super-refined technique a-la-Capablanca would have been more difficult for Alekhine to surmount. Keres was a more dynamic and aggressive player, but that was one area where Alekhine himself was a past master (being a dynamic, aggressive, risk-taking player himself, but with a lifetime’s more experience than Keres behind him) than Fine's super-refined, clinical style, which not even Capablanca could crack.
In his short chess career, Fine had plus records against former and reigning world champions such as Lasker, Capablanca, Alekhine and Euwe.
To judge the American grandmaster Reuben Fine’s career is not at all easy because we need to take into consideration the difficult times he lived in, the intervention of World War II, the dubious prerogative of the reigning champion to select his challenger, Russian chess ascendancy and chess as a reasonable career in the early twentieth century. One thing that is universally acknowledged, however, is that he was a chess Grandmaster of the very first order and an uncrowned king in the early 1930s and 40s.
A great player lives forever thorough his games. Featured below are six games of Fine against the World champions.
After this most unnatural move, which leaves the other knight completely in the air, White's advantage becomes overbearing. It is really hard to understand why Dr.Lasker rejected the natural 18...Nf4. The only plausible explanation is that he did not like 19.Qe3 Nxd3 20.Rc7(20...Rac8 with
equality) Bc6 If 21.Rxc6(21.Nb6 Nxb2,etc.) Nd7e5 22.Nxe5 Nxe5 23.Rc5 Rfd8, etc. he would emerge from the difficulties. The final phase, not altogether difficult, is played by Fine with his usual accuracy.
19.g3 a5 20.Nc5 Rfc8
After this White wins perforce. The only slight hope of defence was 20...g6, at least consolidating the position of the unfortunate knight.
21.Nxb7 Qxb7 22.Ne5
Ed: A straight forward winning process seems be:
22.Rxc8+ Qxc8 (22…Rxc8? Ba6) 23.e5 Nd5 (23…Nd7 24.Nh4 g6 25.Bxg6 fxg6 26.Nxg6 +-) 24.Nh4 g6 5.Be4
22…Rxc1
Also 22...g6 23.Nc4 Qe7 24.e5 followed by Be4, etc. would not help.
23.Rxc1 Rc8 24.Rxc8+ Qxc8 25.Qc2!
Decisive, as after Queen exchange the Black knights would not be able to protect the Q-side pawns.
25...Qb7
He could resist a little longer by playing 25...Qd8 26.Qc5, etc.
26.Qc6 Qa7 27.Qc8+ Kh7 28.Nc6 Qc5?
28...Qd7! was better.
29.e5+ g6 30.exf6 Nxf6 31.Qb7 Kg8 32.Be2
If now 32...Qc1+ 33.Kg2 Qxb2 34.Nd8, etc.
32...Nd5 33.Ne5 1–0
How many players of that era could play an endgame like this against the "Chess machine" when he was at the height of his powers?
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Bg5 Nbd7 5.e3 Be7 6.Nf3 c5 7.cxd5 cxd4 8.Qxd4 exd5 9.Bb5 0–0 10.Bxd7 Bxd7 11.Bxf6 Bxf6 12.Qxd5
Giving Black the Bishop pair for just a pawn. The knights plus pawn prove insufficient in the end.
12...Qc8 13.Nd4 Rd8 14.0–0 Bc6 15.Qc5 Be8! 16.Qxc8 Raxc8 17.Rfd1 g6 18.Nde2 Kf8 19.Rxd8 Rxd8 20.Rd1 Rxd1+ 21.Nxd1 Ke7 22.Ndc3 Bg7 23.Nd4 Kd6 24.Kf1 Kc5 25.Nde2 Kc4 26.Ke1 Kd3 27.Kd1 Bxc3 28.Nxc3 Bc6 29.Ne2! Ba4+ 30.b3 Bc6 31.h4 f6 32.Nf4+
[32.Ke1 a5 33.g3 b5 34.Nd4 Bd7 35.Kd1 h6 36.Kc1 b4 37.Kd1 a4 38.bxa4 Bxa4+ 39.Kc1 h5 40.Kb2 Kd2 41.Ne6 Ke2 42.Nc5 Bc6 43.Na6 Kxf2 44.Nxb4 Be4 45.Kc3 Kxg3 is also no good.]
32...Kc3 33.Kc1 g5 34.hxg5 fxg5 35.Ne6 Bxg2 36.Nxg5 h5 37.Kd1 h4 38.Ke2 h3 39.f3?
Correct was probably 39.Nf3! with better chances of a fight. [39.Nf3 a5 40.e4 h2 41.Nxh2 Bxe4 42.f4 Bb1 43.Nf3 Bxa2 44.Nd2+-]
39...h2 40.Ne4+ Kb4 41.Nf2 h1Q 42.Nxh1 Bxh1 43.Kf2 Kc3 44.e4 Kd4 45.a3 a5 46.a4 b6 47.Kg3 Ke3 48.e5 Bxf3 0–1
Botvinnik's French defense meets its match in the following game.
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5
5.dxc5 Ne7 6.Nf3 Nbc6 7.Bd3 d4! 8.a3 Ba5 9.b4 Nxb4 10.axb4 Bxb4 11.Bb5+ Nc6 12.Bxc6+ bxc6 13.Ra4 Bxc3+ 14.Bd2 f6 15.0 0 0 0 16.Bxc3 dxc3 17.Qe1 a5! 18.Qxc3 Ba6 19.Rfa1 Bb5 20.Rd4 Qe7 21.Rd6 a4?
This unnecessary weakening of the passed pawn proves very costly.
22.Qe3 Ra7 23.Nd2 a3 24.c4! Ba4 25.exf6 Qxf6 26.Rxa3 Re8 27.h3
Playing it safe. 27.Rxc6! Bxc6 28.Rxa7 Rd8, etc. is better.
27...Raa8 28.Nf3 Qb2 29.Ne5 Qb1+ 30.Kh2 Qf5 31.Qg3! 1-0
A zugzwang! All reasonable moves lose.
The great Alekhine is at his wit's end in the endgame after an early exchange of Queens. Fine's endgame technique was legendary.
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 d6 5.0–0 Bd7 6.c3 g6 7.d4 Bg7 8.dxe5 Nxe5 9.Nxe5 dxe5 10.f4 Bxa4 11.Qxa4+ Qd7 12.Qxd7+ Kxd7 13.fxe5 Ke6 14.Bf4 Rf8 15.Nd2 Bxe5 16.Nb3 Bxf4 17.Rxf4 b6 18.a4 Ke5 19.g3 Nf6 20.Nd2 Nh5 21.Rf2 Ke6 22.a5 Ra8 23.Raf1 Rhd8 24.Nf3 Ke7 25.axb6 cxb6 26.Ng5 h6 27.Rxf7+ Kd6 28.Nf3 g5 29.Nd4 Re8 30.Rh7 Rh8 31.Rff7 Rxh7 32.Rxh7 Rf8 33.Rxh6+ Nf6 34.Nf3 Kc5 35.Nd2 g4 36.Rg6 Nd7 37.Rxg4
Black's position is lost. Alekhine hopes for a blunder, but to no avail.
37...Ne5 38.Rg5 Kd6 39.Rf5 Rd8 40.Nf3 Nd3 41.Rd5+ Ke7 42.Rxd8 Kxd8 43.b3 Ke7 44.Nd2 a5 45.Kf1 b5 46.Ke2 1–0
A future World champion gets a valuable endgame lesson.
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 d5 4.g3 dxc4 5.Qa4+ Nbd7 6.Bg2 a6 7.Qxc4 b5 8.Qd3 Rb8 9.a4 b4 10.Nb1 Be7 11.Nd2 0–0 12.Nb3 c5 13.Bf4 Bb7?!
A pawn sacrifice that doesn't yield any real counterplay.
14.Bxb7 Rxb7 15.Qxa6 Rb6
16.Qc4 cxd4 17.Nf3 Qa8 18.0–0 Nd5 19.Qxd4 Bf6 20.Be5 Nxe5 21.Nxe5 Rd8 22.f4 Ra6 23.a5 Ne7
24.Qxb4 Rb8 25.Qc4 Qa7+ 26.Rf2 Bxe5 27.fxe5 Nc6 28.Qc3 h6 29.e3 Rb5 30.Nd4 Nxd4 31.exd4 Rbxa5 32.Raf1 Ra1 33.Qc8+ Kh7 34.Qc2+ Kg8 35.Qc8+ Kh7 36.Qc5 Rxf1+ 37.Rxf1 Qb7 38.Qc2+ Kg8 39.Qg2 Qd5?
The losing move. Better was
[39...Qa7! 40.Qd2 Ra4 41.Rd1 Qb6 42.Qc3 Rb4 43.Rd2 Rb5 unclear]
40.Qxd5 exd5 41.b4 Kf8 42.b5 Ra8 43.b6 Ke7 44.Rc1 Ra2 45.Rb1 Ra8 46.Rb5 f6 47.b7 Rb8 48.exf6+ Kxf6 49.Kf2 1–0
Who could have matched wits with one of the greatest players of all time in a blitz, well past his prime? Admittedly though, he had an overall negative score against Bobby Fischer.
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Bf4 Bg7 5.e3 0–0 6.Qb3 c6 7.Rc1 dxc4 8.Bxc4 b5 9.Be2 Be6 10.Qc2 b4 11.Na4 Qd5 12.b3 Nh5 13.Bf3 Qa5 14.Ne2 Bd5 15.e4 Nxf4 16.Nxf4 Bh6! 17.exd5 Bxf4 18.dxc6!!
This elegant move must have shaken the young Bobby. The idea is sacrifice the exchange to advance the passed pawn and stifle Black while subtly launching an attack on the Kingside. The pawn perishes in the end but the attack proves irresistible.
18...Bxc1 19.Qxc1 Na6 20.0–0 Nc7 21.Re1 e6 22.Re5 Nd5 23.Bxd5 exd5 24.h4! Rac8 25.h5 Qb5 26.c7 Qd7 27.Qe3 Rxc7 28.Nc5 Qg4?!
Trying to complicate, but White's position is overwhelming now. [28...Qd6! 29.hxg6 hxg6 30.f4! Rd8 31.f5 Qf6 32.fxg6 fxg6 33.Re6 Qf5 34.Re5 Qb1+ 35.Kh2 Rh7+ 36.Kg3 Qf1 37.Re8+ Rxe8 38.Qxe8+ Qf8 39.Qe6+ Rf7 40.Qxd5]
29.h6! Rc6 30.Rxd5 Rf6
[30...Rcc8 31.Nd7 Qe6 32.Qe5 Qxe5 33.Rxe5 Rfd8 34.Re7 loses a pawn for Black.]
31.Nd7 Re6 32.Re5 Qd1+ 33.Kh2 Rxe5 34.Qxe5 1-0
The text wins anyhow but even better was 34.Nf6+ ! which prevents exchange of Queens at h5 and leads to forced mate or heavy material loss.
[34.Nf6+ Kh8 35.Qxe5 Qd2 36.Ng4+ f6 37.Qe7 Qf4+ 38.g3]