Chess in 1924
by Bill Wall
In 1924, the first use of the term Indian defense was seen, coined by Savielly Tartakower.
In 1924, the State takes over the control of chess in the USSR.
In 1924, Haverford College played a wireless chess match with the College of the City of New York (CCNY). It was the first intercollegiate chess match played by radio.
In 1924, Henry Atkins won his 8th British chess championship.
In 1924, the first World Amateur Chess Championship was won by Herman Mattison of Latvia.
In 1924, Nikolai Krylenko (1885-1938), commander in chief of the Russian forces, was appointed chairman of the chess section of the All-Union Committee on Physical Culture.
In 1924, there were 24,000 registered chess players in Russia.
In 1924, Abe Turner (1924-1962) was born in New York City. He won the 1956-57 Manhattan Chess Club championship. He played in several U.S. chess championships.
On January 1, 1924, Klaus Junge (1924-1945) was born in Concepción, Chile. He shared first place in the 1941 German Championship with Paul Felix Schmidt but lost the play-off. In 1942 at Prague he came 1st= (+7 =3 -1) with Alexander Alekhine.
On January 22, 1924, Ortvin Sarapu (1924-1999) was born in Narva, Estonia. He won or shared first place in the New Zealand championship 20 times. He was awarded the International Master (IM) title in 1966.
On January 31, 1924 Curt von Bardeleben (1861-1924) committed suicide in Berlin. He was 62. He threw himself out of the second floor window of his boarding home in Berlin and died of his injuries. Other sources say he fell out by accident. Seeking some fresh air, he opened a low silled window and fell out. He was living in extreme poverty at the time.. He was a German chess master and journalist.
On February 1, 1924, Edith Elina Winter-Wood Baird (1859-1924) died in Paignton, England. She was known as the Queen of Chess. She composed over 2,000 problems.
On February 12, 1924, Carel Benjamin van den Berg (1924-1971) was born in the Netherlands. He was awarded the IM title in 1963.
On February 16, 1924, Johan Barendregt (1924-1982) was born in Nieuwerkerk, Netherlands. He was awarded the IM title in 1962.
On February 19, 1924, David Bronstein (1924-2006) was born in Bila Tserkva, Ukraine. He won the USSR Championship in 1948 and 1949. He was awarded the GM title in 1950.
On March 21, 1924, Richard Reti defeated Capablanca at the New York International. Capablanca was undefeated from Feb 10, 1916 to this date. He played 63 straight undefeated games, winning 40 and drawing 23.
On April 19, 1924, Emanuel Lasker won
the New York International. Capablanca was 2nd and Alekhine was 3rd.
Alekhine spent much of 1924 annotating all the games from the
On
On May 11, 1924, Ludek Pachman (1924-2003) was born in Bela pod Bezdezem, Czechoslovakia. He was Czech champion seven times between 1946 and 1966 and won the West German Championship in 1978. He was awarded the IM title in 1950 and the GM title in 1954.
On July 20, 1924, the Federation Internationale des Echecs (FIDE) was founded in Zurich.
The August 1924 issue of Popular Mechanics described a radio match at sea.
On September 1, 1924, Joseph H. Blackburne (1841-1924) died in London at the age of 82. He played in 53 tourneys in 52 years. He was known as “The Black Death” (the nickname given to him by the Germans) and the Grand Old Man of English Chess. (source: The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Sep 18, 1924)
On September 2, 1924, Carlos Torre won the 25th Western Chess Association (US Open) Tournament in Detroit.
On September 15, 1924, Efim Bogoljubow won the All-Russian tournament (3rd USSR Ch).
In December 1924, Haverford College in Pennsylvania (college broadcasting station 3BVN) played an amateur radio chess match with Oxford University in England (private station G-2NM). It was the first international chess match by amateur radio and was reported by the American Radio Relay League. The communication was maintained by radio telegraphy on 85 meters, despite heavy static. However, a week later, the Postmaster General in England declined to give permission for Oxford to play chess by amateur wireless telegraphy. The Postmaster objected on the ground that permits are granted to amateurs subject to the condition that messages shall be sent only to stations which are actually cooperating in experiments. The Postmaster General ruled that the exchange of messages relating to a chess match was not regarded as a bona fide experiment.
On December 30, 1924, Columbia University won the Intercollegiate chess championship for the 10th straight year. (source: The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Dec 31, 1924)