Year Book of the American Chess Federation Volume 2, 1937 Comprising Sixty-five Games from the Philadelphia Tournament

x-[11]-86 pages with frontispiece, tables, diagrams and photographs. Royal octavo (9 3/4" x 6 3/4") bound in original publisher's blue cloth with gilt lettering to spine and cover. (Betts: 25-125) First edition.

In the early years of the tournament, the number of entrants was small, and play was conducted as round robins with preliminaries, Championship Finals, and Consolation Finals. At first, the tournament was the championship of the Western Chess Association (originally the Northwestern Chess Association), and was a round robin among whoever happened to show up. It remained a round robin through a semi-inviational phase, but gradually introduced preliminary and final sections to accommodate more players. The exact area controlled by the Western Chess Association varied from the Mississippi Valley region to all of the United States and Canada west of Pennsylvania and New York. The American Chess Federation staked its claim in the East this year, and drew a record turnout of fifty players who braved a Philadelphia heat wave to beat their brains out twice a day for two weeks. They were seeded into four preliminary sections, from which the first three qualified for the Championship, the next three for the Consolation Masters, the next three for a Class A tournament. This turned into an exciting three-way race. Horowitz and Denker took the lead early, with Dake at their heels the whole way. Horowitz finally took sole possession of first place after round 7. However, Dake defeated Horowitz in round 8 and tied Denker for first. Denker then promptly lost to Horowitz in round 9, and the latter remained tied with Dake going into the last round. The last round dawned with Horowitz and Dake a half-point ahead of Denker. The leaders were paired with two outsiders in Hanauer and Mugridge, while Denker had a much harder task against Kupchik. Not surprisingly, Denker - Kupchik was drawn. More surprisingly, so was Horowitz - Hanauer. Most surprisingly, Dake suffered his first defeat at the hands of Mugridge, and Horowitz walked away with the title.

Condition:

Corners gently bumped, check marks next to games through out else a very good copy.