Spence Jack Lee (8 results)

Soft cover. Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. 70+[2 ad] pages with photographs and tables. Duodecimo (6 3/4" x 5") bound in original publisher's stapled wrappers. Chess Player's Series number 103. (Lusis: 1527) First edition. The U.S. Open Championship is an open national chess championship that has been held in the United States annually since 1900. Through 1938, the tournaments were organized by the Western Chess Association and its successor, the American Chess Federation (1934 1938). The United States Chess Federation (USCF) has run the tournament since 1939. The seventieth edition of this tournament attracted 197 participants and was held in Lincoln, Nebraska August 10th through the 23rd. The tournament was hard fought and the first time the Open brought up the problem of a three way tie for first place. Pal Benk, Arthur Bisguier and Milan Vukcevic each had a score of 9.5/12. Benko was the first of equals as he had defeated two of his chief rivals, Vukcevic and Byrne and was awarded the first place trophy. The three winner evenly divided $2800 of the first three prizes. There was also a tie for third place with Robert Byrne, William Martz and Robert Gauntt. The tournament book lists all the players as well as the ranking cross-table of all the players. In addition there are photographs and game scores of the critical games. Condition: Light edge wear with some sunning to edges else a very good copy.

xi+41+[1 ad] typescript pages with table. Quarto (11" x 8 3/4") bound in original publisher's ring-stitched wrappers. American Tournament Series", Vol. XXXV. "Spence Limited Editions." No. 54 of 150 copies. (Betts 25-307) First edition. The U.S. Open Championship is an open national chess championship that has been held in the United States annually since 1900. The open was held at the Sheraton-Palace Hotel in San Francisco during August 1961. The top American player usually qualifies for the U.S. Chess Championship. San Francisco 1961 set another attendance record with 198 players. Pal Benko claimed an astounding firs with only two draws and no losses. His score was 11/12 followed by Zoltan Kovács a full point behind. Arthur Bernard Bisguier and Robert Byrne tied for third and fourth with scores of 9.5 points. Condition: Some sunning to edges, light edge wear with bumped corners else very good.

35 typescript leaves with tables. Quarto (11" x 8 1/2") bound in original publisher' stapled wrappers. . From the library of Lothar Schimd. (Linde 5698. Betts 25-176) "American Tournament Series" Volume 2. Limited Edition. Number 54 of 100 copies. The tournament was held in Yanton South Dakota September 15 through the 22nd. The 20 games of the main tournament are annotated by some of the players, and 2 games from the Major Open event. (First place. Francisco Planas Garcia with a score of 5 points of 8 followed by Miguel Colon Romero and Albert Margolis each a half point behind. Sole fourth place at 4 points was Hans Berliner. Condition: Lothar Schmid's book plate to front wrapper verso. Edge wear with bumped corners, toning to wrappers and interior else very good.

Soft cover. Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. vi+31+[1 ad] typescript, stenciled on rectos only with tables. Qustyo (11" x 8 3/4") issued in quarter cloth and wrappers. Round by round account compiled from newspaper reports and annotations by several of America's leading masters. Spence limited editions number 5. (Betts: 25-205) First edition limited to 200 copies of which this is number 54. Wertheim Memorial held 3-17 Jun 1951 at the Manhattan Chess Club to honor former Manhattan Chess Club president Maurice Wertheim, who had died the previous year. There were problems; a number of masters were unavailable for one reason or another, Carlos Guimard's plane was held over a day in Puerto Rico, Max Euwe had to leave on the 18th, Reuben Fine, Al Horowitz, George Shainswit, and George Kramer (who commuted in daily from Philadelphia!) could only play at night, and Samuel Reshevsky had to have several games rescheduled. To cut down on the number of adjournments, the time control was 50 moves in 2½ hours, giving some time to play off adjournments for players that finished early in the 5 hour session. This appears to have been successful; only five games were adjourned in the tournament. Reshevsky played well despite blundering in his game against Euwe. Euwe did finish equal second, but his play was too uneven to capture first. Najdorf started slow by drawing his first four games. Had he beaten Reshevsky in the last round, Najdorf would have tied for first, but the game ended in a draw. The remaining grandmaster in the field, Fine, was one of the group carrying on with daily responsibilities in addition to playing in the tournament. Hans Kmoch wrote in Chess Review, "Fine's result is more of a miracle than a failure, for he played the entire tournament in a state of exhaustion." This was Fine's last professional tournament. At the closing ceremonies Al Bisno, new president of the Manhattan Chess Club, announced negotiations had been concluded for a match between Reshevsky and Najdorf, with games to be held in both the US and Argentina. The match, called at the time the championship of the west or of the free (non-Communist) world, was eventually held the next year, but in New York, Mexico City, and San Salvador. Larry Evans fifth with 6.5/11, Robert Byrne and Al Horowitz tied for sixth with 6/11. In descending order Guimard, Alberic O'Kelly de Galway, Arthur Bisguier, George Mortimer Kramer and George Shainswit. Condition: Corners bumped and chipped, some sunning to wrappers, closed tear at head edge else about very good.

Soft cover. Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. vii+35+[2 ad] type script pages printed on recto with tables. Quarto (11" x 8 1/2") bound in original publisher's wrappers with spiral spine. American Tournament Series Volume XVII. (Betts: 25-278) Limited to 140 copies of which this is number 15. First edition. The 10th United States Chess Championship tournament was held in New York City at the end of the year 1957. Fourteen of the US' strongest masters and grandmasters were invited to compete. Among the participants was a veritable who's who of former American champions, including Samuel Reshevsky, Arthur Bisguier, and Arnold Denker. Filling out the rest of the field was a number of players from the prestigious Third Rosenwald Trophy (1956), including a fourteen year old prodigy named Bobby Fischer. Fischer was already gaining recognition from several brilliant wins as the next generation of American chess grandmastery. However, the next generation had already arrived as Fischer dominated this, his inaugural championship, scoring wins against over half the field and finishing with 10½/13, a full point over seven-time former American champion Reshevsky. He became the youngest person ever to win the US crown, and the following year would become the youngest person to become a grandmaster. It was the beginning of a career that would culminate in Fischer becoming world champion and earning a place as one of the greatest players in history. Condition: Corners bumped, edge wear, toning to edges else very good.

Soft cover. Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. [6]+25 pages with 2 tables. Quarto (11" x 8 3/4") bound in original publisher's spiral wrappers. Limited edition 110 copies of which this is number 59. Spence Limited editions Volume II, Foreign Tournament Series. (Betts:25-85) First edition. A compact single-round tournament of only twelve players (only one of whom would not be designated as an international grandmaster in present-day terminology), this even in August 1928 was Capablanca's first appearance after the loss of his title. He had clearly not overcome the shock of this defeat: not only was he once again headed by Bogoljubow, who thus confirmed his status as the most highly qualified challenger for Alekhine's title, but many of his games (e.g. against Spielmann, Nimzowitsch, Tartakower) did not suggest the "chess machine" of his heyday. The tournament did not only bring to light a future challenger, but also a future champion: Euwe's joint third place was his first success in a major tournament. Leading scores: Bogoljubow 8, Capablanca 7, Euwe and Rubinstein 6 1/2. (Golembek) Condition: Front wrappers stained at bottom heal hinge, edge wear with some closed tears else a very good copy.

Soft cover. Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. viii+40+[2 ad] typescript pages on rectos with table and indices. Quarto (11" x 8" 1/2") bound in original publisher's spiral wrappers. (Betts: 25-277) Spence Limited Editions, American Tournament Series Volume XXIV Number 14 of 135 copies. Contains an introduction, 178 of the games, without notes or annotations. The U.S. Open Championship is an open national chess championship that has been held in the United States annually since 1900. The tournament was originally the championship of the Western Chess Association, and was called the Western Open. In 1934 the Western Chess Association became the American Chess Federation and the tournament became the American Chess Federation congress. In 1939, that organization merged into the United States Chess Federation (USCF) and the tournament became the U.S. Open. In early years the tournament was usually small, and most years play was conducted as round robin. In some years it had to be divided into preliminary and final sections. It grew larger starting in 1934, necessitating use of different formats. In 1946 the Swiss System was used for preliminary rounds, and in 1947 and subsequent years the tournament was held as a single section paired by the Swiss System. After a relatively modest start, Cuban dark-horse Eldis Cobo-Arteaga won the annual U S Open from a powerful field at the annual meeting of the USCF in Rochester, Minnesota, August 4th through the 16th. Although Cobo started out slow after the first two rounds he scored six wins which moved him into contention. His eight round win with Robert Byrne signaled danger for the competitors. Draws with Steinmeyer and Bisguier were followed with a decisive eleventh round victory over Evans followed by a win over Herbert Avram clinched the title. Larry Evans Robert Steinmeyre and Robert Byre all tied for second a half point behind. Aruthur Bisguier and Allen Kaufman tied with 9-3. 139 contestants signed up for the tournament. Condition: Corners bumped, some age toning to edges else a very good copy.

Soft cover. Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. iv+28 typescript pages on rectos only with table and indices; ii+20 typescript pages on rectos only with table and indices. Quarto (11" x 8 1/2") bound in original publisher's wrappers with spiral binding. Spence limited editions of tournament books. American tournament series number 20. (Betts: 25-243) First edition number 41 of 150 copies. All 236 games, without notes, from the Metropolitan New York are championships. Max Pavey, Manhattan Club Champion in 1953, regained his title by scoring 13-3 in the 1955/56 renewal of the annual championship. He suffered a lone loss to Arthur Feuerstein while defeating his closest rivals William Lombardy and Albert Pinkus to insure victory. Pinkus and Lombardy share second with scores of 10.5 well ahead of the U S Champion Arthur Bisguier and 1944 American title-holder Arthur Denker. Bisguier could only early 8.5 points to tie for sith with Alexander Kevitz. Dinker, with 9-6 finished fifth behind the youthful Feuerstein a half point ahead. Pavey, slow to take the lead, gained undisputed first place at the end of nine rounds of 15. An unblemished finish was necessary to keep ahead of his nearest rivals. Feuerstein, in the lead with 8-2 at the end of ten rounds failed to maintain his early pace. Lombardy suffered a double loss in the sixth and seventh rounds but came on to finish strong. Bisguier and Denker had some rough treatment at the hands of the others. Of the others Abe Turner had the best chance. Wit four consecutive victories in the early rounds he could earn only two points in the remaining eleven for a startling reversal of form. In contrast to the 1954/55 championship which William Lombardy and Franklin Howard staged a runaway race to the title, the 1955/56 Marshall Club Championship event was particularly hard fought from start to finish with the final results in doubt up to the final round. In the late stages Herbert Seidman, Edmar Mendis and Anthony Santasiere all had a chance at the title. Previously Eliot Hearst, Anthony Saidy and Carl Pilnick were in the running. The laurels finally fell to Seidman, a four-time winner in the past, who started out rather inauspiciously only to rally for a brilliant finish. Mednis shared second with Santasiere only half point behind the winner. The event was marred by the withdrawal of Earl Burger after only three rounds and Alexander Bernstein after eleven rounds. Their games were forfeited. This tournament is not complete as many games, including many important ones, were not available. The club did not require completed scores be turned in at the conclusion of the games; and, in many cases, the score which was turned in proved illegible. Condition: Corners bumped, light edge wear, edges sunned else a very good copy.