A Nice Combination by Macht

 

Source: see below.

This ending, from an undated tournament game between Alexander Macht (White) and Moshe Blass is given by Moshe Czerniak in his Book of Chess, p. 77. The annotations are Czerniak's, illustrating the issue of a critical square:

1.Bxg6+ fxg6 2.Qxg6+ Kh8 3.Nf5 Bd4! 

This move seem to stop White's attack. After 4.Nxh6 Rxe1+ 5.Rxe1 Rf8 6.Nf7+ Rxf7 7.Qxf7 Qxg3+, White will have to work hard to draw. 

4.Re5! 

The winning move. If 4...Bxe5 3.Rd7 and mate in a few moves. If 4...Rxe5?? 5.Qxg7#. The fatal critical square e5 decided the game.

4...Ne6 5.Rxd4! cxd4 6.Rxe6 Black resigned (0-1).

Oren and Blass, 1926 Polish Championship

 

Source: (Neue) Wiener Schachzeitung, vol. 4 no. 11 (June 1926), p. 169

Both Blass and Oren (then Chwojnik) played in the 1926 Polish championship. Herbert Halsagger provides us with the crosstable and the complete report of the tournament here. Blass scored 4.5 points and Oren 3.5, but his sole victory was against Blass. 

Jerusalem - Tel Aviv Match, 1935: a Pen Portrait

 

The above note, from the Palestine Post (later the Jerusalem Post), Feb. 15th, 1935, p. 7, gives a short pen portrait of the players on both team. It was brought to our attention by a frequent correspondent. Note, in particular, the many foreign Jews who came to the country - Enoch, Blass, and Czerniak. 

We add that we finally find an English source for the player we phonetically spelled 'Churgin.' The Jerusalem post prefers 'Hurgin'. But neither Gaige's Chess Personalia nor Chessbase's database has a fitting player (except for one 1923 correspondence game with 'Churgin,' which may or may not be the same person.) As both spellings seem reasonable, we shall keep 'Churgin.'

International Notice

Herbert Halsegger (Graz, Austria) who is researching the history of Hakoah (the German spelling) Jewish sports organization in Austria, points out to us that the Wiener Schachzeitung took notice of the championship of Palestine in 1936 (p. 314). In particular, it notes that some "very well known" players from Europe participated. These include Czerniak, Blass, Porat (Foerder), Blass, and Macht. 

In a previous note, the same journal (1936, pp. 217-218) reports on the Tel Aviv championship (won by Weil) notes that Porat and Enoch from Germany, Beutum from Austria, and  Macht from Lithuania will participate in the Palestinian championship "later this year." In the event, Enoch and Beutum did not participate. 

"The Victory of Energetic Accuracy."

 A frequent correspondent notes that Blass and Aloni has met in the Histadrut championship of 1960 and Blass had won. The game, with Czerniak's annotations, from which the title of the post is taken.

Moshe Blass - Itzchak Aloni

French Defense, Winaver Variation [C18]

Histadrut Championship, January 1960 

Source: Ha'aretz, January 29th, 1960

Annotations: Czerniak

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 cxd4? Rauzer showed in the 1930s that, for the pawn, White gets a strong initiative on both sides of the board. 5... Bxc3+ or 5... Ba5 are the modern choices. (If 5... Ba5 6. b4 cxd4!; not 6... cxb4? 7. Nb5! bxa3+ 8. c3 and White is better.) 6. axb4 dxc3 7. Qg4 Rauzer's move, which Bogoljubow used successfully in many games. Also possible is 7. bxc3 Qc7 8. Nf3!because after Qxc3+? 9. Bd2 Black's position is suspect. 

7... cxb2? 8. Bxb2 Qe7 9. b5 Right now 9. Qxg7? Qxb4+, but placing the black queen on this diagonal isn't recommended, as the game's continuation shows. 9... f5 10. Qd4 b6 11. Ba3 Qd8 12. h4 Ne7 13. Nh3 O-O 14. Nf4 Rf7

Black castled and freed his pinned knight, but is far behind in development. 15. h5 Bd7 16. Bd3 Qe8 17. c4! dxc4 18. Bxc4 Bxb5 

It is hard to criticize this move, which sacrifices the exchange to get some breathing room. 19. Bxe6 Nbc6 20. Qb2 a6 21. Bxf7+ Qxf7 22. e6! White won material, and keeps the initiative. Qf8 23. h6! Rd8 23... gxh6? 24. Nh5 loses immediately.23... g6? 24. Nxg6! wins the queen. 

24. hxg7 Qxg7 25. Qxg7+ Kxg7 26. Bb2+ Kg8 27. Rd1 To prevent the counterattack starting with Nb4 and threatening Nc2#. Now the game moves to an easily won ending for White. Rxd1+ 28. Kxd1 Bc4 29. Rh3 Nd5 30. Rg3+ Kf8 31. Nxd5 Bxd5 32. Ba3+ Ne7 33. Rc3 The final blow. Black loses a piece and resigns (1-0).

Kniazer - Blass, 1952.

From the same sources as the previous post, Israel Kniazer's win agains Moshe Blass. An interesting point is that while the tournament was called a tacharut amanim (masters' tournament) by Fasher and most others, Kniazer always insisted that the tournament, in which he did quite badly (2.5/9), was actually a tacharum immunim (training tournament). The two are very similar in Hebrew. 

'Training tournament' is also the name under which the tournament it also appears in Kniazer and Persitz's collection of Kniazer's games. Was this merely an excuse for a bad result? Perhaps, but it cannot be denied that Kniazer deliberately used many risky opening ideas in this tournament. 

Curiously, Persitz himself calls the tournament a 'masters' tournament' in his own, earlier tournament book (Tacharut Amanim Be'shachmat [Masters' Chess Tournament], 1953, by Persitz and Mandelbaum). The latter book reveals (p. 23) that the game took place in the third round, and adds that 6. g4?! is Keres' idea. 

Kniazer, Israel Yosef - Blass, Moshe 

Sicilian Scheveningen  (B81)

Masters' (Training?) Tournament, 1952, rd. 3. 

Sources: La'merchav 6.6.58, Ha'derech Le'nitzachon Be'shachmat pp. 83-84.

Annotators: Fasher (also punctuation) and Persitz. 

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e6 The Schwenigen variation, which gives Black a solid but passive position (Fasher). 6. g4?! Typical of Kniazer's style (Fasher). 6... a6 7. Bg2 Be7 Better was 7... Qc7. White confused his opponents, who makes many inaccuracies (Fasher.) 8. g5 Ng8? An inexplicable withdrawal. The correct move is 8... Nfd7 (Fasher). 9. h4 Nd7 10. f4 Qc7  1. f5 Ne5 12. O-O Bd7 13. fxe6 fxe6 14. Bh3 Qc8? Correct is}  14... Qc4 (Fasher.) 15. Nce2 Bd8 The idea is to clear the e7 square for the g8 knight, but "invites" the following combination (Persitz, p. 84).

16. Nxe6 Bxe6 17. Qxd6 Ne7 18. Qxe6 Qc5+ 19. Kh1 Qxc2 This is Fasher's score as well as Persitz's in Tacharut Amanim Be'shachmat, p. 24. In Ha'dererch Le'nitzchon Be'shachmat, p. 84, Persitz has 18.Qxc2 immediately instead. 20. Qxe5 Qxe2 21. Qe6! and Black resigned (1-0)  since mate is unavoidable without sacrificing the queen (Fasher).

A Nice Kniazer Win

 Israel  Yosef Kniazer

A frequent correspondent notifies us of the obituary for Kniazer (La'merchav, 6.6.58 p. 5) by the editor of the paper's chess column, Eliahu Fasher. (Fasher notes Kniazer was born in 1895; other sources also give 1894 or even 1899.) He gives the following photo, taken at the Lasker club in Tel Aviv, and adds that Kniazer was a member of the club for many years. Fasher then gives two games, against Porat and Blass, which will be given in this and the next post. 

Finally, Fasher adds that Kniazer was working on a book of his best games. This book was indeed published in 1959, as Ha'derech Le'nitzahhon Be'shachmat [The Road to Chess Victory] with deep annotations by Kniazer and, mostly, Raafi Persitz. The book also has the two games given by Fasher. In his annotations to this game, Persitz (which adds the missing moves Fasher does not give due to lack of space) notes that Kniazer, in his notes, added that he was not satisfied with White's 'strategic  position', despite having won tactically. Persitz sees this as typical of Kniazer's desire for chess perfection (p. 72). 

(A note about spelling. Gagie's Chess Personalia prefers the English spelling 'Keniazer'. It seems that various persons with this last name spell it Kniazer, Keniazer, or Kaniazer. In this case, Israel Yosef Kniazer's name is usually pronounced, in my experience, closer to 'Kniazer'. I have not yet, however,  found an authoritative source for an English spelling.)

Kniazer, Israel Yosef - Porat, Yosef

Caro-Kann (B11)

Haifa, 1946. 

Sources: La'merchav, 6.6.58, p. 5 and Ha'derech Le'nitzachon Be'sachmat, pp. 61-72.

Annotations: Eliahu Fasher (also punctuation) and Raafi Persitz

1. e4 d5 2. Nf3 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Ne4 5. d3 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bf5 7. Rb1 Qc7 8. d4 e6 9. Bd3 Bg6 10. O-O Be7 11. Ng5 c5 12. Qf3 O-O 13. Qh3 

White is manouvering skillfully, trying to created something out of nothing (Fasher). The manouver Re1-e3-h3 worked due to Black's mistake, but takes too long. It was time for 13.f4! (Persitz, p. 67). 13...Bxd3 14. Qxd3 Bxg5 15. Bxg5 Nc6 16. Rfe1 Rac8 17. Re3 Ne7 18. Rh3 Ng6 19. Rc1 cxd4 20. cxd4 Qc4 21. Qd2 Qxa2? 

Black underestimates White's attack. Kniazer doesn't miss the opportunity and sacrifices at once (Fasher). 22. Bf6!! Rfe8 Of course not 22... gxf6 due to mate in a few moves (Fasher). 23. Bxg7 Kxg7 24. Qh6+ Kg8 25. Qxh7+ Kf8 26. Rf3 Re7 27. Qxg6 

With a pawn more and a strong attack, White won in a few moves (Fasher). Persitz (pp. 71-72) gives these moves: 27... Qb2 28. Qh6+ Ke8 29. Rb3 $1 Qxd4 30. Qh8+ Kd7 31. Rxb7+ Rc7 32. Rxc7+ Kxc7 33. Rb1 Qa4 34. Qb8+ Kd7 35. Qd6+ and Black resigned (1-0) since it's mate next move.

Mystery Player

Eliahu Shahaf (Gaige's English spelling), the editor of Davar's chess column, noted on December 12th, 1956 (p. 26) that there was a "mystery" player, Zalmen Kleinstein (Chessbase 14's spelling) who played in the 1936 Palestine championship and was part of the 1939 Palestine team to Buenos Aires, but since then 'had disappeared'. Chessbase gives a few of his games, all from the 1939 olympiad. Shahaf adds another, from the 1936 Palestine championship, a victory as Black against Blass. This material, like that of the two previous posts, was brought to our attention by a frequent correspondent to our blog.

Shahaf also adds, significantly, that the top Israeli chess players of the time were still roughly the same players of 20 years ago, and that the attempt to make chess popular among the youth had not been fruitful, with the exception of the IDF championship. He complains that over-emphasis on international chess, as a way for international acceptance of Israel abroad, forgets that the main purpose of the Israeli Chess Federation is, after all, to promote chess in Israel. In a few years Shahaf could rest easy: a new generation of younger players will indeed arise and finally replace the "old guard". 

Blass - Kleinstein 

French, McCutheon [C12]

Palestine Championship, 1936

Source: Davar, 21.12.65 p. 26

Annotations: Eliahu Shahaf

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Bb4 5. Bxf6 gxf6 6. exd5 Qxd5 7. Qd2 Qa5 8. Bd3 Bd7 9. Nge2 Bc6 10. f3 Nd7 11. Kf2 f5 12. a3 Bxc3 13. bxc3 O-O-O 14. Qe3 Kb8 15. c4 Rhe8 16. a4 e5 17. d5 

17... e4! 18. Bxe4 fxe4 19. f4 Nf6 20. h3

20... Bxd5! 21. cxd5 Nxd5 22. Qb3 Qc5+ 23. Kg3 Rg8+ 24. Kh2 Qf2 25. Rag1 Qxe2 and White resigned (0-1) in a few moves. (The source also has 26. Re1 Qf2 27. Rhf1 Qd2, but this ignores the obvious Qxg2# - A.P.)

Israeli Championship,1968-1969

Source: Sarah Aloni's collection

Above are some nice photos of the players in the Israeli Open Championship, 1968-1969, which took place in Be'er Sheva, Israel. Can anybody help identify the players? I believe the seond image from the top has Malchiel Peretz (white) playing Yair Kraidman, and the third from the top might have Uzi Geller (white) playing Zadok Domnitz, but I might be wrong.

Edited to add: A frequent correspondent suggests that in the top photo, we have Avraham Kaldor (white) playing  the old Moshe Blass. Another correspondent suggests that Geller's opponent is not Domnitz, but rather  Ya'akov Bernstein ("Ya'akov" is Gaige's preferred spelling in Chess Personalia). He also suggests In the second picture from the top is the young Michael Porat (son of Yosef Porat) playing against Yoel Aloni, Be'er Sheva open 1972. 

I believe the second correspondent is surely correct about Bernstein, but am less sure about Porat-Aloni. This can be resolved by looking at the list of participants in the 1968-1969 vs. the 1972 tournament. I am quite certain the photo is from the 1968-1969 tournament because of the source -- a set of photos from that tournament in Sarah Aloni's collection. But it's not inconceivable a photo from a later tournament was misplaced in her photo album. 

The 1939 'Lasker' Club Passover Tournaments

Source: Davar, 21/4/1939, p. 8

Marmorosh had promised, in the April 14th column, to give a detailed report of the tournament the next week. This he did. Below the photo -- showing, right to left (seated) Mrs. Schwarzman, Zelmenitzka, Nachmani (both ph. spelling), Dr. Labounsky, Porat, Marmorosh, Zerodinzki (ph. spelling; club manager), Winz, Blass, Kniazer, Mrs. Binfeld (ph. spelling) and Ya'akov. 

Highlights from Marmorosh's report are that Rabinovich-Barav (then in Haifa) and Porat (then in a Kibbutz in the north) were elected 'honorary members' of the Lasker Tel Aviv Club. Other highlights note there are now 130 members in the club, that there were more than 1000 visitors during the tournament, and that 'interest in the women's tournament did not flag, despite the amazons' flagging game'. 

Like many of his generation, Marmorosh just counldn't take women's chess seriously, Graf and Menchik's achievement notwithstanding. 

Weiz Cup: first League Championship in Palestine

Source: see below

A frequent correspondent notified us of the Weiz cup, which took place in 1938. This was, in effect, the first league championship in Israel. Our correspondent gives us Marmosoh's contemporary report in Davar, 29/4/1938, p. 3 (top cutting). We note Fascher notes the exact details 20 year later, in La'merchav,  29/4/59, p/ 6 (bottom cutting).

Marmorosh notes this was a four-team event (Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa, and 'the settlements', i.e., the agricultural smaller communities). Each team had 8 players ; Haifa won. Fascher add the name is because the prize -- a silver cup -- was donated by Menachem Weiz. 

Almost "anybody who was anybody" in Palestinian chess played -- with some exceptions. Marmorosh notes that, in Haifa, the 'top players' Rabinovich-Barav and Enoch didn't play, but the team still 'surprised everybody' and (eventually) won. Fascher adds that, in Tel Aviv, Blass and Rauch didn't play, either, and in Jerusalem, Burnstein was missing. 

Fashcer also notes this was the third major achievement of the Palestine Chess Federation (est. 1934), after the individual Palestine championships and the Warsaw Olympiad. 

Chess Posters

Source: The NLI

In Israel, it was common until the 1970s (at least) to advertise chess tournaments on posters which were posted on official notice boards in cities. Here is one for the 1969 (15th) Tel Aviv Championship, officially, the Abraham Labounsky memorial tournament. It includes both the "old guard" -- Czerniak, Aloni, Blass, Smiltiner -- and the "new blood", such as Bobis, Stepak, and 'ten talented youths'.

More on the Tel Aviv Championship Photo

Credit: see below

Readers had contacted me about the matter. One frequent correspondent noted that the person to the left of Blass in the photo from the 1945 championship is probably Alexander Macht (a caricature from here is reproduced above, and the Hebrew Wikipedia entry photo is here. The first link, incidentally, tells the story of Macht's entire career, including his important banking one and his life in Tel Aviv, He was one of the founders of Banking in Palestine.

Amatzia Avni suggests, tentatively, that the person on the far left in the front row is Reuven Mauer (ph. spelling of ראובן מאוער), 'the mythological secretary of the Lasker chess club in Tel Aviv'.

If these two identifications are correct, they would be the two "extra" persons, apart from the 13 players, in the photograph.

ETA 31/4/2017: Yochanan Afek notes that it is not likely it is Mauer, due to the date of the photograph, taken when Mauer was much younger than the person in the photograph. 

Tel Aviv Championship, 1945 -- Help with Identifying Players

Source: See below

The above photograph, as is noted on the back, is that of the Tel Aviv Championship, 1945. It was forwarded to us by Ami Barav, the son of the late Israel Rabinovich-Barav. With Ami Barav's aid, as well as Hon's Ptichot Be'Sachmat and other sources, we have identified the persons in the photo as follows:

Standing, r. to l. : Rabinovich-Barav, Gruengard, Dobkin(?), Yosha, Smiltiner, Hon, unknown, Vogel(?), Wolfinger. Sitting, r. to l.: Aloni, Blass, Unknown, Mendelbaum(?), Porat, Unknown.

We are quite certain about the identity of some of the players. We are far less certain about three others, hence the question marks, and not sure at all about three of them, the 'unknowns'. The one participant not named here even tentatively is Gruenberg.

Note that Kniazer, one of the participants, is certainly not in the picture. As there are fifteen people in the picture and at most 13 of them are players, at least two others are non-participants, e.g., organizers.

Can any reader help with a more certain identification?

Graves of Chessmasters -- Moshe Blass

Credit: See Below

A frequent corespondent to this blog has found a picture of the grave, in the Holon cemetary, of Moshe Blass -- or, as is written on the tombstone, 'Moshe Abba Blass, son of Itzhak Meir'.

'Meet our Masters': Moshe Blass, by H. Reed

Our frequent correspondent Moshe Roytman had sent us, a while ago, quite a few nice "finds" from the chess literature of the early state of Israel. A particularly interesting one is that Al Ha'Mishmar's chess column had run a 'meet our masters' series of pen portraits of Israeli masters. Here is their portrait of Moshe Blass -- From Al Ha'Mishmar, Aug. 12th, 1949, p. 8, by H. Reed [ph. spelling]. Below is our translation, and our comments in square brackets.

Meet Our Masters

We are beginning this week a series of articles about Israeli chess players. We wish to introduce the reader a series of players that are not known to the public and, especially, to the youth. This week we overview Moshe Blass.

Moshe Blass

Among the chess masters in the country there are players of international caliber, which have succeeded in many tournaments and matches.

One of them is Moshe Blass. Before arriving in the country, 17 years ago, he was one of the strongest players in Poland, often mentioned together with Rubinstein, Tartakover, Frydman, Makaryczyk, Dr. Kohn, and the late Przepiorka. In 1927, when Najodrf and Czerniak were young beginners [in Warsaw], he already won the Warsaw championship, after a brilliancy against P[aulino] Frydman. He played in the Olympiad twice for the strong Polish team: in 1928 in the Hague and in 1938 [sic - 1930 is correct] in Hamburg.

From 1933 he is part of the chess life in our country and for many years he had no equal, until younger forces like Foerder [Porat], Czerniak, and Aloni dethroned him.

His greatest victory was in 1935, in the international tournament arranged with the Maccabiah, when he came first before Foerder, Enoch, and the Viennese Glass, who recently returned to the country after many troubles [a hint that Glass ran away from Vienna to Shanghai in 1938, thus surviving the war].

Blass' style is superb, pure and classical, without entering opening complications. He shows his talent in the middle game, and his desire for beauty and perfection is evident in all his games.

As a man, Blass is modest, which made him popular with chess players.

Despite his age removing him from the tournament hall, it is a pleasure to see him next to his regular table in one of the coffee houses, beating strong opponents in offhand games.

The game added is Blass - Dobkin, Tel Aviv Championship, 1945 (Slav defense). According to the computer (Fritz 6), the game was more or less equal until Dobkin blundered, allowing mate in two, but it is still an interesting example. The analysis is by the editor of the chess column or Fritz 6, as indicated.

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 c6 3. d4 d5 4. e3 e6 5. Nc3 Nbd7 6. Bd3 dxc4 7. Bxc4 b5 8. Bd3 dxc4 9. a4 b4 10. Ne4 Bb7 11. b3 c5 12. Nxf6+ gxf6 13. Bb2 cxd4 14. Nxd4 Nc5 15. Bc4 Rg8 16. Rg1 Rxg2 17. Rxg2 Bxg2 18. Qh5 Bd5 19. Rd1 Bxc4 20. bxc4 Qa5 21. Qf3 Rc8 22. Nc6 Qxa4 23. Bxf6 b3 23... Rxc6? 24. Qxc6! Qxc6 25. Rd8# - editor. 24. Na7

24... Qxc4? Fritz 6 recommends 24... Rb8 or 24... Qb4+. 25. Qc6+ and Black resigned (1-0) due to 25... Rxc6 26. Rd8#.

Edited to add: we thank our correspondents for supplying the spelling of the names!

A Snapshot

Who, exactly, were the masters, or international masters, or gradnmasters, etc. in Israel in the 1950s? Wonder no more: the complete list was, helpfully, given by Moshe Czerniak in first issue of 64 Mishbatzot (Feb. 1956, p. 17):

Source: see above

It is noted how these include the "old guard" who was in Palestine before the war (Porat, Czerniak, Barav, Knaizer, Mandelbaum, Macht, Fischer, Dobkin, Beutum, and Smiltiner and Blass-- we are using Gaige's spelling), but also the new arrivals, Aloni, Dyner, and Oren, as well as new blood, in particular, Perstiz. This did not mean other talented players did not exist; only they didn't yet have time to gain titles.

This is listed in the same page has an article by a visitor, Saul Wachs (USA), who notes how chess advanced in Israel and, in particular, its popularity in the kibbutzim and other agricultural communes, not just in the large cities.

Why Did Abram Blass Change his Name to Moshe Blass? -- ADDITION 8/10/2014: He didn't, but...

Moshe Blass (right) receiving the Reshevsky club cup from the president, Moshe Liber, in 1971, the last prize he won. Source: Shachmat Vol. 10 no. 4 (April 1971), p. 101. 

Gaige's Chess Personalia (at least, my reprint of the 1987 edition) notes, next to the Palestinian / Israeli master Moshe Blass, a "mystery" player known as Abram Blass, with no birth or death date, and the source being a Polish magazine from 1929. Internet sources such as Wikipedia or Olimpbase also mention 'Abram Blass'.

The wikipedia entry mentions him winning the 1935 Maccabiah championship. As this blog had previously noted, contemporary sources make clear that the person who won this championship was Moshe Blass, as he is always known in Hebrew-language sources from the 1930s on. E.g., Shaul Hon's Ptichot Be'Sachmat [Chess Openings] (Shach; Tel Aviv, 3rd Edition, 1964) mentions him as 'M. Blass' many times in tournament results from that period (including the 1935 Maccabiah victory, p. 85). Blass' obituary, by Moshe Czerniak, from which the photograph above ('The Last Prize') is taken, also names him 'Moshe' and mentions his 1935 Maccabiah victory and, inter alia, him winning the 1928 Warsaw championship -- which Wikipedia credits to 'Abram Blass'.

Clearly, Abram Blass and Moshe Blass were simply the same person -- and, probably, based on where he was known by which name, he changed his name from 'Abram' to 'Moshe' when arriving in Palestine in the 1930s.

Why? It is not clear.

One possibility suggests itself. He was -- as Czerniak notes (see exact biographical details in this post from our blog) -- an illegal immigrant to Palestine, then under British rule, and the last thing he wanted was to be recognized and deported to Poland. Still less could he voluntarily visit Poland and return to Palestine, which is (notes Czerniak in the same link just given) why he didn't play for the Palestinian team in the 1936 Warsaw Olympiad. So perhaps he changed his name to avoid detection by the authorities.

Still, changing one's name from 'Abram' to 'Moshe' while keeping one's surname is not much of a disguise. He may have changed his name merely to signify he was starting a new chapter in his life (as many did at the time, including chess players -- Foerder becoming Porat, etc., etc.). Why 'Moshe' then? Perhaps, like many European Jews, he may well have had a first and a middle name, i.e., Abram Moshe Blass or Moshe Abram Blass, and simply used only one of them in his youth in Poland and decided to switch to the other in Palestine.

Addition, 8/10/2014: It turns out, as Uri Blass, the grandson of Blass' brother Simcha Blass, notifies us, that Moshe Blass did not, in fact, change his name. His full name always was Moshe Aba (אבא) Blass. Uri Blass confirms, however, that 'Abram' Blass is in fact the same person as Moshe Blass. 

This, on second thought, was the most reasonable interpretation from the start: disguise was not likely, as noted above, and most those who changed their name upon arrival in Palestine (or later, Israel) changed it from a foreign-sounding to a Hebrew name, not from one Hebrew name to another. 

But solving this issue presents us with another one: why 'Abram' Blass, as many sources call him in the 1920s, when he played in Poland? Why not 'Moshe' or 'Aba' Blass? A simple mistake? A corruption of 'Aba' (a relatively rare name) to 'Abram' (a more common one) by non-Hebrew speaking reporters? Some other explanation? 

P. S.

It should be noted, for completeness' sake, that the biographical data in the obituary is quoted by Czerniak from Ha'aretz, 12.3.1971, before adding Blass' photograph, two games, etc. The obituary does not explicitly state if Czerniak also wrote the Ha'aretz obituary or merely agrees with it -- the former is likely, as it is written in Czerniak's style and he was Ha'aretz's chess editor at the time. But this is a minor issue.

A Flohr Loss, Jerusalem, June 4th, 1934.

Salo Flohr. Credit: wikipedia commons.

As we have said before, Salo Flohr had visited Palestine in May-July 1934, and played quite a few simultaneous displays. We currently have a total of eight such displays, as well as a live game (against Marmorosh, which he won).

These simuls included, inter alia, a display against the 11 top players in the country -- including Czerniak, Dobkin, Winz, Mohilever, Blass, and others (source: Marmorosh's Davar chess column, July 13th, 1934, p. 9), scoring +9 =1 -1. As the opponents included a future IM (Czerniak), Olympiad players, and Palestine / Israel champions, this is a more than respectable score.

We have already communicated what we knew at the time about Flohr's visit to Edward Winter and in particular about the simul against the country's top players, based on Fasher's 1980 book (see C. N. 3962 for details), including Flohr's loss to Dobkin, but we now - checking the original sources - can tell that Fasher's data is slightly inaccurate, i.e., about the date of the 11-player simul. It took place July 7th, not June 2nd.

What's more, Marmorosh's column also gives another Flohr loss -- not only to Dobkin, but to  T. Segel from another simul, in Jerusalem. It is not a particularly good game, being an example of over-emphasizing the master's losses out of "local patritorism": White effortlessly refutes Black's dubious opening, gaining a pawn for nothing, but then blunders due to carelessness and reaches a strategically lost position. Nevertheless, the way Black exploits this advantage is instructive.

Flohr,Salo - Segel,T. [D08]

Simul, 4.6.1934, Jerusalem.

[Annotations: Marmorosh]

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e5 3.dxe5 d4 4.Nf3 Bb4+ 5.Bd2 Nc6 6.Bxb4 Nxb4 7.a3! [7.Nxd4?? Qxd4 wins a piece] 7...Nc6 8.b4 Bg4 9.Nbd2 Qe7 10.h3 Bd7 11.Nb3 Nxe5 12.Nxe5 Qxe5 13.Qxd4 White won a pawn and is winning. 13...Qg5 14.Nc5 0–0–0 15.Qd5? A gross blunder. 15...Qxd5 16.cxd5 Nf6 17.Rd1 b6 18.Nxd7 Rxd7 White cannot save the d5 pawn. 19.e3 Nxd5 20.Ba6+ Kb8 21.Bc4 Rhd8 22.0–0 f6 23.Rfe1 Nc3 24.Rxd7 Rxd7 25.Rc1 Rd1+! Black has good chances after the rook exchange. 26.Rxd1 Nxd1 27.Kf1 c6 28.Ke2 Nc3+ 29.Kd3 Nd1 30.Ke2 Nc3+ 31.Ke1 Kc7 32.f4 b5 33.Bd3 g6 34.Kd2 Na4 35.Bc2 Nb6 36.e4 Kd6 37.Bb3 Nd7 38.h4 c5 39.Bg8 h6 40.g4 g5 41.bxc5+ Nxc5 42.hxg5 hxg5 43.Ke3 Ne6! 44.f5 Nc5 45.Kd4 a5 46.Ba2 b4 47.axb4 axb4 48.Bc4 b3 49.Bd5 b2 50.Ba2 Nd7 51.Kc3 Ne5 52.Kxb2 Nxg4 53.Kc3 Ke5 54.Kd3 Nf2+ 55.Ke3 Nxe4 56.Bb1 Nd6 57.Kf3 Nxf5 58.Kg4 Nd6 59.Bc2 Ne4 60.Bb1 f5+ 61.Kh3 Kf4 62.Bc2 g4+ 63.Kg2 Ke3 White resigns (0–1).

Blass - Czerniak, 1935 Maccabiah

Moshe Blass was the first unofficial champion of Palestine, winning the 1935 Maccabiah tournament, as we have seen elsewhere in this blog. (The first official champion was Czerniak, in 1936).

This time -- a game where he defeated Czerniak in a nice kingside attack from that tournament (April, 1935). While the game is not up to modern standards, it's nice to see how Blass exploits Czerniak's mistakes. It was, by the way, Czerniak's one "off" tournament in Palestine in the 1930s, between winning the 1934 Jerusalem championship and the 1936 Palestine championship. (Source: Haaretz's chess column, ed. Moshe Marmorosh, April 12th, 1935.)

Again: the whole purpose of this blog is to tell people things they are not likely to otherwise know. Blass had already been a player in the Olympiad (representing Poland) in 1928. But his 1928 games are easier to find, as opposed to the obscure Maccabiah seven years later.

Blass, Moshe – Czerniak, Moshe [D30]

2^nd Maccabiah, Tel Aviv, April 1935

[Analysis: Deep Fritz 8 (30s)]

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 e6 5.Bd3 Be7 6.0–0 Nbd7 7.b3 0–0 8.Nbd2 Re8 9.Bb2 Bd6 10.Ne5 c5 11.f4 b6 12.Rf3 Bb7 13.Rg3 Nf8 14.cxd5 exd5 15.Ndf3 [Fritz prefers 15.Ng4 immediately] h6!? 16.dxc5 Bxc5 17.Nd4 Bxd4 18.Bxd4 Ne6 19.Bb2

19… d4 [19...Kf8!?] 20.Ng4 [Now White is winning -- Fritz] Ne4 [‘??’ – Fritz.] 21.Nxh6+ Kf8 22.Bxe4 Bxe4 23.Ba3+ Nc5 24.exd4 gxh6 25.dxc5 Qe7 26.Qd4 1–0

Black's 19th and 20th move are typical "Czerniak moves": possibly objectively bad, even losing, but Czerniak as usual does everything to gain counterplay and activity. Didn't work this time.