An Oren Interview

Source: Ma'ariv, April 6th, 1951, p. 5

We have noted before an interview with Menachem Oren, quoted in Kandelshine's book about him (see link for details). We add here the original interview from which the quotes were taken is an in-depth one, including a rare photograph of Oren in play at the first Israeli championship, made after his victory, by Nechama Kerem.

The interesting interview emphasizes Oren's point that chess is a hobby, not a profession, as noted before. Incidentally, it adds that, contrary to popular belief, chess is not particularly related to mathematics -- some great players (like Dr. Lasker) were good mathematicians, but others were no good at it -- 'or at life, but play well'.

Oren's Victory, 1947

Source: Picture Section, Oren Ba'Tsameret by Shlomo Kandelshine, see previous post for full details.

From the same Kandelshine book as in the previous point, a curiosity: a first prize diploma given to Menachem Oren (then Chwojnik) for winning a chess tournament organized in Munich by the committee of the Jews who survived the holocaust, Dec. 1947. Before emigrating to Israel, Oren was active in this organization and 'did much for the displaced persons and their children' (p. 17).

Menachem Oren, 1902-1962

Mencahem Oren. Source: Oren Ba'Tsameret [On the Top], Reshafim Press: Tel Aviv, 1989,  p. 8.

Most sources (e.g., wikipedia, but more importantly Jeremy Gaige's Chess Personalia) claimed Menachem Oren was born in 1903. Oren's Obituary (Shachmat, no. 7, Dec. 1962, p. 3) has no exact birth date. However, Shlomo Kandelshine's book noted above claims (p. 13 and back cover) that he was born in December 1902, in Channukah, the Jewish Holiday, which that year took place Dec. 12th-19th, 1902. It seems likely he was really born in late 1902.

The First Live Chess Game in Palestine.

Source: National Library of Israel web page, brought to our attention by Moshe Roytman.

As the advertisement says, the first live chess game in Palestine was performed on April 24th, 1924 (NOTE: a somewhat earlier game, in March that year, took place in Tel Aviv. Check this blog's post from June 29th, 2019). Here is an ad for this extravaganza, reported (for example) in Ha'Sachmat, the journal of the Emanuel Lasker Chess club (Jerusalem), vol. 1 no. 4, pp. 61-62:  

On the fifth day of Passover a live chess show was set up by the E. L. Chess Club in Jerusalem. The show was part of the “national Passover festivities” and took place in the large sports arena in Beit Hakerem [a Jerusalem neighborhood]. A huge crowd was present. The 32 pieces were members of the E. L. chess club members wore original Jewish costumes, made by the members of “Bezalel”. The show was managed by club member Aryeh Pappo, who put much energy into it. The show, which gave great satisfaction to the audience, was very successful.

It is not clear why the ad says '40 persons' in special dresses will be there, given that there are, of course, only 32 pieces. Perhaps this is some advertisement "puffing". Interestingly, the name of the players or of the game result is not given in the advertisement, leaving the report of players to  Ha'Sachmat (ibid), which reported that the 'show managers' were Pappo, White, and A. Diskin, black. The use of the word 'manager' instead of 'player' and the neglect of mentioning the players in the advertisement make it likely that the performance was a reenaction of a famous brilliancy or some other pre-scripted event, not a genuine game. 

"Busy People's Got Time"

Source: Davar, 20/7/1964

The above is a cutting from an article in Davar, by Gershon Alimor (ph. spelling), brought to our attention by Moshe Roytman. The title is "Busy People's Got Time". The article (not related to the paper's chess column) deals with Rubinstein's visit to Palestine and especially the fact the Biyalik was a chess fan; but why would a great poet waste time playing chess? Alimor notes the answer given by the Jewish philosopher Jakob Klatzkin:

I was playing chess with him in the Hotel Gdansk. Suddenly he was approached by a writer (I don't remember who) who addressed him as follows: 'Prof. Kltazkin, I am surprised: you are writing an important book now, you're deeply busy with spiritual things; how can you waste hours playing a game?'. Klatzkin replied: 'listen, whomever tells you he's too busy to play chess, is a lazybones who does nothing. Whomever really works, his thought is ordered, and he finds time for everything, especially something as glorious as chess'. 

Indeed so!

Chess, Beer, and "In Memoriam" Walls

Image credit: Gdali Roizman

This photo of the memorial wall in Rishon Le'Tziyon Chess Club (link in Hebrew, with -- incidentally -- much history under the "history" tab on the web site) is interesting for many reasons. First, it has some of the historical figures we have met before, such as the problem composer Yosef Goldschmidt (bottom row, second from right) and the player Israel Dyner (top row, right), as well as two young men, Shlomo Zlil and Erez Levanon (bottom row, extreme left and second from left, respectively) in uniform, who were killed in their army service.

Mr. Roizman, who sent us this photo, points our another curiosity: Yitzhak Schwartz (second row, second from left), a founding member, was the head of the workers' union in a large local brewery. and that the club's first location was the workers' cafeteria on the brewery's grounds.

Sending Newspapers to Tel Aviv

Unser Express, 22/8/1935, p. 7

Moshe Roytman informs us that the same Unser Express had also published a list of amusing anecdotes from the 1935 Olympiad. Above is one of them (part of a longer article), relating to the Palestinian team.

A Jew came to the Olympiad to see the Palestinian players. Why? Asks another. He explained: 'my daughter sent me a letter from Tel Aviv, asking me to send her some newspapers; surely I can send them to her with the Palestinian players, don't you think?'.

Chess and Antisemitism in Russia

Illustration of the famous "lost son who became Pope" medieval legend. Source: Jewish Fairy Tales and Legends (1919), by Gertrude Landa ('Aunt Naomi'). Available online here. 

Tomasz Lissowski notifies us that, in his research for his book on Winawer, he discovered that in April 1914, an 'All-Russian Chess Society' was founded in St. Petersburg by P. P. Sosnitsky, who was elected president and '1st honorary member'. The other two honorary members were the Jewish players Winawer and Rubinstein, quite a surprising fact considering the well-known antisemitism in Russia at the time.

Of course, antisemitism being common in Russia at the time did not mean every Russian was antisemitic. We already noted Chigorin had openly and warmly praised Winawer, which he considered his 'master and guide', in an official reception in the St. Petersburg's chess club. 

The members of the newly-founded chess society apparently had nothing against Jewish players. Alas, adds Mr. Lissowski, the first world war, which broke out a few months later, put an end to all those plans. 

Porat in the "Unser Express"

Source: Unser Express [Yiddish], Sept. 1st, 1935, p. 4

Our frequent correspondent Moshe Roytman notes that the Yiddish-language Unser Express (עונזער עקספרעס) had published an article, 'The Chess Olmypiad', about the 1935 Warsaw Olympiad which included a pen-portrait of some of the players.

Interestingly, they chose to portray William Winter, Tartakover, Najdorf, Fine, and Porat (then, of course, Foerder) -- no doubt due to him being 'Palestine's strongest player'. He is described as a talented young player which 'even the world masters, like Vidmar, Tartakover, and Flohr, could achieve nothing against him'.

A quick search found no games in the databases of Porat playing Vidmar (which is not to say it didn't happen) but certainly he could hold his own -- drawing and winning -- against Tartakover and Flohr.