Albert Charles Simonson (December 26, 1914 in New York City – November 16, 1965 in

San Juan, Puerto Rico San Juan (, , ; Spanish for "Saint John") is the capital city and most populous municipality in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2020 census, it is the 57th-largest city under the ju ...

) was an American

chess master A chess title is a title regulated by a chess governing body and bestowed upon players based on their performance and rank. Such titles are usually granted for life. The international chess governing body FIDE grants several titles, the most pre ...

. He was one of the strongest American players of the 1930s, and was part of the American team which won the gold medals at the 1933 Chess Olympiad. Simonson was certainly at least of

International Master FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (chess), Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combinatio ...

strength, based on his limited playing career.

Biography

Simonson was born into a wealthy family. His father Leo was a successful wigmaker to the

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the List of co ...

rich and the theatre and movie businesses. His mother Irene was from the family that owned the Illinois Watch Case Co. in Elgin, Illinois. . Simonson showed precocious skill with chess, soon after learning the game. At New York 1933, he scored 7/10 to tie for 2nd-3rd places, behind only winner

Reuben Fine Reuben C. Fine (October 11, 1914 – March 26, 1993) was an American chess player, psychologist, university professor, and author of many books on both chess and psychology. He was one of the strongest chess players in the world from the mi ...

. This earned him selection to the United States chess

Olympiad An olympiad ( el, Ὀλυμπιάς, ''Olympiás'') is a period of four years, particularly those associated with the ancient and modern Olympic Games. Although the ancient Olympics were established during Greece's Archaic Era, it was not unt ...

team at age 18. In the Olympiad, at Folkestone 1933, he played on the first reserve board and scored 3/6, as the Americans won the team gold medals. Simonson's teammates were Fine,

Isaac Kashdan Isaac Kashdan (November 19, 1905 in New York City – February 20, 1985 in Los Angeles) was an American chess grandmaster and chess writer. He was twice U.S. Open champion (1938, 1947). He played five times for the United States in chess Olymp ...

Arthur Dake Arthur William Dake (April 8, 1910 – April 28, 2000) was an American chess player. He was born in Portland, Oregon and died in Reno, Nevada. He was born into a Polish farmer family ( Edward Winter has quoted a mistaken statement with Dake's n ...

, and Frank Marshall, who all eventually became Grandmasters. In the 17th Championship of the Marshall Chess Club, 1933–34, Simonson scored 7/11 to finish 6th. In the 1935 U.S. Open at

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at th ...

, he scored 5.5/10 to tie for 4th-6th places. In the first modern U.S. Chess Championship,

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

1936, Simonson placed second with 11/15, behind only winner

Samuel Reshevsky Samuel Herman Reshevsky (born Szmul Rzeszewski; November 26, 1911 – April 4, 1992) was a Polish chess prodigy and later a leading American chess grandmaster. He was a contender for the World Chess Championship from the mid-1930s to the mid-196 ...

. He scored 11/16 in the 1938 United States Championship at New York, to finish third, behind Reshevsky and Fine. In the United States Championship of 1940, again at New York, he tied for 4th-5th places, with 10/16, behind Reshevsky, Fine, and Isaac Kashdan. However, in the 1951 U.S. Championship in New York, Simonson finished tied for 11th-12th, with only 3.5/11. His total in four U.S. Championships was 35.5/58, for 61.2 per cent. Simonson defeated Reshevsky in a Metropolitan League team match in 1950, at a time when Reshevsky was among the world's top five players. Simonson was ranked sixth in the country on the very first official rating list, issued in 1950, from the

United States Chess Federation The United States Chess Federation (also known as US Chess or USCF) is the governing body for chess competition in the United States and represents the U.S. in FIDE, the World Chess Federation. US Chess administers the official national rating ...

. Simonson was a pioneer in the direct mail business field. He served with the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

during World War II, attaining the rank of Sergeant. According to his close friend, Grandmaster

Arnold Denker Arnold Sheldon Denker (February 21, 1914 – January 2, 2005) was an American chess player and author. He was U.S. champion in 1944 and 1946. In later years he served in various chess organizations, receiving recognition from the United States ...

, from the acclaimed book by Denker and Larry Parr -- ''The Bobby Fischer I Knew And Other Stories''—Simonson was very skilled at indoor card and board games, but had a serious gambling problem. He was married three times, and fathered three children. There is a small selection of his games at chessbase.com.

Notable chess games

Leonhard Abramavicius vs Albert Simonson, Folkestone Olympiad 1933, King's Indian Defence, Fianchetto Variation (E62), 0-1
In this gorgeous game, Simonson unleashes a nasty Kingside attack using strategy which would start to become popular a few years later.
Reuben Fine vs Albert Simonson, U.S. Championship, New York 1936, Queen's Gambit Declined, Delayed Exchange (Three Knights') Variation (D37), 0-1
Fine and Samuel Reshevsky were the top American players of the 1930s, but here Fine gets overambitious, and is taken apart by Simonson's counterattack.
Albert Simonson vs Herman Steiner, U.S. Championship, New York 1936, King's Indian Attack / Zukertort Opening (A05), 1-0
White gradually builds up his position against the formidable tactician Steiner.
Albert Simonson vs Arnold Denker, U.S. Championship, New York 1936, Queen's Indian Defence (E19), 1-0
Denker forces the pace with queenside activity, but gets outplayed once the minor pieces are exchanged, as White's passed a-pawn is a distraction which forces open lines.
Weaver Adams vs Albert Simonson, U.S. Championship, New York 1940, Bishop's Opening (C24), 0-1
This is a real tactical slugfest with castling on opposite sides, but Simonson sees further.
Albert Simonson vs Albert Pinkus, U.S. Championship, New York 1951, Queen's Gambit Declined (D46), 1-0
In this battle between two razor-sharp tacticians, Simonson takes a huge risk by leaving his King in the centre, and launches a nasty h-file attack which hits paydirt.

External links

* Retrieved on 2008-01-23 {{DEFAULTSORT:Simonson, Albert 1914 births 1965 deaths Jewish American military personnel American chess players Jewish chess players Chess Olympiad competitors Sportspeople from New York City United States Army personnel of World War II 20th-century chess players United States Army soldiers 20th-century American Jews