
Herman Steiner (April 15, 1905 – November 25, 1955) was an American
chess
Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...
player, organizer, and columnist.
He won the
U.S. Chess Championship in 1948 and became
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 (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...
in 1950.
Even more important than his playing career were his efforts promoting chess in the U.S., particularly on the
West Coast.
An exemplar of the
Romantic School of chess, Steiner was a successor to the American chess tradition of
Paul Morphy
Paul Charles Morphy (June 22, 1837July 10, 1884) was an American chess player. During his brief career in the late 1850s, Morphy was acknowledged as the world's greatest chess master.
A prodigy, Morphy emerged onto the chess scene in 1857 ...
,
Harry Nelson Pillsbury
Harry Nelson Pillsbury (December 5, 1872 – June 17, 1906) was a leading American chess player. At the age of 22, he won the Hastings 1895 chess tournament, one of the strongest tournaments of the time, but his illness and early death prevente ...
, and
Frank Marshall.
Biography
Born in Dunaszerdahely,
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...
(now
Dunajská Streda
Dunajská Streda (; ; ) is a town located in southern Slovakia ( Trnavský kraj). Dunajská Streda is the most culturally significant town in the Žitný ostrov area. The town has a population of 22,730, with ethnic Hungarians forming the 72% maj ...
, Slovakia), Steiner came to New York City at a young age.
For a time, he was active as a
boxer Boxer most commonly refers to:
*Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing
* Boxer (dog), a breed of dog
Boxer or boxers may also refer to:
Animal kingdom
* Boxer crab
* Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans
* Boxer snipe ee ...
.
At age 16 he was a member of the Hungarian Chess Club and the Stuyvesant Chess Club.
With the experience he gained in the active New York City chess scene, Steiner rapidly developed his chess skill and in 1929 he tied for first place (with Jacob Bernstein) in the
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
New York may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* ...
State championship tournament at
Buffalo
Buffalo most commonly refers to:
* True buffalo or Bubalina, a subtribe of wild cattle, including most "Old World" buffalo, such as water buffalo
* Bison, a genus of wild cattle, including the American buffalo
* Buffalo, New York, a city in the n ...
.
The same year he was first in the Premier Reserves at
Hastings
Hastings ( ) is a seaside town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England,
east of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to th ...
, England.
Steiner left New York for the
West
West is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth.
Etymology
The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some Romance langu ...
, settling in Los Angeles in 1932.
He became chess editor of the ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
'' that year, writing a
chess column until his death.
He formed the Steiner Chess Club, later called the Hollywood Chess Group, headquartered in a clubhouse next to the Steiner residence.
The Hollywood Chess Group was visited by many movie stars including
Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey DeForest Bogart ( ; December 25, 1899 – January 14, 1957), nicknamed Bogie, was an American actor. His performances in classic Hollywood cinema made him an American cultural icon. In 1999, the American Film Institute selected Bogart ...
,
Lauren Bacall
Betty Joan Perske (September 16, 1924 – August 12, 2014), professionally known as Lauren Bacall ( ), was an American actress. She was named the AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars, 20th-greatest female star of classic Hollywood cinema by the America ...
,
Charles Boyer
Charles Boyer (; 28 August 1899 – 26 August 1978) was a French-American actor who appeared in more than 80 films between 1920 and 1976. After receiving an education in drama, Boyer started on the stage, but he found his success in American fi ...
, and
José Ferrer
José Vicente Ferrer de Otero y Cintrón (January 8, 1912 – January 26, 1992) was a Puerto Ricans, Puerto Rican actor and director of stage, film and television. He was one of the most celebrated and esteemed Hispanic and Latino Americans, Hi ...
.
Steiner and the Hollywood Chess Group organized the Pan-American International Tournament in 1945 and the Second Pan-American Chess Congress in 1954.
Steiner played three challenge matches against
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 ...
, one of the world's top players. Fine won all three matches: by 5½–4½ at New York 1932, by 3½–½ at Washington, D.C. 1944, and by 5–1 at Los Angeles 1947.
One of his major international wins was at the 1946 London Victory Invitational, the first significant European tournament held after the end of World War II. Steiner challenged
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 ...
in 1946 to a match for the
United States Chess Championship
The US Chess Championship is an invitational tournament organized by the United States Chess Federation to determine the country's chess champion.
It is the oldest national chess tournament. The event originated as a challenge match in 1845, b ...
at Los Angeles, but lost 6–4. In 1948 Steiner won the
United States Chess Championship
The US Chess Championship is an invitational tournament organized by the United States Chess Federation to determine the country's chess champion.
It is the oldest national chess tournament. The event originated as a challenge match in 1845, b ...
at
South Fallsburg, New York
South Fallsburg is a hamlet and census-designated place in Sullivan County, New York, United States. South Fallsburg is located within the Town of Fallsburg at (41.716489, -74.630279).
History
South Fallsburg is located in the one-time resor ...
, ahead of
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 Oly ...
.
Steiner was a member of 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 (FIDE). USCF administers the official national Chess ...
's teams sent abroad to the
Chess Olympiad
The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams representing nations of the world compete. FIDE organises the tournament and selects the host nation. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, FIDE held an Online Chess Olympiad in FIDE Onli ...
s in
The Hague 1928,
Hamburg 1930,
Prague 1931 and
Dubrovnik 1950. As reigning U.S. champion he captained the 1950 team.
In the historic
1945 U.S.–USSR radio match between teams from the U.S. and the
USSR
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
, Steiner was the only U.S. player to achieve a plus score. Although the American team including Reuben Fine,
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 late 1 ...
,
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 ...
, and Isaac Kashdan, was badly beaten, Steiner scored 1½–½ against
Igor Bondarevsky
Igor Zakharovich Bondarevsky (; May 12, 1913 – June 14, 1979) was a Soviet Russian chess player, trainer, and chess author. He held the title of Grandmaster in both over-the-board and correspondence chess. Bondarevsky shared the 1940 Soviet t ...
.
Steiner was very active as a player in West Coast tournaments, winning the only two California Open tournaments he entered in 1954 and 1955, and winning the California State Championship in 1953 and 1954. He was defending his State Championship in Los Angeles in 1955, when after finishing his fifth-round game (a 62-move
draw
Draw, drawing, draws, or drawn most commonly refer to:
* Draw (terrain), a terrain feature formed by two parallel ridges or spurs with low ground in between them
* Draw (tie), in a competition, where competitors achieve equal outcomes
* Draw ...
against
William Addison) he felt unwell and his afternoon game was postponed. About 2 hours later around 9:30 pm, Steiner died practically instantaneously of a massive
coronary occlusion
A coronary occlusion, or coronary artery disease, is the partial or complete Coronary artery disease, obstruction of blood flow in a coronary artery. This condition was first discussed in 1910 by William Osler, Sir William Osler. This condition s ...
while being attended by a physician. By agreement of the players, the 1955 California State Championship tournament was canceled.
Tournament record
References
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External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Steiner, Herman
Hungarian chess players
American chess players
Jewish chess players
Emigrants from Austria-Hungary to the United States
Hungarian Jews
Chess Olympiad competitors
American chess writers
Chess International Masters
American people of Hungarian-Jewish descent
Sportspeople from Dunajská Streda
1905 births
1955 deaths
20th-century American non-fiction writers
20th-century American male writers
American male non-fiction writers
20th-century chess players
People from New York City