Chess Review 1941

Lady Chess Stars to Play for Title

  As announced last month, Mrs. Adele Rivero, Woman Chess Champion of the United States, has agreed to defend her title in an eight-game match with Miss N. May Karff, the former champion. The match will be held in November and the games will be played at the leading New York chess clubs.
   The contest between these fair young women chess stars has been arranged by CHESS REVIEW to promote interest in the royal game and help to dispel the erroneous idea that all chess players are old men! Mrs. Rivero and Miss Karff will demonstrate that attractive young women can play good chess.
   Slim, petite Adele Rivero (seated at right in above picture) plays strong, conservative chess. Inclined to be nervous, she exercises remarkable control in important games, displays great powers of stamina and concentration, nurses small advantages into the end-game. Mrs. Rivero dethroned Miss Karff and won the Women's Championship title in the open tournament held in New York last year at the Hotel Astor.
   Self-confident, smartly-dressed Miss N. May Karff, is an outstanding chess player of international repute. She recently won the Hazel Allen Trophy in the annual Women's Chess Tournament at the Marshall Chess Club, New York. The following game, from this tourney, is an excellent example of Miss Karff's aggressive style of play:

   The schedule of championship match games will be announced soon. A purse of $500 is being raised for the players. CHESS REVIEW's Editor I. A. HOROWITZ is the official treasurer.  Contibutions towards the purse are solicited and may be sent to I. A. Horowitz, Treasurer, Women's Chess Championship Match, 250 West 57th Street, New York, N. Y.

MISS KARFF WINS FIRST MATCH GAME

   Miss N. May Karff, playing at the Marshall Chess Club on November 16th, won the opening game of her championship match with Mrs. ADELE BELCHER who, as Mrs. Rivero, gained the national title in the open tournament last year.
   The day before the match began the lady champion married DONALD BELCHER of the Rockefeller Institute of Medical Research and teacher of mathematics and physics at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville.
   Preceding the game, L. WALTER STEPHENS, Vice-President of the U. S. Chess Federation and official referee of the match, called attention to the historic importance of this first match for the Women's Title and announced the donation of the CHESS REVIEW TROPHY by the Editors of this magazine, as sponsors and promoters of the match.
   This new trophy, in the form of a large engraved silver cup, will be the emblem of the Women's Chess Championship of the United States and will become the permanent possession of any lady who wins it three times. The victor in the present match will be awarded custody of the cup.
     Succeeding games of the Belcher-Karff match are scheduled for Nov. 22, 8 p.m., at the
Manhattan C. C.;  Nov. 23rd, 3 p.m., at the home of L. Walter Stephens, 279 East 34th St. Brooklyn and Dec. 3rd, 8 p.m. at Queens Chess Club, 40-05 59th Street, Woodside, L. I. Dates for four more games are still to be arranged.

Game 1
Mrs. Belcher vs. Mrs. Karff , Nov. 16, 1941

MISS  KARFF  WINS  MATCH  5 - 1

    Miss N. MAY KARFF is again the Chess Queen of the United States.  In the scheduled 8-game match with Mrs. Adele Adele Belcher, Miss Karff regained the championship title by the lop-sided score of 5-1.  The match ended on December 7th, at the conclusion of the sixth game, as the new champion was then four games up with only two to go.

   A prize-awarding party was given to the players, officials and notable guests on Dec. 13th by L.WALTER STEPHENS, Vice-President of the U. S. Chess Federation, at is home in Brooklyn. Stephens served as referee of the match.

    At the coronation party, Miss Karff was officially declared reigning Chess Queen and award custody of the CHESS REVIEW TROPHY donated by the editors of this magazine as the emblem of the U. S. Women's Chess Championship. The cup will become the permanent possession of any lady who wins it three times.

I. A. HOROWITZ, treasurer of the match, presented each of the players with a check for $98.50 as a reward for their efforts. Although the ladies had agreed to play without any guaranteed purse, Horowitz asked patrons of chess to send contributions and the response was most encouraging. A total purse of $197.00 was raised and divided between the players.

   Arranged by CHESS REVIEW to promote interest in chess among women, the match proved to be popular and was given wide publicity in the press.  The games were well attended and followed with great interest, particularly by lady players. More and more women are taking up chess and we are only too glad to encourage this trend.  Women have popularized other games and can do the same thing for chess.

Miss Karff showed considerable improvement in her play, displayed the fighting spirit and determined will to win possessed by all champions.  Calm, self-assured, she played aggressively throughout, took full advantage of her opponent's mistakes.

Mrs. Belcher, on the other hand, was nervous and self-conscious, made some incredible blunders, showed every sign of being badly out of practice.  After losing four straight, she came to life in the fifth game, smartly out-played her opponent, put on a real show for her many admirers, only to lapse into defeat in the sixth and final game.

Grouped around the new CHESS REVIEW TROPHY, emblem of the U. S. Women's Championship, are (In the usual order) Editor I. A. Horowitz, Mrs. Adele Belcher, Referee L. Walter Stephens, Veteran Reported Herman Helms, Miss N. May Karff, Grandmaster Frank J. Marshall

Game 2
 

  Game 3
Mrs. Belcher vs. Mrs. Karff , Nov. 23, 1941
 

Game 4
 

Game 5
Mrs. Belcher vs. Mrs. Karff , Dec. 5, 1941

New York Times Dec. 8, 1941

 MISS KARFF REGAINS
         U. S. CHESS LAURELS

Defeats Mrs. Belcher in Thirty
Moves as Match Ends

     Miss N. May Karff of Boston yesterday regained her title as woman chess champion of the United States when, at the Marshall Chess Club, she finished her match with Mrs. Donald Belcher by winning the sixth game in thirty moves.
     The victor ended the contest with the unexpectedly one-sided score of 5 games to1. She had previously won the first four games straight and lost the fifth, in which she was checkmated. However, she evened the score in this respect by checkmating her rival in the last game.
     Miss Karff, who has played international chess in Stockholm and Buenos Aires, won the United States championship the first time in 1938 under the auspices of the United States Chess Federation.
     Mrs. Belcher defeated Miss Karff in the last national tournament at the Hotel Astor early last year. Miss Karff will be called upon to defend that title next April when another national tournament will be staged in New York.
     Yesterday's game was the last. Eight games had been scheduled, but Mrs. Belcher announced that she would not continue in view of the fact that a decision had been reached.
     Miss Karff had the white pieces and, in response to her king's pawn advance, Mrs. Belcher played the Sicilian Defense. At the ninth turn, Miss Karff castled on the queen's side of the board and Mrs. Belcher on the opposite wing. Although handicapped slightly by a backward queen's pawn, Mrs. Belcher had an even position until she lost a valuable pawn on the twenty-second move.
     With her king exposed to attack the situation went from bad to worse and, committing an oversight on the twenty-ninth move, Mrs. Belcher suffered a checkmate.
     Miss Karff also became the custodian of the chess Review Trophy, which must be won three times for permanent possession.