The Soviet Union–United States radio chess match of 1945 was a chess match between the United States and the USSR that was conducted over the radio from September 1 to September 4, 1945. The ten leading masters of the United States played the ten leading masters of the Soviet Union (except for Paul Keres) for chess supremacy. The match was played by radio and was a two-game head-to-head match between the teams. The time control was 40 moves in hours and 16 moves per hour after that. Moves were transmitted using the Uedemann Code.Uedemann Code is usually an incorrect name for Gringmuth notation which was designed for transmission over telegraph. Both systems assign two-letter names to each square of the chessboard and moves are transmitted as a four-character group giving the starting and ending square. It took an average of 5 minutes to transmit a move. The US team played at the Henry Hudson Hotel in New York. The Soviet team met at the Central Club of Art Masters in Moscow. The USSR team won the match 15½–4½.
This result was met with astonishment around the chess world, since the US had won four straight Chess Olympiads from 1931 to 1937; however, the Soviet Union had not competed in those tournaments. The Soviet program for producing a new generation of chess masters, originated and supervised by Nikolai Krylenko from the early 1930s, clearly was paying dividends. From 1945 onwards, Soviet players would dominate international chess for most of the rest of the 20th century. The radio match proved a watershed and a changing of the guard in the chess world.
Other radio matches took place around this time.
The matchups The matchup and results are in this table.https://www.webcitation.org/5knPj7qGT?url=http://www.geocities.com/al2055perv/matches/1945/ursusa45.html
+USSR vs. US radio match 1945BoardGame 1Game 2Result (USSR–US)1Mikhail Botvinnik 1–0 1–0 Arnold Denker2–02Vasily Smyslov 1–0 1–0 Samuel Reshevsky2–03Isaac Boleslavsky ½–½ 1–0 Reuben Fine1½–½4Salo Flohr 1–0 0–1 I.A. Horowitz1–15Alexander Kotov 1–0 1–0 Isaac Kashdan2–06Igor Bondarevsky 0–1 ½–½ Herman Steiner½–1½7Andor Lilienthal ½–½ ½–½ Albert Pinkus1–18Viacheslav Ragozin 1–0 1–0 Herbert Seidman2–09Vladimir Makogonov 1–0 ½–½ Abraham Kupchik1½–½10David Bronstein 1–0 1–0 Anthony Santasiere2–0Total15½–4½ Nine of ten Americans and six of ten Soviets were Jewish.
The match featured most of the leading players in the world: including the first, second and equal third placegetters at the 1948 World Championship (Botvinnik, Smyslov, Reshevsky); Fine, who declined his invitation to the 1948 Championship; and the top two placegetters in the 1950 Candidates tournament (Bronstein and Boleslavsky).
Reserve players The following players were reservists in the U.S. team, to be called on, in the order given, if any of the primary team are unable to compete: Alexander Kevitz, Robert Willman, Jacob Levin, George Shainswit, Weaver W. Adams, Edward Lasker, Fred Reinfeld, Edward S. Jackson, Jr., Samuel Factor, and Martin C. Stark. The Soviet reserves were: Alexander Konstantinopolsky, Vitaly Chekhover, Iosif Rudakovsky, and Peter Romanovsky.
Other radio matches Moscow vs. Leningrad, March 1941 USSR vs. England, 18-6, 1946 Australia vs. France, 5½-4½, 1946 Spain vs. Argentina, 8-7, 1946
The USSR also won these matches: USSR vs. United Kingdom, 1947 USSR vs. United Kingdom, 1954 USSR vs. United States, 1954 USSR vs. United States, 1955
See also 1945 in chess Anglo-American cable chess matches
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