Held at the Hotel La Reine, Bradley Beach had been the site of the National Chess Federation championship in 1928 and had been a possible site for a 1929 WC rematch between Alekhine and Capablanca that broke down in negotiations. A <New York Times> article from 10 July 1928 reported that the organizers were considering an invitation to Vera Menchik, which would have been the first woman participant in an international men's tournament. As it happened, Menchik accomplished this at Carlsbad later that year. Edward Lasker was a possible entrant, and was present at Bradley Beach (NY Times 3 Jun 1929), but ultimately did not play.

group photo: http://www.rogerpaige.webspace.virg...

THE PLAYERS

Alexander Alekhine -- Bradley Beach was Alekhine's first tournament after winning his world championship match with Jose Raul Capablanca. Alekhine had been in the US on a simultaneous exhibition tour during March and the early part of May.

Lajos Steiner -- Steiner visited Australia and won the 1936-37 championship but was ineligible for the title at the time. He moved to Australia permanently a few years later prior to the outbreak of WWII.

Abraham Kupchik -- Kupchik also moved to the US at a young age. Mostly he played in events in New York and the northeastern US. He won the second annual tournament of the National Chess Federation held at Bradley Beach the prior year in 1928. He would play for the US in one Olympiad, in Warsaw 1935 (http://www.olimpbase.org/players/3z...), winning a bronze medal for board 3 on a team that won the gold medal. He also played in the 1945 USA-USSR radio match, losing to Vladimir Andreevich Makogonov -1 =1).

Isador Samuel Turover -- Turover settled in the Washington, DC area after moving to the US and became a chess patron, funding brilliancy prizes in various events.

Maurice Fox -- Although born in the Ukraine, Fox grew up in England. He moved to Canada in 1923 and won the Canadian championship numerous times.

Frank James Marshall -- Marshall's greatest tournament successes were in the past by this point, so he often finished in the middle of tournaments instead of near the top.

Alexander Kevitz -- Kevitz was Manhattan Chess Club champion numerous times and played on several US teams in international (non-Olympiad) matches.

Herman Steiner -- Steiner had just the year before played on the US Olympiad team at The Hague. He would play on several more US teams and would serve as captain of the 1950 team (http://www.olimpbase.org/players/53...). Within a few years after Bradley Beach, Steiner would move to Los Angeles and write the chess column in the LA Times for over 20 years. He also founded a chess club attended by various movie stars. In the 1945 USA-USSR radio match, Steiner scored 1.5-.5 against Igor Bondarevsky, the only US player to have a plus score in a crushing defeat.

Rafael Cintron -- Cintron was champion of Puerto Rico, and was the first Puerto Rican to be invited to play in an international masters tournament.

Horace Ransom Bigelow -- As with a number of American players of the day, Bigelow grew up in Europe and moved to the US as a young man. He was one of the organizers of Game Collection: New York 1924 and edited a chess column in the <New York Evening Post>.

THE CROSSTABLE

         A S K T F M K S C B
Alekhine X 1 = 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 8.5
Steiner  0 X 1 = 1 = 1 1 1 1 7.0
Kupchik  = 0 X = 1 = 1 0 1 1 5.5
Turover  0 = = X = 1 0 1 1 1 5.5
Fox      0 0 0 = X = 1 1 1 1 5.0
Marshall 0 = = 0 = X 0 1 1 1 4.5
Kevitz   0 0 0 1 0 1 X = 1 = 4.0
Steiner  0 0 1 0 0 0 = X 0 1 2.5
Cintron  0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 X 1 2.0
Bigelow  0 0 0 0 0 0 = 0 0 X 0.5

Round      1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9
Alekhine  1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0 6.0 6.5 7.5 8.5
Steiner   1.0 2.0 3.0 3.5 4.0 5.0 6.0 7.0 7.0
Kupchik   0.0 0.0 0.5 1.5 2.0 3.0 3.5 4.5 5.5
Turover   0.0 1.0 2.0 2.5 3.0 4.0 4.0 5.0 5.5
Fox       1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 3.5 4.5 5.0
Marshall  1.0 2.0 2.5 3.5 4.0 4.0 4.5 4.5 4.5
Kevitz    0.5 0.5 1.5 1.5 2.0 2.0 3.0 3.0 4.0
Steiner   0.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 2.5 2.5 2.5
Cintron   0.0 1.0 1.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0
Bigelow   0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5

With Alekhine in top form, he took first place, winning every game except one draw with Kupchik. Lajos Steiner might have given Alekhine more of a run for first had he not had back-to-back draws in rounds 4 and 5, against Turover and Marshall, respectively. Steiner did cut Alekhine's lead to a half point in round 7 when Alekhine gave up his only draw to Kupchik. The crucial game came, appropriately enough, in the last round (L Steiner vs Alekhine, 1929). Alekhine won, so L. Steiner finished a game and a half out of first. No one else came close, with both Kupchik and Turover finishing a game and a half behind L. Steiner.