These games are missing, presumably forever:
Round 8 -- Denker-Treysman 0-1
Round 10 -- Horowitz-Kupchik draw
Round 13 -- Morton-Hanauer draw
Round 13 -- Bernstein-Horowitz draw
This was the first USCF-sponsored tournament for the US championship. Frank James Marshall finally bowed to the inevitability of a transition from match play for the US championship to an invitational tournament. After he won the title from Showalter in 1909 (Marshall - Showalter US Championship (1909)), Marshall defended it only once, in 1923 (Marshall - Ed Lasker US Championship (1923)). This lack of activity, due in part to the inability of potential challengers to raise sufficient funds to meet Marshall's conditions, fueled the demand for a championship tournament held on a regular basis. At first, Marshall said he would play, but as the tournament became less of an idea and more of a reality, Marshall formally resigned his title and announced he would not play in the tournament. The Marshall Chess Club donated a trophy for the US championship named the Frank J. Marshall trophy.Dake, Fine, Horowitz, Kashdan, Kevitz, Kupchik, Reshevsky, and H. Steiner were all seeded directly into the tournament. Edward Lasker was to be seeded as well, but he did not play. The remaining players had to earn a spot by finishing in one of the top two places in a 12-player qualifying section. Factor and Simonson qualified out of Section A, Adams and Denker qualified out of Section B, Bernstein and Treysman qualified out of Section C, and Hanauer and Morton qualified out of Section D. The finals were held at the Hotel Astor in New York 25 Apr - 16 May 1936. Marshall, Hermann Helms, and Fritz Brieger served as tournament directors.
Winter's Chess Notes has this photo of the players from Chess Review: http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/...
Samuel Reshevsky -- Reshevsky was a famous child prodigy who gave up competitive play for several years to focus on his education. After returning to active play in the 1930s, Reshevsky dominated the US championship until the ascendence of Robert James Fischer in the late 1950s. Reshevsky had an unusually long playing career. Reshevsky played on eight US Olympiad teams, winning one team gold, one team bronze, and one individual bronze medal (http://www.olimpbase.org/players/mg...).
Albert Charles Simonson -- Simonson was the reserve on the gold-medal US team at the 1933 Folkstone Olympiad (http://www.olimpbase.org/players/ks...).
Reuben Fine -- Fine was a world-class player who never won the US championship. His best international result would be equal first with Paul Keres at AVRO 1938. He was invited to the world championship tournament organized in 1948 to crown a successor to Alexander Alekhine, who died while holding the title. Fine decided not to play. He was involved in his graduate work in psychology and only played competitive chess for a few more years after earning his degree. Fine played on three US Olympiad teams, winning three team and one individual gold medal and one individual silver medal (http://www.olimpbase.org/players/rn...).
George Nelson Treysman -- Treysman was known more for being a strong chess hustler in New York City than a tournament player, although he also played in the 1938 US championship.
Isaac Kashdan -- Despite being a world-class player in his day, Kashdan was never able to negotiate a championship match with Marshall and once the tournament began he would never win the US championship. He was robbed of the title in 1942 by an incorrect ruling in a critical game between Reshevsky and Denker, which meant Reshevsky tied Kashdan for first instead of Kashdan winning the tournament outright. Kashdan lost the playoff match to Reshevsky, and that was as close as he would ever come to being US champion. Kashdan took over as chess editor for the Los Angeles Times after Steiner's death. Kashdan became an International Arbiter after his active playing days and directed both First Piatigorsky Cup (1963) and Second Piatigorsky Cup (1966). Kashdan played on five US Olympiad teams, winning three team and two individual gold medals, one team and one individual silver medal, and two individual bronze medals (http://www.olimpbase.org/players/vx...).
Arthur William Dake -- Dake was on three gold-medal US Olympiad teams, winning one individual gold and one individual silver medal (http://www.olimpbase.org/players/u4...).
Abraham Kupchik -- Two of Kupchik's best results were at Lake Hopatcong; 1923, where he tied with Marshall for first, and 1926, where he finished second behind Capablanca. He also drew a match (+1 -1 =4) with Carlos Torre Repetto in New York in 1924. Kupchik played on one US Olympiad team, winning a team gold and an individual bronze medal (http://www.olimpbase.org/players/3z...). A brief summary of Kupchik's career along with a photo of him playing Capablanca at Lake Hopatcong is at: http://www.kenilworthchessclub.org/...
Alexander Kevitz -- Kevitz was Manhattan Chess Club champion numerous times and played on several US teams in international (non-Olympiad) matches.
Israel Albert Horowitz -- Horowitz was long-time editor of Chess Review, chess editor of the New York Times for many years, author of a number of chess books, and a fixture in US tournaments, particularly those in the northeast. He won the US Open in 1936, 1938, and 1943. Horowitz played on four US Olympiad teams, winning three team and two individual gold medals (http://www.olimpbase.org/players/sw...).
Samuel D Factor -- Factor was active in Chicago-area chess and active in organizing precursors to the USCF. Factor was the nephew of cosmetics businessman <Max Factor>. Factor played on one US Olympiad team, winning a team silver medal (http://www.olimpbase.org/players/2s...).
Herman Steiner -- Steiner was long-time chess editor for the Los Angeles Times. He founded a chess club attended by various celebrity chessplayers. Steiner was the only US player to have a plus score in the USSR - USA Radio Match (1945). Steiner won the 1948 US championship ahead of Kashdan. Steiner played on four US Olympiad teams, winning one team gold medal, and one team and one individual silver medals (http://www.olimpbase.org/players/53...).
Arnold Denker -- Denker would win the 1944 US championship ahead of Fine, Horowitz and Steiner. He successfully defended his title in 1946 in a match with Herman Steiner. Later in life he became very active in chess organization in the US and the Denker Tournament of High School Champions is named in his honor.
Sidney Norman Bernstein -- Bernstein was active in and around New York City and played in eight US championship tournaments.
Milton Loeb Hanauer -- Hanauer played on one US Olympiad team, winning a team silver medal (http://www.olimpbase.org/players/7x...).
Weaver Warren Adams -- Although a strong US master of his day, Adams is most remembered for his controversial ideas about White's opening advantage. He won the 1948 US Open and played in five US championships.
Harold Morton -- Morton was New England champion several times and was also Horowitz's business partner at Chess Review at the time of his death. The two were on an exhibition and promotional tour in the midwest in 1940 when they were involved in an automobile accident in Iowa. Morton was killed and Horowitz seriously injured.
Reshevsky would dominate this early period of US championship tournaments, but he had a difficult time of it in this first one, losing two games and drawing three, winning by a half point with a strong finish. Even then, he needed a bit of last minute help from a couple of opponents. At various points in the tournament, Kashdan, Fine, Dake, Treysman, and Simonson were either in the lead or close enough to be a threat. Everyone lost at least one game and everyone but Fine lost at least two. Kashdan lost <four> games and finished only a game and a half behind Reshevsky.
In the final round, Reshevsky's fate depended on Simonson and Treysman. Treysman lost to Fine and Simonson tried too hard to force the issue against Factor and lost. With losses by both of his closest competitors in the final round, Reshevsky was able to take a draw in a better position and won the first USCF-sponsored tournament for the US championship. Even so, Soltis and McCormick quote Reshevsky that, for him, "the tournament will long remain something of a nightmare."
Hotel Astor, New York, 25 April - 16 May 1936
R S F T K D K K H F S D B H A M
Reshevsky X = = 1 1 1 = 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 11.5
Simonson = X 1 1 0 0 = = = 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 11
Fine = 0 X 1 1 = = = = = 1 = 1 1 1 1 10.5
Treysman 0 0 0 X 1 1 = 1 = 1 1 1 = 1 1 1 10.5
Kashdan 0 1 0 0 X = 1 = 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 10
Dake 0 = = 0 = X 1 = = 1 0 1 = 1 1 1 9
Kupchik = = = = 0 0 X 1 = 1 = 1 = = 1 1 9
Kevitz 0 = = 0 = = 0 X 1 0 0 1 1 = 1 1 7.5
Horowitz 1 0 = = 0 = = 0 X 1 1 0 = 1 0 = 7
Factor 0 1 = 0 0 0 0 1 0 X 1 = 0 1 1 = 6.5
Steiner 0 0 0 0 0 1 = 1 0 0 X 0 1 = 1 1 6
Denker 0 0 = 0 0 0 0 0 1 = 1 X = 1 1 = 6
Bernstein 1 0 0 = 0 = = 0 = 1 0 = X = 0 0 5
Hanauer 0 0 0 0 1 0 = = 0 0 = 0 = X 1 = 4.5
Adams 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 X 1 3
Morton 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 = = 0 = 1 = 0 X 3
Original collection: Game Collection: 1936 US Championship, by
User: crawfb5.
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