25th Western Championship
Detroit, Michigan
August 23-September 2, 1924

A Mexican tornado swept through the Western Championship in 1924, as nineteen-year-old Carlos Torre Repetto left no doubt about his superiority with an undefeated performance 2.5 points ahead of the field. And, as far as the Western Championship was concerned, this was quite a strong field which contained eight players who at some time would hold the title of Western Champion.

Tying for second were a group of perpetual contenders: Samuel Factor, Herman Hahlbohm, and Norman Whitaker. Just a half-point behind them was 12-year-old Samuel Reshevsky, who saw his chance for sole second place disappear after a last round loss to Whitaker.

The tournament was held in the Union League Club, and sponsored by the Detroit Chess and Checkers Club. Its President, Morris Steinberg, appears to have been the chief organizer, with Newell W. Banks assisting.

Thanks to daily reports in the "New York Times", the course of the tournament can be reconstructed with a good degree of certainty. The tournament began on Saturday, August 23, and ended with adournaments played on Tuesday, September 2 (the last full round was on the previous day.) Generally two rounds were played per day with the exception of a single round on Friday, August 29. However, the schedule for the first two rounds is uncertain.

We know from the New York Times that the third round was played on Monday, August 25. That means that either two rounds were played on Saturday, or else one round each Saturday and Sunday. Unfortunately, the Times reports only start with round 3.

The American Chess Bulletin records that the tournament began "Saturday evening", which would imply only one game was played that day. However, the New York Sun of August 25 has a report describing Saturday action which stated that Whitaker had won two games. The New York Evening Post of August 25 stated that play began on the afternoon of the 23rd, which would imply two games that day.

Overall, I'm inclined to favor the two rounds on Saturday schedule. There was no apparent objection to playing on Sunday since two games were played the next week, so perhaps the stie was unavailable.

Also, the "New York Times" reports cannot be depended upon to give the correct colors. I have prepared a reconstruction based on a standard Berger table which reconciles both the Times' pairings and the colors of the games which we know, so that will be used. However, while I am confident of its accuracy on the whole, I must emphasize that it could well be cincorrect in some details.

Finally, two players did not complete their schedule. Lewis J Isaacs played four games before retiring due to illness. All his games were canceclled, and the unplayed ones are listed as byes. Robert Goerlich played only five games before retiring. However, all his unplayed games were scored against him and are listed as forfeits. No explanation is known for the distinction.

In this list, an asterisk (*) indicates that the game is in the collection.

Round 1 (Saturday, August 23): Spero1/2 Reshevsky, Torre 1 Jenkines*; Winter 1 Palmer; Scrivener 0 Banks; Stolzenberg 1 Margolis; Isaacs 0 Mlotkowski; Hahlbohm 1 Ruth; Factor 1 Goerlich; Whitaker 1 Erdeky*

Round 2 (Saturday, August 23): Reshevsky 1 Erdeky; Goerlich 0 Whitaker; Ruth 1 Factor; Mlotkowski 1/2 Hahlbohm; Margolis 1 Isaacs; Banks 1/2 Stolzenberg; Palmer 0 Scrivener; Jenkines 1 Winter; Spero 0 Torre*

Round 3 (Monday, August 25): Torre 1 Reshevsky*; Winter 1 Spero; Scrivener 0 Jenkines; Stolzenberg 0 Palmer; Isaacs 0 Banks; Hahlbohm 1 Margolis; Factor 1 Mlotkowski*; Whitaker 1 Ruth*; Erdeky 1 Goerlich

Round 4 (Monday, August 25): Reshevsky 1 Goerlich; Ruth 1 Erdeky; Mlotkowski 0 Whitaker*; Margolis 0 Factor; Banks 1/2 Hahlbohm; Palmer 1 Isaacs; Jenkines 0 Stolzenberg; Spero 0 Scrivener; Torre 1 Winter*

Round 5 (Tuesday, August 26): Winter 0 Reshevsky; Scrivener 0 Torre*; Stolzenberg 1 Spero; Hahlbohm 1 Palmer; Factor 1/2 Banks; Whitaker 1 Margolis; Erdeky 0 Mlotkowski; Goerlich 0 Ruth; Jenkines - bye

Round 6 (Tuesday, August 26): Reshevsky 1/2 Ruth; Margolis 1 Erdeky; Banks 1/2 Whitaker*; Palmer 0 Factor; Jenkines 0 Hahlbohm; Torre 1 Stolzenberg*; Winter 0 Scrivener; Mlotkowski 1 Goerlich (forfeit); Soero - bye

Round 7 (Wednesday, August 27): Scrivener 0 Reshevsky; Stolzenberg 1 Winter; Hahlbohm 1 Spero; Factor 1 Jenkines; Whitaker 1 Palmer; Erdeky 0 Banks; Ruth 0 Mlotkowski; Goerlich 0 Margolis (forfeit); Torre - Bye

Round 8 (Wednesday, August 27): Reshevsky 0 Mlotkowski; Margolis 0 Ruth; Palmer 1 Erdeky; Jenkines 0 Whitaker; Spero 1/2 Factor; Torre 1/2 Hahlbohm; Scrivener 0 Stolzenberg; Banks 1 Goerlich (forfeit); Winter - bye

Round 9 (Thursday, August 28): Stolzenberg 0 Reshevsky; Hahlbohm 1 Winter; Factor 0 Torre; Whitaker 1/2 Spero; Erdeky 1 Jenkines; Ruth 1/2 Banks*; Mlotkowski 1/2 Margolis; Goerlich 0 Palmer (forfeit); Scrivener - bye

Round 10 (Friday, August 29): Reshevsky 1 Margolis; Banks 1/2 Mlotkowski; Palmer 0 Ruth; Spero 1 Erdeky; Torre 1 Whitaker*; Winter 0 Factor; Scrivener 0 Hahlbohm; Jenkines 1 Goerlich (forfeit); Stolzenberg - bye

Round 11 (Friday, August 29): Reshevsky 1 Banks; Palmer 1 Margolis; Jenkines 0 Mlotkowski; Spero 1 Ruth; Winter 0 Erdeky; Scrivener 1 Whitaker*; Stolzenberg 1 Factor; Torre 1 Goerlich (forfeit); Hahlbohm - bye

Round 12 (Saturday, August 30): Hahlbohm 0 Stolzenberg; Factor 1 Scrivener; Whitaker 0 Winter; Erdeky 0 Torre*; Ruth 1 Jenkines; Mlotkowski 1 Palmer; Margolis 0 Banks; Goerlich 0 Spero (forfeit); Reshevsky - bye

Round 13 (Saturday, August 30): Hahlbohm 0 Reshevsky*; Whitaker 1 Stolzenberg; Erdeky 0 Scrivener; Ruth 1/2 Torre*; Mlotkowski 1/2 Spero; Margolis 0 Jenkines; Banks 1/2 Palmer*; Goerlich 0 Winter (forfeit); Factor - bye

Round 14 (Sunday, August 31): Reshevsky 1 Palmer; Jenkines 0 Banks; Spero 1/2 Margolis; Torre 1 Mlotkowski*; Winter 0 Ruth; Stolzenberg 0 Erdeky; Hahlbohm 0 Factor*; Scrivener 1 Goerlich (forfeit); Whitaker - bye

Round 15 (Sunday, August 31): Factor 1 Reshevsky*; Whitaker 1 Hahlbohm; Ruth 1/2 Scrivener; Mlotkowski 0 Winter; Margolis 1/2 Torre*; Banks 1 Spero*; Palmer 1 Jenkines; Goerlich 0 Stolzenberg (forfeit); Erdeky - bye

Round 16 (Monday, Septebmer 1): Reshevsky 1 Jenkines; Spero 1/2 Palmer; Torre 1 Banks*; Winter 0 Margolis; Scrivener 1/2 Mlotkowski; Stolzenberg 0 Ruth; Hahlbohm 1 Erdeky; Factor 1/2 Whitaker; Isaacs - Goerlich (unplayed)

Round 17 (Monday, September 1): Whitaker 1 Reshevsky*; Erdeky 0 Factor; Mlotkowski 1/2 Stolzenberg; Margolis 0 Scrivener; Banks 1 Winter; Palmer 1/2 Torre*; Jenkines 0 Spero; Goerlich 0 Hahlbohm (forfeit); Ruth - bye

                           1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
1  Carlos Torre-Repetto    X 1 = 1 1 1 = 1 1 1 1 = 1 = 1 1 1 14.0
2  Samuel D Factor         0 X 1 = 1 = 0 1 0 1 = 1 1 1 1 1 1 11.5
3  Herman H Hahlbohm       = 0 X 0 0 = 1 = 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 11.5
4  Norman Tweed Whitaker   0 = 1 X 1 = 1 1 1 0 = 1 0 1 1 1 1 11.5
5  Samuel Reshevsky        0 0 1 0 X 1 = 0 1 1 = 1 1 1 1 1 1 11.0
6  Newell Williams Banks   0 = = = 0 X = = = 1 1 = 1 1 1 1 1 10.5
7  William Allen Ruth      = 1 0 0 = = X 0 1 = 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 10.0
8  Stasch Mlotkowski       0 0 = 0 1 = 1 X = = = 1 0 = 1 1 1  9.0
9  Leon Stolzenberg        0 1 0 0 0 = 0 = X 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 1  8.0
10 Robert Scrivener        0 0 0 1 0 0 = = 0 X 1 1 1 1 1 0 1  8.0
11 Irving Spero            0 = 0 = = 0 1 = 0 0 X = 0 = 1 1 1  7.0
12 Marvin C Palmer         = 0 0 0 0 = 0 0 1 0 = X 0 1 1 1 1  6.5
13 John Winter             0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 X 0 0 0 1  5.0
14 Albert Margolis         = 0 0 0 0 0 0 = 0 0 = 0 1 X 1 0 1  4.5
15 Kalman Erdeky           0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 X 1 1  4.0
16 Bertram Claude Jenkines 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 X 1  4.0
17 Robert Stanley Goerlich 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 X  0.0

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Sources

American Chess Bulletin, September/October 1924, p.166-174.

Chess Results 1921-1930 / Gino di Felice, p.76.

Shady side : the life and crimes of Norman Tweed Whitaker, chessmaster, by John Hilbert. Yorklyn, DE : Caissa Editions, 2000. SS

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SEE ALSO: Game Collection: US Open Tournament Index