The chess games of Louis Bernard Zapoleon

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Louis Bernard Zapoleon

Number of games in database: 10
Years covered: 1913 to 1915
Overall record: +0 -9 =1 (5.0%)*
* Overall winning percentage = (wins+draws/2) / total games.

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LOUIS BERNARD ZAPOLEON
(born Dec-21-1886, died Dec-27-1969, 83 years old) Belarus (federation/nationality United States of America)

[what is this?]

Louis Zapoleon was born in Grodno, Russia (today: Belarus) as the 5th of 7 children of optician Samuel Movsha Zapoleon (1852-1937) and Pauline Makower (1852-1931). The family of nine came to USA in 1891, and settled in Dayton, Ohio where they rented a house for Samuel’s practice. Louis went to elementary school and educated as an economist at Dayton University. He was employed in the US Dept. of Agriculture (Washington, 1909-1916), US Tariff Commission (Washington, 1917-1925) (incl. as expert in a Senate committee, 1921-1922), Stanford University Food Research Institute (Palo Alto California, 1925-1935) (incl. a trip to Denmark in 1925 and two years in Europe 1933-1935), US Security and Exchange Commission (Washington, 1935-1941), and the US War Production Board (1942-1945). He authored books* on agricultural economy, and also left behind him the Louis B. Zapoleon Memorial Scholarship fund which is today administered through the Cincinnati Scholarship Foundation.

Louis was married in 1937 to the equally scholarly Marguerite Wykoff (1907-2003), who had studied economics in London, did graduate work in Switzerland, and attended the New School for Social Research in New York. She worked for the Dept. of Education, Dept. of Labor, as well as the Pentagon. They met at Brookings Library (Washington) in 1935. After World War II they purchased 354 acres of land on Sideling Hill near Berkeley Springs, West Virginia (= Eidolon Nature Reserve#) where they built a cabin and spent weekends and summers. They retired ca. 1955 to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where he suffered from a stroke in 1960 and died of heart problems in 1969. They had no children.

The career left him with time for chess. He played in the Dayton Chess Club, and was tri-state (Ohio) champion (1909 or before). He was also state champion of Columbia (1910 or before). In 1910 he defeated Frank James Marshall in his simul in the Washington Chess and Whist Club. After joining the Capital City Chess and Checkers Club (CCCCC) he won the club tournament there four times (1912, 1915 and two more times). All this qualified him to play in the American National (1913) tournament where he ended last (+1 -10 =2), but drew with Marshall and defeated Charles Jaffe. He held simuls against CCCCC club mates several times, incl. on 1 March 1912 (+9 -2 =1) and in Dec. 1914 (+11 -1). He also played for the club in telegraph matches, e. g. in 1919 when he defeated Manhattan player Leon Rosen, and in Kriegspiel tournaments.

His last appearance on the chess scene was perhaps in 1926 when Emanuel Lasker held a simul in the Mechanics’ Institute Chess Club (San Francisco). He was then adjudicator.

Main sources: online newspapers, US Federal Census 1900, New York and UK passenger lists, US City Directories, World War I Draft Registration Card, American Chess Bulletin 1926 (p. 51), Stanford University Bulletin 1931 (p. 35), The Morgan Messenger 29 Nov. 2006. *http://www.google.no/search?hl=no&t... (incl. his wife's books) #http://www.potomacaudubon.org/Resou...

page 1 of 1; 10 games

Game	Result	Moves	Year	Event/Locale	Opening
1. Kupchik vs L B Zapoleon	1-0	57	1913	American National	D33 Queen's Gambit Declined, Tarrasch
2. O Chajes vs L B Zapoleon	1-0	33	1913	American National	A84 Dutch
3. L B Zapoleon vs Marshall	½-½	23	1913	American National	B40 Sicilian
4. N Whitaker vs L B Zapoleon	1-0	30	1913	American National	C14 French, Classical
5. L B Zapoleon vs Janowski	0-1	38	1913	American National	C48 Four Knights
6. J S Morrison vs L B Zapoleon	1-0	25	1913	American National	D05 Queen's Pawn Game
7. L B Zapoleon vs E Tennenwurzel	0-1	61	1913	American National	C49 Four Knights
8. L B Zapoleon vs Capablanca	0-1	27	1913	American National	A46 Queen's Pawn Game
9. H Kline vs L B Zapoleon	1-0	39	1913	American National	C10 French
10. L B Zapoleon vs R F Lovell	0-1	32	1915	District of Columbia Championship	D02 Queen's Pawn Game

REFINE SEARCH: White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2) | Zapoleon wins | Zapoleon loses

Dec-08-08		Stonehenge: His biggest rival was Zakamura.

Dec-08-08		paavoh: Didn't he lose to Mellington at the famous Materloo tournament? Or was it Zimzovich, I forget...

Dec-08-08		Stonehenge: Heh, always nice, some punfun.

Dec-08-08		Phony Benoni: The New York event seems to be the only touramaent where we find Zapoleon, but he had an interesting result. Besides drawing the second-place finisher in Marshall, he defeated Jaffe (who finished third and beat Capablanca), and also drew with Rubinstein. Unfortunately, those were the only points he scored on the way to a last-place finish with a total of 2/13. (And before the Historical Police get all over me, it was Solomon Rubinstein.)

Dec-08-08		alexmagnus: <Benoni> Are you sure it was Solomon? I just found a crosstable of that event, and there there is a certain J.Rubinstein. CG DB knows oly one J.Rubinstein, and that one has a game much latr, in 1971. Solomon has a game from the same tournament here, but does it surely belong to him? Is my crosstable mistaken? 1 Capablanca * ½ 0 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 11.0 2 Marshall ½ * ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ½ 10.5 3 Jaffe 1 ½ * 1 1 1 1 ½ 1 1 0 ½ 1 0 9.5 4 Janowsky 0 ½ 0 * ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 1 ½ 1 1 9.0 5 Chajes ½ 0 0 ½ * 1 ½ 1 0 1 1 ½ 1 1 8.0 6 Stapfer 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 * ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 1 1 8.0 7 Kupchik 0 0 0 0 ½ ½ * ½ 1 0 1 1 1 1 6.5 8 Tenenwurzel 0 0 ½ 0 0 ½ ½ * 0 ½ 1 1 ½ 1 5.5 9 Whitaker 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 * ½ 0 1 1 1 5.5 10 Kline 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 ½ ½ * 1 ½ 0 1 4.5 11 J.Rubinstein 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 * 1 1 ½ 4.5 12 Morrison 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 * 1 1 4.0 13 Liebenstein 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 1 0 0 * 1 2.5 14 Zapoleon 0 ½ 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 0 * 2.0

Dec-08-08		alexmagnus: To answer my own question, it was indeed Solomon. Here S.Rubinstein is mentioned (hehe, never though one could find NY Times articles from 1913 in the net): http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archiv...

Dec-09-08		Phony Benoni: <alexmagnus> That crosstable matches what I found in Di Felice's <Chess Results 1901-1920>, p. 201, which definitely identifies Solomon Rubinstein. But it never hurts to check up on these old facts. The confusion may have arisen from another New York 1913 tournament a few months later that included a J. Bernstein. Capablanca swept that one 11-0.

Dec-12-08		Phony Benoni: It just hit me. I wonder if his first name was "Led".

Dec-12-08		Calli: "It just hit me." You've been Zapped. I have this guy as Louis B. Zapolean from Wash, DC., but no source noted. Louis is a good French name, so it at least fits.

Dec-14-08		Calli: Found my reference, Soltis in his Marshall book (p.208) says "the obscure last-place finisher Louis B. Zapolean of Dayton, Ohio". Sometime later I must have found that he moved to DC, probably in some write-up to the tournament.

Dec-14-08		I Like Fish: 2 in 1... Zapoleon...

Apr-23-12		Phony Benoni: At least we have some idea what he looked like: http://fultonhistory.com/Newspaper%...

Apr-23-12		HeMateMe: He was a french artillery officer who listened to Led Zeppelin?

May-22-12		technical draw: The last of the Napoleons.

May-22-12		offramp: <Phony Benoni: It just hit me. I wonder if his first name was "Led".> "Oh! The humanity!" Good one, though!

May-22-12		Stonehenge: There's also a Louis Zapoleon, born in 1886, to make things easier. Anyway: <She met her husband, Louis B. Zapoleon, at Brookings Library in Washington. After World War II, they purchased land on Sidling Hill Mountain near Berkeley Springs, WV where they built a cabin and spent weekends there until retiring to Ft. Lauderdale, FL. > http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/20...

Jun-01-13		Tabanus: <Stonehenge: There's also a Louis Zapoleon, born in 1886, to make things easier.> Same guy, I'm pretty sure because it's impossible to make two lives out of it. His family immigrated from Russia ca. 1891. If it's him who married Marguerite Wykoff b. 1907 (which it seems) he had a wife 22 years younger than him.

Jun-02-13		Tabanus: There is only one Louis Zapoleon. Most sources incl. the Social Security Death Index has 21 Dec. 1886. His World War I card has 21 Dec. 1884 but also shows his work place: the US Tariff Commission. The 1900 census has "Sep. 1884" but also shows his entire family (except one sister). So I'm not in doubt. Not found: 1) immigration documents. Only '1891' in the 1900 census. 2) Passenger lists for the trip to Denmark in 1925. Only mentioned in a 1925 newspaper. 3) Safe data for parents' birth year. The censuses agree on ca. 1852. There exists a home-made family tree with the authorative title 'Olea europaea'. Here the birth years are given as 1845 (Samuel) and 1846 (Pauline). In addition their real names is given there as Shmuel Movsha (Samuel M. Zapoleon) Zapolionsky Pese (Pauline) Makower Louis Bernard (Lou) (Leibe) Zapoleon 4) Picture :(

Jul-14-15		wrap99: In 1976 I played for the first time at the Mechanics Institute chess club. There were some people probably in their 70s or older there and it is not impossible that some of them met this person.

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