kashdan never defeated alekhine or capablanca. he was 1.5 points behind capablanca in new york 1931. he was 4th= behind Alekhine, Bogoljubow, Nimzowitch in Bled 1931. He finished behind Flohr in Hastings 1931. He finished behind Alekhine and Flohr in London 1932. And by the 40s Kotov beat him pretty good in the Russia-USA Radio Match. i'd say he was an also ran.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Capablanca and Fine drew every game they played, except for Fine's win in a simul.

Reuben Fine beat Isaac Kashdan 6 to 0, with 3 draws

As he told it to me Capa added: “I had promised you to be again the best chessplayer in the world. So I have done it for you.”’

Stalin was involved in mass collectivization, which resulted in millions of russians dying by starvation, particulary, I think, in Ukraine, where the fertile grain lands were seized. He sent several hundred thousand to the prison gulags for little or no reason. Such a man does not take time out to debate chess protocol, it would be as though Jack the Ripper were a voracious reader of Keats and Shelby.

Stalin was actually well known to turn his charming side to visiting foreign dignitaries -- on a rather frequent basis. And here we are talking about a complaint of an ex-world champion playing in a tournament organized by Stalin's minister of justice. We are also talking about the time when Stalin's own cult of personality first reached previously unknown hights. He probably did not care intrinsically about chess too much, but he was vain to no end and he certainly yearned to be known as a great political and military thinker and strategist. In Russia, that was frequently shown by being also a strong chess-player. Stalin certainly could not stand to be upstaged in this department by Lenin or, more-so, by Trocky! Stalin finessed his power from under Lenin shadow when Lenin fell ill. But Stalin's prime rival, and Lenin's original heir apparent, was Leon Trocky. And, without a question, both Lenin and Trocky were expert chess-players. Thus Stalin had to also become widely known as a brilliant, even though a somewhat reluctant, chess-player. There actually is a 'proof' of his playing strength embodied in the (likely only attributed) game Stalin-Yezhov.

Where else are you going to get millions of people to die cutting trees in Kamchatka? Arrest them!

< MaxxLange > If it was millions, then it was millions. Joe just seemed to have more 'bad days' than the rest of us. One of the most brutal projects was a proposed railway across the polar circle, to shorten the rail distance for materials shipped from Siberia. The workers sent there had a very short life expectancy working inside the arctic circle. The day Stalin died, the project was cancelled. If it was any consolation to the above workers, Beria, the NKVD head under Stalin, was executed by Khruschev.

Fine won all 4 games. Most future GMs are very strong players at age 17, Fine had to be pretty good to beat Byrne in this format.

That's because when he had a year to study the equal, he always turned it into a plus in his favor.

Nimzowitsch certainly ought to have gotten a title shot, but I'm hesitant to include him on the list, because it seems unlikely that he would have beaten Capablanca or Alekhine.

See something that violates our rules? Blow the whistle and inform a moderator.