Isaac Kashdan

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Isaac Kashdan (born 19 November 1905, New York – died 20 February 1985) was an American chess grandmaster.

He was considered one of the best chess players in the world around 1930s and 1940s. He was called "The little Capablanca" because of his unique ability to extract victories from seemingly even positions. Alekhine named him as one of the most likely players to succeed him as World Champion. Unfortunately Kashdan could not engage seriously into a chess career. He resorted to earning a living as an insurance agent and administrator in order to support his family.

He played five times for U.S. team in the Chess Olympiads.

In 1928, he played at first board in 2nd Olympiad in The Hague (+12 –1 =2).
In 1930, he played at first board in 3rd Olympiad in Hamburg (+12 –1 =4).
In 1931, he played at first board in 4th Olympiad in Prague (+8 –1 =8).
In 1933, he played at first board in 5th Olympiad in Folkestone (+7 –1 =6).
In 1937, he played at third board in 7th Olympiad in Stockholm (+13 –1 =2).

In Stockholm, 1937, he scored 14/16, the best individual record of all the players. His all-time Olympic record of 79.7%. Kashdan won four team medals: three gold (1931, 1933, 1937), one silver (1928), and five individual medals: two gold (1928, 1937), one silver (1933), two bronze (1930, 1931).

In 1930, he took 2nd, behind Aron Nimzowitsch, in Frankfurt. In 1930, he won in Stockholm. In 1930, he defeated Lajos Steiner (+5 -3 =2) in Györ, and lost a match against Gösta Stoltz (+2 -3 =1) in Stockholm. In 1931, he took 2nd, after José Raúl Capablanca, in New York. In 19312/32, he took 2nd, behind Salo Flohr, in Hastings. In 1932, he tied for 1st with Alexander Alekhine in Mexico City, and took 2nd, after Alekhine, in Pasadena. He was US Open Champion in 1938 (jointly with Israel Horowitz) and 1947 but never won the Closed Championship. He tied with Samuel Reshevsky at New York 1942 but lost the subsequent play-off match (+2 -6 =3).

In his role as an arbiter he directed many chess tournaments, such as the two Piatigorsky Cup tournaments of 1963 and 1966. He was later involved in administration in the US Chess Federation.

Awarded the GM title in 1954, and the IA title in 1960.

In 1933 Kashdan in a partnership with Al Horowitz founded Chess Review, a magazine that was later purchased by the United States Chess Federation in 1969.

Isaac Kashdan was the longtime editor of the LA Times Chess column, from 1955 until 1982. His only surviving son, Richard Kashdan, is an attorney currently living in San Francisco (as of 2006). Richard keeps up with chess news, and is interested in the game, although does not play competitively.