Talk:Herbert Seidman

disputed fact

"One year, Seidman won the most games of any player in the U.S. Championship, but he also lost the most games and, as a result, finished last."

This is incorrect. There was no such tournament. —Preceding unsigned comment added by BurkeDevlin (talk • contribs) 15:28, 20 April 2009 (UTC)

I've added a fact tag to it. If no one provides a reference it can be removed. Bubba73 (talk), 15:43, 20 April 2009 (UTC)

All right, I've just looked it up. The only two years Seidman finished in last place in a US Championship were in 1960, when he lost 6 and drew 5, without winning a game, and 1968 when he scored 1 win, 9 losses, and 1 draw. Other than those two bad years, he did well, with a lifetime score of 35 wins, 46 losses and 31 draws.

The closest thing I can find to this incident is 1961. Seidman did not finish last in this tournament (he was in a 4-way tie for 3rd), and he did not have the most number of losses. However he did win more games than anyone else, despite not winning the tournament. He had 5 wins, 3 losses and 3 draws, while nobody else had more than 4 wins (the tournament winner, Evans, had 4 wins, 0 losses and 7 draws). —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.113.74.39 (talk • contribs)

OK, that last one sounds like it was transformed into what the article says. Someone probably misinterpreted "he won the most games but did not win the tournament" into "placed last". Or maybe it was vandalism. I will change it. Thanks for looking it up. Where did you find the information? Bubba73 (talk), 12:07, 21 April 2009 (UTC)

I compiled the lifetime stats myself. I used to have the crosstables on my own site, but that's down now and looking for a new host. The best place to confirm it now would be the Chess Life & Review, 1933-1975 set of .pdf files on DVD, available from tobychess.com.

When my own site is back up, I'll post a link to that crosstable. —Preceding unsigned comment added by BurkeDevlin (talk • contribs) 14:02, 21 April 2009 (UTC)

Radio match

Was the radio match a round-robin tournament or the more likely Scheveningen system? Bubba73 (talk), 12:13, 21 April 2009 (UTC)

Scheveningen system. Bubba73 (talk), 12:18, 21 April 2009 (UTC)

No, neither - two games head to head. Bubba73 (talk), 12:20, 21 April 2009 (UTC)

Yes, 10 top Americans went one-on-one in two-game mini-matches against 10 Top Soviets. America had been near the top of the heap in the 30's, so the Soviets scoring better than 75% was a big surprise. —Preceding unsigned comment added by BurkeDevlin (talk • contribs) 14:04, 21 April 2009 (UTC)

Yes, I was thinking about that earlier today. In many places you read about Soviet domination of chess starting in 1948 when Botvinnik became world champion, but it probably really started with that 1945 radio match. Bubba73 (talk), 15:32, 21 April 2009 (UTC)