Abraham Kupchik (25 March 1892 – 26 November 1970) was an American

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...

master. Abraham Kupchik was born into a

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...

ish family in

Brest Brest may refer to: Places *Brest, Belarus **Brest Region **Brest Airport **Brest Fortress * Brest, Kyustendil Province, Bulgaria * Břest, Czech Republic *Brest, France ** Arrondissement of Brest **Brest Bretagne Airport ** Château de Brest *Br ...

(then

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

, now

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

) to parents Pinchas Kupchik and Bessie Kupchik née Perlmutter. His family immigrated to the US in 1903. He was an accountant by profession. He won the

Manhattan Chess Club The Manhattan Chess Club in Manhattan was the second-oldest chess club in the United States (next to the Mechanics' Institute Chess Club in San Francisco) before it closed. The club was founded in 1877 and started with three dozen men, eventually ...

Championship ten times outright and once shared. In 1915, he tied for third/fourth place with

Oscar Chajes Oscar Chajes (pronounced "HA-yes") (December 14, 1873 – February 28, 1928)* was an American chess player. Biography Chajes was Jewish and was born in Brody, Galicia, Austria-Hungary, in what is now Ukraine. In 1909, he won in the U.S. Open Cham ...

, behind

José Raúl Capablanca José Raúl Capablanca y Graupera (19 November 1888 – 8 March 1942) was a Cuban chess player who was world chess champion from 1921 to 1927. A chess prodigy, he is widely renowned for his exceptional endgame skill and speed of play. Capablanc ...

and

Frank James Marshall Frank James Marshall (August 10, 1877 – November 9, 1944) was the U.S. Chess Champion from 1909 to 1936, and one of the world's strongest chess players in the early part of the 20th century. Chess career Marshall was born in New York Cit ...

in New York. In 1916, he tied for 2nd-4th with

Dawid Janowski Dawid Markelowicz Janowski (25 May 1868 – 15 January 1927; often spelled ''David'') was a Polish-born French chess player. The Janowski variations of the Old Indian Defense and of the Queen's Gambit Declined are named after him. Biography B ...

and

Borislav Kostić Borislav or Boryslav (Cyrillic script: Борислав) is a Slavic male given name. People who have this name include: *Borislav Cvetković, a Croatian-born Serbian football manager and former player *Borislav Ivanov, a Bulgarian chess player ...

, behind Capablanca, in New York. In 1918, he won at Rye Beach, N.Y. After

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, he won at

Troy Troy ( el, Τροία and Latin: Troia, Hittite language, Hittite: 𒋫𒊒𒄿𒊭 ''Truwiša'') or Ilion ( el, Ίλιον and Latin: Ilium, Hittite language, Hittite: 𒃾𒇻𒊭 ''Wiluša'') was an ancient city located at Hisarlik in prese ...

1919 (New York State-ch). He was equal first with Marshall at

Lake Hopatcong Lake Hopatcong is the largest freshwater body in New Jersey, United States, about in area. Located from the Delaware River and from Manhattan, New York City, the lake forms part of the border between Sussex and Morris counties in the state's n ...

1923 (the Ninth

American Chess Congress The American Chess Congress was a series of chess tournaments held in the United States, a predecessor to the current U.S. Chess Championship. It had nine editions, the first played in October 1857 and the last in August 1923. First American Che ...

). In 1924, he lost a match to

Efim Bogoljubow Efim Bogoljubow ( or ), also known as Ewfim Dimitrijewitsch Bogoljubow, ( (); also Romanized ''Bogoljubov'', ''Bogolyubov''; uk, Юхим Дмитрович Боголюбов, Yukhym Dmytrovych Boholiubov; April 14, 1889 – June 18, 1952) ...

(+1 −3 =2) in New York. In 1925 he drew a match with

Carlos Torre Repetto Carlos Jesús Torre Repetto (29 November 1904Carlos Torre's birth certificate ...

(+1 −1 =4) in New York. In 1926, he finished 2nd, behind Capablanca, in Lake Hopatcong. Kupchik played for the US team in the 6th Chess Olympiad at

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

1935. He scored (+6 -0 =8) on third board, and won the individual bronze medal and team gold medal. He played on Board 9 in the 1945 USSR-USA radio match, losing ½-1½ to

Vladimir Makogonov Vladimir Andreevich Makogonov ( rus, Влади́мир Андре́евич Макого́нов, August 27, 1904 – January 2, 1993) was a chess player from Azerbaijan SSR. He was born in Nakhchivan but lived in Baku for most of his life. He ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kupchik, Abraham 1892 births 1970 deaths Jews from the Russian Empire Belarusian Jews American people of Belarusian-Jewish descent Jewish chess players American chess players Chess Olympiad competitors 20th-century chess players Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States

See also

References

External links