Samuel ("S. D.") Factor (Faktor) (22 September 1883,
[His birth year is sometimes given as 1892. According to the Szachowa Vistula article about Factor, his obituary in the 1949 New York Times gave his age as 65, which would support the 1883 birth date.] Łódź
Łódź, also rendered in English as Lodz, is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located approximately south-west of Warsaw. The city's coat of arms is an example of canti ...
– 11 January 1949,
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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) was a Polish-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.
Biography
During World War I, Faktor was one of the strongest chess players in Łódź . In 1916, he lost a match to Hirszbajn (+2 –4 =4). In 1917, he took 3rd, behind
Gersz Salwe
Gersz Salwe (12 December 1862, Warsaw – 15 December 1920, Łódź), also written Salve, pl, Henryk Jerzy Salwe, italic=no, was a Polish chess master.
Biography
Salwe was born into a Jewish family in Warsaw (then Russian Empire).
He was Szlama ...
, and
Teodor Regedziński Teodor (Theodor, Theodore) Regedziński (Regedzinski, Reger) (28 April 1894 – 2 August 1954) was a Polish chess master of German origin.
Biography
Born Poland (near Łódź), Regedziński was of German origin as his father, named Reger. He ha ...
. In 1917/18, he took 2nd, behind Regedziński. In 1919, he won the Łódź Chess Club Championship. Then, he emigrated, via Holland, to America.
In the end of 1919, he drew a mini-match with
Richard Réti
Richard Selig Réti (28 May 1889 – 6 June 1929) was an Austro-Hungarian, later Czechoslovakian, chess player, chess author, and composer of endgame studies.
He was one of the principal proponents of hypermodernism in chess. With the exc ...
(+1 –1 =0) in
Rotterdam
Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...
. In March 1920, he tied for 2nd-3rd with
Abraham Speijer
Abraham Speijer (Speyer) (19 November 1873, Amsterdam – 5 September 1956, Amsterdam) was a Dutch chess master.
In smaller tournaments, Speijer had great success, sharing 1st at Munich 1900 (''Quadrangular''), taking 4th at Hilversum 1903 with 9 ...
, behind
Akiba Rubinstein
Akiba Kiwelowicz Rubinstein (1 December 1880 – 14 March 1961) was a Polish chess player. He is considered to have been one of the greatest players never to have become World Chess Champion. Rubinstein was granted the title Grandmaster (chess), ...
, in Rotterdam. In July 1921, Factor tied for 5-7th in
Atlantic City
Atlantic City, often known by its initials A.C., is a coastal resort city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. The city is known for its casinos, Boardwalk (entertainment district), boardwalk, and beaches. In 2020 United States censu ...
(8th
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 ...
). The event was won by
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 ...
. In October 1921, he took 2nd, behind
Edward Lasker
Edward Lasker (born Eduard Lasker) (December 3, 1885 – March 25, 1981) was a German-American chess and Go player. He was awarded the title of International Master of chess by FIDE. Lasker was an engineer by profession, and an author of ...
, in
Cleveland
Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...
, Ohio (22nd WCA). In August/September 1922, he won in
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...
(23rd WCA). In 1922, Factor won the Championship of Chicago.
In 1928, Factor represented USA at third board (+4 –2 =5) in the
2nd Chess Olympiad
The 2nd Chess Olympiad ( nl, De 2e Schaakolympiade), organized by the Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE) and comprising an open and women's tournament, as well as several events designed to promote the game of chess, took place between ...
in
The Hague
The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...
. He won team silver medal.
In August 1932, he tied for 7–10th in
Pasadena, California
Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district.
I ...
(
Alexander Alekhine
Alexander Aleksandrovich Alekhine, ''Aleksándr Aleksándrovich Alékhin''; (March 24, 1946) was a Russian and French chess player and the fourth World Chess Champion, a title he held for two reigns.
By the age of 22, Alekhine was already a ...
won).
According to his obituary in the January 20, 1949 issue of ''
Chess Life
The monthly ''Chess Life'' and bi-monthly ''Chess Life Kids'' (formerly ''School Mates'' and ''Chess Life for Kids'') are the official magazines published by the United States Chess Federation (US Chess). ''Chess Life'' is advertised as the "most ...
'', Factor died after a brief illness. The article highlights that Factor won the
Western Chess Association Championship twice—at Louisville in 1922 and at Chicago in 1930 (tied with
N. T. Whitaker in the later). The obituary further notes:
As an organizer of chess Factor was prominent. He had a hand in the development of the original Western Chess Association; he was one of the organizers of the National Chess Federation, and later of the American Chess Federation; and lived to see these three begin to realize his dreams in the final form of the United States Chess Federation of which he was a most valued Director.
It is difficult to be objective in cataloguing a few of Sam Factor's many contributions to chess, for in many respects his own personality was his greatest contribution. Few master players have won as modestly, lost as graciously, or been as unostentatiously helpful and unselfish with their time and talent.
Factor was survived by his wife Hazel and his children Barbara and Phyllis.
Samuel Factor was a nephew of
Max Factor
Max Factor is a line of cosmetics from Coty, Inc. It was founded in 1909 as Max Factor & Company by Max Factor, Sr., Maksymilian Faktorowicz.
Max Factor specialized in movie make-up. Until its 1973 sale for US$500 million (approximately $ billio ...
in that Samuel Factor's father Daniel was a brother of Max.
Notable chess games
Samuel Faktor vs Richard Réti, Rotterdam 1919, Dutch Defence, A85, 1-0Samuel Factor vs Samuel Reshevsky, Detroit 1924, 25th WCA, Queen’s Gambit Declined, Semi-Slav, D46, 1-0Samuel Factor vs Karl Gilg (CSR), The Hague 1928, 2nd Olympiad, Queen's Gambit Declined, Orthodox Defense, Classical, D68, 1-0Nietsche vs Samuel Factor, Chicago 1942, King's Gambit Accepted, Bishop's Gambit, Lopez Variation, C33, 0-1
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Factor, Samuel
1883 births
1949 deaths
Chess Olympiad competitors
American chess players
Polish chess players
Jewish chess players
American people of Polish-Jewish descent
Sportspeople from Łódź
Polish emigrants to the United States