Articles about Paul Little

Who is Paul Little? (Newspaper clipplings from Box 5, v. 3.)

Reading articles about past tournaments, called: FAMOUS LAST ROUNDS, and about current events, published in CHESS, CHESS REVIEW AND CHESS WORLD magazines, signed by Paul H. Little, made me curious abut him. I never met him, and never met anyone who knew him. Even though he ‘reported’ on the US Opens I played in, I never saw him there. Eventually I decided that there really wasn’t any such person; or that there was someone using ‘Paul H. Little’ as a pseudonym. Then, Mrs. Loranth gave me the address of a man who claimed to be THE Paul H. Little, and I wrote him, and he wrote me, and I learned that CHESS will publish his GREAT book: FAMOUS LAST ROUNDS. Also, Mr. Little sent me the following-

I am the above, and, remembering how a Democratic politician once referred to Herbert Hoover as ‘that voice from the grave in Palo Alto’, deem it advisable to acquaint contemporary chess players with my background and playing ability, so that when they read articles under my name in this admirable Bulletin (and James Schroeder is playing me nothing for the plug), which is a model of what a chess informant should be, they won't dismiss them as the brainwaves of an utter patzer.

True, since 1938 I’ve played in a total of six tournaments, but I have won several CHESS REVIEW postal chess sections (Class A Rating) in the Forties, and have met a few of the world’s best over-the-board at simuls and in friendly games. I’m still proud of my draw a Pawn down in a Rook and Pawn ending with the late Sir George Thomas. I recall a friendly game with the last Emanuel Lasker, about eighteen years before his death, where I held out on the Black side of a Ruy Lopez for about 60 moves, losing by Zugzwang when a Pawn down. Not bad for a duffer. I held my own with Lewis J. Issacs, Elias Gordon, and even Samuel D. Factor (losing, but never miserably), when this trio headed Chicago chess in the Forties.

One of the games that delights me most is the one I played against Reuben Fine on Feb. 24, 1940, in his exhibition at Chicago's Covenant Club. He played 32 games simul [sic] and two blindfolded. I had Black in one of the blindfolded games and accepted the Queen's Gambit but soon found myself two Pawns down without compensation. With youthful bravado (I was then 25) I attacked; Fine transposed moves and I was able to force a draw. He was very nearly of World Title Class in those days, so this draw is something to cherish for my ego's sake. Incidentally, Fine wrote the forward to my book THE JUVENILE DELIQUENT [i.e. DELINQUENT], published in paperback about three years ago by McFadden-Bartell. You may still be able to order it at your bookstore. And here's the game whose moral for all you young players is- l’audace, l’audace, toujours l’audace. In a word, have the guts to take a board against a Master at a simultaneous; ask yourself every time he makes a move why he made it; learn from your own mistakes, but, above all, play without fear and awe. You might just win or draw. Remember how the ‘Immortal Patzer’, Walter Grombacher, beat the mighty A1 Horowitz at the US Open at Milwaukee 1953.

White- Reuben Fine (blindfold) Chicago 1940

Black- Paul H. Little

1 PQ4 PQ4 2 PQB4 PxP 3 QR4+ BQ2 4 QxBP PK3 5 PK4 PQB3?!
6 NQB3 BK2 7 PK5 NQR3 8 NB3 NB2 9 BK2 PQN4 10 QN3 RQN1
11 00 PQR4 12 BQ2 NQ4 13 NK4 BN5 14 BxB PxB 15 NQ6+ KB1
16 PQR3 PR3 17 PxP RR1 18 NQ2 KNK2 19 N/2K4 NB4 20 NxN
PxN 21 NQ6 BK3 22 QB2 NK2 23 QB5 PN3 24 BB3 RxR 25 RxR KN2
26 BxP NxB 27 QxN PB5 28 QK4 QN4 29 PKN3 PxP 30 RPxP QQ7
31 QB4 QxNP 32 RR7 RKB1 (Mr. Little says White can win with 33 QB6+,
but after…KN1, I don’t see it. Actually, I do see it, but I don’t know if Mr.
Little does, and it is very sloppy’anslysis’ to say 33 QB6+ ‘wins’ and then
not offer proof.) 33 RK7 BQ4 34 NK8+ RxN 35 QB6+ KB1 36 RxP+
BxP+ 37 QR8+ KK2 38 QB6+ DRAW by perpetual check- of position) ###

-- -- ---- --- -- I still don't know who Paul Little is. He wrote some very interesting articles: FAMOUS LAST ROUNDS, but he has the same problem many persons have, and he believes the readers are interested in how good he is at chess. His games are, as are the games of most patzers, boring. And no one who is sophisticated about chess would ever refer to his games in simultaneous play as being relevant.

Dec.1974 James Schroeder’s bulletin from Cleveland. [This article does not appear in either Elite Chess Bulletin (James Schroeder was the editor) or in Schroeder's Excerpts from the "Elite" Chess Bulletin ... (Portland, Oregon: Schroeder, 1995)]