Fred Reinfeld was born in New York City on January 27, 1910.
Reinfeld wrote over 100 chess books in his lifetime, and perhaps over 260 books total. He also wrote about geology, history, numismatics, checkers, and astronomy. He was said to have a photographic memory and could remember nearly every game he played through.
Reinfeld also used the pen names Robert V. Masters and Edward Young.
Reinfeld learned how to play chess in 1922 at the age of 12. He joined the Marshall Chess Club in New York at the age of 14.
Reinfeld won the U.S. Intercollegiate Chess Championship as a teenager.
In 1959 his book, The Great Dissenters, won the Thomas Alva Edison Foundation Award.
Reinfeld started his own publishing house called the Black Knight Press. In his tiny apartment in New York, he produced and printed his own material and he started correspondence courses for people who wanted to learn the game.
He won the New York State Championship twice (1931 and 1933). In 1931 Reinfeld took 1st place and Reuben Fine took 2nd place. Reinfeld and Fine were best of friends.
In 1941 he won the Marshall Chess Club championship (ahead of Marshall, who took 2nd)and in 1942 he won the Manhattan Chess Club championships.
He was the Executive Editor of Chess Review.
He taught chess classes at Columbia University and New York University.
In 1950, the first USCF rating list appeared. Reinfeld was the 6th highest rated player in the United States, with a USCF rating of 2593. The top players were Fine (2817), Reshevsky (2770), Kevitz (2610), Dake (2598), and Simonson (2596).
In 1951, the second USCF rating list appeared. Reinfeld was no longer on the rating list due to inactivity in chess tournaments.
He died at the age of 54 on May 29, 1964 in East Meadow, New York.
Reinfeld's chess victories include wins against Reshevsky, Denker, Fine, Horowitz, Edward Lasker, Marshall, Pinkus, Santasiere, and Simonson. He also drew against Alekhine.
In 1965 Fred Reinfeld's library was given to New York University by his widow, Mrs. Beatrice Reinfeld (1912-1979).
Fred Reinfeld was inducted into the United States Chess Hall of Fame in 1996.
Reinfeld has been quoted as saying, "The pin is mightier than the sword" and "Short of actual blunders, the lack of faith in one's position is the chief cause of defeat."
Chess Books by Fred Reinfeld: 101 Chess Problems for Beginners (Wilshire, Hollywood, 1960)(ISBN 0879800178) 1001 Brillian Chess Sacrifices and Combinations (Sterling, NY, 1955) 1001 Brilliant Ways to Checkmate (Wilshire Books, Hollywood, 1955)(ISBN 0879801107) 1001 Chess Sacrifices and Combinations (Barnes & Noble, NY, 1959) (ISBN 0879801115) 1001 Ways to Checkmate (Sterling, NY, 1955) A Chess Primer (Dolphin Books, Garden City, 1962) A New Approach to Chess Mastery (Hanover House, Garden City, 1959) A Treasury of British Chess Masterpieces (Chatto & Windus, London, 1950) A. Alekhine vs. E.D. Bogoljubow : World's Chess Championship 1934 (McKay, Philadelphia, 1934) An Expert's Guide to Chess Strategy (Hollywood, 1976) Art of Chess (edited by Reinfeld; written by Mason) (1958) (ISBN 0486204634) Art of Sacrifice in Chess (ISBN 0486284492) Attack and Counterattack In Chess (Barnes & Noble, NY, 1958) Beginner's Guide to Winning Chess (ISBN: 0879802154) Book of the 1935 Margate Tournament Book of the 1935 Warsaw International Chess Team Tournament Book of the 1936-37 Hastings Tournament Botvinnik the Invincible Botvinnik's Best Games, 1927-1934 British Chess Masters: Past and Present Challenge to Chessplayers (McKay, Philadelphia, 1947) Chess At-A-Glance by Edward Young (Ottenheimer, Baltimore, 1955) Chess By Yourself (McKay, Philadelphia, 1946) Chess Combinations and Traps Chess for Amateurs: How To Improve Your Game (McKay, Philadelphia, 1942) Chess for Children, with Moves and Positions Pictured in Photo and Diagram (ISBN 0806949058) Chess for Young People Chess In A Nutshell (Permabooks, NY, 1958) (ISBN 0671643916) Chess is an Easy Game Chess Mastery by Question and Answer (McKay, Philadelphia, 1939) Chess Quiz (McKay, Philadelphia, 1945) Chess Secrets Revealed (Wilshire, Hollywood, 1959) Chess Strategy and Tactics: Fifty Master Games (Black Knight, NY, 1933) Chess Strategy for Offense and Defense (Barnes & Noble, NY, 1955) Chess Tactics for Beginners (ISBN 0879800194) Chess Traps, Pitfalls, and Swindles (ISBN 0671210416) Chess Victory Move By Move Chess: Attack and Counterattack (Sterling, NY, 1955) Chess: Win in 20 Moves or Less (Crowell, NY, 1962) Complete Chess Course (ISBN 0385004648) Complete Chess Player (ISBN 0671768956) Colle's Chess Masterpieces (Black Knight Press, NY, 1936) Complete Book of Chess Openings (Sterling, NY, 1957) Complete Book of Chess Stratagems (Sterling, NY, 1958) Creative Chess (Sterling, NY, 1959) Development of a Chess Genius, 100 Instructive Games of Alekhine (Dover) Dr. Lasker's Chess Career, Part I, 1889-1914 (Printingcraft, London, 1935) E. S. Lowe's Chess In 30 Minutes (E.S. Lowe Co, NY, 1955) Eighth Book of Chess: How to Play the Queen Pawn Openings and Other Close Games (Sterling, NY, 1957) Epic Battles of the Chessboard (ISBN 0486293556) Fifth Book of Chess: How to Win When You're Ahead (Sterling, NY, 1955) Fifty-one Brilliant Chess Masterpieces (Capitol Pub, NY, 1950) First Book of Chess (with Horowitz) (Harper & Row, NY 1952) Fourth Book of Chess: How to Play the Black Pieces (Sterling, NY, 1955) Games of the 1938 Washington State Chess Association Championship (1938) Great Brilliancy Prize Games of the Chess Masters (Collier, NY, 1961)(ISBN 0486286142) Great Chess Upsets (written by Reshevsky; annotated by Reinfeld) Great Games By Chess Prodigies (Macmillan, NY, 1967) Great Moments In Chess (Doubleday, NY, 1963) Great Short Games of the Chess Masters (Collier, NY, 1961)(ISBN 0486292665) How Do You Play Chess? How Not to Play Chess (Edited by Reinfeld; authored by Znosko-Borovsky) (ISBN 0486209202) How To Be A Winner at Chess (Hanover, Garden City, 1954)(ISBN 044991206X) How To Beat Your Opponent Quickly (Sterling, NY, 1956) How To Force Checkmate (Dover, NY, 1958) (ISBN 0486204391) How To Get More Out of Chess (Hanover, Garden City, 1957) How To Improve Your Chess (with Horowitz) (Collier, NY, 1952) How To Play Better Chess (Pitman, NY, 1948) How To Play Chess Like A Champion (Fawcett, Greenwich, 1956) How To Play Winning Chess (Bantam Books, NY, 1962) How to Think Ahead in Chess (with Horowitz) How To Win Chess Games Quickly (Barnes & Noble, NY, 1957) Hypermodern Chess: As Developed in the Games of its Greatest ExponentAron Nimzovich (Dover, NY, 1948)(ISBN 0486204480) Immortal Games of Capablanca (ISBN 0486263339) Improving Your Chess (Barnes & Noble, NY, 1955) Improving Your Chess (Faber, London, 1954) Instructive and Practical Endings From Master Chess Kemeri Tournament, 1937 Keres' Best Games of Chess (1941) Keres' Best Games of Chess, 1931-1948 (Printed Arts Co., 1949) Lasker's Greatest Chess Games, 1889-1914 (Dover, NY, 1963) Learn Chess Fast! (with Reshevsky) (McKay, Philadelphia, 1947) Learn Chess From the Masters (Dover, NY, 1946) Modern Fundamentals of Chess Morphy Chess Masterpieces (with Soltis) (Macmillan, NY, 1974) Morphy's Games of Chess (by Sergeant; edited by Reinfeld) (ISBN 0486203867) My System: A Treatise on Chess (by Nimzovich; edited by Reinfeld) (McKay, Philadelphia, 1947) Nimzovich: The Hypermodern (McKay, Philadelphia, 1948) Practical End-game Play (Pitman, London, 1940) Reinfeld Explains Chess (Sterling, NY, 1957) Reinfeld On The End-Game in Chess (Dover, NY, 1957) Relax With Chess and Win In 20 Moves (Pitman, NY, 1948) Second Book of Chess: The Nine Bad Moves, and How to Avoid Them (Sterling, NY, 1953) Semmering-Baden Tournament of 1937 Seventh Book of Chess: How to Play the King Pawn Openings (Sterling, NY, 1956) Sixth Book of Chess: How to Fight Back (Sterling, NY, 1955) Strategy in the Chess Endgame Tarrasch's Best Games of Chess (Chatto & Windus, London 1947) The Book of the Cambridge Springs International Tournament 1904 (Black Knight Press, 1935) The Chess Masters On Winning Chess The Complete Book of Chess Tactics (Doubleday, Garden City, 1961) The Complete Chess Course (Doubleday, Garden City, 1959) The Complete Chessplayer (Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1953) The Complete Chessplayer by Edward Young (New English Library, London, 1960) The Great Chess Masters and Their Games (Hanover, Garden City, 1960) The Easiest Way To Learn Chess (Simon & Schuaster, NY, 1960) The Elements of Combination Play In Chess (Black Knight, NY, 1935) The Fireside Book of Chess (with Chernev) (Simon & Schuster, NY, 1949) The Games of the 1933 Match Between S. Flohr and M. Botvinnik The Human Side of Chess (Pellegrini & Cudahy, NY 1952) The Immortal Games of Capablanca The Joys of Chess (Hanover, Garden City, 1961) The Macmillan Handbook of Chess The Secret of Tactical Chess (Crowell, NY, 1958) The Treasury of Chess Lore (McKay, NY, 1951) The Unknown Alekhine 1905-1914 The USCF 7th Biennial US Championship of 1948 The Way To Better Chess (Macmillan, NY, 1959) Third Book of Chess: How to Play the White Pieces (Sterling, NY, 1954) Thirty Five Nimzowitsch Games, 1904-1927 Two Weeks To Winning Chess Ventnor City Tournament, 1939 (New York, 1939) Why You Lose At Chess (Simon & Schustor, NY, 1956) Win at Chess (Dover, NY, 1958)(ISBN 0486418782) Winning Chess: How to Perfect your Attacking Play Winning Chess for Beginners (Grosset, NY, 1959) Winning Chess Openings (Hanover, Garden City, 1961) Other Books by Fred Reinfeld (aka Robert Masters): A Catalogue of the World's Most Popular Coins, (Sterling, NY, 1956) A Catalogue of European Coins (Oak Tree Press, London, 1961) A Simplified Guide to Collecting American Paper Money, (Hanover House, NY, 1960) A Treasury of American Coins (Garden City, NY, 1961) Blazer the Bear (Sterling, New York, 1953) Cash for Your Coins (Sterling, NY, 1957) Coin Collecting (Bonanza, NY, 1958) Coin Collecting for Beginners (with Burton Hobson) (ISBN 0879800224) Coin Collector's Handbook (Sterling, New York, 1954) Coin Dictionary and Guide (with C.C. Chamberlain) (Bonanza, NY, 1960) Coinometry (with David Boehm) (Sterling, New York, 1952) Commemorative Stamps of the U.S.A. (Bramhall House, New York, 1956) First Book of Famous Battles (Garden City, NY, 1961) Fun with Stamp Collecting (Garden City, NT, 1957) How to Be a Winner at Checkers (Hanover House, NY, 1960) How to Build a Coin Collection (Sterling, NY, 1958) How to Play Checkers (Barnes & Noble, NY, 1957) How to Play Top-Notch Checkers (Sterling, NY, 1957) How to Win at Checkers (ISBN 0879800682) (Wilshire, Hollywood, 1957) Manual of Coin Collectors and Investors (Sterling, NY, 1963 Miracle Drugs and the New Age of Medicine (Sterling, NY, 1957) Oliver Twist (Pocket Books, New York, 1948) Picture Book of Ancient Coins (Sterling, NY, 1963) Picture Book of Atomic Science (Sterling, NY, 1963) Pictorial Guide to Coin Conditions (with Burton Hobson) (Garden City, NY, 1962) Pony Express (Collier, NY, 1966) (ISBN 0803257864) Rays Visible and Invisible (Sterling, NY, 1958) Stamp Collectors' Handbook Stamp Collector's Price Guide (wiht Obojski) (Sterling, NY, 1986) The Biggest Job in the World: The American Presidency (Crowell, NY, 1964) The Great Dissenters, Guardians of their Country's Laws and Liberties (Crowell, NY, 1959) The Real Book About Famous Battles (Doubleday, NY, 1961) The Real Book About Whales and Whaling (Garden City, NY, 1960) The Story of Paper Money, Including Catalogue of Values (Sterling, NT, 1957) They Almost Made It (Thomas Crowell Co., NY, 1956) Trappers of the West (Crowell, NY, 1957) Treasures of the Earh (Sterling, New York, 1954) Treasury of the World's Coins (Sterling, New York, 1953) Uranium and other Miracle Metals (Sterling, New York, 1955) US Commemorative Coins and Stamps (Sterling, NY, 1964) What's New in Science (Sterling, NY, 1960) Young Charles Darwin (Sterling, New York, 1956)