The Transcontinental Railroad was completed at Promontory, Utah and the Cincinnati Red Stockings opened the baseball season as the first professional team. On December 7th outlaw Jesse James committed his first confirmed bank robbery in Gallatin, Missouri.
In world news in 1869, Scotland's oldest professional football (aka soccer) team, Kilmarnock F.C., was founded and in France Hippolyte Mege-Mouries filed a patent for margarine. In Egypt, the Suez Canal was opened. Leo Tolstoy's novel War and Peace was published Russia.
In US chess not much was happening. Down in New Orleans Paul Morphy mauled Charles Maurian 7-2 in match play. Major Otho E. Michaelis of the United States Army Ordnance Corps won the Michigan State Chess Association title in Detroit. Michaelis had once won a Rook odds game against Paul Morphy.
In December the Brooklyn Chess CLub Championship concluded and was won by the virtually unknown Francis Eugene Brenzinger. He was followed by Eugene Delmar. There were 13 players and Brenzinger's score was an impressive +27 -5 =0. If you are interested in more information on Brenzinger, and I know you are, check out Batgirl's great article on him HERE.
Over in Germany in August the 8th West German Chess Congress was held in Barmen. It was a 6-player, single-round event with draws not counting and they had to be replayed.
The Anderssen-Zukertort game in the last post was played in this tournament, but since it was played back in the days of Romantic chess a lot of interesting games were played such as this one beween Schallop and Von Minckwitz.
Emil Schallopp (August 1, 1843 - April 9, 1919) was both a player and author. Professionally he became head of the shorthand department of the Reichstag. He wrote many books, including one on the Steinitz–Zukertort 1886 World Championship match. He is best known today as an author, particularly of the seventh edition (1891) of the Handbuch des Schachspiels.
Schallopp played in many international tournaments, especially in the 1880s, although he never won an important event. He placed fourth at Wiesbaden 1880, after J.H. Blackburne, Berthold Englisch, and Adolf Schwarz, and ahead of James Mason, Simon Winawer, Louis Paulsen, and nine others. He placed second at Nottingham 1886 behind Amos Burn, and received the best game prize for his win over Zukertort.
Johannes Minckwitz (April 11, 1843 - May 20, 1901) was also a layer and author. His father was a German classical scholar and author.
His best achievement was 2nd place, behind Adolf Anderssen, at Barmen 1869. From 1865–1876 and again from 1879–1886, he was an editor of the Deutsche Schachzeitung and author of three chess books: ABC's of Chess, Humor in Chess Games and The Small Chess King.
Emil Schallopp - Johannes Von Minckwitz
Result: 1-0
Site: ?
Date: 1869
Dutch Defense: Staunton Gambit
[...] 1.d4 f5 With the Dutch black hopes to obtain a K-side attack, but the move also weakens his own Ks position. It has never been a main line against 1.d4 and is rarely seen today. Its most notable advocate was Botvinnik. 2.e4 In the Staunton Gambit white sacrifices a P for quick development and hopes to launch an attack against black's King. It was once a feared weapon, but today about 25 percent of the games are drawn and the rest are evenly split between white and black. 2...fxe4 Best. 2...d6 transposes into the Balogh Defense. 3.♘c3 ♘f6 4.♗g5 Even today this move first played by Howard Staunton against Bernhard Horwitz in London, 1846 remains the main line.
22.♗g6 It was perhaps a bit premature, but black resigned.
4.f3 In the style of the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit this move gives white good compensation after 4...exf3 so black usually plays 4...d5 5.fxe4 dxe4 and here white usually plays 6.Bg5, but 6.Bc4 yields better results.
4.g4 Not for the faint of heart, the Bayonet Attack fails to provide white with enough compensation. 4...h6 5.f3 d5 and black stands better.
4...c6
4...♘c6 is the main line. 5.d5 ♘e5 6.♕d4 ♘f7 7.♗xf6 exf6 8.♘xe4 Black's position may look disgusting, but...surprise...statistically he wins about half of the games.
5.♗xf6 exf6 6.♘xe4 d5 7.♘g3 ♗d6 8.♗d3 O-O 9.♘1e2
9.♕h5 doesn't lead to much after 9...♕e8 10.♕xe8 ♖xe8 11.♘1e2 g6 12.h4 Ghonimy,S (2254)-Afifi,A (2321)/Cairo 2000 and black was slightly better.
9...f5 Best.
9...♕b6 10.♕c1 ♘a6 11.c3 ♗g4 12.♕c2 h6 13.f3 ♗d7 14.O-O-O and white is better. Terzic,I (2213)-Kozarcanin,S (2081)/ Sarajevo 2013.
10.f4 ♗e6 11.c3 ♕h4 This Q maneuver is often seen in the Dutch, but Baird's 11...Nd7 is also good.
11...♘d7 12.♕c2 g6 13.O-O ♘f6 14.c4 ♘g4 as in Pillsbury-Baird,J/New York 1893
12.O-O Black is slightly better here because white's hopes for a K-side attack are non-existent. 12...♘d7 13.♕c2 g6 14.♖f3 ♘f6 A natural move planning to put the N on e4. Who could guess that it's a tactical error? Black keeps a slight advantage after 14... Rae8. 15.♘xf5 ♗xf5 16.♗xf5 ♕h6 (16...gxf5 is met by 17.♖h3 winning the Q.) 17.♖h3 In spite of his slip at move 14 the consequences are only that white is now back on an equal footing. 17...♕g7 And now all white has to do is retreat his B to d3 and he has fully equalized. Instead, he over plays his hand. 18.♗e6 This looks inviting, but now black will end up better. 18...♔h8 19.f5 I like the way Fritz' auto-annotation described black's next move, "Simply marching past the door to victory." 19...gxf5 simply marches past the door to victory
19...♘e4 was correct. 20.♖f1 (20.fxg6 ♕xg6 21.♗d7 ♖ad8 and the B is lost.) 20...♘g5 21.♖e3 ♕h6 22.h3 ♖f6 23.♕d3 ♖af8 and black has a very strong attack.
20.♗xf5 ♖f7 21.♘g3 There is nothing wrong with this, but 21.Rf1 was even better. 21...♖e8 A losing blunder.
21...♕g5 was the only defense. 22.♖f1
22.♗g6 This is not so good now. 22...♕e3 23.♔h1 ♘g4 24.♗xf7 ♘f2 25.♕xf2 ♕xf2 26.♖f1 is unclear.
22...♖af8 23.♕c1 and white is slightly better. 22.♗g6 ♘e4 23.♗xf7
23.♘xe4 Not this! 23...♕xg6 24.♘xd6 ♕xc2 25.♘xf7 ♔g7 with equal chances.
23...♕xf7 24.♖f1 ♕g6 25.♘xe4 dxe4 26.♕f2 and white has a winning ending. Powered by Aquarium
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