They played a different game in those days, not the smooth, technically correct stuff they play today. In fact, there weren't even a lot of international tournaments when he started out, but at least hings had advanced from the knockout events to round robins.
Thomas Bright Wilson of the Manchester Chess Club had invented the chess clock which was first used in the London 1883 tournament, but they moved at a snails pace of 15 moves per hour, not the speed stuff we see today.
There wasn't much in the way of chess literature either. A few books on openings, the one's you almost never see today, Staunton's Handbook and Tarrasch's books.
Games were recorded using Kt for Knight and instead of O-O they actually wrote "Castles." In fact, when I learned the game that was still the way we recorded our moves. When reading some letters to the editor in old magazines out of the 50s the mere mention of using N for Knight created a flurry of letters with many readers passionately defending using Kt.
And, don't ask about the idea of using algebraic notation because it would create a real brouhaha! It was the standard in English, Spanish and French literature until about 1980 and FIDE stopped recognizing descriptive notation in 1981. They used to say that when players used descriptive notation there was no such thing as a perfect scoresheet...players always made at least one mistake when writing down a move. I seem to remember reading that of the GMs, Larry Evans always turned in near perfect scoresheets.
The old guys actually announced mate and analyzing adjourned games was unsportsmanlike. The idea of having seconds, or like the Russians did, having a whole cortege of analyst, doctors, nutritionist, etc. was decades into the future. Draws sometimes had to be replayed and only in the event of a second draw did the players split the point.
Frank Marshal actually toted a revolver. According to Andrew Soltis, in unpublished notes Marshall wrote that he had a permit and always carried a gun when he traveled to Europe. He claimed to have actually drawn it twice, but never fired it. He said the third time he drew it was to throw it away.
One assumes he was so armed when the Manhattan and Brooklyn chess clubs sent him to the London tournament of 1899. Travel was rough in those days. According to the 1973 edition of Ocean Passages for the World published by Great Britain's Hydrographic Department the typical passage times from New York to the English Channel for a good sailing vessel of about 2000 tons was around 25 to 30 days, with ships averaging 100-150 miles per day. A round trip ticket could set you back $200 in 1899 and that's almost $6,600 these days.
Marshall had applied for entry into the major tournament, but the tournament committee decided that his reputation wasn't sufficiently well established to get him into the major event, a 15-player double-round tournament with most of the leading players of the day. The double round main section was won by Lasker ahead of Maroczy, Pillsbury and Janowski who tied for second place.
In the single round minor tournament Marshall managed to capture first place even after he lost to the dangerous London player Thomas Physick (1852-1904).
In 1892, the virtually unknown Physick joined the City of London club and won the club championship the following year with a score of 10-1. He passed away in London after having been in failing health for some time.
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| Physick |
The minor tournament finished early in June and upon his return home on July 5,1899, Marshall, though he held his own, stated that he found the competitors in the tournament tougher than he expected.
I wanted to present the game Marshall lost to Physick, but it appears that most of the games from the minor tournament have been lost to history. I was hoping that the game could be found in the tournament book, but it contains only 16 games from the minor event and not the Physick-Marshall game. You can view the tournament book that was published in 1900 from the HathiTrust library HERE. HathiTrust is an academic and research library preserving 17+ million digitized items. A search for "chess" turns up 471,692 full-text results.
Frank Marshall - Johannes Esser
Result: 1-0
Site: London B
Date: 1899
Two Knights Defense
[...] 1.e4 e5 2.♘f3 ♘c6 3.♗c4 ♘f6 4.d4
4.♘g5 At the time this was, according to Tarrasch, a duffer's move and today everybody knows the famous game Yakov Estrin-Hans Berliner/ICCF 1965 which was won by Berliner. 4...d5 5.exd5 b5 6.♗f1 ♘d4 7.c3 ♘xd5 8.♘e4 ♕h4 9.♘g3 ♗g4 10.f3 e4 11.cxd4 ♗d6 12.♗xb5+ ♔d8 13.O-O White is better according to Stockfish and Komodo, but Berliner went on to win.
4...exd4 5.O-O ♘xe4
5...♗c5 is played sometimes, but it, too, leads to complicated play where black must watch his step. 6.e5 d5 7.exf6 dxc4 8.♖e1+ ♗e6 White can now try either 9. Ng5 or 9.fxg7. In either case the chances are about equal.
6.♖e1 d5 7.♗xd5 ♕xd5 8.♘c3 ♕d8 Theory of the day recommended either this or 8. ..Qh5, but not today's much better 8...Qa5.
8...♕h5 is intriguing! 9.♘xe4 ♗e7 10.♗g5 ♗e6 11.♗xe7 ♘xe7 12.♘xd4 ♗g4 13.f3 ♗d7 White stands slightly better. Chigorin, M-Janowski,D/Paris 1900
8...♕h5 9.♘xe4 ♗e6 10.♗g5 ♗d6 11.♘xd6+ cxd6 12.♗f4 ♕d5 13.c3 ♖c8 14.b3 O-O 15.♘xd4 ♘xd4 16.♕xd4 ♕xd4 1/2-1/2 Christiansen,J (2548)-Hammer,J (2637)/Helsingor DEN 2019 is a modern example.
9.♖xe4+ ♗e7 10.♘xd4 ♘xd4 After this Marshall gets a strong attack.
10...f5 leading to an equal ending was known to be the best move even when this game was played. 11.♗h6 fxe4 12.♗xg7 ♔f7 13.♗xh8 ♕xh8 Believe it or not, this position is equal! 14.♕h5+ ♔f8 15.♘xc6 bxc6 16.♕h6+ ♔f7 17.♕xc6 ♖b8 18.♕xe4 ♖xb2 The chances are equal, but in Reich,T (2378)-Herbrechtsmeier,C (2336)/ Germany 2001, black managed to win.
10...O-O 11.♘xc6 bxc6 12.♕xd8 ♗xd8 13.♗f4 ♖b8 14.♘a4 ♗f5 White is better, but black managed to draw in Meissner,F (2125)-Meier,T (1919)/Leutersdorf 2009 (15) White should now play 15.Rr5 with equal chances. He played the inferior 15...Rc4
11.♖xd4 ♗d7 12.♗f4 ♕c8
12...♗f6 This is only a smidgen better that Esser's move. 13.♖d3 ♗xc3 14.bxc3 ♕e7 15.♗xc7 ♗e6 16.♗d6 and white won. Orujov,S (1801) -Palimeris,D (1836)/Kallithea 2008
12...♗f6 can also be met by the equally good 13.♘b5 ♗xd4 14.♘xc7+ ♔f8 15.♕xd4 and white is winning. (15.♘xa8 ♗c6)
13.♘d5 ♗d8 14.♕h5 Surprise! Marshall missed the most forceful continuation.
14.♗xc7 ♗e6 (14...O-O 15.♗xd8 ♕xd8 16.♘e3 and black can resign.) 15.♗d6 White is winning.
14...O-O 15.♗xc7 White's advantage is but one Pawn according to Stockfish. 15...♗e6
15...♗xc7 is obvious and bad... 16.♘e7+ ♔h8 17.♕xh7+ ♔xh7 18.♖h4#
16.♗xd8 ♗xd5 17.♗f6 ♕c6 (17...♗e6 allows mate... 18.♕g5 g6 19.♕h6 mates next move.)
17...gxf6 is ugly, but best. and it would possibly have tested Marshall's endgame skill. In a 5 game shootout using Stockfish black managed only a single draw. Here is the finish at 17 plies. 18.♕xd5 ♕xc2 19.♕xb7 ♖ab8 20.♕xa7 ♕xb2 21.♖ad1 ♕e2 22.h3 ♖b2 23.♖g4+ ♔h8 24.♕d4 ♕e5 25.♕d8 ♖e8 26.♕d7 ♕e6 27.♕xe6 fxe6 28.♖d7 ♖c8 29.♖h4 ♖c1+ 30.♔h2 ♖xf2 31.♖hxh7+ ♔g8 32.♖dg7+ ♔f8 33.♖f7+ ♔g8 34.♖fg7+ ♔f8 35.♖a7 ♔g8 36.♖hg7+ ♔f8 37.♖gb7 ♖c8 38.a4 e5 39.a5 e4 40.a6 ♖a2 41.♖h7 ♔g8 42.♖hg7+ ♔h8 43.♖h7+ ♔g8 44.♖ag7+ ♔f8 45.♖b7 ♔g8 46.a7 ♖cc2 47.♖hg7+ ♔h8 48.h4 e3 49.h5 ♖c5 50.♖h7+ and according to Stockfish white has a mate in 22 moves.
18.♗xg7
18.♖xd5 is a bad alternative 18...♕xf6 and white will have his work cut out to score the point.
18...♔xg7 19.♕xd5 Black is left with a lost ending no matter what he plays. 19...♕xc2 Keeping the Qs on would seem to offer the best chance, but in this case his K is left exposed, so trading Qs was his best try. Even then, black should lose.
19...♕xd5 20.♖xd5 ♖fe8 21.♔f1 ♖e6 22.♖d7 ♖c8 23.c3 ♖b6 24.♖d2 The old saying is all double R endings are drawn, but not in this case. Here's how Stockfish scored the win at 17 plies: 24...a5 25.g3 a4 26.a3 ♖c5 27.♖e1 ♖cb5 28.♖ee2 h5 29.♔g2 h4 30.♔h3 hxg3 31.fxg3 ♔g6 32.♔g2 ♖g5 33.h4 ♖f5 34.♖d4 ♖fb5 35.♖dd2 ♖f5 36.♖f2 ♖e5 37.♖f4 ♖eb5 38.♖g4+ ♔h6 39.♖b4 ♖xb4 40.cxb4 ♖c6 41.♔f3 ♔g6 42.♔f4 f6 43.g4 ♖c1 44.h5+ ♔h6 45.♖d7 ♖f1+ 46.♔e4 ♖g1 47.♔f5 ♖g2 48.♖xb7 ♖f2+ 49.♔e6 ♖g2 50.♖a7 ♖xg4 51.♔xf6 ♖g2 52.♖xa4 and wins
20.♕e5+ Beginning a successful King hunt. 20...f6 21.♕e7+ ♔g6 22.♖h4 ♔g5
22...h5 was no help. 23.♖h3 ♔h6 24.♕e3+ ♔g7 25.♖g3+ ♔h8 26.♕f3 ♕h7 27.♖h3
23.♕g7+ ♔xh4 24.♕h6+ ♔g4 25.h3+ ♔f5 26.♕xh7+ Esser resigned. Powered by Aquarium
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