Milton Q. Ellenby, age 86; loving husband and best friend for over 53 years of Helaine, nee Miller; devoted father of Alan (Susan), Martin (Barbara Rosinsky) and Miles (Robyn Tenenbaum); proud grandfather of Marissa, Jennifer, Jacob, Hannah, Benjamin, Samuel and Aliza; dear brother of Herman (Joclyn), Jay (Carol Turner), and the late Julius (the late Anita); cherished brother in law of Joel (Jill) Miller; loving uncle, cousin and friend of many. Funeral service Sunday, 11a.m. at Lincolnwood Jewish Congregation A.G. Beth Israel, 7117 Crawford, Lincolnwood, IL 60712. Interment Westlawn. In lieu of flowers, memorials to Lincolnwood Jewish Congregation A.G. Beth Israel would be appreciated. Arrangements by Chicago Jewish Funerals
An actuary by profession, he was what is considered an “expert witness” as well as an author on the profession. An expert witness is a person who is permitted to testify at a trial because of special knowledge or proficiency in a particular field that is relevant to the case.
Besides playing chess, Ellenby was an accomplished contract bridge player. The December 6, 1955 issue of the New York Times reported that Ellenby of Chicago and Private Emanuel Hochfeld of Fort Dix, New Jersey captured the Blue Ribbon Open Pairs Championship in the twenty-ninth annual winter National Contract Bridge tournament.
It appears that Ellenby may have given up chess in favor of bridge. That's what another very strong master and former Ohio State Champion, Robert H. Burns, Jr., did in the late 1980s. Burns was rated over 2300 for most of his career and he won Chess Review's 1969 Golden Knights Correspondence Championship.
Burns was born in Morgantown, West Virginia on May 19. 1948. He ended up in Mentor, Ohio and graduated from high school there. He moved to Euclid, Ohio (both suburbs of Cleveland) in the early 1970s. A self-employed computer programmer, he passed away at the age of 57.
I am not a bridge player, but I understand that besides being a fun and exciting card game, it is also educational, reinforcing both mathematical concepts and spatial reasoning and it fosters critical thinking and problem solving at the highest level. And that is probably why some chess players find it appealing. According to an article I read in a New Zealand paper, a recent study revealed that playing bridge keeps people smarter, happier and more social into old age.
Ellenby was originally from Chicago. In the mid- to late-1940s he is known to have played postal chess with Al Horowitz' Chess Review. Over the board he was the 1944 Illinois Junior Champion.
The following year found him living in Dayton, Ohio and he won the first Ohio Chess Association title with a score of 6-1.
Ellenby was a frequent participant in Ohio and West Virginia tournaments during the war years and he won the first Tri-State (West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania) Championship in 1945.
A search for Ellenby's game only turned up a few, but while looking through some old West Virginia Chess Bulletins I discovered a couple of interesting articles.
In March of 1945, a prominent West Virginia player named Eddie Foy, then a Navy Storekeeper First Class, reported that another well known West Virginia player, Reid Holt of Charleston, had been missing in action since December 16, 1944. An Army infantryman, Holt had been at the Battle of the Bulge.
At the same time Foy reported that his brother, Anthony, had been struck in the chest by a piece of shrapnel while training in Louisiana, also in December, but he was recovering nicely.
In the April, 1945, West Virginia Chess Bulletin it was reported that Holt's wife had received a post card dated January 9, 1945, that he was not wounded and was being treated fairly well in a German prison camp near the Czech border in Muhlberg, Germany.
That previously mention first Tri-State Championship that Ellenby won was held at the Downtown YMCA in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on November 10-11, 1945.
Milton Q. Ellenby–Dr. Siegfried Werthammer1–0D71First Tri-State Champ, Pittsburgh2022Stockfish 14.1
Gruenfeld Defense 1.c4 From the thimble full of Ellenby games I uncovered
he appears to have preferred positional openings. f6 2.c3 d5 3.cxd5 xd5 4.d4 g6 5.g3 g7 6.g2 xc3 7.bxc3 c5 8.e3 0-0 9.e2 d7 10.0-0 c7 10...b8 11.e4 e5 Also playable is 11...cxd4 12.e3 b6 13.d5 a6 14.e1
Korchnoi,V (2625)-Mikhalevski,V (2380) Beer Sheba ISR 1993 11.a3 This
looks plausible; it places the B outside the P-chain and it gets some activity
that is annoying to black. 11.a4 Same idea. b8 12.a3 b6 13.f4 f6
Now white's best move is 14.e4 reaching a completely equal position. Reeh,
O-Deutschmann,M Germany 1983 11...b8 12.f4 e8 13.d3 Black, having
the more active pieces, can be considered to be slightly better here. c4
Not at all bad, but maintaining the tension with 13...b6 was somewhat better. 14.f4 The N springs into action. b5 15.d5 Ellenby has seized the
initiative and his N and Bs control the action on the Q-side. d8 16.b4 a5 17.c1 b7 18.c6 A bit of a slip here though. 18.xb7 xb7 19.c6 a6 20.xe7+ h8 21.d5 and white has an active position, but it might be
difficult to make progress. 18...c7 Black misses a great opportunity, but
it's hard to fault him because it involves the sacrifice of the exchange. 18...b6 19.xe8 xe8 For the price of the exchange black was able to
generate sufficient counterplay with ...e5 to put white on the defensive and
secure a draw in Shootouts. 19.xb5 f3 20.a4 20.a6 This wins the
exchange, but the price is too high...the game! c8 21.xb8 xb8 and there
is no way to meet ...Qh3 except to give up the Q with 22.Qd1 20...b7
This prevents Na6, but it the withdrawal of the B gives white the upper hand.
A better way was 20...Rb6 21.f3 Too passive...he should have played 21.e4 e5 22.d5 e4 23.c6 Better were
either 23.f4 or even 23.d6?! xc6 24.xc6 e5 24...exf3
stays on course. White must now prevent ...Bh6. 25.d2 25.xf3 e5 25...bd8 and now it's black who has the initiative. 25.f4 Gumming up the
K-side and leaving black with weak Ps. h5 26.f2 Too passive. 26.b1 b6 26...xb1 27.xb1 f6 28.d1 and white has all the action and should win. 27.d1 d8 28.b5 a6 29.a5 and white has a commanding position. 26...f6 The N heads in the wrong direction because it has no future on the K-side.
Correct was 26.,..Nb6 27.b1 xb1 Much better would have been 27...Rd8
introducing complications in which either side could easily go wrong. Take a
look at Stockfish's analysis! 27...d8 28.b7 c8 29.e7 29.xa7 xd5 30.a8 c7 31.xd8+ xd8 32.d2 a5 33.g4 xf4 34.exf4 h3 35.b4
White is winning. 29...hxd5 30.xd5 xd5 31.xd8 xb7 White is better. 28.xb1 xd5 29.xd5 This miscue allows black to equalize. 29.d2
This is the best move. f8 30.xd5 xa3 31.xe4 e7 White should br in no
hurry to grab the c-Pawn! 32.g4 This keeps the R out of play. h4 33.g5
and white is much better. 29...xd5 30.xe4 Threatening Qe8+ and mate. d1+ 31.g2 The mate threat is still there. c8 32.b4 d3 33.c2
After this the action has fizzled out and a draw would not be out of place. 33.f5 might have been worth considering. h6 34.e7 xe3 35.xa7 gxf5 36.c5 xc5 37.xc5 xc3 38.a4 d3 39.a2 c3 Black is slightly better, but a
draw still seems a reasonable conclusion. 33...f5 34.e7 c6+ 35.h3 h5
So, black has finally gotten some long sought after play on the K-side, but is
it enough? 36.xa7 h1 37.c5 f1+ Black seems to have enough
play that he will be able to save the game. 38.g2 d2 39.c8+ h7 40.a8 h4 40...e2 picks up a P, but it's probably not enough to win. 41.b7
Setting a trap. xa2 41...xe3 42.f8 wins! 42.c6 and neither side
can make progress. 41.gxh4 f2 42.g3 Prevents Rf3+. Now either 42...Qe2
or 42...Rxg2+ would pretty much secure the draw. Instead black shoots himself
in the foot. d1 Blundering a R and there is no perpetual check.
One suspects black was in serious time pressure here. 43.xf2 d2+ 44.g3 d1 45.h3 f6 46.b7+ g8 47.xg6+ h8 48.h6+ Black resigned. A tough
loss for Dr. Werthammer. 1–0
Milton Q Ellenby and Malcolm Patrick participated in the Tri-State Championship representing Ohio, as both had scored 5 wins, 0 losses, 2 draws in the Ohio Chess Championship over the previous Labor Day weekend. Ellenby was awarded the title on tie breaks. The Ohio Championship was organized by the newly established Ohio Chess Association as the first Swiss system event for the title, and since that year the Ohio Chess Championship has been contested over the Labor Day weekend, at first only for Ohio residents, and later opened to all players.
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