Established in 1841, it's the oldest city in the South Island and the second-oldest settled city in New Zealand. Nelson has one of the sunniest climates of all major New Zealand cities, earning the nickname Sunny Nelson. During the summer months the temperature averages in the mid-70s and in the winter the average lows are in the mid-30s.
The New Zealand championship was played in Nelson in 1913. That was a bad year in the United States...the 16th Amendment authorized an income tax that was to take effect the following year.
Originally there were only seven tax brackets and the majority of Americans fell into the lowest one which stood at a mere one percent. That lowest bracket included those who made, in today’s dollars, up to $459,000 a year.
Of course, it didn't take long for things to change. In order to support the war effort in WWI, the lowest bracket’s tax rate was increased to six percent and the overall number of tax brackets increased. In 1844 income tax rates peaked at 94 percent on taxable income over $200,000 ($2.5 million in today's dollars).
Tax cuts were made after the war, but the top rates began to increase during the Great Depression and WWII. This time after the war income taxes remained high because politicians feared that reductions would cause the federal government to lose the money needed to support all its new programs. See chart
The institution of income tax wasn't the only bad news in 1913...life expectancy for males was only 50.3 years for men and 55.0 years for women! It was also the year cancer sticks Camel Cigarettes went on sale for the first time.
On the plus side, America had a transcontinental highway in 1913. It was the Lincoln Highway, that ran from Times Square to Lincoln Park in San Francisco.
The clothing zipper was invented, but, oddly, it didn't popular until the 1930s. And, 1913 saw the invention of the best toy I ever owned as a child. Alfred C. Gilbert began selling Erector Sets.
In the chess world, on February 5, 1913, Capablanca won the 2nd American National Tournament, ahead of Frank Marshall. But, in March, Marshall won a tournament in Havana ahead of Capablanca and Janowski. Capablanca had the mayor of Havana clear the tournament room because he didn't want anyone to see him resign.
In August, Capablanca was back in New York and won the Rice Chess Club Summer Tournament with a perfect 13-0 score. Also in August, Lasker agreed to play Rubinstein for a world championship match to be held in 1914, but it never happened because World War I started.
The 1914 Championship of New Zealand was won by previous champion J.C. Grierson of Auckland. According to the tournament book, the overall quality of play wasn't very high and in spite of his success, Grierson's play was disappointing and luck favored him considerably.
In Grierson's games Cole "indulged in useless sacrifices", Kelling threw away the game wasting time with his Knights, Barnes was sick and played a feeble game, Dodds blundered a piece on move 15 and Gyles made an "infantile blunder" that allowed mate on the move.
For the second year in a row the 24-year-old A.W. Gyles tied for first. He was criticized for being to devoted to opening theory and accepting unproven analysis published by "amateurs." It was suggested that he needed to pay more attention to the works of masters.
Edwin Hicks, another promising young player, had good natural ability, but his play was often eccentric and rash.
R.J. Barnes was a five-time champion and was making his 25th appearance in the championship! During the tournament he was suffering from neuralgia, pain caused by damaged or irritated nerves. Besides pain, numbness, tingling, or other unpleasant sensations along the path of the nerve may sometimes occur.
E.H. Severne demonstrated a more aggressive attitude in this event. Previously he was known for his peaceful inclinations. Fedor Kelling was a dangerous opponent for the unwary, but on this occasion his play was "lamentably and unaccountably feeble,"
W.E. Mason, four-time champion, was badly out of form. G.F. Dodds was a local dentist and was busy with his practice during the tournament which undoubtedly affected his play. Gordon C. Cole's weak point was his openings; he always played the Zukertort and was overly defensive in his games.
C.R. Sainsbury was out of practice. H.L. James was recovering from a medical problem which accounted for his poor showing. It was the opinion of some that T.E. Maunsell was simply not strong enough to compete in this tournament and a couple of his games were "were skittles of the schoolroom."
The tournament book was edited and the games annotated by H.L. James and his evaluations were biting. He described his own game against James as being a "miserable apology for a game, vilely played by black." That's harsh, but was it true?
W.E. Mason–H.L. James1–0E14New Zealand Championship, Nelson1913Various engines
Queen's Indian Defense 1.d4 d5 2.f3 f6 3.c4 c5 I am not sure what to
call this opening, but the classification assigned to it by Fritz is Q-Indian,
Classical Variation. 4.e3 e6 5.d3 c6 6.c3 e7 7.0-0 0-0 8.b3 b6 9.b2 b7 10.c1 c8 11.a4 A new move. The books offer 11.dxc5, 11.Qe2 and 11.
cxd5 cxd4 12.exd4 dxc4 13.bxc4 With hanging Ps white aims to attack in the
center and on the K-side. Black will try to force a P advance and then
blockade them and/or force an isolated P. b4 James was critical of this
because it forces the B to a better square, or so he claimed. Actually, it's
the engine's preferred move. 14.b1 d7 Blind blundering according to the
tournament book. It's hardly a blunder even though it loses time after white's
next move. In reality black's position is quite solid and there is no way for
white to immediately capitalize in the loss of time. 15.e5 e8 This looks
awkward and so 15...Qd8 seems better, but the position is still equal. White's
N is accomplishing nothing on a4 nor is black's on b4 so they both retreat. 16.c3 c6 17.e1 After this black gets slightly the better of it. 17.d3 was better because then if g6 17...xe5 18.dxe5 white is threatening
mate on h7 so black must lose a piece (and the game). 18.e3 xe5 19.dxe5 c5 20.h3 h5 21.e4 21.g4 f4 wins 21...xe4 22.xe4 with fully
equal chances. 17...xe5 Another blunder says the tournament book.
Unfortunately James has completely misjudged the position! According to Komodo
14, it's the correct move and black is better by almost a Paw,. 18.dxe5 c6
A crude mate threat, but more than that, black has the makings of a strong
K-side attack. 19.e4 d7 With this tame retreat his advantage slips away
and now it's white who is better. 19...xe4 keeps the upper hand. 20.xe4 c7 21.xb7 xb7 White has no K-side attack, his B is bad and the c-Pawn is
weak all of which combine to give him the better game. 20.g4
White is on the roll. fd8 Passive, but there is really nothing that will
improve his position. All he can do now is sit tight and react to white's
threats. 20...g6 renders Nf6 ineffective, but white has... 21.d6 c5 21...xd6 22.exd6 xd6 23.cd1 c6 23...b4 24.d4 e5 25.xd7 wins 24.e4 c7 25.xb7 xb7 26.d4 wins 22.xc8 xc8 and white is better. 21.f6+ xf6 22.exf6 The tournament book says (correctly) that black might
as well have resigned here. g6 22...xg2+ 23.xg2 xg2 24.xg2 xf6
and black is a piece down. 23.e4 c7 24.xb7 xb7 25.g5 h8 To allow ..
.Rg8 guarding against mate on g6 26.xe6 A snazzy finish. g8 26...fxe6 27.f7+ e5 28.xe5+ xe5 29.xe5# 27.e7 c5 28.h6 White mates in 7 moves at most. c8 29.xf7 f8 30.xh7+ Black
resigned. White's play was very precise for the most part, but black's play
could scarcely be described as vile. 30.xh7+ xh7 31.f7+ e5 32.xe5+ g7 33.xg7# 1–0
No comments:
Post a Comment