I was unable to locate any information on J.J. Merian. I did, however discover several men named Eno, but was not able to determine which one was the member of the Manhattan CC who played black.
The most famous, or rather infamous, Eno was John C. Eno who took over management of the Second National Bank upon the death the former manager and proceeded to embezzle about $4 million.
On June 1, 1884, he was captured, along with a Catholic priest, one Father Ducey, in Quebec, as they were about to depart on a steamer for England. Eno remained in Canada for nine years, returning to New York only when it was certain that the indictment against him would be quashed.
Eno's father died in 1898, leaving him an inheritance which was soon gone. When John Eno died in June, 1916, all he left was debts, but he never spent time in jail and never paid a dime in restitution.
His father, Amos Richards Eno (1810-1898) was for a time a clerk in a dry-goods store and among his friends and fellow clerks at that time were E. D. Morgan, who eventually became Governor of New York and Junius S. Morgan who became a banker.
In the spring of 1833, Eno (the father) established himself in the wholesale dry-goods business in New York; the firm was dissolved in 1850 and he then began investing in real estate on a large scale.
Besides Amos and his larcenous son John, he also had, in addition to two daughters, sons Amos F., Henry (a doctor) and William.
So, who played the black pieces?
It wasn't son John the crook because he was on the lam in Canada. That leaves daddy Amos or sons Amos or Henry. Who knows?
Was the game really brilliant? The answer to that can be determined. Take a look.
Merian–Eno1–0Manhattan Chess Club1884Stockfish 15
Sicilian: Kalashnikov Variation 1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.f3 c6 4.xd4 e5
The Kalashnikov Variation (sometimes known as the Neo-Sveshnikov) is a close
relative of the Sveshnikov Variation (4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5). The move 4...e5
has a long history; La Bourdonnais used it in his matches against McDonnell in
1834 and it was also popular for a short time in the 1940s. These earlier
games focused on the Lowenthal Variation with 4...e5 5.Nb5 a6 6.Nd6+ Bxd6 7.
Qxd6 Qf6, but the variation fell out of favor when it was determined that
white has the advantage. Then the late 1980s 4...e5 was revived with the
intention of meeting 5.Nb5 with 5...d6: this is the Kalashnikov Variation
proper. 5.b5 This is the main move, buying time by threatening to play the
N to d6. d6 Black accepts a backward P and weakens d5 but gains time by
chasing the N. 6.c4 White's main options are 6.c4, 6.N1c3 or 6.Be3. While
the text is rarely played there is nothing wrong with it. a6 6...e6
should be considered. 7.xe6 fxe6 8.h5+ g6 9.g4 d7 10.g5 a6 11.5a3 b5 12.c3 equals. Vallejo Pons,F (2635)-Shirov,A (2699) Ayamonte 2002 7.5c3 h6 Too cautious says a note in the Brooklyn Chess Chronicle. 7...e6 8.b3 8.d5 c8 8...b5 9.b3 f6 10.g5 d4 11.bc3 a5 12.xf6+ gxf6 13.e3 xb3 14.axb3 White is better. Hajbok,R (2366)-Pavel,S (2087)
Calimanesti ROM 2013 9.bc3 e7 10.e3 b5 11.b3 g5 12.b6 d7 13.0-0
White is slightly better. Yemelin,V (2380)-Sukhorukov,A (2300) Orel 1992 8...f6 9.g5 h6 10.xf6 xf6 11.d5 xd5 12.xd5 e7 13.c3 0-0 14.0-0
White is slightly better. Milu,R (2410)-Sekularac,P (2220) Nice FRA 1993 1-0
(44) 7...f6 This is black's best because after 8.g5 e7 9.xf6 xf6
he has full equality. 8.0-0 Also good was 8.Nd5 f6 White is slightly
better. 9.f4 But not after this move. Correct was 9.Nd5 b5 Better was 9...
exf4 and 10...Ne5 10.d5 b6+ 10...xd5 is inferior because after 11.xd5 e7 12.bc3 b4 13.e3 white is slightly better and black must not fall
for bxc3 14.b6 cxb2 14...d7 15.c7+ 15.b1 xd5 16.xd8 e3 17.d3 xf1 18.c7 White has much the better game 11.h1 b7 12.e1 e7 12...xd5 is still wrong. 13.exd5 e7 14.fxe5 dxe5 15.xe5 with the better
game. 13.e3 c7 14.d2 White would have done better with the aggressive
14.Qg3 0-0 15.f5 d4 16.c1 b4 16...xd5 is a serious mistake. 17.xd5 xd5 18.exd5 d8 18...b4 19.c3 bxc3 20.bxc3 b5 21.f6 xf6 22.xf6 gxf6 23.xh6 and wins 19.c3 and the N is trapped. 17.e2 This give black
a huge advantage. 17.xb7 bxc3 18.bxc3 xc2 19.xc2 xb7 20.e2 and
black's advantage is minimal. 17...xe2 17...xd5 only equalizes. 18.exd5 xe2 19.xe2 18.xe2 xd5 Another mistake! 18...xd5-+ 19.exd5 xd5 should prove decisive. 19.exd5 xd5 Black's best defensive chance is
19...f6 20.xh6 An imprecise continuation. 20.f6 packed a harder punch. xf6 21.xf6 gxf6 22.xh6 and wins. 20...gxh6 21.f6 White wants to
mate with Qg4+. h8 22.e3 xg2+ This shot was not available
in the line given in the note to move 20. 23.xg2 23.g1 was the only way
to keep the balance. c5 24.xc5 dxc5 25.xg2 with equal chances. 23...g8+ There is absolutely no reason for black to lose this position! 24.f2
g6 Why did he allow white to capture the B?! 24...f8 leaves black better after 25.g1 a7 26.c4 xe3+ 27.xe3 25.fxe7 xe7 Thanks to black having lost a piece now there is absolutely no reason
for white not to win! 26.f3 f5 27.g1 f4 28.e4 a7+ 29.e2 f6 30.c4 e8 There is no point in quibbling about moves that might be a tad
better; black is lost. 31.c5 dxc5 32.g6 h7 33.cg1 c4 34.f1 c3 35.bxc3 bxc3 36.xe5 d6 This allows a nice mate, but he was lost anyway. 37.xd6 xe4 38.xh6+ h7 39.f7# Auto-annotation with Stockfish assigns white a
Weighted Error Value of 0.71 and black 1.02. Hardly what the Brooklyn Chess
Chronicle described as "a brilliant little partie." What a difference today's
engines make! 1–0
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