Theodore Roosevelt was the president and Oklahoma became the 46th state. The fall of the stock market sparked a financial panic across the US. Fortunately, John D. Rockefeller, the wealthiest man in America, helped avert a financial crises when he pledged half of his wealth to maintain America’s credit and got other bankers to help as well.
J. P. Morgan and a bunch of other Wall Street financiers created a $25 million pool to invest in the shares on the plunging New York Stock Exchange. Their action ultimately lead to establishment of the Federal Reserve System.
Not long after that. President Roosevelt approved the takeover of the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company by J. P. Morgan's US Steel company in the wake of the panic. Makes you wonder what was going on behind the scenes, doesn't it?
It's hard to believe, but if you were a man your life expectancy was a scant 45.6 years; for females it was 49.9 years! The five leading causes of death were pneumonia and influenza, tuberculosis, diarrhea, heart disease and stroke.
Only about 14% of US homes had a bathtub and 8% had a telephone. There were only 8,000 cars in the country and only 144 miles of paved roads. The speed limit in most cities was 10 mph.
Two out of every 10 adults couldn’t read or write and only 6% of all Americans had graduated from high school.
The average worker made between $200 and $400 per year ($5-10,000 today. A dentist made $2,500 per year (around $76,000 today).
More than 95% of all births took place at home and 9 out of 10 doctors had no college education! They attended medical schools, many of which were condemned by both the press and the government as being substandard.
Marijuana, heroin and morphine were all available over-the-counter in local corner drugstores. Pharmacists claimed heroin cleared the complexion, gave "buoyancy" to the mind regulated the stomach and bowels. It fact, it was claimed that heroin was a "perfect guardian" of health.
Three chess players were lost in 1907: On May 11, 1907, George Hatfeild Dingley Gossip (1841 - May 11,1907), an American-English master and writer. Professional ballet dancer and minor German master Max Harmonist (1864 - October 16,1907). Walter Montagu Gattie (1854 - November 17, 1907), the winner of the first British Amateur Championship in 1886.
It was a bad year for the US in match play. Britain defeated the US in a cable match by a +3 -2 =5 score and Emanuel Lasker bashed Frank Marshall 11.5 - 3.5 in a world championship match.
Amid all the international hubbub Cornell's chess team, Roy T. Black and Ernest H. Riedel, both graduates of Boys' High School in Brooklyn, won the Isaac L. Rice trophy in the ninth annual tournament of the Triangular College Chess League. The final scores were:
1) Cornell (5.5-2.5)
R.T. Black 3-1 and E.H. Riedel 2.5-1.5
2) Pennsylvania (4.0-4.0)
W.H. Hughes 2.5-1.5 and H.L. Bauder 1.5-2.5
3) Brown (2.5-5.5)
R.W. Burgess 1.5-2.5 and O.R. McCoy 1.0-3.0
The winner of today's game was Roy T. Black (February 14, 1888 - July 27, 1962, 74 years old). Born in Brooklyn New York, he won the championship of Brooklyn seven times (1909, 1910, 1911, 1914, 1915, 1917 and 1918), the New York State Championship in 1914 and participated in two cable matches (1910 and 1911) against Great Britain, winning both of his games. He went on to become a judge.
Nothing is known of his opponent except that he was active in college chess during his days at Pennsylvania, bit after that he seems to have disappeared.
[Event "Triangular College Chess League."]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1907.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Roy T. Black (Cornell)"]
[Black "H.L. Bauder (Pennsylvania)"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 15"]
[PlyCount "69"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.11.08"]
{QGD, Tarrasch Defense} 1. d4 e6 2. c4 d5 3. Nc3 c5 {This aggressive bid for
center space was advocated by Tarrasch who contended that the increased
mobility black gets is well worth the inherent weakness of the isolated d-Pawn.
Following the teachings of Steinitz, most masters rejected the defense out of
hand, but Tarrasch went to the point of putting question marks on routine
moves in all variations except the Tarrasch which he awarded an exclamation
mark) in his book Die moderne Schachpartie which he published in 1921.} 4. cxd5
exd5 5. Nf3 Nf6 6. Bg5 {Another possibility is 6.g3} Nc6 {Black would do
better to play either 6...Be6 or 6...Be7} 7. Bxf6 gxf6 {Black's K-side is
shattered, but one supposes that he allowed it to happen in the hopes of using
the g-file for an attack.} 8. e3 Be6 9. Be2 {White is better.} (9. Bb5 {
was also good for white.} a6 10. Bxc6+ bxc6 11. O-O {Hennig,D (2396)-Viela,M
(2219) Torres Vedras POR 2011}) 9... Bd6 (9... Rg8 10. g3 c4 11. O-O Be7 12. b3
Qa5 13. Qc2 f5 14. bxc4 dxc4 15. Rab1 b5 16. Rxb5 {Black resigned. Eslon,J
(2365)-De Dompablo,A Leon 1997}) 10. Nb5 {While this gains the two Bs, it
allows black to equalize, so better was 10.dxc5 leaving black with weak Ps.} c4
{This assures black of equal play.} 11. Nxd6+ Qxd6 12. Qd2 {Where will he
castle?} Rc8 13. Nh4 Rg8 {Black is wasting time because there is no real
prospects on a K-side attack. Instead, he should have been trying to get play
on the Q-side with 13...b5!} (13... b5 14. a3 O-O {The K will be quite safe
here; white doesn't have a preponderance of pieces on the K-side to launch a
serious attack.} 15. O-O Ne7 {followed by ...Ng6 then he can devote his
attention to the Q-side.}) 14. f4 f5 15. O-O (15. O-O-O {is very dangerous.} b5
16. Rhg1 b4 17. Kb1 Na5 {with a strong attack.}) 15... Qe7 16. Nf3 f6 17. Nh4
Kd7 {This connects the Rs, so black was probably still thinking in terms of a
K-side attack. However, he still should have been thinking of Q-side play with
17...b5} 18. Qc2 Ke8 {[%mdl 8192] Black has no time to dilly-dally like this
with his K. It's after this move that white holds sway.} (18... b5 19. Nxf5
Bxf5 20. Qxf5+ {favors white.} Kc7 {Black threatens both ...Qe3+ and ...Nxd4,
but after} 21. Rf3 Nxd4 22. exd4 Qxe2 23. Rf2 {white stands well.}) (18... Kc7
{is the correct move. Now} 19. Rf3 (19. Nxf5 {loses after} Bxf5 20. Qxf5 Qxe3+
21. Rf2 Nxd4 22. Qxh7+ Kb8 23. Bh5 Ne6 24. Bf3 Nxf4 25. Raf1 Rh8 26. Qf5 Rcg8 {
and in this position it's black who is winning.}) 19... Kb8 {black's K has
reached safety and the chances would be equal.}) 19. Bh5+ Kf8 20. Nxf5 Bxf5 21.
Qxf5 Rd8 22. Kh1 Qg7 {Much better, though still insufficient, would have been
22...Kg7 and 28...Kg8 which would have afforded the K a little bit of shelter.}
23. g4 {Signalling the end.} h6 {Naturally black wants to forestall g5, but
that's not possible so stouter, though still useless, defense was offered by ..
.Rd6 and ...Ne7} 24. g5 Ke7 (24... hxg5 25. fxg5 Qxg5 26. Qxf6+ Qxf6 27. Rxf6+
Kg7 28. Raf1 {leaves black with a lost ending.}) 25. g6 Rd6 26. Rad1 Re8 {
Only somewhat better would have been 26...Kf8} 27. Rfe1 {Hoping for e4.} (27.
e4 {at once was also quite playable...} dxe4 28. d5 Nd8 29. Qxe4+ Kf8 30. Qxc4
{White is winning.}) 27... Kd8 {The K has nowhere to hide.} 28. e4 Ne7 29. Qg4
dxe4 30. f5 Rb6 31. Qxe4 Rxb2 32. d5 {There is no way to prevent d6.} Rb5 33.
d6 Re5 34. dxe7+ Kxe7 {White has a mate in 9 beginning with 35.Qxc4 and a mate
in 1o with the mundane 35.Qf4, but instead he plays the showy, but also deadly.
..} 35. Rd7+ {[%mdl 512] Black resigned.} (35. Rd7+ Kxd7 36. Qxb7+ Kd6 37. Qxg7
Rxe1+ 38. Kg2 {white wins with little trouble.}) (35. Rd7+ {leads to mate.} Kf8
36. Rf7+ Qxf7 37. gxf7 Rxe4 38. fxe8=Q+ Rxe8 39. Rxe8+ {It's mate in 15 moves
at most.}) 1-0
No comments:
Post a Comment