An official Naval Court of Inquiry ruled in March that the Maine was blown up by a mine, but the court did not directly place the blame on Spain. Nevertheless, many in Congress and most of the American public expressed little doubt that Spain was responsible and called for a declaration of war.
As a result, on April 21st President William McKinley formally requested Congress to declare war on Spain. The Spanish-American War lasted until December 10, 1898.
It wasn't until 1976 that a team of American naval investigators concluded that the Maine explosion was likely caused by a fire that ignited its ammunition stocks, not by a Spanish mine or act of sabotage.
May 30, 1898, was Decoration Day or, as it is called today, Memorial Day, and the war was still in progress and on that day, while the parades and memorials to those who died in wars was going on, a telegraph match was held between the Boston Chess Club and the Chicago Chess and Checker Club. The final score favored Chicago, but neither club had its best players in the lineup.
The following was one of the more interesting games from the match. Elmer Southard (July 28, 1876 - February 8, 1920) was born in Boston, he lived there for nearly his entire life.
A promising player who distinguished himself while in college, he was a strong amateur who enjoyed the game throughout his life.
After briefly studying in Germany, he returned to the United States as a pathologist at Danvers State Hospital (also known as the Danvers Lunatic Asylum). It was a psychiatric hospital located in Danvers, Massachusetts.
Later, Southard headed the Boston Psychopathic Hospital when it opened in 1912, pioneering the study of brain pathology with particular interests in shell shock and schizophrenia. Southard published several books, including Shell Shock and Other Neuropsychiatric Problems.
He was president of the American Medico-Psychological Association and the Boston Society of Psychiatry and Neurology, and held advisory positions with the U.S. Chemical Warfare Service and the Eugenics Record Office.
It was Southard introduced, among others, Karl Menninger to psychiatry, and Menninger later helped establish the foundation which bears his family name.
At the age of 43, Southard died of pneumonia in 1920 during a trip to New York City to deliver lectures to two medical societies.
His opponent was Carl Medinus (August 4, 1873 - December 6, 1941, 68 years old).
When Frank Marshall visited the Chicago Chess and Checker Club in December 1899 and January 1900 to play a match against Sidney Johnston (whom he only narrowly defeated +7 -6 =2), he was then challenged to a five-game match byMedinus but Marshall declined, pleading lack of time.
Marshall returned to Chicago later in the month and played Medinus a match in which the winner was the first to win four games. Marshall won by a score of +4 -2 =0.
[Event "Team Match"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1898.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Elmer Southard (Boston)"]
[Black "Carl Medinus (Chicago)"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C11"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 15"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "1898.??.??"]
{French Defense} 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. Nce2 {Originally
introduced by Steinitz at Vienna in 1875, this move was eventually discarded
in favor of 5.f4} c5 6. c3 Nc6 7. f4 cxd4 {Generally, black prefers 7...Qb6} (
7... Qb6 8. Nf3 f6 9. a3 Be7 10. h4 O-O {White has tried both 11.Rh3 and 11.b4
with equal chances in both cases.}) 8. Nxd4 (8. cxd4 Bb4+ 9. Bd2 Qb6 10. Nf3
O-O 11. Bxb4 Qxb4+ 12. Qd2 {is equal. Tarrasch,S-Noa,J Hamburg 1885}) 8... Nxd4
9. cxd4 Be7 10. Bd3 Nb8 11. Qg4 Bb4+ {This move, squandering time, serves
little purpose because white's K is not badly placed on f3. The correct move
was 11...g6 with full equality.} 12. Kf2 O-O {Black castles into a very
dangerous attack. 12...g6 was still the correct move.} (12... g6 13. a3 Be7 14.
Be3 Qb6 15. Ne2 Bd7 (15... Qxb2 16. Rhb1 {wins the Q}) 16. Rhc1 O-O {with a
slight advantage for white.}) 13. Nf3 {Hoping black will let him play 14.Bxh7+}
f5 (13... Nc6 14. Bxh7+ Kxh7 15. Ng5+ Kg8 16. Qh4 Re8 17. Be3 (17. Qh7+ Kf8 {
should also end up as a victory for white.}) 17... Qb6 18. Qh5 Nd8 19. a3 {
There is no immediate mate, but after this black has no reasonable move.} Be7 {
This takes away the Ks escape square.} (19... Bxa3 20. Qh7+ Kf8 21. bxa3 Qb2+
22. Kf3 Nc6 23. Rhc1 Bd7 24. Qh5 Ke7 25. Qxf7+ Kd8 26. Rab1 Qxa3 27. Rxb7 Qe7
28. Rxc6 Bxc6 29. Nxe6+ Kc8 30. Rc7+ Kb8 31. Rxe7 Rxe7 32. Qxe7 Bd7 33. Qxd7 {
mate next move.}) 20. Qh7+ Kf8 21. Qh8#) 14. Qh3 {The threat is Ng5} Be7 15. g4
g6 (15... Qb6 {puts up a tougher defense.} 16. Rg1 Bd7 17. Bd2 Nc6 18. Bc3 g6)
16. Rg1 {[%mdl 128]} Kh8 {[%mdl 8192] After this black cannot hold the game.
He had to play either 16...Qb6 or 16...Nc6 to have any chance of defending his
position.} 17. Bd2 {Good enough. Better, but more difficult to calculate and
therefore not as clear would have been 17.gxf5 exf5 18.Rxg6} Qe8 18. Rg3 Rg8
19. Rag1 Bd7 (19... Nc6 {was only marginally better.} 20. gxf5 exf5 21. Nh4
Bxh4 22. Qxh4 Qf7 23. Qh6 Bd7 24. h4 {with a very strong attack.}) 20. gxf5
exf5 21. e6 Bxe6 22. Ne5 Bf6 23. Rxg6 (23. Nxg6+ {was also good.} Rxg6 24. Rxg6
Bxd4+ 25. Kf1 Bxg1 26. Rxg1 {White wants to mate with Bc3+.} d4 27. Qh4 Nd7 28.
Qf2 {and 29.Qxd4+ leaves white with a won position.}) 23... Bxe5 24. Rxg8+ Bxg8
25. fxe5 Qa4 {Practically resigning, but there was no defense.} (25... Be6 26.
Bh6 Qf7 27. Qh4 {Threatening Qd8+} (27. Bg7+ {isn't bad either.} Qxg7 28. Rxg7
Kxg7) 27... Nd7 28. Rg7 Qe8 29. Qg5 Qf8 (29... Nb6 30. Rxh7+ Kxh7 31. Qg7#) 30.
Re7 {mates in 7 at most.} Qxe7 31. Qxe7 Rg8 32. Qxe6 Rg6 33. Qe8+ Rg8 34. Qxd7
b6 35. Bxf5 Rg6 36. Bxg6 {mate next move.}) 26. Qh4 {White has a mate in 7.}
Nd7 27. Bh6 (27. Bxf5 {was a bit quicker.} Qc6 28. Bh6 Qg6 29. Rxg6 hxg6 30.
Bxd7 g5 31. Qxg5 Rf8+ 32. Bxf8 Bh7 33. Qg7#) 27... Bf7 {It's still mate in 8.
27...Be6 would have held out 2 moves longer.} 28. Bg7+ {Both 28.e6 and 26.Bxf5
mate a move sooner, but it does not really matter, does it?} Kg8 29. Bxf5 Bg6
30. Bxg6 {After this white is still winning but there is no linger a forced
mate.} (30. Bf6 Nf8 31. e6 Qe8 32. Qh6 Qe7 33. Bxe7 Re8 34. Bxg6 hxg6 35. Rxg6+
Nxg6 36. Qxg6+ Kh8 37. Bf6#) 30... hxg6 31. Qh8+ Kf7 32. e6+ {This had to be
played because any other move and the win has evaporated.} (32. Qxa8 {and
white cannot escape the coming Q checks so black draws.} Qxd4+ 33. Kg2 Qg4+ 34.
Kh1 Qf3+ 35. Rg2 Qd1+) (32. Qh7 Qxd4+ {Here, too, there is no escaping the Q
checks.} 33. Kg2 Qe4+ 34. Kg3 Qd3+) 32... Kxe6 {White must still avoid falling
into the grabbing the R trap.} 33. Re1+ (33. Qxa8 Qc2+ 34. Ke3 Qe4+ 35. Kd2
Qf4+ 36. Kc3 Qe3+ (36... Qf3+ 37. Kb4 {White has escaped.}) 37. Kb4 Qd2+ (37...
Qxg1 {would be fatal after} 38. Qe8+ Kf5 (38... Kd6 39. Be5+ Nxe5 40. dxe5+ Kc7
41. Qe7+ Kc8 42. Qc5+ {with a won ending.}) 39. Qxd7+ Kf4 40. Qd6+ Ke4 41. Qe5+
) 38. Ka3 Qe3+ 39. b3 Qxg1 {Now this is safe. After} 40. Qe8+ Kd6 41. Be5+ Nxe5
42. dxe5+ Kc7 {and in this line white does not have Qc5+ forcing the exchange
of Qs and so the Q+P ending is likely drawn.}) 33... Kf7 34. Qh7 {Threatening
mate with Bh8+.} Nf8 35. Bxf8+ Kxf8 36. Qe7+ Kg8 37. Qe6+ Kh7 38. Qf7+ Kh8 39.
Qf6+ {Black resigned.} (39. Qf6+ Kg8 40. Qxg6+ Kh8 41. Qf6+ Kg8 42. Rg1+ Kh7
43. Qh4#) 1-0
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