However, John Duryea Elwell was a force to be reckoned with in the 1890s. It was a glorious time for Brooklyn chess players. Pillsbury triumphed at Hastings, the US vs. England cable matches were being played, the Brooklyn Chess Club was champion of the Metropolitan Chess League and Frank J. Marshall, a resident of Brooklyn, was conquering the European players.
In those days Elwell was a mover and shaker; he established the fund that financed Pillsbury's trip to Hastings and he set up the victory dinner that marked Pillsbury's return.
The dinner was held at the Pouch Mansion in Brooklyn.
The mansion was demolished some time during World War II when the land was needed to build housing for workers at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, but it had quite a history.
It was designed in 1887 for Robert Graves who made his fortunes from wallpaper and the brownstone mansion was on a block filled with rich folks. Graves died before he could ever live in the house and in 1890, oilman Alfred Pouch bought it at an auction. Pouch threw popular parties and dinners and dancing was always part of the celebrations.
At the dinner celebrating Pillsbury's success Judge Josiah T. Marean, president of the Brooklyn Chess Club, read a cablegram from Sir George Newnes offering a trophy for cable matches to be played between the US and England. The suggestion came from Elwell.
Elwell acted as second for Jackson W. Showalter in his matches with Samuel Lipschuetz, Emil Kemeny and John F. Barry, but when Pillsbury and Showalter played their two matches for the US championship, Elwell switched sides and was on Pillsbury's side. He served as Pillsbury's "physical trainer" during the games, making Pillsbury go for walks crossing the Brooklyn Bridge so as to keep him "fresh." The bridge spans the East River between Manhattan and Brooklyn. Opened on May 24, 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge was the first fixed crossing of the East River.
Until his interest waned, Elwell worked tirelessly to promote the game. Always out to win, he was impatient with conservatism and as a consequence he stirred up some animus, but his accomplishments also gained him many admirers.
In 1896, in one dispute while he was acting as second for Showalter, Elwell opened some letters not intended for him and then forwarded them to the Manhattan Chess Club. It wasn't known if it was an innocent mistake or an attempt to keep Showalter playing for the chess club in Boston.
The Manhattan players were incensed and kicked Elwell out of the Manhattan Chess Club and charged him with tampering with the United States mail. A Supreme Court judge ordered the club to reinstate him.
It seems the envelope bore Elwell’s name and business address, but the sender had improperly addressed the envelope. Somehow, the issue came up later and a different Supreme Court Justice refused to reinstate Elwell. Clearly the Manhattan Chess Club wanted Elwell out.
The Brooklyn Chess Club also had a dispute with Elwell. He was accused of arranging international cable matches for the club without its consent; the June 30, 1896 Brooklyn Eagle says that two of the board members were about to resign over the incident. One newspaper article described some venomous disputes in which cabled messages were ripped out of each other’s hands.
Then there was an argument and a split over whether to let Showalter (who was managed by Elwell) represent the Brooklyn club and whether or not he should even be considered a club member. Resignations were thrown about; some were accepted, some were rejected. The Daily Eagle blamed the problems on the summer heat, the temperatures being in the mid-80s.
Elwell's situation wasn't the only problem that plagued the club. Pillsbury resigned in a snit when he discovered that someone had stolen his umbrella.
Apparently, after he retired to the New Jersey countryside Elwell was never heard from again.
Here is one of Elwell's lucky wins (at this time he was a member of the Brooklyn CC) that was played in a match against the Rice Chess Club. An article in the Daily Eagle mentioned that the match had been arranged, but I could not locate a followup on the results.
The opening is a Nimzovich Defense in which there is a lot of maneuvering in a closed position and then Elwell mistakenly opens up the position and allows his opponent to gain a winning advantage. Tannenwurzel is on the verge of winning when he suddenly collapsed with the result that the game was completely equal and then lost, apparently on time.
[Event "Club Match"]
[Site "New York, NY USA"]
[Date "1909.03.13"]
[Round "?"]
[White "I. Tannenwurzel (Rice CC)"]
[Black "John D. Elwell (Brooklyn CC)"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B00"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 15.1"]
[PlyCount "90"]
[EventDate "1909.??.??"]
{Nimzovich Defense} 1. e4 Nc6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. c3 e6 5. Bd3 Nge7 6. f4 (6.
Bg5 Qd7 7. Ne2 h6 8. Bxe7 Nxe7 9. Ng3 Bxd3 10. Qxd3 c5 11. O-O {is equal.
Rozentalis,E (2600)-Johansen,D (2495) Tilburg 1993}) 6... Bxd3 7. Qxd3 Nf5 8.
Nf3 g6 (8... h5 9. O-O a5 10. Be3 Nxe3 11. Qxe3 {is equal. Alonso Roselli,A
(2416)-Narciso Dublan,M (2511) Palma de Mallorca 2008}) 9. O-O Be7 10. a4 {
White is seeking play on the wrong side.} (10. g4 Ng7 (10... Nh4 11. Nxh4 Bxh4
12. f5 {is good for white.}) 11. Be3 {and white has a comfortable position.})
10... O-O {Securing the Ns position with 10...h5 would have been better, but
white has no interest in playing h4 anyway.} 11. a5 Kg7 12. Ng5 h6 {Capturing
the N would allow white open lines on th K-side.} 13. Nh3 {The N has a dim
future here, but on the other hand, black's prospects are limited, so there
chances must be considered about even.} h5 {Finally.} 14. Nd2 Rh8 {Rather
pointless, but as mentioned, suggesting an active plan for black is difficult.}
15. Nf3 Qd7 {Black might try opening lines on the Q-side with 16...b6} 16. Bd2
h4 17. Nfg5 Rh5 18. Qe2 Rah8 {Clearly black is at a loss for coming up with an
active plan, but 18...b6 was still a possibility. Of course, white's prospects
are not too bright either. The position is equal.} 19. Qd3 Nd8 {Evidently
hoping to play ...c5} 20. b4 a6 21. Rfb1 c6 22. Rd1 f6 {This break will prove
to be in white's favor, so more passive maneuvering with something like 22...
Re8 or 22...Qc7 was in order.} 23. exf6+ Bxf6 24. Re1 {The e-Pawn is a target
and e4 is available to white.} Re8 25. Re2 Nf7 26. Rae1 Nd8 27. Qf3 Qd6 28. Nf2
Bxg5 {This is bad because it allows white's B to get into play. White now
obtains a significant advantage. Better was 28...Qf8} 29. fxg5 Nf7 30. Nh3 {
[%mdl 32] Even better was 30.Nd3} Nd8 31. Bf4 {[%mdl 32]} Qd7 32. Be5+ Kf7 33.
Bf6 {Black's 28th move has allowed white's once bad B to become a powerhouse.}
Rh7 34. Nf4 e5 {A pointless P sacrifice, but he is lost in any case.} 35. Rxe5
Rxe5 36. Rxe5 {This is much better than taking with the B. Black has
absolutely no playable move!} b5 37. axb6 Nb7 38. Nd3 a5 39. bxa5 Nxa5 40. Nc5
Qc8 41. b7 {While this doesn't lose, white is in the process of collapsing!
The only reasonable explanation is that he was in time pressure.} (41. Rxd5 {
is a flashy, but unnecessary, way to win.} cxd5 42. Qxd5+ Kf8 43. Ne6+ Ke8 44.
Nf4 Ne7 (44... Qxc3 45. Qg8+ Kd7 46. Qe6#) 45. Qxa5 {and wins}) (41. Qe2 {
wraps things up rather easily.} Nb7 42. Nxb7 Qxb7 43. Re8 Qd7 44. b7 {The
longest line to avoid mate begins with...} Qxe8 45. Qxe8+ Kxe8 46. b8=Q+ {
and white has a mate in 10.} Kd7 47. Qb7+ Kd6 48. Qxh7 c5 49. Qxg6 Ne7 50.
Bxe7+ Kxe7 51. Qf6+ Ke8 52. g6 Kd7 53. g7 cxd4 54. g8=Q Kc7 55. Qgd8+ Kb7 56.
Qfb6#) 41... Nxb7 42. Nxb7 Qxb7 {White still has the advantage, but there is
no forced win. Komodo 14 and Fritz 17 put white's advantage at 2.0-2.5 Ps. For
whatever reason his next mystifying move results in equality.} 43. Rxf5 Qb1+ {
The position is equal.} 44. Qf1 Qxf5 45. Qa1 Qd7 {0-1. This position is dead
even and there is no explantion for why black won except on a time forfeit.}
0-1
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