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.
I. Tannenwurzel (Rice CC)–John D. Elwell (Brooklyn CC)0–1B00Club MatchNew York, NY USA13.03.1909Stockfish 15.1
Nimzovich Defense 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.c3 e6 5.d3 ge7 6.f4 6.g5 d7 7.e2 h6 8.xe7 xe7 9.g3 xd3 10.xd3 c5 11.0-0 is equal.
Rozentalis,E (2600)-Johansen,D (2495) Tilburg 1993 6...xd3 7.xd3 f5 8.f3 g6 8...h5 9.0-0 a5 10.e3 xe3 11.xe3 is equal. Alonso Roselli,A
(2416)-Narciso Dublan,M (2511) Palma de Mallorca 2008 9.0-0 e7 10.a4
White is seeking play on the wrong side. 10.g4 g7 10...h4 11.xh4 xh4 12.f5 is good for white. 11.e3 and white has a comfortable position. 10...0-0 Securing the Ns position with 10...h5 would have been better, but
white has no interest in playing h4 anyway. 11.a5 g7 12.g5 h6 Capturing
the N would allow white open lines on th K-side. 13.h3 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.d2 h8 Rather
pointless, but as mentioned, suggesting an active plan for black is difficult. 15.f3 d7 Black might try opening lines on the Q-side with 16...b6 16.d2 h4 17.fg5 h5 18.e2 ah8 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.d3 d8 Evidently
hoping to play ...c5 20.b4 a6 21.fb1 c6 22.d1 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+ xf6 24.e1 The e-Pawn is a target
and e4 is available to white. e8 25.e2 f7 26.ae1 d8 27.f3 d6 28.f2 xg5 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 f7 30.h3
Even better was 30.Nd3 d8 31.f4 d7 32.e5+ f7 33.f6 Black's 28th move has allowed white's once bad B to become a powerhouse. h7 34.f4 e5 A pointless P sacrifice, but he is lost in any case. 35.xe5 xe5 36.xe5 This is much better than taking with the B. Black has
absolutely no playable move! b5 37.axb6 b7 38.d3 a5 39.bxa5 xa5 40.c5 c8 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.xd5
is a flashy, but unnecessary, way to win. cxd5 42.xd5+ f8 43.e6+ e8 44.f4 e7 44...xc3 45.g8+ d7 46.e6# 45.xa5 and wins 41.e2
wraps things up rather easily. b7 42.xb7 xb7 43.e8 d7 44.b7 The
longest line to avoid mate begins with... xe8 45.xe8+ xe8 46.b8+
and white has a mate in 10. d7 47.b7+ d6 48.xh7 c5 49.xg6 e7 50.xe7+ xe7 51.f6+ e8 52.g6 d7 53.g7 cxd4 54.g8 c7 55.gd8+ b7 56.fb6# 41...xb7 42.xb7 xb7 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.xf5 b1+
The position is equal. 44.f1 xf5 45.a1 d7 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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