Nimble Knights

     There used to be an annual tournament known as the Tri-State Championship in which the top two players from Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia were invited. 

      The intention was that the players would be the state champion and the second place finisher. If any of the eligible players was unable to attend, the next player in line in the state championship would get the call. 

     The second Tri-state Chess Championship tournament was held in Cleveland, Ohio in 1947 and the players were H. Landis Marks and Dr. Siegfried Werthammer both from Huntington, West Virginia. Pennsylvania sent Attilio DiCamillo, a Philadelphia player who had won his second consecutive state title and Mike Yatron of Reading, who had an undisputed second behind DiCamillo. It appear that Yatron was replace by William Byland of Pittsburgh. The Ohio contestants were Thomas Ellison of Cleveland and Lawrence Jackson, Jr. of Toledo. 

     I was unable to locate any other information on the 1947 event other than the winner was H. Lanais Marks. 

     Older players from the tri-state area will no doubt remember most, if not all, of the participants of the 1947 event. I do with two exception. In the late 1960s I attended college in Toledo and never heard of Lawrence Jackson, Jr. He appeared on the USCF’s 1958 rating list with a rating of 1881. That’s all I could find on him.

     Nor have I ever heard of Mike Yatron. Doing a search for him, I discovered that Dr. Michael Yatron of West Reading, Pennsylvania passed away, June 30, 2008 at the age of 86. 

     He was born in Reading on July 20, 1921, and was awarded a full scholarship to study Economics at Harvard University, but left after one semester to enroll in the Army where he served during World War II. After obtaing a couple of degrees he taught college English and earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree in English in 1957. Subsequently he taught English and Literature at the college level. His scholarly book, America's Literacy Revolt, published in 1959, is still referred to. 

     A strong amateur player, he dominated local tournaments for many years. He won the Pennsylvania State Class "A" championship in 1943. 

     The following game from the 1947 tri-state tournament that I discovered has an amusing position...after move 19 black has his Knights posted on g3 and g4 and they end up on h1 and h2! 

     The post that I did on H. Landis Marks can be read HERE, but the game has disappeared because the site on which it was posted has ceased working. William M. Byland (1917-1997) of Pittsburgh founded the state chess federation in 1939 and was state champion in 1949.

 

[Event "Tri-State Champ, Cleveland, Ohio"] [Site "?"] [Date "1947.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "William H. Byland"] [Black "H. Landis Marks"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "A00"] [Annotator "Stockfish/Komodo"] [PlyCount "42"] [EventDate "1947.??.??"] {Falkbeer Counter Gambit} 1. e4 e5 {[%mdl 32]} 2. f4 d5 {As commentator Kevin Butler put it, the Falkbeer “destroys all the lines that a K-Gambit player may have planned on using. There are also lots of traps that white will have to look out for as his King is very exposed…” He also noted that King safety is extremely important and many games do not last more than 30 moves as the game is decided by whoever can get to their opponent’s King first.} 3. exd5 (3. fxe5 {loses to} Qh4+ 4. g3 (4. Ke2 Qxe4+ 5. Kf2 Bc5+ 6. d4 Bxd4+ 7. Kg3 Qg6+ 8. Kh4 Bf2+ 9. g3 Qe4+ 10. Kh5 g6+ 11. Kg5 h6#) 4... Qxe4+) 3... e4 { This is the main line.} 4. d3 Qxd5 {This is not recomended. Better is 4...Nf6} (4... exd3 5. Bxd3 Qxd5 {White can play either 6.Bc3 or 6.Nf3 or even 6.Qe2+ with equality.}) 5. Nc3 Bb4 6. Bd2 Bxc3 7. Bxc3 Nf6 8. dxe4 Qxe4+ 9. Qe2 Bf5 ( 9... O-O 10. Bxf6 Qxe2+ 11. Bxe2 gxf6 12. O-O-O Re8 {White is better. Tica,S (2439)-Svane,F (2577) chess.com INT 2023}) 10. O-O-O {Capturing 10.Bxf6 first was better.} Nbd7 11. Qd2 (11. h3 O-O 12. Qf2 {Either 12.Qxe4 or 12.Rd4 are better.} Qa4 13. Kb1 Ne4 14. Qd4 Nxc3+ {Black is better. Kovshoj,S-Bonnelykke, O (2087) Esbjerg 2007} 15. Qxc3 {0-1 (64)}) 11... O-O-O 12. Bd3 Qd5 13. b3 { After this black quickly gets the better game.} (13. Bxf5 Qxf5 14. Nh3 Ne4 15. Qe3 Nxc3 16. Qxc3 Rhe8 17. Rhe1 {is drawish.}) 13... Nc5 {[%mdl 32] White has no good reply to this move.} 14. Bxf5+ (14. Bxf6 {This is best. After} Nxd3+ 15. cxd3 gxf6 16. Nf3 Qc6+ 17. Qc2 Qd6 18. Kb2 Rhe8 19. Rhe1 Rxe1 20. Rxe1 Bxd3 {Black stands well.}) (14. Nf3 Bxd3 15. cxd3 Nxd3+ {White has lost not only a P, but the game because after} 16. Kb1 Ne4 17. Qc2 Qf5 18. Nh4 Nxc3+ 19. Qxc3 Qxf4 20. Rxd3 Rxd3 21. Qxd3 Qxh4 {The ending is lost.}) 14... Qxf5 15. Qe3 { It's hard to believe, but white is dead lost! Watch what happens.} Rxd1+ { Black is clearly winning.} 16. Kxd1 Ng4 17. Qf3 Re8 {The threat is ...Re3 trapping the Q.} 18. Bd2 (18. Bd4 Rd8 19. Ne2 Ne6 {and white has no good reply. } 20. c3 Qb1+ 21. Kd2 (21. Nc1 Nxd4 22. Qxg4+ Nf5+ 23. Ke2 Qc2+ 24. Kf1 (24. Kf3 Qxc3+ 25. Kf2 Qe3+ 26. Kf1 Qxc1+) 24... Qxc1+) 21... Qxa2+ 22. Kc1 (22. Kd3 Nc5+ 23. Kc4 Qxb3+ 24. Kxc5 b6+ 25. Kc6 Rd6#) 22... Qa1+) 18... Ne4 19. Be1 { Defending f2, but watch the nimble Ns.} Ng3 {Again, the threat of ...Re3 winning the Q rears its ugly head.} 20. Bd2 Nxh1 21. Nh3 Nxh2 {White resigned. Very precise play by Marks.} 0-1