Fox Bashes Bampton

      In 1904, in the United States life expectancy was a mere 46.2 years for men and 49.1 years for men. King C. Gillette patented his Gillette razor blade. Thomas Sullivan accidentally invented tea bags when he wanted the small bags to be samples of the tea. People dunked them instead. 

     Several people in the US and England began selling ice cream in edible cones, each claiming to be the inventor. However, ice cream cones were sold during the St Louis World Fair by Charles E. Menches. In fact, the 1906 World’s Fair was the a turning point for American food. Besides ice cream cones the list includes the hamburger, the hot dog, peanut butter, the club sandwich, cotton candy, to name just a few. 

     In chess in 1904, the famous chess salon at Simpson’s Restaurant in London closed when Simpson’s was bought out by the Savoy Hotel group of companies. The chess club was first formed at Simpson’s in 1828. 

     In 1904, the cable matches between the United States and England was halted due to the Russio-Japanese war because cables were filled with battle reports and diplomatic messages. 

     Frank Marshall tied for 1st with Rudolf Swiderski in the Rice Gambit tournament held in Monte Carlo. Marshall also won the great Cambridge Springs international tournament. But, he wasn't through...he wonderful the 7th American Chess Congress held in St Louis. 

     In 1904, a series of annual over the board matches between the Manhattan Chess Club and Franklin Chess Club (of Philadelphia) that was inaugurated on May 30th on what was then know as Decoration Day. After WW2 people began referring to the holiday as Memorial Day. 

     The initial match for the Martinez trophy took place at the rooms of the Manhattan Chess Club which at that time was located in Carnegie Hall. Luster was added to the match by the participation of Frank Marshall, who 10 days earlier had taken first prize at Cambridge Springs and his opponent in the match, Harry N. Pillsbury. It’s not clear why these two great masters were on second board, but it’s likely that the club champions were on first board. In any case, after a lively game Pillsbury obtained a partial revenge for his losses to Marshall. 

 

 

     A dinner was held at the Hotel Savoy after the match and Marshall was presentation an expensive gold watch and chain in recognition of his results in the international arena. 

     The best known Franklin Chess Club players of the day were Walter Penn Shipley and Emil Kemeny. The loser of this games was Samuel W. Bampton (1863-1952) who had the distinction of winning the club's junior championship seven times: 1887, 1892 and 1885 through 1899! According to the Edo Historical Rating site, Bampton's highest rating was achieved in 1896 when he peaked at 2403. 

     Besides being a pretty good chess player, the winner, Albert W. Fox (1881-1964), was a newspaperman and lawyer. He was born in Boston and spent a few years in Germany studying mathematics. He won the championships of the prestigious Brooklyn and Manhattan clubs. A brilliant tactician, he was the youngest participant at Cambridge Springs on 1904 where he won games from Schlechter, Janowski and Chigorin. In In 1915, Capablanca claimed Fox was one of the most promising young players in the world and added, “...at the time he gave up chess to engage in newspaper work, and I still think he is the best odds giver I have ever seen.” Pretty high praise! 

[Event "Club Match, New York"] [Site "?"] [Date "1904.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Albert W. Fox (Manhattan)"] [Black "Samuel Bampton (Franklin)"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C66"] [Annotator "Stockfish 16"] [PlyCount "51"] [EventDate "1904.??.??"] {[%evp 11,51,49,56,31,70,67,71,60,61,43,45,38,244,253,511,512,513,494,525,505, 510,494,540,530,536,514,516,515,582,582,582,580,583,579,920,936,959,970,1378, 1364,29991,1110] C66: Ruy Lopez} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 {The Berlin Defense is a classical way of meeting the Ruy Lopez. Black develops the N to a good square and attacks the e-Pawn, but this is not actual a threat because if black play ...Nxe4 white can easily win back the P. The defense can lead to an early exchange of Q resulting in an early endgame being reached thta slightly favord white. Even so, it's difficult for white to make any use of his advantage and so the defense is often played by players wanting to draw.} 4. O-O {By far the most common move, but occasionally 4.Nc3 is seen.} Be7 (4... Nxe4 5. d4 Nd6 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. dxe5 Nf5 {is the main line.}) 5. Re1 d6 { The opening has transposed into the Old Steinitz Defense which is passive and cramped, but quite solid.} 6. c3 O-O 7. d3 Ne8 {Instead of the super solid 7... Re8 black intends to play ...f5} 8. Nbd2 f5 9. exf5 Bxf5 10. Ne4 (10. d4 exd4 11. Qb3+ Kh8 12. Bxc6 bxc6 13. Nxd4 Bd7 14. N2f3 {is only very slightly better for white.}) 10... Bg4 11. Qb3+ d5 {A miscalculation that costs the game...the reason will soon be apparent.} (11... Kh8 {keeps the balance. For example...} 12. Neg5 {Taking on c6 leads nowhere.} Bxg5 13. Nxg5 Qf6 14. f3 Bc8 15. d4 Qg6 (15... exd4 16. Bd3 Na5 17. Nf7+ Kg8 18. Nh6+ Kh8 19. Qb5 {and black is in deep trouble.}) 16. dxe5 h6 17. Bxc6 bxc6 18. Ne4 Rxf3 {with a complicated position offering equal chances.}) 12. Bxc6 {[%mdl 32]} Bxf3 {Going from bad to worse.} (12... bxc6 13. Nxe5 {picks off a P and there follows} Bd7 14. Bg5 Bxg5 15. Nxg5 {White has a decisive advantage.} Qxg5 16. Nxd7 Rf7 17. Qb7 Rd8 18. Ne5 Rf8 19. Nxc6) 13. Bxd5+ Kh8 14. gxf3 {White has won a piece and black has zero compensation.} c6 (14... Rxf3 15. Bxb7 Rb8 16. Qd5 Rxd3 17. Qxd8 Rdxd8 18. Bc6 {White has won a piece.}) 15. Bf7 Nd6 16. Nxd6 Qxd6 17. Qe6 Qxd3 18. Qxe7 Qxf3 {Black can resign at any time, but naturally he wants to stretch the game out becuase who wants to lose a teen-mover?} 19. Re3 {[%mdl 32] Black gets in some spite checks, but that's all.} Qd1+ 20. Kg2 Qg4+ 21. Rg3 Qe4+ 22. Kf1 {White threatens Bh6! and mate.} Qh1+ 23. Rg1 Qf3 {This prevents the mate with 24.Bh6 (24...Qh3+ wins the B), but white has a clever alternative.} (23... b6 {A pass to show white's threat and it's a pretty nifty one.} 24. Bh6 Rxf7 25. Qxf7 Qxg1+ 26. Kxg1 Rg8 27. Kh1 e4 28. Rg1 c5 29. Bxg7+ Rxg7 30. Qxg7#) 24. Rxg7 Qd3+ (24... Rae8 25. Rxh7+ Kxh7 26. Bxe8+ Kg8 27. Qg5+ Kh8 28. Qxe5+ Qf6 29. Qh5+ Kg7 30. Be3 {etc.}) (24... Kxg7 25. Bh5+ {wins the Q}) 25. Kg1 Rg8 ( 25... Rxf7 26. Qxf7 Qd1+ 27. Kg2 Qd5+ 28. Qxd5 cxd5 29. Rxb7) 26. Bxg8 { Black resigned. Not that it matters, but 26.Rg3 mates a move quicker.} (26. Bxg8 Qd1+ 27. Kg2 Rxg8 28. Bh6 Qd5+ 29. Kg1 Qe6 30. Qxe6 Rxg7+ 31. Kf1 Rg6 32. Qxe5+ Rf6 33. Qxf6+ Kg8 34. Qg7#) 1-0