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| Reichelm |
Newspapers often featured reports directly from the battlefield and photography, a relatively new development, brought the horrific imagery of the war into people’s homes.
One development in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania during that time were “sanitary fairs”. These fairs were patriotic, voluntary affairs and they climaxed with the Great Central Fair of 1864 in Logan Square in the city. It provided a creative and communal way for ordinary citizens to promote the welfare of Union soldiers.
Sanitary fairs were civilian organized bazaars and expositions dedicated to raising funds and supplies for the United States Sanitary Commission and other charitable relief organizations.
The Sanitary Commission was the only civilian run organization recognized by the federal government. It offered assistance to the military. Civilian volunteers advised on the physical and mental health of the military, assisted in organizing military hospitals and camps and aided in the transportation of the wounded. They also distributed medical supplies, food and clothing where needed.
Naturally, in 1864 there was not a lot of chess activity, but in January the Philadelphia Chess Club defeated the Paulsen Chess Club in New York in a one game telegraph match.
In June 1864, former Union Captain George H. Mackenzie (1837-1891), who was born in Scotland and moved to the US in 1863, became a Captain in the 10th United States Colored Troops Regiment. Then in June of 1864, he was declared a deserter, was arrested and forfeited all pay and allowances. He was released from prison in May, 1865, and moved to New York and started playing chess. By 1867, he was US champion.
A prominent Philadelphia player of the era was Gustav Reichelm (1839-1905). Besides being a strong player, he was a journalist and composer who also stood out as an analyst. Chess metrics estimates his highest ever rating to have been 2363 in 1869 and his best ever world rank to have been number 5 (behind Berthold Suhlem Wilhelm Steinitz, Hans von Minckwitz and Philipp Hirschfeld), but needles to say information upon which to estimate ratings was scant in those days.
He was a specialist also in Pawn endings and he published a famous study with Emanuel Lasker with whom he was very friendly and with whom he used to play and analyze. He was editor of Brentano Chess Monthly and for the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin.
Reichelm was born in Prussia. He and his brother Frederic began their studies at the Gymnasium (a preparatory school) previous to their father' s death in 1816. Gustavus remained at the Gymnasium until he was qualified to pursue his studies at the University of Halle where he studied law.
He came to the United States in about 1831 and made the acquaintance of a couple of homeopathic doctors in Allentown. Pennsylvania at what was the first homeopathic college in the country. He studied there and from that time until his death he was an ardent disciple of Homeopathy.
He commenced practicing in Hamburg, Pennsylvania, but on the advice of his mentor he moved to Pittsburgh in 1837 where he enjoyed great success. In 1853, much to the regret of his friends in Pittsburgh, he moved to Philadelphia.
His opponent in the following amusing game was Hardman Montgomery (1834-1870), the youngest son of John C. Montgomery, formerly Postmaster of Philadelphia.
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| Montgomery |
After entering the University of Pennsylvania as a Sophomore in 1851, Montgomery's talent for chess and mathematics was soon spotted by one of his professors.
From 1852 onward, Montgomery quickly rose among the ranks of local players and was a member of the successful Philadelphia team beating New York in two correspondence games in 1855-1856.
Montgomery was the sole Philadelphia representative in the 1st American Chess Congress held in New York in 1857. It was a knockout tournament and Montgomery defeated his first round opponent, William S Allison, but lost the next round to Louis Paulsen.
Because of the popularity of Paul Morphy the Philadelphia Chess Club was founded and Montgomery became its first President.
In 1861, after losing a match against New York's Theodore Lichtenhein (+2 -7 =1), Montgomery practically retired from serious chess. However, he did later defeat James A. Leonard (+8 -4 =2) in 1861 and lost a match Reichhelm (+4 -8 =0 in 1864.
Montgomery resided in Philadelphia and New York and practiced law for a time in Pennsylvania. Eventually he moved to California. On Christmas day in 1869 he was struck with paralysis and then on January 22, 1870, at the age of 34, he suffered a fatal stroke. He died in Marysville, California.
The game given here was not very well played. In fact, Reichhelm was losing, but Montgomery let him get away.
Hardman Montgomery–Gustavus Reichhelm0–1C44PhiladelphiaPhiladelphia1864Stockfish 16
C44: Scotch Gambit 1.e4 e5 2.f3 c6 3.d4 This opening was
analyzed as far back as 1750 and received the name Scotch Game fromm a
correspondence match in 1824 between Edinburgh and London. It remained popular
in the 1800s, but by 1900 it was considered to give b;ack easy equality. In
modern times Garry Kasparov and Jan Timman used it occasionally as a surprise exd4 4.d3 Very passive. 4.Nxd4 or 4.Bc4 are usually played. c5 5.c3
Offering a P after playing the passive 4.Bd3 may not seem logical, but in
doing so white frees up his game. 5.bd2 e7 6.b3 b6 7.a3 d6 8.d2 g4 9.0-0 Black is better. Scherbakova,G-Kozhukina,E Odessa 2008 5...dxc3 6.0-0 Equally good was 6.Nxc3, but he offer of another P is also quite playable.
ge7 6...cxb2 7.xb2 f6 8.e5 allows white plenty of play and black's
attacked N has no really good square to retreat to. 7.e5 This is less
effective with black's N on e7 because now the Ps advance does not gain a
tempo. Better was 7.Nxc3 0-0 Castling at this point is risky because defend
ing against the coming attack will require precision. 7...cxb2 While this
might look risky it would leave black with the advantage. 8.xb2 d5 8...0-0 9.xh7+ xh7 Better is 9...Kh8, but white has a very promising position. 10.g5+ wins 9.exd6 xd6 White does not have quite enough compensation for
the two Ps. 7...d5 This is simply a transposition. 8.exd6 cxb2 9.xb2 xd6 with the same position as after 7...cxb2 8.xh7+ Of course! Black
can survive this, but accurate defense is a must. xh7 Forced. 8...h8 9.g5 g6 9...g8 10.xg8 xg8 11.h5 wins 10.f3 f5 11.xg6 wins.
Just one line... g7 12.xf5 xe5 13.g3 g6 14.xg6 fxg6 15.xc3+ g8 16.xc5 9.g5+ g6 This is the right square for the K. White has no forced win
IF black accurately defends. 9...g8 would lose. 10.h5 e8 11.h7+ f8 12.h8+ g8 13.h7+ e7 14.g5+ f6 15.exf6+ e6 15...xf6 16.xg7+ d6 17.xc3 d4 18.xf6 e6 19.g3+ c6 20.b4 b6 21.xd8 xd8 22.bxc5 wins 16.f7 xf7 17.xd8+- 10.d3+ f5 10...f5 was a better defense. 11.exf6+ f5 12.fxg7 xg7 13.h3 e7 14.xc3 g8 15.d5 g7 In Shootouts
from this position white scored +1 -0 =4, so black has reasonable drawing
chances. 11.g4 d6 The correct move here and the one that results in
equality is 11...d5. As will be seen, the reason is that 11...d5 makes e4
inaccessible to white's N. 11...d5 12.gxf5+ xf5 13.g3 h5 14.xc3 f6 15.exf6 gxf6 16.h3 g8 12.gxf5+ xf5 13.g3 Threatening Ne6+ h5
The safest square for the K, but white is clearly better. 14.xc3 f6 14...xe5 15.d5 d3 16.h3 xc1 17.xg7 g6 18.f6+ h4 19.h6+ h5 20.xh5# 14...dxe5 15.h1 f6 16.ge4 xe4+ 17.xe4 g5 18.f3+ g6 19.xc5
is decisive. 15.ce4 Wrong N!! This is a losing blunder. 15.ge4 Had black's P been on d5 (see move 11) this would not have been.
possible. White is now winning. xe4 16.xe4 e7 17.h1 xe5 18.f3+ g6 19.f4 e6 20.g1+ f7 21.xc5 15...fxg5 16.xg5 e8 After this black's
advantage is not so great, but the better Q sacrifice would not be so clear
over the board! 16...d4 is another story. 17.fe1 xe4 18.xd8 f3+ 19.f1 d3+ 20.e2 axd8 21.d1 xe2+ 22.xe2 g5 Black's advantage should
prove decisive. 17.xc5 After this white loses quickly. 17.ae1 puts up stouter resistance. d4 18.f4 g6 Black is better. 17...dxc5 18.h1 xe5 Black is clearly winning. 19.f4 e4+ 20.g1 d4+ 21.f2 e5 The N joins the attack. 22.h3+ g6 The strong threat is ...
Nf3_ 23.e6+ f6 24.xf6 f3+ 25.f1 White wants to mate with Rg2+. d3+ Correct! 25...gxf6 is a self mate. 26.g2+ h5 27.h3+ h4 28.g4+ h6 29.xh4# 26.g2 g5+ 27.g1 h3+ White resigned. 27...h3+ 28.xh3 xh3 Stockfish informs us that there is a mate in 21 moves! 29.d4 g4+ 30.f1 cxd4 31.e1 d3+ 32.ee2 xe2+ 33.xe2 f3+ 34.e1 xf4 35.d1 d3 36.e1 f3+ 37.d2 f2+ 38.c3 c2+ 39.d4 d8+ 40.e3 c5+ 41.f3 f8+ 42.e4 e8+ 43.xd3 d8+ 44.e2 e5+ 45.f1 f8+ 46.g2 xe1 47.h4 e2+ 48.g3 f3+ 49.g4 g2# 0–1
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