Chessplayers lost that year were the leading Philadelphia player Chales Verzin (1781-1853) and the great German player Lionel Kieseritzky (1806-1853) who died in Paris at the young age of 47. He was committed to a mental home in Paris and was buried in a pauper's grave.
In New York City that year an 8-player knockout tournament was held. One interesting aspect was that some of the players were given material odds by the better players. James Thompson defeated Adolphe Möhle by a score of 3-0. Both players won a chess set as their prize.
The following game was played by a Mister McCoombe who was saileing from Glasgow, Scotland to Melbourne in Australia. The ship was in the Bay of Biscay which is located west of France and north of Spain. Just a note in passing, according to Bill Wall1853 was the year the first time a chess game was played using signals at sea between ships.
The Bay’s average depth is 5,722 feet and its maximum depth, a little south of its center, is 15,525 feet. The Bay is noted among sailors for its rough seas. Gales can be severe and winds may exceed 70 miles per hour. Squalls are also a hazard and may occur at any time of year. Not the place to be, especially on an 1850s ship!
Mister McCoombe’s opponent was a Frenchman, Monsieur Luiser, who was in an adjoining cabin. It was to be a 10,000 mile trip, so they played a lot of chess.
After white played his 10th move in the following game it was adjourned at Monsieur Luiser’s request because the ship was encountering very rough seas and the pieces would not stay put. The game was continued the next day.
As Mister McCoombe humorously told it, after adjournment as he was packing up the pieces, Monsieur Luiser scampered towards the bow of the ship. Just as he was about to climb up to the The forecastle (the upper deck of a sailing ship forward of the foremast. Historically, it is the forward part of a ship with the sailors' living quarters) a huge wave hit the ship causing it to rise and fall with tremendous violence. Monsieur Luiser was knocked down and soaked and slowly staggered back to his cabin. I guess you had to be there.
By the way, for an idea of what heavy seas look like, check out my post HERE!
Playing through the game quickly gave the impression that white had a pretty easy win, but analysis showed it was filled with complications galore! Thinking about the conditions under which it was played makers you wonder how they players managed to play as well as they did!
A.G. McCoombe–Monsieur Luiser1–0C23The ship Abdalla, in the Bay of Biscay11.04.1853Stockfish 16
C23: Bishop's Opening: 2...Bc5 1.e4 e5 2.c4 In the Bishop's Opening
white atta ks f7. It’s one of the oldest openings to be analyzed, dating
back to the late 1400’s and early 1500s. In modern time Weaver Adams once
advocated it as winning, but when he couldn’t prove it, he switched to the
Vienna as a winning opening, but he couldn’t prove that either. In more
recent time some attacking players (Larsen, Kasparov, Nunn and Leko) have used
it as a surprise, but it really only leads to equality. c5 The most popular
move is 2...Nf6 (the Berlin Defense) because it forces white to devide how to
defend his e-Pawn. The text is the Classical Defense; it offers white a slew
of possibilities. 3.e2 When I first saw this I thought beginner's move!.
But I was wrong! It shows up in my database with white scoring +5 -3 =0. d6 3...e7 4.xf7+ f8 Losing. He needed to take the B. 5.c4 d6 6.c3 d7 7.d3 b6 8.b3 b4 9.h5 c5 10.d1 1-0 Castillo,D (2041)-Tanha,T Dresden
2008 4.f4 While hardly bad, this may be a bit too aggressive. 4.d3 f6
Equally good is 6...Nc6 5.c3 a6 6.g5 with equal chances. Gohlke,H (2166)
-Gilde,G (1630) Sottrum 2005 4...exf4 5.f3 g5 While this move is seen in
similar positions in the K-Gambit, here it's not good because of white's next
move. The solid 5...Nc6 was much safer. 6.d4 6.b4 is an interesting
alternative. b6 6...xb4 7.b2 f6 8.xg5 e7 9.xf7+ and black is in
a difficult situation. 7.b2 f6 8.xg5 e7 9.xf7+ etc. 6...b6 6...g4 fails against 7.dxc5 gxf3 8.xf3 e6 9.xe6 fxe6 10.xf4 At first
glance black's position looks safe enough, but he is, in fact, losing because
his K has nowhere that's safe. e7 11.cxd6 cxd6 12.c3 0-0 13.g3+ h8 14.xd6 7.g3 Terrible, but things are a little tricker than they appear! 7.h4 keeps the pressure on black. c6 7...g4 8.g5 h6 9.xf4 and black's
position is on the verge of collapse. 8.hxg5 xd4 9.xd4 xd4 10.xf7+ xf7 11.c4+ e8 12.xd4 xg5 White can easily fall into a trap here! 13.0-0 13.xh8 xg2 14.f1 g3+ 15.f2 g1+ White has to consent to the draw
here and not play 16.e2 g4+ 17.d3 g3+ 18.c4 e6+ 19.b5 xf2 20.a4 b5+ 21.a3 xc2 22.c3 a5 23.b3 b4+ 24.a4 d7+ 25.b5 xb5+ 26.xb5 c5+ 27.a4 c6# 13...f6 14.d3 e7 15.xf4 White's better, but black has
chances of surviving. 7...fxg3 Very obliging on black's part. 7...g4 8.h4 xd4 8...f3 is also OK. 9.d3 f6 10.e3 with the
slightly better position. c6 9.xf7+ xf7 10.c4+ e6 11.xd4 f6
Black is slightly better. 7...c6 Developing is his best course of action.
8.c3 and now g4 9.h4 f3 and in this position it's black who stands
slightly better. 8.xg5 8.hxg3 was not nearly as good. g4 9.d3 c6 10.xg5 f6 11.h4 d7 followed bo ...O-O-O and black has nearly equalized. 8...h6 This should have lost quickly. 8...f6 was necessary. 9.xf7+ f8 10.hxg3 c6 11.c3 e7 12.h5 and, at leaset, black has avoided
immediate defeat. 9.0-0 After this move white's advantage completely
disappears! 9.hxg3 attacking the N wraps it up. g8 10.xf7+ f8 11.xg8 xg8 11...xg8 12.f2+ f6 13.xf6+ e8 14.f7+ d8 15.xg8+ d7 16.xh7+ c6 17.d5# 12.c3 c6 13.f4 f6 14.0-0-0 With all his pieces in
play white is ready to launch the final assault. After a break to to get a
coffee this is Stockfish's continuation... d5 15.exd5 h6 16.ge4 g6 17.c4 d8 18.dxc6+ f7 19.c7 xc7 20.f6+ g7 21.h5+ g6 22.xf7+ xf7 23.xc7 g6 24.df1 d7 25.f4+ h7 26.e6 g8 27.f4 g6 28.c7 b8 29.7d5
with a clear win. 9...0-0 Black counterblunders. It's odd that
castling is a blunder! 9...g8 and black has nothing to worry about. 10.h5 10.xh7 xd4+ 11.h1 g2+ wins 10...g6 11.h3 d7 11...xd4+ 12.g2 d7 13.xh7 is good for white. 12.c3 12.xh7 g2 13.f3 e5 14.xh6 xd4+ wins for black. 10.h5 At this point the game was adjourned due to
rough seas, but white is already winning. xd4+ 11.h1 This is another
mistake after which the chances remain about equal. 11.g2 keeps the win
in hand. g7 12.xf7 xf7 13.xf7+ xf7 14.xf7 e6 15.xg7+ xg7 16.h6+ f7 17.g5 f8 18.f6+ g8 19.xe6+ 11...g7 12.xf7 12.xf7 Now it's
clear why the K should have gone to g2. xf7 13.xf7+ h8 and he has to
play Kg2 anyway in order to defend the R and so black can equalize. 14.g2 d7 15.hxg3 g4 12...xf7= 13.xf7 xf7 14.xf7+ Once again the
chances of both sides can be considered equal. f8 Also good was 14...Kh8 15.g5 Black needs to defend precisely. f6 Which
he does not! 15...d7 16.d5 c6 17.c3 Essential...white must bet his R
into play. 17.b3 g2+ 18.g1 d4+ 19.xg2 h3+ 20.xh3 xh3+ 21.xh3 xb2 wins for black. 17...cxd5 18.f1+ g8 19.xd5 c6 20.f4 g2+ 21.g1 d4+ 22.xg2 h3+ 23.xh3 xh3+ 24.xh3 xb2 White's and black's
chances are comparable. 16.c3 Once his R gets into play the
game will be over. xg5 17.xh7 g2+ 18.xg2 f4 18...h3+ was a long
shot for if 19.xh3 d7+ 20.g3 xf7 he can play on...for a while anyway. 19.g8+ White now has a mate in 7 which he pulls off precisely. e7 20.d5+ d7 21.e8+ Nice! xe8 22.f6+ c6 23.c4+ b6 24.d5+ a5 25.b4+ a6 26.xc7# What a game!! 1–0
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