He was born in Plymouth, England on February 18, 1841 and passed away in New York City on October 12, 1912. He was the Canadian Champion in 1878/79, and he tied for first in 1882/83.
At Montreal in 1879, he defeated George H. Mackenzie, the dominate American player of the day, in a 14 board simultaneous exhibition.
Ascher was a chess columnist at New Dominion Monthly published in Montreal and he was editor of the Montreal Star and was president of the Young Men's Hebrew Association of Montreal, the first Jewish charitable organization in Canada.
How and when he ended up in Canada and later New York City is unknown, but in November of 1907 he played for the Manhattan Chess Club in a match against the Brooklyn Chess Club.
The building itself is remarkable for its architectural design and its incredible legacy both of which have made Carnegie Hall a national historic landmark and major cultural center.
Though victorious in the encounter held thirteen years previously Brooklyn, who had issued the challenge, lost rather badly. Manhattan won 11 games to Brooklyn's 6.
Here is the game Ascher lost in the match, but it could easily have gone the other way!
Dr. James R.Taber (Brooklyn)–Jacob G. Ascher (Manhattan)1–0C30Club Match, New York12.06.2024Komodo Dragon 3
C30: King's Gambit Declined 1.e4 e5 2.f4 c5 This is the classical way to
decline the gambit. The B prevents white from castling and often is such a
nuisance that white often expends two tempi to eliminate it by means of
Nc3–a4. 3.f3 3.fxe5 would lose... h4+ 4.g3 4.e2 xe4# 4...xe4+ wins the R. 3...d6 4.c4 4.b4 is the interesting Rotlewi Gambit,. The
idea is similar to that seen in the Evans Gambit in that white sacrifices a P
to try to build a strong center. xb4 5.c3 c5 6.d4 exd4 7.cxd4 4...f6 5.d3 0-0 5...a6 6.e2 c6 7.e3 xe3 8.xe3 g4 is equal. Blatny,P
(2495)-Ziatdinov,R (2500) Biel SUI 1991 6.c3 6.e2 g4 7.fxe5 dxe5 8.e3 bd7 9.bd2 c6 10.b3 b5 11.0-0 is equal. Steinitz,W-Anderssen,A London
1866 6...g4 6...exf4 is better. 7.b3 7.xf4 would land white in
trouble. d5 8.exd5 xd5 9.xd5 9.g3 e3 10.b3 xg2+ Black is winning. 9...xd5 10.d4 e4+ wins a piece. 7.a4 7.fxe5
and White has nothing to worry about. dxe5 8.a4 and now this is safe to
play. 7...a5 With thi move Ascher missed a golden opportunity. 7...d5 8.exd5 exf4 9.d4 e8+ 10.f2 e4+ 11.f1 d6 with the much better position. 8.h3 xf3 9.xf3 c6 10.a3 A better move would have been 10.f5 e7 10...exf4 This develops white's B which is probably why Ascher didn't play it, but
it's a good move because it allows him to exchange some pieces. 11.xf4 e5 12.xe5 dxe5 and this position is completely equa; 11.fxe5± dxe5 12.g5 g6 Somewhat safer would have been 12...Nd7 13.f1 13.h4 was a good
alternative. It shows why black's 10th move was not the best. e7 14.h5 f4 15.xf4 exf4 16.e5 d7 17.d4 White is clearly better. 13...e7 14.c2 This was still a good time to advance the h-Pawn. c6 15.e3 h6 15...b5 This is the last chance black gets to launch a counterattack. 16.axb5 cxb5 17.xb5 b8 18.c4 18.c4 d7 18...xd3 is too fisky. 19.d5 xf3 20.xe7+ xe7 21.gxf3 h6 22.xf6 gxf6 White has a strategically
won game. 19.xe7 xe7 20.xd7 xd7 White's Ps on b2 and d3 are under
attack and the position offers equal chances for both sides. 18...xb2
and the chances would be equal. 16.xf6 xf6 17.g4 The wrong piece lands
on g4! 17.g4 b5 Counterattack! 17...e7 18.xf7+ xf7 19.xh6+ gxh6 20.xf7+ h8 21.xg6 White has a decisive advantage. 18.xf6+ gxf6 19.b3 g7 White has the advantage, but black is still in the game. 17...f4
This N allows black to actively defend himself. 18.0-0-0 b5
Suddenly it's white who has to worry about how to best defend himself. 19.axb5 Not the best defense. 19.a2 bxa4 20.g3 e6 21.xe6 g5 22.b1 xe3 23.c4 with about equal chances. 19...cxb5 20.d5 20.xb5 would have
lost after b6 attacking two pieces and winning one of them. 20...xd5 21.xd5 g5+ 22.c2 The tables have turned and now it;s black that is on the
offensive, but his next move is a mistake...he needed to keep pressing his
attack and play 22...b4! f5 Evidently black hoped to lessen any danger on
the K-side by exchanging Rs. However, this idea is wring...he should have
pressed on with his Q0side counterplay with 22...b4! 22...b4 23.cxb4
His best defense is 23.Ra1 when black's advantage is minimal. axb4 24.xb4 a5 and wins. 23.xf5 b4 This is not nearly as effective as it would have
been if he had played it last move. 23...xf5 24.xf5 d6 25.f1 b4 26.f7+ h7 27.c4 b3+ 28.b1 a4 29.c7 a6 30.f7 g8 31.b6 Black's Q-side
attack is halted, but white can claim no more than a slight advantage. 24.df1 24.h4 was more precise. xf5 25.xf5 xh4 26.xe5 bxc3 27.bxc3
An interesting position. White dominates the center, but his K is exposed after
f8 In Shootouts from this position white scored +1 -0 =4 24...xf5 25.xf5 25.xf5 is the wrong way to recapture. bxc3 26.bxc3 26.xe5
loses to cxb2 27.xb2 27.e6+ h8 28.c3 b1+ 29.xb1 c8+ 27...b8+ 26...e8 27.d1 a4+ 28.e1 c2 and black has the better chances. 25...e8 26.a1 Prevents ...Qa4+ b5 What a pity! This loses at
once. However, it's quite possible that black simply missed white's
zwischenzug. 26...bxc3 results in complete equality. 27.bxc3 d8
In orfer to reposition the B. 28.h4 a4 29.g4 b8 30.b1 xb1 31.xb1 b5+ 32.b4 c5 33.d7 Neither side is liekly to make progress. 27.e6+
...and wins. However, white must play this before he executes the N fork! 27.c7 It's quite possible this is what Ascher was expecting (or at least hoping
for). b3+ 28.d1 xd3+ 29.e1 h4+ 30.g3 xg3+ 31.f2 f8 mate next move.
27...h8 28.c7 b3+ 29.xb3 Black resigned 29.xb3 xb3+ 30.xb3 a7 31.e6 e7 32.c4 with a routine win. 1–0
No comments:
Post a Comment