Manhattan CC vs. Franklin CC, 1904

    In 1904 the Manhattan Chess club met the Franklin Chess Club of Philadelphia in an over then board match that was played in the Manhattan Chess Club in Carnegie Hall at corner Seventh Avenue and Fifty-Sixth Street, New York. 

    Luster was lent to the match because Frank Marshall, who just ten days earlier had taken first prize in the great Cambridge Springs, and the U.S. Champion Harry N. Pillsbury who was able to obtain some partial revenge for some of his recent losses to Marshall. 

    During supper at the Hotel Savoy Marshall was presented an expensive gold watch and chain in recognition of his wonderful success at Cambridge Springs that year. 

    Why these two giants were playing on second board is not known, but presumably it was because Fox and Bampton were the champions of their clubs.

    This was the first time that Pillsbury, who had moved to Philadelphia, had entered the Manhattan Chess Club since an incident that had taken place several years previously when he resigned his membership in a huff because someone had stolen his umbrella.

 

ChessBase

Harry N. Pillsbury (Franklin)–Frank Marshall (Manhattan)1–0D02Manhattan CC - Franklin CC, New YorkManhattan CC, New York, NY USA30.05.1904Stockfish 16

D02: QP Opening 1.d4 d5 2.f3 c5 3.dxc5 e6 4.e4 xc5 4...dxe4 is a mistake. After 5.xd8+ xd8 6.g5 e8 7.xe4 black has an unfavorable position. 5.b5+ c6 6.0-0 a6 7.a4 ge7 8.c3 8.e5 0-0 9.d3 a7 10.c3 b5 11.exd5 xd5 12.xd5 xd5 13.b3 Pezelj,N (2276)-Benkovic,P (2433) Mataruska Banja 2007, The position is equal. 8...d4 9.e2 0-0 10.a3 e5 11.b4 a7 12.g3 e6 13.b5 axb5 14.xb5 h6 thus prevents Ng5. 15.b1 c5 White should now play 16.a4 with equal chances. Instead Pillsbury chooses a risky continuation. 16.xc6 xc6 16...bxc6 17.xe5 xa3 is only equal. 17.xb7 b6 The R is trapped. 18.h4 a5 18...xh4 would result in equality after 19.xb6 fc8 19.xb6 xb6 20.h5 White has what appears to be a dangerous attack, but black has sufficient defensive resources. ] c4 20...d7 allowing the Q to defend h6 kept the advantage. Now Marshall's best move is 21.xe5 fe8 22.h5 c4 23.hf5 xf5 24.xf5 Here he can play it safe with 24...Qg6 or he can take up the challenge and capture the e-Pawn. xe4 25.xh6+ gxh6 26.d5 ae8 27.xc4 e1 28.d2 A difficult position which slightly favors black. In Shootouts using Stockfish white scored +0 -4 =1 21.xh6 gxh6 22.xh6 f5 Brilliant...but also the only defense. 22...f6 23.h5 a7 24.g6+ h8 25.xf6 xf6 25...g8 26.h6+ h7 27.g6# 26.xf6+ h7 27.g6+ h8 28.h6+ g8 29.g6 c8 30.f8+ h7 31.xc8 xg6 32.xc4 white is winning. 23.g5+ g6 Materially white has only 3 Ps vs. a R, but the chances are equal. 24.h5 Black needs to defend precisely. fb8 ...which he does not and with this move he loses the game. 24...fd8!= and black stays safe. 25.f6+ f8 26.h6+ e7 and now white cannot continue as in the game with 27.d5+ xd5 28.exd5 xc2 with a decisive advantage, but it require a lot of nursing to score the point as the following possible continuation shows. 29.d6+ xd6 30.g7 a5 31.f3 e8 32.g5+ f6 33.g8 e6 34.h8 d3 35.h4 d6 36.d2 a4 37.h5 h4 38.f3 f7 39.b8 d4 40.g4 g5 41.h2 d8 42.a7+ d7 43.c5+ f7 44.g3 g7 45.a1 e7 46.e1 d7 47.a1 a4 48.c1 e4 49.h6+ h7 50.e1 c6 51.f4 e3 52.xe3 e4+ 53.xe4 xe4 54.b4 d2 55.xe4 xe4 56.xe4+ f5 and wins. 25.f6+ f8 25...g7 leads to mate. 26.f5+ h8 27.h6+ h7 28.xh7# 26.h6+ e7 27.d5+ d7 28.xb6+ xb6 29.g7 e7 30.f4 f6 31.f5 h5 32.b1 Threatening mate with Rb7+. a7 33.b8 White wants to mate with Qf8+. fa6 34.h8 d6 35.f8+ c6 36.c8+ d6 37.xc4 xa3 38.b6+ d7 39.c6+ Black resigned. It's mate in 2. According to Stockfish Pillsbiry's play was nearly flawless. 1–0

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