The other brother was Thomas Loyd (1830-1914), the oldest of the brothers, is better known. He was born Camden, New Jersey.
The Loyd brothers were first introduced to the game on the Delaware River steamboats while going from their home in Bordentown, a city in New Jersey, to Philadelphia. They often made these trips in connection with their father’s business.
On one of his trips to Philadelphia Thomas purchased a copy of Games at Chess (games played by Philidor) that had been published in London in 1835. He paid 10 cents for the book which is about the equivalent of $3.60 today.
This was the first chess book that the brothers owned and after they had devoured the the games in it, they used the book to record games they played between themselves, many of which were blindfold games.
Thomas remembered in the early 1840's attending a Chinese Museum where Kempel's Automaton was exhibited. It had been invented in Vienna in 1769 and was destroyed by fire in Philadelphia, July 5, 1854. Their cousin Loyd Smith played the automation successfully for several years.
Thomas died March 7, 1914, at his home in Plainfield, New Jersey where he had lived for many years. He was the player of the family and started chess meetings at the rooms of the New York Society Library with Frederick Perrin and Miron Perrin and Hazeltine.
The following game between Thomas and Isaac, Thomas was blindfold and his play is very impressive. The tactical analysis with Stockfish 17 gives him an accuracy percentage of an incredible 96%, meaning his move selection matched the engine almost perfectly which is a nearly impossible feat even with sight of the board!
[Event "New York"] [Site "New York, NY USA"] [Date "1856.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Thomas Loyd (Blindfold)"] [Black "Isaac S Loyd"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C44"] [Annotator "Stockfish 17"] [PlyCount "53"] [EventDate "1856.??.??"] [Source "Hazeltine Scrapb"] {C44: Ponziani Opening} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. c3 {The ancient Ponziani was known as far back as 1297 and was advocated by Howard Staunton, the strongest player of the day.} Bc5 {Usual is either 3,,,Nf6 or 3,,,d5. The text, which seldom played, is is less gooe because black loses a tempo.} 4. b4 (4. d4 exd4 5. cxd4 Bb4+ 6. Nc3 {is advantageous for white.}) 4... Bb6 5. b5 Na5 6. Nxe5 { White appears to have won a P, but he cannot not hold on to it.} Qe7 (6... Nf6 {is correct.} 7. d4 (7. d3 {Blacj equalizes after} d5 8. exd5 O-O 9. d4 Nxd5 10. Bd3 c5 {Now white should castle because if} 11. dxc5 Bc7 12. f4 Qh4+ 13. g3 Qe7 14. O-O Rd8 {and black is better owing to the looseness of white;s position.}) 7... d6 8. Nf3 Nxe4 {with complete equality.}) 7. d4 d6 8. Ba3 f6 { Black insists on forcing the N to move so he can regain his P. but this move only weakens hos position and his K in the center is going to prove a problem.} (8... c5 {was played in in Hebel,J-Esswein,P Hamburg 1993, but white failed to find the right continuation e\which is : 1-0 (55)} 9. bxc6 bxc6 10. Bd3 Nf6 11. O-O O-O {and after 12.Nf3 and Re1 white stands quite well.}) (8... Qh4 { is the best way to regain the P, but after} 9. Nf3 Qxe4+ 10. Be2 Nf6 11. O-O O-O 12. c4 {white has a much freer position.}) 9. Nf3 Qxe4+ 10. Be2 Nc4 11. O-O Nxa3 {The disappearance of this B is not important because it has served it purpose.} 12. Re1 Qf4 (12... Nc4 13. Bxc4 {is very bad for black.}) 13. Nxa3 { Black does not appreciate the lurking danger to his K. His best try was 13... Ne7, but even then he would remai in grave danger.} d5 {Black gets gutted after this} 14. Bc4+ {.} Ne7 15. Bxd5 Qd6 16. Qb3 Rf8 17. Re3 Kd8 18. Bf7 c6 19. bxc6 bxc6 20. Rae1 {The mop up follows and there are no major improvements for either side.} Nf5 21. Nc4 Qd7 22. Nxb6 axb6 23. Qxb6+ Qc7 24. Re8+ Rxe8 25. Rxe8+ Kd7 26. Be6+ Kd6 (26... Kxe8 27. Qxc7) 27. Qc5# 1-0
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