A big, juicy story that year was Irish poet, playwright and novelist Oscar Wilde's series of legal proceedings that ended in a trial that found him guilty of gross indecency. The judge described the sentence, the maximum allowed, as "totally inadequate" and claimed the case was the worst he had ever tried.
A couple of friends had advised Wilde to head for Dover and get a boat to France, but his mother advised him to stay and fight which he did. He pleaded not guilty, but on May 25,1895, he and Alfred Taylor were convicted of gross indecency and sentenced to two years' hard labor.
Although it is widely believed that the charges were related to Wilde's consensual activities, it has been suggested that he took advantage of teenagers and paid for sex with youths under the age of 18. Wilde was released from prison on May 19, 1897 and immediately left for for Dieppe, France and never returned to the United Kingdom/
In early September of 1895, Pillsbury won at Hastings ahead of Chigorin and Lasker. In December he was in St. Petersburg, Russia for a Quadrangular tournament that was won by Lasker ahead of Steinitz, Pillsbury and Chigorin. While there Pillsbury contracts syphilis which later killed him.
Without treatment, syphilis can damage the heart, brain or other organs. Early syphilis can be cured, sometimes with a single shot of penicillin, but that didn;t come on the market until 1928.
Without treatment it gets nasty. After the latent stage, up to 30% to 40% of people with syphilis who don't get treatment have complications known as tertiary syphilis that may include damage to the brain, nerves, eyes, heart, blood vessels, liver, bones and joints.
Sores and rashes on the skin, discolored skin and eyes, fever, anemia, swollen spleen and liver, sneezing or stuffed, drippy nose, deafness, teeth problems and saddle nose, a condition in which the bridge of the nose collapses are symptoms.
Earlier in 1895, Lasker, then World Champion, moved back to London and then later he moved to Manchester. Jackson W, Showalter won the 5th US championship in a match against Simon Lipschultz. The Swiss pairing system was invented by J. Muller and was first used in Zurich.
Players lost in 1895 were a leading English player of the 1870s, William Norwood Potte. Martin From, an analyst and inventor of From’s Gambit (1.f4 e5), died in Copenhagen. Georges Emile Barbier a French problem composer who had also won the Scottish championship in 1886.
The following game was played in the 1895 Brooklyn Chess Club Championship. Yoe will note that a Morphy was playing; it was John Morphy (18601912, 52 years old), who was originally from Dublin, Ireland.
The winner was Salomon Rocamora (1855-1924, 69 years old) who was born in Hamburg, Germany and died in New York. He was a sugar trader. His opponent was David Finlay who was born in 1845 in Sligo, Ireland. The 1915 Census stated that he was a bookkeeper who had been living in the US for the past 51 years, so arrived in the US in about 1864.
Rocamora broke through Finlay's French Defense in pretty style when the game appeared to be entirely blocked.
Salomon Rocamora–David Finlay1–0C14Brooklyn CC Championship 1895/967Brooklyn, NY USA (Brooklyn CC)17.12.1895Stockfish 17
C14: French: Classical System 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 f6 The Classical
Variation is characterized by the development of the N on f6 where it puts
pressure on the e-Pawn and forces white to do something about it. 4.g5
This is the usual move which defends the e-Pawn by pinning the N, Black has
several reasonable replies. e7 This natural move breals the pin and renwws
the threat to the e-Pawn. 5.e5 fd7 6.xe7 xe7 White's main options are
mow 7.h4 or 7.Qd2 7.b5 This rare sideline threatening 8.Nxc7+ has
surpsisingly good results. b6 This is the only reasonable move, but the N
is not especially well place here. On the other hand neither is white's N.
Probably white best continuation is to prevent >>>Qb4+ with 8/a3 then return
the N to c3 8.c3 a6 9.a3 This can be considered the normal line
after 7.Nb5, but white has accomplished nothing because his N on a3 if put of
play. 0-0 9...8d7 10.f4 c5 11.f3 cxd4 12.cxd4 b4+ 13.d2 xd2+ 14.xd2 equals. Smieszniak, B-Zielinski,W (1901) Leba 2008 10.f4 Black has a
number of reasonable moves here, but the most active is 10...f6 f5 11.f3 c5 12.c2 d7 13.g5 The position is equal, but practically white is probably
a little better because he has some chance of a K-side attack while black's
Q-side counterplay is hampered by the N on b6. His nxt move can;t be
recommended. While technically not a mistake, it ever so slightly weakens his
K-side. Some action on the Q-side would be more reasonable. Say, either 13...
cxd4 or 13...Nc6 h6 14.f3 c4 Closing the Q-side is exactly what he should
avoid. 14...cxd4 was a good option. 15.d2 e8 Making room for the N on c6
so he can advance the b-Pawn 16.e3 6d7 17.e2 b5 Finally he has
something going on the Q-side, but white is going to launch an attack on the
K-side that while it may not be theoretically the best idea, practically it's
promising! 18.g4 g6 Opening up line on the K-side would be a bit risky. 19.g5 h5 It appears that black jas succeeded in blocking up lines on the
K-side, but it;s not so!. 20.h4 20.d1 was more exact as black cannot
defend the h-Pawn. c6 20...f7 21.h4 c6 22.xg6 xg6 23.xh5 and
white has a decisive advantage. 21.h4 f7 22.xh5 20...e8 Very weak. 20...e8 puts up a manly defense. 21.f3 b6 21...c6 22.xd5 exd5 23.xd5+ wins 22.h3 g6 23.g4 The point of his last move. Black cannot
afford to open the h-file and with the K-side now effectively blacked white
has only a tiny advantage. 21.f3 Threatening Nxd5. Now it's clear why
black's 20..Qe8 was so bad. He can't b;ockade the K-sode with ...g6 and his B
amnd Q on b6 are vulnerable. c6 It's too late to be thinking about play on
the Q-side. Shoring up b6 with 21...Kh7 is a pretty feeble try, but it's the
best he has. Also, it gets the K off the line of a B check on d5, a threat
that black seems to have forgotten about. 22.xd5 c8 23.e3 b6 24.e2 e7 25.g2 d8 26.0-0 bd5 27.xd5 xd5 28.g3 h7 29.a3 f7 30.f2 h8 31.e2 he8 32.g2 h8 32...e7 33.xg6 xg6 34.xh5+ xh5 34...h7 35.g6+ g8 36.f3 White will invade on the h0file. 35.g6
An odd place for the K...of course white is better! h4 36.f3+ g4 37.xg4 fxg4 38.g3 White is winning. 33.xh5 Rocamora now finishes
the game in a neat fashion. xh5 This leads to a quicj demise, but the game
was lost in any case. 33...e7 34.xg6 xg6 35.h4 g8 36.f3 e8 37.xg6 xg6 38.h2 White has a decisive advantage. 34.g6+ xg6 35.xg6
Threatening to mate with Qh4+. g8 36.xh8 xh8 37.h4+ Black
resigned. 1–0
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