This theory, still used in modern plumbing, involves connecting a vent pipe to drain lines to balance air pressure and allow sewer gases to escape, preventing them from entering homes.
In 1874 Boston, public toilets were not widely available. While some hotels had rudimentary facilities, municipally owned public toilets were rare. In public spaces, men might use any convenient alley while ladies would seek out communal spaces or dark corners.
Today’s featured player is the virtually unknown Reverend Benjamin Neill (1853-1922, 68 years old). He was born in Pottsville, Pennsylvania and beginning in 1878, he was recognized as one of Philadelphia's most brilliant players, as well as an exceptionally talented problem composer. His earlier compositions were done while he was a teenager and in 1873 one of his problems was pronounced as one of the very finest three-movers of that day.
Neill was a pastor at several churches, but served as corresponding secretary in Philadelphia for the last 16 years of his life. He died of pneumonia in the Howard Hospital in Philadelphia.
Neill participated in only a few tournaments because he didn't want chess to interfere with his ministerial duties. Also, as long as he was active in his ministry he published his problems under the name Benjamin Milnes.
In 1874, while living in Boston, he won the New England Championship by beating Preston Ware in a match with the score of 7-3.
He traveled to New York in 1874, beating Eugene Delmar in a short match. After returning to Philadelphia in 1875, he won the Philadelphia Chess Club Tournament. Neill represented the US in two cable matches against England defeating Henry Bird in 1876 and narrowly losing to to Harry Davidson in 1880.
Here is a problem by Neill. White mates in two.
You can try solutions HERE
In this game Neill’s opponent was Preston Ware (1821-1890, 68 years old), a leading Boston player of the late 1800s. He was the President of the Boston Chess Club from 1868 to 1873, and was elected President of the American Chess Foundation in 1872.
His few tournament appearances were not successful, due in part to an offbeat opening repertoire. For example, he was known to play 1.a4 as white and 1...a5 as black. Ware played in one international tournament, Vienna, 1882, where he finished 16th out of 18 with an 11-23 score, but he did defeat Steinitz, the tournament winner, in a 113 move marathon.
[Event "Boston"]
[Site ""]
[Date "1874.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Benjamin Neill"]
[Black "Preston Ware"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C38"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 17.1"]
[PlyCount "53"]
[EventDate "1874.??.??"]
{C38: King's Gambit Accepted} 1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 g5 4. Bc4 Bg7 5. h4 h6
(5... g4 {is risky.} 6. Ng5 Nh6 7. d4 d5 {White captures the P (either way
leaving him with the more active position.}) 6. hxg5 {This line favors black.
Best was 6.d4} hxg5 7. Rxh8 Bxh8 8. d4 {Black is better because white has no
way to recover the P nor does he have any way to get to f7.} ({This odd
looking move is designed to get the Q into play, but it turned out not to be
bery successful.} 8. Kf2 g4 9. Qh1 Qf6 {Bkacj is much better. Trapl,J-Hajek,M
Brno 1964. Jindrich Trapl was a Czech IM.}) 8... Qf6 (8... d6 {is better.
Whiye has tried several different moves here, but best is} 9. g3 g4 10. Bxf4
gxf3 11. Qxf3 {White's excellent development doesn't quite make up for his N
and the fact that black has suffucuent defensive resources.} Qe7) 9. Nc3 {
[%mdl 32]} (9. e5 Qh6 10. Nc3 d6 {is good for black.}) 9... c6 {Witht white's
N is on c3 this is a poor move. Nir would have 0...d6 hace worked because of
the reply 10.Nd5. Therefore, defending both d5 and e4 with 9...Ne7 was correct.
} 10. e5 Qg6 11. Bd3 {Black's next move fatally weakens the position f his K,
but his position is already badly compromised by is lack of development.} f5
12. exf6 Qxf6 13. Ne4 Qh6 14. Nexg5 {How would you describe black's position?
Awful, appalling, atrocious, depressing, dire come to mind.} Bxd4 15. Qe2+ Ne7
16. Bxf4 {Black's once dangerous looking P duo have disappeared. Neill now
begins an assault on the naked black K.} Bxb2 17. Rb1 Bc3+ 18. Kf2 d5 19. Rh1 {
The point of his last move, but the sacrifice is not necessary and forfeits
much of his advantage.} (19. Qe3 d4 (19... Nd7 20. Ne6 Qf6 21. Nc7+ {is
crushing.}) 20. Nxd4 Bxd4 21. Qxd4 {Nlack has no useful moves.} Nd7 22. Re1 Qf6
23. Qd6 {The Q cannot be taken because of the pin on the N.}) 19... Qxh1 20.
Bd6 {This is a major error. Black could now have gotten the upper hand, but it
required a prollem-like move, so it's hard to fault the players for not having
seen it.} (20. Bg6+ {keeps a winning advantage.} Kd8 21. Nf7+ Kd7 22. N3e5+ Ke6
23. Qg4+ Kf6 24. Qg5+ Ke6 25. Bf5+ Nxf5 26. Nd8+ Kd6 27. Nd3+ Be5 28. Bxe5+ Kd7
29. Qxf5+ Ke7 30. Qf7+ Kxd8 31. Bf6#) 20... Bf6 (20... Be1+ {An amazing reply!}
21. Nxe1 Qh4+ 22. Kg1 Qxg5 23. Nf3 Qf6 {and white has lost a whole R with
nothing to show for it.}) (20... Be1+ 21. Ke3 {Best} Qh6 22. Bxe7 Kxe7 23. Qxe1
Qf6 {and white has lost the exchange with nothing to show for it.}) 21. Bg6+ {
[%mdl 128] As bad as black's position looks he has equal chances. However, he
is also walking a tightrope and a single slip will be fatal.} Kd8 22. Nf7+ Kd7
{[%mdl 8192] And here it is.} (22... Ke8 {Astonishing! He steps into a
discovered check, but any check proves harmless.} 23. N7g5+ Kd8 24. Bxe7+ Bxe7
25. Nf7+ Ke8 {and black is quite safe.}) 23. N3e5+ Bxe5 {This results in a
sudden collapse, but there was no hope left for him no matter what he played.}
(23... Ke8 {Practically speaking this is best because it requires fome fancy N
maneubering to demonstrate a clear win.} 24. Ng5+ Kd8 25. Nef7+ Ke8 26. Nh6+
Kd8 27. Bxe7+ Bxe7 28. Nhf7+ Ke8 29. Nd6+ Kd7 30. Qe6+ Kc7 31. Qxe7+ Kb6 32.
Nxc8+ {etc.}) 24. Qg4+ {White now has a forced mate.} Ke8 25. Nxe5+ Kf8 26.
Qxc8+ {Good enough.} (26. Qf4+ Bf5 27. Qxf5+ Kg7 28. Qf7+ Kh6 29. Qf8+ Kg5 30.
Bxe7#) 26... Kg7 27. Bxe7 {Black resigned. There is no answer to the threat of
28.Qf8#} 1-0
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