It was originally announced as a handicap tournament with 3 classes, with odds of Pawn and Move given to players one class down and odds of a Knight given to players two classes down from their opponent. Exactly how the classes were determined is not known. When the tournament was actually played Edward Behr alone was assigned a fourth class.
Each player played four opponents in the first four rounds, and then the top six players met in a fifth round. That explains why the bottom four players only played four games.
The winner of the following game was the amazing Harold M. Phillips (1874-1967), a lawyer by profession, whose tournament carer spanned 70 years.
In 1903, he won Manhattan Chess Club Championship. He was the organizer and director of the great 1924 New York tournament and played third board for United States in the 1930 Olympiad held in Hamburg. He served President of the Manhattan Chess Club in the 1930s, President of the Marshall Chess Club, and President of the Intercollegiate Chess League.
His opponent was James Hanha, (1840-1923). Major Hanham was born in Woodville, Mississippi and died in New York City at the afe of 83.. Despite his Southern origins, he fought for the side of the Union during the Civil War where he saw action at Fort Pickens and Baton Rouge. After the Civil War, he moved to Manhattan. He is best remember for the Hanham Variation of the Philidor Defense.
[Event "Dobbs Ferry, New York"]
[Site ""]
[Date "1898.07.02"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Harold Phillips"]
[Black "James Hanham"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C41"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 18"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventDate "1898.??.??"]
{C41: Philidor Defence} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 Nd7 {Originally known as the
Lord Variation, this move was reintroduced by Hanham in a tournament in New
York in 1889. Black gets a constricted game tjst requires considerable
patience to handle. His plan is to support the e-Pawn, thus holding the center.
White has more freedom, but will have difficulty in breaking through.} 4. Bc4
c6 {This is no opening for the careless. This move is necessary to prevent
white from getting a N on d5 and at the same time it prepares ...Qc7 which
supports the center. On the minus side black's d-Pawn is left backward.} (4...
Ngf6 {This routine move runs into} 5. dxe5 Nxe5 (5... dxe5 6. Ng5 {wins}) 6.
Nxe5 dxe5 7. Bxf7+) 5. Bb3 {Apparently played with the idea of delay black's
intended advance ...b5 and ...a5, but most often white castles.} (5. Ng5 Nh6 6.
a4 exd4 7. O-O Ne5 8. Bb3 Be7 9. f4 Ng6 10. Qxd4 O-O 11. Nf3 {with an actice
position, but black's K is solidly defended. Pavasovic,D (2502)-Oll,L (2630)
Nova Gorica 1999}) 5... Be7 6. Be3 {Gaining space with 6.c4 was a good
alternative.} Ngf6 $11 7. Nc3 O-O 8. Qd3 {A better alternative was 7.a4 after
which black would have no good way to advance on the Q-side and he would have
to wait for white's attack to develop.} b5 {[%mdl 32]} 9. Ne2 (9. dxe5 {
was better.} Nxe5 10. Nxe5 dxe5 11. Qxd8 Rxd8 12. f3 {with a bprong position
that offers equal chances.}) 9... a6 {Too slow. More active would have been 9..
.exd4 and 10...c5} 10. O-O {This allows black to seize the initiative. White
should have initiated multiple exchanges on e5.} c5 {Well played.} 11. dxc5
dxc5 {Correct was 11...Nxc5} 12. c4 b4 {The struggle will now be for
possession of the open file and each side will try to place a N on an outpost.}
13. Rfd1 Qc7 $15 14. Ng3 Nb6 15. Qe2 a5 {[%mdl 32]} 16. Bc2 a4 {These pawns
are not as dangerous as they look because there is no way for black to force
an opening. However, the Ps do serve to keep white's pieces constricted and
black has more mobility.} 17. b3 {An old note claimed this is unnecessary
because white should not have touched this side, but played om the K-side as
he does later. Engines disagree and recommend Phillips' move.} a3 {The same
old source called this a grave positional error because having the stronger
P-formation, it wpu;d have been in nlack's interest to open lines by
exchanging Ps. The recommended move here is 17...Re8 with a slight advantage,
That said, the annotator was correct in pointing out that now black has given
up all his prospects and is soon forced to take defensive measures.} 18. Nh4 g6
{It's important to keep the N out of f5.} 19. Bh6 Re8 20. h3 {This prevents ...
Bg4 and, also, the attack on the B on h6 by ...Ng4. This B becomes very
annoying later and black has to weaken his position to exchange it.} Ng4 {
Black plays ...Ng4 anyway, but this move, apparently an endeavor to force
exchanges, is not a good idea. 20...Bb7 and ...Rad8 keeps a slight advanage.
From this point on Phillips' play is very energetic.} 21. hxg4 Bxh4 22. Nf1 {
[%mdl 32] Watch this N; it will end up on a strong square.} Re6 {Threatening ..
.g5 trapping the B.} 23. g5 {After this it's the black B that is in danger
because white threatens 24.g3} f6 {The weakening mentioned in the note at move
20.} 24. Qd2 (24. gxf6 {was a bit better.} Bxf6 25. Ne3 Re8 26. Rd2 Bg7 27.
Bxg7 Kxg7 28. Rad1 {White is better.}) 24... Bxg5 25. Bxg5 fxg5 26. Qxg5 {
White now has his Q in the game.} Bd7 27. Ne3 {White's advantage is that his N
and Rs have more activity. With the Q side blocked, black's N looks
particularly out of place.} Rf8 28. Rd3 Nc8 29. Rad1 Nd6 {[%mdl 8192] Black
has tried to improve the position of his N, but the endeavor proves
unsuccessful. Just a bit better would have been 29...Bc6 so as to br able to
exchange the N when it goes to d5. In that case te N would find a good square
on f5.} 30. Nd5 {The N is now very strongly placed and black no defense to the
numerous threats.} Qb8 31. Ne7+ Kg7 $2 {There is no place to hide.} (31... Kf7
{This attempt to run is no better.} 32. Qh4 Rh8 33. f4 exf4 (33... Qd8 34. f5
Rf6 35. Nd5 {snags the R.}) 34. e5 Rxe7 35. Rxd6 {wins}) 32. Nf5+ {[%mdl 512]
Very pretty.} Rxf5 (32... Nxf5 33. exf5 Rxf5 34. Rxd7+ Rf7 35. Rxf7+ Kxf7 36.
Qh6 Qg8 37. Be4 {and there is no defense to Bd5}) 33. exf5 Rf6 34. Rxd6 {
[%mdl 512] A brilliant finish. White has a mate no matter which way black
recaptures/} (34. Rxd6 Rxd6 35. Qe7+ Kg8 36. Rxd6 Qe8 37. Qg5 e4 38. fxg6 hxg6
39. Rxg6+ Qxg6 40. Qxg6+ Kf8 41. Qd6+ Ke8 42. Bxe4 Kd8 43. Bc6 Ke8 44. Qxd7+
Kf8 45. Be4 Kg8 46. Qe7 Kh8 47. Qf8#) 1-0
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