Jesse Stapp In a Controversy

    USCF Master Emeritus Jesse W. Stapp (1900-1974) of Dallas, Texas was primarily active in the Southwest during the mid-1900s. He was a two-time champion of the Southwest Open, winning the title in 1937 and 1943. The Master Emeritus title was awarded to players who had maintained a high level of play over many years prior to the rating system being established. 

    In the 1940 U.S. Open in Dallas, Stapp was involved in an amusing incident concerning what happens if you announce mate, but your flag falls.  The incident occurred in the Preliminary Section III from which today's game iss taken. In the Chess Review article the players’ names were not mention, but in a New York Times article they were identified as Stapp and Harold Burdge. 

    Stapp, following an archaic practice, announced mate in 3, but didn’t punch his clock and his flag fell whereupon Burdge claimed the game on time. However, in what appears to have been a show of sportsmanship, they agreed to a draw. But, then the tournament director intervened and ruled that Burdge was the winner. His reasoning was that the game affected who qualified for the finals. 

 

    When the TD changed the result Burdge qualified while Stapp tied for third with Rev. Howard Ohman. They were to play a one game play-off for a spot in the finals. It appears that an upset Stapp withdrew from the tournament because his name does not appear in the crosstable for either the Consolation or Class A tournaments that were held for the non-qualifiers. Ohman and Burdge? Ohman (2.5-6.5) tied with Prof. Arpad Elo for places 7-8. Burdge finished last with 2 points. 

    The TD was correct in ruling that the time forfeit took precedence over whatever the situation was on the board. But...did he have the right to override the player’s decision to agree to a draw? Or, can their agreement be considered as having “fixed” the result? 

    Stapp’s opponent in this games was Dr. Bella Rosa (1905-1977), a Hungarian born concert pianist, composer and professor of music theory at several southwestern United States universities, bit primarily at the University of Tulsa in Oklahoma. He didn’t learn how to play chess until he was 34 years old, but he won the North Texas Championship in 1940 and in 1942 and 1048 he tied for first in the Southwestern Open. He was a 12-time Oklahoma State Champion, and in 1952 won the Tenth Grand National Correspondence tournament. 

 

[Event "US Open. Prelim 3, Dallas"] [Site "Dallas, TX USA"] [Date "1940.08.21"] [Round "5"] [White "Bela Rozsa"] [Black "Jesse W. Stapp"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B44"] [Annotator "Stockfish 18"] [PlyCount "80"] [EventDate "1940.??.??"] {B44: Sicilian: Taimanov} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 e6 {One of the ideas of this, the Taimanov Variation is to develop the B to b4 or c5. Tje most popular line is for white can prevent this by 5.Nb5} 5. Bb5 {Highly unusual, but not bad.} (5. Nb5 d6 {Otherwise white plays Nd6+. White can now choose the Maroczy Bind with 6.c4 oy play 6.Bf4}) 5... Qb6 (5... a6 6. Nxc6 bxc6 7. Bd3 Nf6 8. O-O d5 9. e5 Nd7 10. Re1 {with equal chances.}) 6. Bxc6 dxc6 {Recapturing with the other P is equally good.} 7. O-O e5 8. Nf3 Qc7 9. Bd2 f6 {Normally such a move would be frowned upon, but here it strengthens the center and white has no way of taking advantage of the weakened K-side.} 10. Bc3 Be6 {Now a good plan for whiye is 11.Qe2 and 12.Rd1} 11. b3 Bd6 12. Qe2 Ne7 13. Nbd2 Ng6 14. Rfe1 {This serves no purpose. 14.Nc4 hoping to gain the teo Bs was a better idea. Black would simply retreat woth 14...Be7 with appoximate equality.} Qf7 15. Kh1 Bc7 16. a4 Nf4 17. Qf1 {While white has been dawdling Stapp has been getting refy to launch a K-side attack.} g5 18. Ng1 {This prevents ...Bh3} (18. g3 {This attempt to drive out the pesky N is met by} Bh3 19. Qc4 (19. Qg1 {is much, much worse.} Bg2+) 19... Qxc4 20. bxc4 Ne6 {Black is better.}) 18... h5 19. g3 Ng6 20. h3 O-O-O 21. a5 {This is as far as white's Q-side play gets!} f5 {The situation on the K-side is critical for white.} 22. exf5 Qxf5 23. Re3 g4 24. h4 Bd5+ {Rather than grab a P with ... Qxc2 Stapp keeps hammering at the K.} 25. Kh2 Rhf8 26. f3 Qd7 {This is an OK move.} (26... Nxh4 {is a knockout punch.} 27. Bb4 (27. gxh4 Qf4+ 28. Kh1 Qxe3) 27... Qg5 28. Rae1 Nf5 {Keep attacking!} 29. Bxf8 h4 30. Bc5 hxg3+ 31. Kg2 Nh4+ 32. Kh1 Rh8 33. R1e2 Nxf3+ {etc.}) 27. Qe2 gxf3 28. Ndxf3 e4 29. Ng5 Nxh4 30. Nxe4 Nf5 31. Nf6 Rxf6 32. Bxf6 Nxe3 33. Qxe3 {Somehow white seems to have survived the attack and the material is equal, but his position is dead lost because, as Stapp demonstrates, the attack isn't really over!} Re8 34. Qd3 Qg4 35. Ra4 Qe6 36. Bh4 Qe1 {Now it's clear that white's K 1s cornered.} 37. Qf5+ Kb8 {Nate is looming and white has no defense.} 38. Rd4 Re2+ $1 {[%mdl 512]} 39. Nxe2 Qxe2+ 40. Kh3 Qg2# {A mignificent game by Stapp.} 0-1