Bushwhacked by Arthur Maas

    Although sometimes associated with the Netherlands due to his participation in European tournaments, Arthur James Mass (1857-1933, 76 years old) was described as "thoroughly English". That’s because he was. Although he died in Hyeres, Var, France, where he spent his later years, he was born in Southwark, a district of London, England.

    Maas was primarily active in the late 1800s and early 1900s. While not a top level player (Chessmetrics estimates his highest rating to have been 2317 in 1932) he participated in several notable international events. 

    At the age of 18 Maas won both the junior and senior handicap events at the City of London Chess Club. In the senior final, he defeated the established master W. Norwood Potter while receiving odds of Pawn and move. 

    Maas’ obituary described him as, “an astonishingly good player in his early days...Maas will always be remembered as the donor of the Philidor Cup and he ran at his own expense four contests for it at Hyeres, whilst a fifth was undertaken by the Nice chess club, who are now the owners of the trophy.” 

     In this game Maas’ opponent makes a routine move that established a N outpost on e5 and offers to ease his defense by exchanging a piece...normally a good idea, but Instead he got bushwhacked.  

 

[Event "Thornton Heath CC - Clapham CC m"] [Site ""] [Date "1911.01.04"] [Round "?"] [White "A. Howell"] [Black "Arthur J. Maas"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D53"] [Annotator "Stockfish 18"] [PlyCount "50"] [EventDate "1911.??.??"] [Source "(London) Globe, "] {D53: Queen's Gambit Declined} 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e3 Ne4 {This results in simplification, but in practical play it does not serve him any better than the usual 5...h6} 6. Bxe7 Qxe7 7. cxd5 Nxc3 8. bxc3 exd5 9. Bd3 {9.Qb3 presents black with the problem of how to effectively develop his B. .} (9. Qb3 c6 10. Bd3 O-O 11. Ne2 Nd7 12. O-O {with a compfortable game. Korchnoi,V (2650)-Pfleger,H (2520) Bath 1973}) 9... Nd7 10. Nf3 O-O 11. O-O Nf6 12. Rc1 Bg4 13. h3 Bh5 14. Re1 Ne4 15. c4 c6 16. c5 {So far the play of both sides has left nothing to criticize, but this move takes the pressure off the center and allows black to commence operations on the K-side. As a result white cannot do anything on the Q-side. Even so, his position has no weaknesses so he should have no trouble defending himself.} f5 17. Be2 f4 18. Qb3 Rae8 {Here white can play just about any reasonable move, for example 19. exf4, and he would be OK. However, his next move, which looks good because the N occupies the usually good post on e5 and, at the same time, offers to exchange anoher piece, looks logical. Butm the move contains a fatal flaw.} 19. Ne5 {[%mdl 8192] This move exposes the f2 sqaure to an attack which Maas conducts with great vim.} Qh4 {Alert play! Black has a decisuve advantage.} 20. Bxh5 {There is not a single move that will save white.} (20. f3 Qf2+ 21. Kh1 Ng3+ 22. Kh2 Nxe2) 20... Qxf2+ 21. Kh2 Rxe5 {[%mdl 512] Very nice! One of the protectors of f3 is eliminated.} 22. dxe5 f3 23. Bxf3 {Black has a forced mate. } Rxf3 {Black mates.} 24. Qxb7 Rxh3+ {[%mdl 512]} 25. Kxh3 Qg3# {A brilliant finish by Maas.} 0-1