In 1872, he married Miss Tillie Wolf of New York and they had one son and two daughters. A watchmaker by profession, Elson had a shop located at 151 North Sixth Street in Philadelphia. Today the US Mint sits on that site.
He played regularly at the nearby old Philadelphia Chess Club which consisted of a room with four chess tables. He also haunted the Franklin Chess Club. Philadelphians considered Elson to one of the best players and problemists in the country.
About 1861 or 1862 Philadelphia's best player was J.P. Montgomery and after he lost a match against Theodore Lichtenhein, who was regarded as the strongest player in New York City, Montgomery retired from chess and Elson was then regarded as Philadelphia's best player.
In 1868, Elson lost a match to G. Whiteman and in 1870 Elson lost a match to W. N. Franke, who gave Elson N odds in every other game. The match was a close one, but Elson clearly no longer ruled the roost in Philadelphia.
When the new Philadelphia Chess Club was organized in 1874 Elson was elected as one of the vice-presidents. In 1875 Elson played in two tournaments sponsored by the Philadelphia Chess Club. In the first event he finished third and in the second, also in 1875, he agin finished third.
In 1876 a practice tournament was held by the Philadelphia Chess Club to prepare for the International Centennial contest. The tournament was never finished, but Elson was in third place at the end.
The Fourth American Chess Congress (also known as International Centennial Tournament) was played in Philadelphia in 1876, the final scores being:
In 1882, Steinitz paid his first visit to America and he played three games against Elson winning one and drawing two. In 1884, Zukertort visited Philadelphia and played one game against Elson which was drawn.
Elson died January 28th. as thc result of a stroke just a few hours after falling ill.
Elson was a friend of local player Gustavus C. Reichhelm (November 6, 1839 - November 30, 1905, 66 years old) and they often met for casual games. Reichhelm was a chess editor, analyst, problem composer, solver and player. He was chess editor of the Philadelphia newspapers the Times, the Progress and the North American. He was the Games Editor of Brentano's Chess Monthly (1881-1882). From 1895 to 1905, he was Secretary of the Franklin Chess Club in Philadelphia.
In his earlier years, he was a piano tuner. For many years, he was chess champion of Philadelphia. In 1886, he took 2nd place in the world championship solving tournament, which had 109 entrants from around the world.
Jacob Elson - Gustavus Reichhelm
Result: 1-0
Site: Philadelphia
Date: 1869
Scotch Gambit
[...] 1.e4 e5 2.♘f3 ♘c6 3.d4 exd4 4.♗c4 Rather than recapturing on d4, white takes aim at f7. This can cause the Scotch Gambit to be an exciting opening full of tactics. Black has two main moves: 4...Nf6 attacking the P on e4 or 4...Bc5 defending the P on d4. 4...♗c5 This is the least popular of black's defenses because the undefended B on c5 can be a target for some tactics. 5.♘g5 Much more popular is 5.c3 followed by 5.O-O. By immediately attacking f7 white enters a forced line that in practice has not served white well. 5...♘h6 Other replies are inferior. 6.♕h5 The heavy fire this move places on f7 is actually inferior.
6.♘xf7 ♘xf7 7.♗xf7+ ♔xf7 8.♕h5+ g6 9.♕xc5 White has regained the sacrificed piece and prevented black from castling, but practice has shown that black's chances are excellent.
6...♕f6 7.O-O One annotator suggested 7.Nxh7 as interesting, but it only results in black gaining time for development. The best line, though still not entirely satisfactory for white, is continue with his theme of attacking f7 with 7.Nxf7
7.♘xh7 ♕e7
7...♖xh7 8.♕xc5 ♘g4 9.♕f5 ♕xf5 10.exf5 d6 and here, too, black is much better.
8.♘g5 d5 9.♗xd5 ♘b4 10.♕e2 ♘xd5 11.exd5 ♕xe2+ 12.♔xe2 ♗f5 with the advantage. 7.♘xf7 ♗b4+ 8.c3 dxc3 9.bxc3 ♘xf7 10.♗g5 ♗xc3+ 11.♔e2 ♕g6 12.♕xg6 hxg6 13.♗xf7+ ♔xf7 14.♘xc3 and after ...Nd4+ and ...d6 black is slightly better.
7...d6 8.h3 O-O This move has been criticized and 6...Bd2 and ...O-O-O was suggested as an alternative.
8...♕g6 worked out well for black in the following game: 9.♕xg6 hxg6 10.c3 ♘e5 11.cxd4 ♗xd4 12.♗e2 f6 13.♘f3 ♘xf3+ 14.♗xf3 g5 Heged,V (2174)-Loncar,R (2380)/ Velika Gorica CRO 2013
8...♘e5 was successful in this amusing miniature: 9.♗b3 ♕g6 10.♕h4 f6 11.f4 fxg5 12.fxg5 ♘hf7 0-1 Heged,V (2154)-Ognjacevic, A (2080)/Zagreb CRO 2008
(8...♗d7 9.c3 O-O-O 10.♗d5 ♖de8 is also good for black.) 9.f4 ♘e5 This crude trap is not nearly as good as 9...Nb4 which is difficult for white to answer. 10.♗b3 (10.fxe5 loses to 10...d3+ 11.♔h2 ♕xf1) 10...d3+ With this logical looking move black loses the upper hand. (10...a5 11.a4 b6 12.♘d2 ♘d7 leaves black with a solid position.) 11.♔h1 dxc2 12.♘c3 After this black can be considered lost owing to white's many threats. 12...♘d3 13.♘d5 After this logical looking move black should have been able to equalize! In all fairness to Elson the correct move was difficult to spot.
13.♗xc2 would wrap it up. 13...♘xc1 14.e5 Material doesn't count in this position. Play might go... 14...dxe5 15.♗xh7+ ♔h8 16.♖axc1 ♕d8 17.♖cd1 ♕e8 18.♘ce4 ♗e7 19.fxe5 ♗e6 Watch this! 20.♖f6!!20...♗xf6 21.exf6 ♖d8 22.♖f1 ♗c8 23.♘f3 ♔xh7 24.fxg7 f5 25.gxf8=♘+ ♕xf8 26.♘h4 and wins.
13...♕d8 14.f5 c6 15.♘f4 ♘xc1 16.♖axc1 ♗e3
16...♗d4 was a better defense. 17.g4 a5 18.♗xc2 ♗e3 19.♘xh7 ♔xh7 20.f6 is tricky, but a draw is likely. For example: 20...♖h8 21.e5+ ♔g8 22.♕g5 ♕f8 23.fxg7 ♕xg7 24.♕d8+ ♕f8
17.♖xc2 ♕f6 18.♖e2 ♗xf4 19.♖xf4 So far black has been defending well, but white has managed to build up a promising position. The only question is how to finish off black? 19...♗d7 20.♘f3
20.g4 keeps an even firmer grip 20...♖fe8 21.♘f3 and there is no satisfactory answer to the threatened g5. 21...♕d8 can be met by 22.f6 Even 22.g5 would win. 22...♖e6 23.g5 g6 24.♕xh6 ♕f8 25.♗xe6 ♗xe6 (25...♕xh6 26.♗xf7+ ♔xf7 27.gxh6) 26.♖d2 and wins.
20...♔h8 21.g4 ♘g8 22.g5 g6 23.♕h4 ♕d8 24.f6 a5 Black is reduced to just making moves. 25.e5 d5 26.♖d2 ♗e6 Realizing he was facing a forced mate Reichhelm resigned.
26...♗f5 was suggested by Reichhelm, but that is insufficient. 27.♖xf5 gxf5 28.♗c2 ♕c8 29.♘d4 ♕c7 30.♗xf5 h6 31.♘f3 ♖fe8 32.♕g3 with a winning attack.
26...♗e6 27.♕xh7+ ♔xh7 28.♖h4+ ♘h6 29.♖xh6+ ♔g8 30.♖d4 ♕xf6 31.exf6 ♗g4 32.♖xg4 ♖fe8 33.♖gh4 ♖e1+ 34.♘xe1 a4 35.♖h8#
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