Established in 1841, it's the oldest city in the South Island and the second-oldest settled city in New Zealand. Nelson has one of the sunniest climates of all major New Zealand cities, earning the nickname Sunny Nelson. During the summer months the temperature averages in the mid-70s and in the winter the average lows are in the mid-30s.
The New Zealand championship was played in Nelson in 1913. That was a bad year in the United States...the 16th Amendment authorized an income tax that was to take effect the following year.
Originally there were only seven tax brackets and the majority of Americans fell into the lowest one which stood at a mere one percent. That lowest bracket included those who made, in today’s dollars, up to $459,000 a year.
Of course, it didn't take long for things to change. In order to support the war effort in WWI, the lowest bracket’s tax rate was increased to six percent and the overall number of tax brackets increased. In 1844 income tax rates peaked at 94 percent on taxable income over $200,000 ($2.5 million in today's dollars).
Tax cuts were made after the war, but the top rates began to increase during the Great Depression and WWII. This time after the war income taxes remained high because politicians feared that reductions would cause the federal government to lose the money needed to support all its new programs. See chart
The institution of income tax wasn't the only bad news in 1913...life expectancy for males was only 50.3 years for men and 55.0 years for women! It was also the year cancer sticks Camel Cigarettes went on sale for the first time.
On the plus side, America had a transcontinental highway in 1913. It was the Lincoln Highway, that ran from Times Square to Lincoln Park in San Francisco.
The clothing zipper was invented, but, oddly, it didn't popular until the 1930s. And, 1913 saw the invention of the best toy I ever owned as a child. Alfred C. Gilbert began selling Erector Sets.
In the chess world, on February 5, 1913, Capablanca won the 2nd American National Tournament, ahead of Frank Marshall. But, in March, Marshall won a tournament in Havana ahead of Capablanca and Janowski. Capablanca had the mayor of Havana clear the tournament room because he didn't want anyone to see him resign.
In August, Capablanca was back in New York and won the Rice Chess Club Summer Tournament with a perfect 13-0 score. Also in August, Lasker agreed to play Rubinstein for a world championship match to be held in 1914, but it never happened because World War I started.
The 1914 Championship of New Zealand was won by previous champion J.C. Grierson of Auckland. According to the tournament book, the overall quality of play wasn't very high and in spite of his success, Grierson's play was disappointing and luck favored him considerably.
In Grierson's games Cole "indulged in useless sacrifices", Kelling threw away the game wasting time with his Knights, Barnes was sick and played a feeble game, Dodds blundered a piece on move 15 and Gyles made an "infantile blunder" that allowed mate on the move.
For the second year in a row the 24-year-old A.W. Gyles tied for first. He was criticized for being to devoted to opening theory and accepting unproven analysis published by "amateurs." It was suggested that he needed to pay more attention to the works of masters.
Edwin Hicks, another promising young player, had good natural ability, but his play was often eccentric and rash.
R.J. Barnes was a five-time champion and was making his 25th appearance in the championship! During the tournament he was suffering from neuralgia, pain caused by damaged or irritated nerves. Besides pain, numbness, tingling, or other unpleasant sensations along the path of the nerve may sometimes occur.
E.H. Severne demonstrated a more aggressive attitude in this event. Previously he was known for his peaceful inclinations. Fedor Kelling was a dangerous opponent for the unwary, but on this occasion his play was "lamentably and unaccountably feeble,"
W.E. Mason, four-time champion, was badly out of form. G.F. Dodds was a local dentist and was busy with his practice during the tournament which undoubtedly affected his play. Gordon C. Cole's weak point was his openings; he always played the Zukertort and was overly defensive in his games.
C.R. Sainsbury was out of practice. H.L. James was recovering from a medical problem which accounted for his poor showing. It was the opinion of some that T.E. Maunsell was simply not strong enough to compete in this tournament and a couple of his games were "were skittles of the schoolroom."
The tournament book was edited and the games annotated by H.L. James and his evaluations were biting. He described his own game against James as being a "miserable apology for a game, vilely played by black." That's harsh, but was it true?
[Event "New Zealand Championship, Nelson"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1913.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "W.E. Mason"]
[Black "H.L. James"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E14"]
[Annotator "Various engines"]
[PlyCount "59"]
{Queen's Indian Defense} 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. c4 c5 {I am not sure what to
call this opening, but the classification assigned to it by Fritz is Q-Indian,
Classical Variation.} 4. e3 e6 5. Bd3 Nc6 6. Nc3 Be7 7. O-O O-O 8. b3 b6 9. Bb2
Bb7 10. Rc1 Rc8 11. Na4 {A new move. The books offer 11.dxc5, 11.Qe2 and 11.
cxd5} cxd4 12. exd4 dxc4 13. bxc4 {With hanging Ps white aims to attack in the
center and on the K-side. Black will try to force a P advance and then
blockade them and/or force an isolated P.} Nb4 {James was critical of this
because it forces the B to a better square, or so he claimed. Actually, it's
the engine's preferred move.} 14. Bb1 Qd7 {Blind blundering according to the
tournament book. It's hardly a blunder even though it loses time after white's
next move. In reality black's position is quite solid and there is no way for
white to immediately capitalize in the loss of time.} 15. Ne5 Qe8 {This looks
awkward and so 15...Qd8 seems better, but the position is still equal. White's
N is accomplishing nothing on a4 nor is black's on b4 so they both retreat.}
16. Nc3 Nc6 17. Re1 {After this black gets slightly the better of it.} (17. Qd3
{was better because then if} g6 (17... Nxe5 18. dxe5 {white is threatening
mate on h7 so black must lose a piece (and the game).}) 18. Qe3 Nxe5 19. dxe5
Bc5 20. Qh3 Nh5 21. Ne4 (21. g4 Nf4 {wins}) 21... Bxe4 22. Bxe4 {with fully
equal chances.}) 17... Nxe5 {Another blunder says the tournament book.
Unfortunately James has completely misjudged the position! According to Komodo
14, it's the correct move and black is better by almost a Paw,.} 18. dxe5 Qc6 {
A crude mate threat, but more than that, black has the makings of a strong
K-side attack.} 19. Ne4 Nd7 {With this tame retreat his advantage slips away
and now it's white who is better.} (19... Nxe4 {keeps the upper hand.} 20. Bxe4
Qc7 21. Bxb7 Qxb7 {White has no K-side attack, his B is bad and the c-Pawn is
weak all of which combine to give him the better game.}) 20. Qg4 {[%mdl 2048]
White is on the roll.} Rfd8 {Passive, but there is really nothing that will
improve his position. All he can do now is sit tight and react to white's
threats.} (20... g6 {renders Nf6 ineffective, but white has...} 21. Nd6 Nc5 (
21... Bxd6 22. exd6 Qxd6 23. Rcd1 Qc6 (23... Qb4 24. Qd4 e5 25. Qxd7 {wins})
24. Be4 Qc7 25. Bxb7 Qxb7 26. Qd4 {wins}) 22. Nxc8 Rxc8 {and white is better.})
21. Nf6+ Bxf6 22. exf6 {The tournament book says (correctly) that black might
as well have resigned here.} g6 (22... Qxg2+ 23. Qxg2 Bxg2 24. Kxg2 Nxf6 {
and black is a piece down.}) 23. Be4 Qc7 24. Bxb7 Qxb7 25. Qg5 Kh8 {To allow ..
.Rg8 guarding against mate on g6} 26. Rxe6 {[%mdl 512] A snazzy finish.} Rg8 (
26... fxe6 27. f7+ e5 28. Bxe5+ Nxe5 29. Qxe5#) 27. Re7 {[%mdl 32]} Rc5 28. Qh6
{White mates in 7 moves at most.} Qc8 29. Rxf7 Nf8 30. Rxh7+ {[%mdl 512] Black
resigned. White's play was very precise for the most part, but black's play
could scarcely be described as vile.} (30. Rxh7+ Nxh7 31. f7+ Re5 32. Bxe5+ Rg7
33. Qxg7#) 1-0
No comments:
Post a Comment