I was unable to locate any information on J.J. Merian. I did, however discover several men named Eno, but was not able to determine which one was the member of the Manhattan CC who played black.
The most famous, or rather infamous, Eno was John C. Eno who took over management of the Second National Bank upon the death the former manager and proceeded to embezzle about $4 million.
On June 1, 1884, he was captured, along with a Catholic priest, one Father Ducey, in Quebec, as they were about to depart on a steamer for England. Eno remained in Canada for nine years, returning to New York only when it was certain that the indictment against him would be quashed.
Eno's father died in 1898, leaving him an inheritance which was soon gone. When John Eno died in June, 1916, all he left was debts, but he never spent time in jail and never paid a dime in restitution.
His father, Amos Richards Eno (1810-1898) was for a time a clerk in a dry-goods store and among his friends and fellow clerks at that time were E. D. Morgan, who eventually became Governor of New York and Junius S. Morgan who became a banker.
In the spring of 1833, Eno (the father) established himself in the wholesale dry-goods business in New York; the firm was dissolved in 1850 and he then began investing in real estate on a large scale.
Besides Amos and his larcenous son John, he also had, in addition to two daughters, sons Amos F., Henry (a doctor) and William.
So, who played the black pieces?
It wasn't son John the crook because he was on the lam in Canada. That leaves daddy Amos or sons Amos or Henry. Who knows?
Was the game really brilliant? The answer to that can be determined. Take a look.
[Event "Manhattan Chess Club"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1884.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Merian"]
[Black "Eno"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 15"]
[PlyCount "77"]
{Sicilian: Kalashnikov Variation} 1. e4 c5 2. d4 cxd4 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. Nxd4 e5 {
The Kalashnikov Variation (sometimes known as the Neo-Sveshnikov) is a close
relative of the Sveshnikov Variation (4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5). The move 4...e5
has a long history; La Bourdonnais used it in his matches against McDonnell in
1834 and it was also popular for a short time in the 1940s. These earlier
games focused on the Lowenthal Variation with 4...e5 5.Nb5 a6 6.Nd6+ Bxd6 7.
Qxd6 Qf6, but the variation fell out of favor when it was determined that
white has the advantage. Then the late 1980s 4...e5 was revived with the
intention of meeting 5.Nb5 with 5...d6: this is the Kalashnikov Variation
proper.} 5. Nb5 {This is the main move, buying time by threatening to play the
N to d6.} d6 {Black accepts a backward P and weakens d5 but gains time by
chasing the N.} 6. Bc4 {White's main options are 6.c4, 6.N1c3 or 6.Be3. While
the text is rarely played there is nothing wrong with it.} a6 (6... Be6 {
should be considered.} 7. Bxe6 fxe6 8. Qh5+ g6 9. Qg4 Qd7 10. Bg5 a6 11. N5a3
b5 12. c3 {equals. Vallejo Pons,F (2635)-Shirov,A (2699) Ayamonte 2002}) 7.
N5c3 h6 {Too cautious says a note in the Brooklyn Chess Chronicle.} (7... Be6
8. Bb3 (8. Nd5 Rc8 (8... b5 9. Bb3 Nf6 10. Bg5 Nd4 11. Nbc3 a5 12. Nxf6+ gxf6
13. Be3 Nxb3 14. axb3 {White is better. Hajbok,R (2366)-Pavel,S (2087)
Calimanesti ROM 2013}) 9. Nbc3 Be7 10. Be3 b5 11. Bb3 Bg5 12. Bb6 Qd7 13. O-O {
White is slightly better. Yemelin,V (2380)-Sukhorukov,A (2300) Orel 1992}) 8...
Nf6 9. Bg5 h6 10. Bxf6 Qxf6 11. Nd5 Bxd5 12. Bxd5 Be7 13. Nc3 O-O 14. O-O {
White is slightly better. Milu,R (2410)-Sekularac,P (2220) Nice FRA 1993 1-0
(44)}) (7... Nf6 {This is black's best because after} 8. Bg5 Be7 9. Bxf6 Bxf6 {
he has full equality.}) 8. O-O {Also good was 8.Nd5} Nf6 {White is slightly
better.} 9. f4 {But not after this move. Correct was 9.Nd5} b5 {Better was 9...
exf4 and 10...Ne5} 10. Bd5 Qb6+ (10... Nxd5 {is inferior because after} 11.
Nxd5 Ne7 12. Nbc3 b4 13. Be3 {white is slightly better and black must not fall
for} bxc3 14. Bb6 cxb2 (14... Qd7 15. Nc7+) 15. Rb1 Nxd5 16. Bxd8 Ne3 17. Qd3
Nxf1 18. Bc7 {White has much the better game}) 11. Kh1 Bb7 12. Qe1 Be7 (12...
Nxd5 {is still wrong.} 13. exd5 Ne7 14. fxe5 dxe5 15. Qxe5 {with the better
game.}) 13. Be3 Qc7 14. Nd2 {White would have done better with the aggressive
14.Qg3} O-O 15. f5 Nd4 16. Rc1 b4 (16... Nxd5 {is a serious mistake.} 17. Nxd5
Bxd5 18. exd5 Qd8 (18... b4 19. c3 bxc3 20. bxc3 Nb5 21. f6 Bxf6 22. Rxf6 gxf6
23. Bxh6 {and wins}) 19. c3 {and the N is trapped.}) 17. Ne2 {This give black
a huge advantage.} (17. Bxb7 bxc3 18. bxc3 Nxc2 19. Rxc2 Qxb7 20. Qe2 {and
black's advantage is minimal.}) 17... Nxe2 (17... Nxd5 {only equalizes.} 18.
exd5 Nxe2 19. Qxe2) 18. Qxe2 Nxd5 {Another mistake!} (18... Bxd5 $19 19. exd5
Nxd5 {should prove decisive.}) 19. exd5 Bxd5 {Black's best defensive chance is
19...f6} 20. Bxh6 {An imprecise continuation.} (20. f6 {packed a harder punch.}
Bxf6 21. Rxf6 gxf6 22. Bxh6 {and wins.}) 20... gxh6 21. f6 {White wants to
mate with Qg4+.} Kh8 22. Qe3 {[%mdl 128]} Bxg2+ {This shot was not available
in the line given in the note to move 20.} 23. Kxg2 (23. Kg1 {was the only way
to keep the balance.} Qc5 24. Qxc5 dxc5 25. Kxg2 {with equal chances.}) 23...
Rg8+ {There is absolutely no reason for black to lose this position!} 24. Kf2 {
[%mdl 32]} Rg6 {[%mdl 8192] Why did he allow white to capture the B?!} (24...
Bf8 {leaves black better after} 25. Rg1 Qa7 26. Nc4 Qxe3+ 27. Nxe3) 25. fxe7
Qxe7 {Thanks to black having lost a piece now there is absolutely no reason
for white not to win!} 26. Nf3 f5 27. Rg1 {[%mdl 32]} f4 28. Qe4 Qa7+ 29. Ke2
Rf6 30. c4 Re8 {There is no point in quibbling about moves that might be a tad
better; black is lost.} 31. c5 dxc5 32. Rg6 Qh7 33. Rcg1 c4 34. Kf1 c3 35. bxc3
bxc3 36. Nxe5 Rd6 {This allows a nice mate, but he was lost anyway.} 37. Rxd6
Qxe4 38. Rxh6+ Qh7 39. Nf7# {Auto-annotation with Stockfish assigns white a
Weighted Error Value of 0.71 and black 1.02. Hardly what the Brooklyn Chess
Chronicle described as "a brilliant little partie." What a difference today's
engines make!} 1-0
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