On January 13, 1894, a Terre Haute newspaper, Saturday Evening Mail, ran a story about how at least one New York newspaper was "lending itself to contemptible envy and jealousy" after it had been announced that money was on hand for the Great Masters’ Continental Chess Congress that was planned to be played in Terre Haute beginning on February 27th.
On January 1 1894, the New York Times scoffed, “Within these last weeks a certain person called Jackson, a former President of the Indiana Chess Association, has been sending out circulars asking chess players to enter for a tournament, for which Jackson alleges that some $3,000 has been subscribed, and that all players will get free board and lodging should they send their $25 entrance fee to Jackson."
Jackson was Charles O. Jackson and the Times reported that American master, Major James Hanham had written to him asking him to forward particulars as to how the prizes had been guaranteed and he received an answer that the information would be sent in a few days. Instead of the particulars, Hanham received an abusive letter.
Emanual Lasker told a Times reporter how that when he was asked to play a match against Jackson W. Showalter in Kokomo, Indiana, Jackson had written him saying he would get reimbursed for his expenses, but Lasker told the reporter that after the match, "...I made out a bill, but I did not get a cent and I also had to pay my hotel bill.’”
Showalter also got swindled by Jackson when he played the match against Lasker. Jackson told Showalter that his (Jackson's) stake money that he had to put up was ready and waiting for him. But, when he arrived in Kokomo, Jackson told him the backers had gone to San Francisco and that he (Jackson) did not have Showalter's stakes. As a result, Showalter had to write to his father, who put up the money.
Also, Showalter told the Times reporter
that he had been present at the last meeting of the Indiana Chess
Association and knew it to be a fact that Jackson ha not been elected
President, adding that if Jackson was claiming to be President, "I must
nail it as a lie."
All this caused the Times to write, “Whether chess players would do well to forward any money to Jackson after hearing the stories of Hanham, Lasker and Showalter is rather doubtful.”
In spite of the Times' warning, Dr. Gerstmeyer, the president of the Terre Haute Chess Club, stated that the club had every confidence that when the entries closed on January 27th, the money would be turned over to the club by Jackson who was from Kokomo and was president of the state's chess association.
Dr. Gerstmeyer stated that none of the money had been raised in Terre Haute, but "Mr. Jackson obtained it somewhere." And, if 26 entries were obtained then the tournament would be a "go." At the same time it was noted that not more than 40 entries would be accepted and if 30 players entered, then the tournament should last a month.
Two weeks later, the Times published another story under the title C.O. Jackson, Chess Swindler in which they took credit for exposing him as “a swindler of great ingenuity.”
Finally, on January 17th, the Terre Haute Chess Club severed its association with Jackson, admitted that it had been duped and announced the cancellation of the Great Masters Continental Chess Congress.
The club also admitted that it had published a circular in which they had declared that the large prize fund had already been deposited. It seems they had taken Jackson's word for it.
On January 27, the New York Times had another story on Jackson who claimed he was induced by "Western racing men" to make up the fake tournament. The Times took credit for exposing Jackson's swindle.
The August 4, 1894 issue of the St. Louis Chess and Club Weekly had snippet about another swindle. This one involved Sam Loyd in a game he had played. Loyd's opponent was given only only as Huntington and neither the event or the date were listed.
The swindle came when Loyd, a piece down, forced a stalemate which, according to the article, he had been planning for 10 moves.
[Event "Unknown"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1894.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Huntington"]
[Black "Sam Loyd"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C53"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 15"]
[PlyCount "85"]
[EventDate "1864.??.??"]
{Giuoco Piano} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 d6 {Usual is 4...Nf6. This
rather tame sideline has not produced good results for black.} 5. d4 exd4 6.
cxd4 Bb6 7. h3 Nf6 8. Nc3 {Better was either 8.O-O or 8.d5} (8. d5 $14 Ne5 9.
Nxe5 dxe5 10. Nc3) 8... O-O (8... h6 {was played in Elkholti,A (2268)
-Haddouche,M (2492) Cairo 2015.} 9. O-O O-O 10. Be3 Nxe4 11. Nxe4 d5 12. Nf6+
Qxf6 13. Bxd5 Rd8 {Black has a positional advantage}) (8... Nxe4 {The is the
standard way to equalize in these positions.} 9. Nxe4 d5 10. O-O O-O 11. Bxd5
Qxd5 12. Nc3 Qd6) 9. Bg5 (9. d5 Ne5 10. Nxe5 dxe5 11. O-O Ne8 12. b3 Nd6 13.
Bd3 Qh4 14. Be3 Bxe3 15. fxe3 Bxh3 16. gxh3 Qg3+ {Draw. Pikula,D (2532)-Pinter,
J (2501) Basel 2004}) 9... h6 10. Bxf6 (10. Bh4 g5 11. Bg3 Nxe4 12. Nxe4 Re8 (
12... d5 {Here this is a losing blunder.} 13. Bxd5 Ba5+ 14. Kf1 {Black
resigned. Lahaye,R (2220)-Burggraaf,J Dieren 2000}) 13. O-O Rxe4 14. Bd3 {
Black stands well. Kovalenko,V-Romanov,V (2307) Kiev 2004}) 10... Qxf6 11. Nd5
Ba5+ 12. Nc3 {For tactical reasons 12.Kf1 was better.} Re8 {The threat is ...
Nxd4} 13. Bd5 {Castling would have been safer.} (13. a3 {A pass to demonstrate
black's threat.} Nxd4 14. Qxd4 Qxd4 15. Nxd4 Rxe4+ 16. Be2 Rxd4 {Black is up
two Ps.}) 13... Bf5 {This pin on the e-Pawn is not as dangerous as it looks.} (
13... Qg6 14. Qe2 Qxg2 15. O-O-O {Threatening to trap the Q with 16.Rdg1} Qg6
16. Rdg1 Qh5 {Black has swiped a P and he is in no real danger on the K-side
provided he defends carefully.}) 14. O-O Bxc3 15. exf5 (15. bxc3 {was much
less risky and after} Bd7 16. Rb1 {white has a nice position.}) 15... Bxb2 16.
Bxc6 bxc6 17. Rb1 Rab8 18. Qd2 Ba3 19. Qc3 Rxb1 20. Rxb1 {This position is
tricky and even the great problimist Sam Loyd doesn't find the one move that
keeps the position equal.} Qxf5 {[%mdl 8192] After this white is winning
because he loses the B.} (20... Bc5 {This is the only equalizing move he has.}
21. g4 Bb6 {etc.}) 21. Rf1 {Moving the R out of range of black's Q, but a more
active square like d1 seems more reasonable.} Qd5 (21... Bc5 {was no better.}
22. dxc5 dxc5 23. Rc1) 22. Qxa3 {Black is theoretically lost here, but by
eliminating ll the Ps in the center and Q-side white's extra N will be
difficult to utilize.} Re2 23. Qxa7 Rxa2 24. Qxc7 Ra3 25. Rc1 c5 26. dxc5 dxc5
27. Rxc5 {As an example of the difficulties facing white in this ending, after
eliminating the heavy pieces a quick analysis with Stockfish resulted in white
winning the N+3P vs 3P ending in 59 moves. With the heavy pieces on white will
have to play circumspectly to demonstrate the win even though the engine gives
him a 7.5 Pawn advantage!} Qd1+ 28. Kh2 Kh7 (28... Ra1 {This allows a
demonstration of how black is in danger of getting mated.} 29. Qc8+ Kh7 30.
Qf5+ g6 31. Qxf7+ {mates in 2.}) 29. Re5 Ra6 30. Qxf7 Rg6 31. Rd5 Qf1 32. Nh4
Rf6 33. Qe8 {White threatens Rd8 and mate.} Qc4 {Supposedly it was here that
Loyd began thinking about the possibility of a stalemate.} (33... Qxf2 34. Qe4+
Kg8 35. Ng6 {ends the game.}) 34. Qh5 Qf4+ 35. g3 Qxf2+ 36. Ng2 Rg6 37. Qe5 Rf6
38. Qe4+ Rg6 39. Qd3 Qb6 40. h4 {[%mdl 32] Threatening mate with h5.} Kg8 41.
Rd8+ Kh7 {White's quickest path to victory is the mate in 12 after 42.Nf4} 42.
h5 {A ghastly blunder!} (42. Nf4 Qf2+ 43. Kh3 Qb6 44. Nxg6 Qxg6 45. Rh8+ Kxh8
46. Qxg6 h5 47. Qxh5+ Kg8 48. Qe8+ Kh7 49. h5 g5 50. Qe7+ Kh8 51. Qxg5 Kh7 52.
h6 Kh8 53. Qg7#) 42... Qg1+ 43. Kxg1 {What can you say?} 1/2-1/2
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