The year 1926 began with a bang...literally. On January 2, 1926, Foster (1850-1926), who had been chess editor of the St. Louis Globe Democrat for 37 years, committed suicide by shooting himself in the head. Chess historian Bill Wall also informs us that
later in the year, on Saturday, September 4th, Labor Day weekend, a player named W. B. Victor, age 55, shot and killed himself in the New Orleans Chess Club.
On a lighter note, 1926 was the year the ingenious Brannock Device was patented by Charles Brannock (May 16, 1903 - November 22, 1992). Everybody has seen these devices, but few know there name.
Brannock was born into the shoe business...in 1906 his father, Otis, formed a partnership with ith Ernest Parks and founded the Park-Brannock Shoe Complany in Syracuse, New York.
While a Syracuse University student Charles wanted to find the best way to measure the foot and after a couple of years of experimenting he built a prototype using an erector set.
By the way, an erector set was the best toy ever! One year I got two for Christmas. I didn't get to play with them for a few days though because my dad spent Christmas morning building a huge Ferris wheel.
Before the Brannock Device was invented, feet were measured using a marked block of wood. The Brannock Device improved the accuracy of a foot measurement to a staggering 95-96 percent!
On the device, men's sizes start at size 1 (7-2/3 inches long) and each size is 1/3 of an inch longer. Each width is 3/16 of an inch and in the U.S. there are nine widths: AAA, AA, A, B, C, D, E, EE and EEE.
Presidents' Day, also called Washington's Birthday at the federal governmental level, is a holiday in the United States celebrated on the third Monday of February to honor all persons who served as president. Since 1879, has been the federal holiday honoring George Washington.
In 1926, the 40th annual Washington's Birthday celebration of the Rhode Island chess society, which was founded in 1886 by Ex-Governor Henry Howard, took place by invitation in the rooms
of the Providence Chess Club.
About a hundred players and spectators were on hand for the annual meeting and to witness the start of the tournaments. In addition to the championship event a minor tournament was held in which the junior championship and a few other prizes were up for grabs.
T. J. Jackson, who had made rapid improvement during the past year, finished second and it was the game between him and Joseph Cook that determined the outcome.
S.L. Thompson, a noted postal player, finished third.
The third place finisher, Herman G. Bonat, a past holder of the state title, had a rather erratic score, being the only one to defeat Cook and he drew draw with the second and third prize-winners, but lost to the tailenders. The problem was likely that he had not been very
active in chess during the past year or so.
Joseph C. Cook–T.J. Jackson1–0C441926 Rhode Island Champ, ProvidenceStockfish 15
Scotch Gambit 1.e4 e5 2.f3 c6 3.d4 exd4 4.c4 c5 5.0-0 d6 6.c3 g4 7.b4 White should play 7.Qb3 b6 8.b2 8.b3 xf3 9.xf7+ f8 10.xg8 xg8 11.gxf3 f6 Also playable is 11...g5 12.c4 d3 13.c5 dxc5 14.bxc5 xc5 15.xb7 Black is better. Harari,Z (2074)-Salomon,J (2343) London
2014 8...e5 Well played. Any other move minimizes black's advantage. 9.bd2 xf3 Black has a decisive advantage. 10.gxf3 d3 Even more potent was
10...Qg5+ first. 11.f4 g6 11...xc4 allows white to equalize. 12.xc4 f6 13.xd3 xf4 14.a4 12.f3 xf4 13.xd3 d7 14.h1 h3 15.e1 15.g1 f6 16.g3 e6 17.g5 e7 would have allowed white to put up more
resistance. 15...f6 16.d2 g5 17.c4 this is a critical
position and Jackson quickly goes astray. g4 Not bad, but
according to Stockfish this is only about 1/3 as good as 17...Nxe4! 17...xe4 Instead of playing 17...Ng4 which threatens mate, had black played this
move attacking white's Q a very complicated position would have arisen, but
one in which black has a winning advantage. Back in 1926 they didn't have
engines and so one annotator wrote that after 17...Nxe4, "one of the most
interesting and one of the most complicated situations would have arisen that
have ever occurred on the chess board with the variations too numerous to
correctly analyze in the twenty-move to the hour time limit..." 18.c2 xf2 19.xf2 19.xf2 g3+ 20.g1 g2+ 21.xg2 h3# 19...xf2+ 20.xf2 xd3 21.xd3 0-0-0 and wins. 21...xd3 complicates the issue. 22.e1+ d7 23.xf7+ c6 24.xh8 xh8 Black should still win. 18.f3 h5
A fatal error that results in the loss of the game. 18...e3 19.c2 e5 20.g2 xg2 21.xg2 xg2+ 22.xg2 a5 Positionally black has a superior
position, but practically he is going to have to prove that he can nurse it to
a win. 19.g2 xg2+ 20.xg2 e5 21.xe5 dxe5 With the exchange of pieces
black's attack has disappeared and he is facing a loss of material. 22.c5 0-0-0 23.ad1 White has to be careful. 23.cxb6 would lose the advantage
after xd3 24.bxa7 a3 and black is even a little better. 23...d4 24.a3 hd8 25.c2 25.e1 likely loses... f4 26.cxb6 axb6 27.d2 xd3 28.c2 4d7 29.e3 f4 Black should win the ending. 25...c6 26.cxb6 axb6 27.xd4 exd4 A piece down, black's position is hopeless, but in practice he has
a chance that his Ps can hold out against white's B. However, Cook plays the
ending quite well. 28.d3 f6 29.f4 xf4 30.xf4 gxf4 31.xf4 d6 32.h4 c5 33.bxc5 bxc5 34.h5 Excellent! 34.xh7 is very tempting..
.it picks up a P and confines black's K to the last rank. It also result is
disaster! b5 Threatening to get the c- and d-Pawns moving. 35.xb5 d3 36.h5 d2 37.xc5+ d8 38.a4 d1+ 39.xd1 xd1+ This ending is drawn. 40.g2 d2+ 41.g3 d3+ 42.g4 xa3 43.f5 h3 44.c2 e7 34...b6 35.g2
The K must be brought into play. c7 36.f2 c6 37.xh7+ d6 38.b5 c4 38...c7 is equally hopeless. 39.xc7 xc7 40.h4 wraps it up. d8 41.h5 e7 42.c4 f8 43.h6 and black's Ps will fall. 39.xc6 xc6 40.h5 b5 41.e2 b6 42.d5 d3+ 43.d2 a5 44.c3 Black resigned. 1–0
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