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.
[Event "1926 Rhode Island Champ, Providence"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1926"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Joseph C. Cook"]
[Black "T.J. Jackson"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C44"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 15"]
[PlyCount "87"]
[EventDate "1926.??.??"]
{Scotch Gambit} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Bc4 Bc5 5. O-O d6 6. c3 Bg4
7. b4 {White should play 7.Qb3} Bb6 $15 8. Bb2 (8. Qb3 Bxf3 9. Bxf7+ Kf8 10.
Bxg8 Rxg8 11. gxf3 Qf6 {Also playable is 11...g5} 12. c4 d3 13. c5 dxc5 14.
bxc5 Bxc5 15. Qxb7 {Black is better. Harari,Z (2074)-Salomon,J (2343) London
2014}) 8... Ne5 {Well played. Any other move minimizes black's advantage.} 9.
Nbd2 Bxf3 {Black has a decisive advantage.} 10. gxf3 d3 {Even more potent was
10...Qg5+ first.} 11. f4 Ng6 (11... Nxc4 {allows white to equalize.} 12. Nxc4
Qf6 13. Qxd3 Qxf4 14. a4) 12. Nf3 Nxf4 13. Bxd3 Qd7 14. Kh1 Qh3 15. Ne1 (15.
Rg1 Nf6 16. Rg3 Qe6 17. Ng5 Qe7 {would have allowed white to put up more
resistance.}) 15... Nf6 16. Qd2 g5 17. c4 {[%mdl 32] this is a critical
position and Jackson quickly goes astray.} Ng4 {[%mdl 512] Not bad, but
according to Stockfish this is only about 1/3 as good as 17...Nxe4!} (17...
Nxe4 {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. Qc2 Bxf2
19. Qxf2 (19. Rxf2 Ng3+ 20. Kg1 Qg2+ 21. Rxg2 Nh3#) 19... Nxf2+ 20. Rxf2 Nxd3
21. Nxd3 O-O-O {and wins.} (21... Qxd3 {complicates the issue.} 22. Re1+ Kd7
23. Rxf7+ Kc6 24. Bxh8 Rxh8 {Black should still win.})) 18. f3 Nh5 {[%mdl 8192]
A fatal error that results in the loss of the game.} (18... Be3 19. Qc2 Ne5 20.
Ng2 Nxg2 21. Qxg2 Qxg2+ 22. Kxg2 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. Qg2 Qxg2+ 20. Nxg2 Ne5 21. Bxe5 dxe5 {With the exchange of pieces
black's attack has disappeared and he is facing a loss of material.} 22. c5
O-O-O 23. Rad1 {White has to be careful.} (23. cxb6 {would lose the advantage
after} Rxd3 24. bxa7 Ra3 {and black is even a little better.}) 23... Rd4 24. a3
Rhd8 25. Bc2 (25. Ne1 {likely loses...} Nf4 26. cxb6 axb6 27. Rd2 Nxd3 28. Nc2
R4d7 29. Ne3 Nf4 {Black should win the ending.}) 25... c6 26. cxb6 axb6 27.
Rxd4 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. Bd3 f6 29. f4 Nxf4 30. Nxf4 gxf4 31. Rxf4 {[%mdl 4096]}
Rd6 32. Rh4 c5 33. bxc5 bxc5 34. Rh5 {Excellent!} (34. Rxh7 {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. Bxb5 d3 36.
Rh5 d2 37. Rxc5+ Kd8 38. Ba4 d1=Q+ 39. Bxd1 Rxd1+ {This ending is drawn.} 40.
Kg2 Rd2+ 41. Kg3 Rd3+ 42. Kg4 Rxa3 43. Kf5 Rh3 44. Rc2 Ke7) 34... b6 35. Kg2 {
The K must be brought into play.} Kc7 36. Kf2 Rc6 37. Rxh7+ Kd6 38. Bb5 c4 (
38... Rc7 {is equally hopeless.} 39. Rxc7 Kxc7 40. h4 {wraps it up.} Kd8 41. h5
Ke7 42. Bc4 Kf8 43. h6 {and black's Ps will fall.}) 39. Bxc6 Kxc6 40. Rh5 b5
41. Ke2 Kb6 42. Rd5 d3+ 43. Kd2 Ka5 44. Kc3 {Black resigned.} 1-0
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