A First Brilliancy Prize Game

     A traveler arriving by ship to San Francisco in the 1850s would have been greeted by the sight of hundreds of vessels drifting empty in the bay, abandoned by gold seekers who had no further use for them. 

     In 1848, its population was around 500. In that year, gold was discovered at nearby Sutter’s Mill and by 1850, the village had exploded into a boom town of 30,000. 

     By 1853 the shantytown that made up San Francisco was one of the biggest cities in the country and it had 46 gambling casinos, 144 taverns and 537 other places that sold liquor. 

     Rowdy young men roamed the streets looking to spend their gold and the real fortunes were made by those who sold goods and services to the miners; eggs went for a dollar apiece, a pound of butter for six dollars and a pair of boots for a hundred. 

     Ninety-two percent of the population were men between the ages of fifteen and forty-four. The mere rumor of a female arriving in town could cause the saloons to empty and a crowd to form on the docks. With only one woman to every dozen men, brothels flourished; the going rate was 100 dollars a night, roughly the price of a house. 

     Although there were police, violence was rampant and disputes were often settled by force. Mob rule prevailed and vigilante groups intimidated, abducted and imprisoned public officials. The murder rate was about five every six days.

     The locals made San Francisco a particularly dangerous place for new arrivals from Australia. The astonishing reason...they were viewed as rabble from a penal colony and were often falsely accused of crimes and lynched. 

     Amid all this there were chess players and in 1854, the Mechanics' Institute was organized. The club has a long and illustrious history and boasts being the oldest chess club in the United States. 

     Besides many, many prominent Masters and Grandmasters, the club has been visited by World Champions Lasker, Capablanca, Alekhine, Euwe, Fischer, Smyslov, Petrosian, Spassky and Karpov. 

     One of the club's most prominent members was Adolf J. Fink who was born on July 19, 1890 and died on December 15, 1956, at the age of 66. An internationally-known problem composer, Fink had more than a thousand problems published during his lifetime and won over one hundred prizes. 

     Fink was one of the top over-the-board players at the Institute until the last three or four years when he was inactive because of the effects of a cerebral hemorrhage. He was a USCF Life Master. He won the Master title in the Chicago Masters' Tournament of 1922 and the California State Championship in 1922, 1928,1929 and was a co-champion with Herman Steiner) in 1945 and twice finished second behind Stash Mlotkowski.

     In 1920, 11 contestants took part in an annual Major tournament at the Mechanics' Institute in which they played two games against each other. The winner was Elmer W. Gruer, the California state champion in 1921, 1926 and 1927, who scored an incredible +17 -0 =3. Today's game was played in that event and it won Charles Woskoff the First Brilliancy Prize. 

[Event "Mechanics' Institute Tmt, San Francisco"] [Site "?"] [Date "1920.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Charles Woskoff"] [Black "J.E. Ford"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C10"] [Annotator "Stockfish 15.1"] [PlyCount "67"] [EventDate "1920.??.??"] {French Defense} 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bd3 dxe4 5. Nxe4 Nbd7 6. Nf3 Be7 7. O-O c6 (7... c5 8. Nxc5 Nxc5 9. dxc5 Qa5 10. c6 bxc6 11. Re1 Ba6 { White is slightly better. Korchnoi,V (2645)-Gurevich,D (2535) Bern 1996}) 8. c3 (8. c4 b6 9. Bf4 Nxe4 10. Bxe4 Bb7 11. Qa4 Qc8 12. Rfe1 O-O 13. Rad1 {White is slightly better. Bernard,C (2405)-Claverie,C (2325) Candas open 1996.}) 8... O-O 9. Re1 Re8 {Black's defensive maneuvering is not helping his cause any. More aggressive, and better, was 9...c5} 10. Bf4 Nf8 11. Ne5 Nd5 12. Bd2 Qc7 { Black should have accepted the slight weakening of his K-side and played 12... f6 to drive the N from its dominating position.} 13. c4 {Also good was the immediate 13.Qh5} Nb6 {Again, driving the N back with 13...f6 would have been a better choice.} 14. Qh5 Ng6 {This looks like a solid defense, but as will be seen, the N is not any help in defending the K.} (14... g6 {This is black's best defense.} 15. Qh6 f5 16. Ng5 Bf6 {Whitr has a clear advantage, but no forced win.}) 15. Bf4 Qd8 (15... Nd7 {was only somewhat better.} 16. Re3 Nf6 17. Nxf6+ Bxf6 18. Rf3 c5 {White has a decisive advantage. For example...} 19. Bd2 Rd8 20. Ng4 Rxd4 21. Nxf6+ gxf6 22. Rh3 Nf8 23. Bxh7+ Nxh7 24. Qxh7+ Kf8) 16. Re3 {An instructive R-lift that enables the R to join the attack.} Nd7 17. Rh3 Nf6 {White is now ready to break through the mass of pieces defending black's K.} (17... Ndf8 18. Ng5 Bxg5 19. Bxg5 Qxd4 20. Nxg6 fxg6 {allows a nice finish...} 21. Bxg6 Re7 22. Bxh7+ Nxh7 23. Qxh7+ Kf7 24. Rf3+ Ke8 25. Qh5+ Kd8 26. Rf7 {and wins.}) 18. Nxf6+ Bxf6 19. Qxh7+ Kf8 20. Bxg6 Qxd4 21. Bxf7 Qxf4 22. Qh8+ {White is going on a King hunt.} Ke7 23. Qxe8+ Kd6 24. Rd1+ Kc7 25. Ng6 {Let's not quibble over this, but 25.Re7+ was even stronger.} (25. Rd7+ Kb6 (25... Bxd7 26. Qxd7+ Kb6 27. Rb3+ Ka5 28. Rb5+ cxb5 29. Qxb5#) 26. c5+ Ka5 27. Ra3+ Kb4 28. Nd3+) 25... Qxc4 26. Ne7 Bxe7 27. Qxe7+ {White mates.} Kb6 28. Rb3+ Ka5 29. Qa3+ Qa4 30. Qc5+ b5 31. Ra3 Qxa3 32. bxa3 Bb7 33. Bxe6 Re8 34. Qxa7+ {Black resigned; it's mate in 4} (34. Qxa7+ Ba6 35. Rd4 b4 36. axb4+ Kb5 37. Qc5+ Ka4 38. Qa5#) 1-0