Monday, January 15, 2024

1904 - Chicago Players Were Best in Country

    
Life expectancy in the US in 1904 was only 46.2 for men and 49.1 for women. Short story writer O. Henry was visiting Honduras whe he came up with the term Banana Republic to describe a politically unstable country with an economy dependent upon exporting a limited-resource product like bananas. 
    Thomas Sullivan, a New York tea merchant, invented tea bags by accident. He wanted the small bags to be samples of the tea. People started dunking them instead. King C. Gillette patented his Gillette razor blade. On December 31, the first New Year’s Eve celebration was held in Times Square (then Longacre Square), New York City. And, the term “hangover” came into the vernacular. Before that, people felt “crapulous.” 
    If you lived in Chicago in 1904, you started paying the Bottled Water Tax. It applied to the retail sale of bottled water in the city at a rate of $0.05 per bottle. However, the tax did not apply to sale of bottled water to passengers on an interstate carrier. 
    In 1904, it appeared that Chicago might possibly be emerging as the new power in American chess. Teams from the Chicago Chess and Checker Club had won victories in telegraph matches against Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Boston and they also overwhelmed a team from the Twin Cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota. 
    In the match against the Twin Cities the outcome of one of the games was disputed owing to inability of the players to agree upon the correct position at time of adjournment. It didn’t matter; Chicago won by 10 points anyway. 
    The winner of the following game from the match was Chicago’s little known Carl Medinus (August 4, 1873 – December 6, 1941). Medinus played a match against Frank Marshall ib Chicago in 1900, with Marshall winning 4-2. 
    On the other hand, Horace Bigelow (March 6, 1898 – April 18, 1980) was a well known master and organizer. He learned to play chess at age ten in Lucerne, Switzerland. Eventually he found his way to New York City where he was a prominent member of the Manhattan Chess Club, one of organizers of the New York 1924 tournament. In 1928-29, he won the Marshall Chess Club Championship. He edited a chess column in the New York Evening Post and the Liberty magazine.
A game that I liked (Fritz 17)
[Event "Team Match"] [Site "?"] [Date "1904.01.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Carl Medinus (Chicago)"] [Black "Horace Bigelow (Twin Cities)"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C29"] [Annotator "Stockfish 16"] [PlyCount "57"] [SourceVersionDate "2024.01.15"] {C29: Vienna Game} 1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 {Originally the idea behind the was to play a delayed King's Gambit, but in modern play qhite often plays more quietly. Weaver Adams once claimed the Vienn led to a forced win, but of course it does not.} Nf6 3. f4 d5 {Best. It strikes in the center.} (3... exf4 4. e5 {is rarely played. White almost always replies with 4.Bc4, but the best movr appears to be...} Ng8 {Best because after 4...Qe7 5.Qe2 black has to retreat the N anyway.} 5. Nf3 d6 6. d4 dxe5 7. Bb5+ c6 8. Bc4 {White is better developed.}) 4. fxe5 Nxe4 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. d4 {More exact os 6.Bb5} Bb4 7. Bd2 Bf5 $146 (7... Bg4 8. Be2 Bxf3 9. Bxf3 Nxd2 10. Qxd2 Qh4+ 11. Qf2 Qxd4 12. Qxd4 Nxd4 {with a clear advantage.}) 8. Be2 {[%mdl 32]} Nxd2 (8... f6 {Challenging white in this was assures black of equality. For example...} 9. Nxe4 dxe4 10. Nh4 Be6 11. Bxb4 Nxb4 12. O-O fxe5) 9. Qxd2 Be4 10. O-O (10. O-O-O {is somewhat stronger.} f6 11. a3 Bxc3 12. Qxc3 O-O 13. Rhe1 {White is slightly better.}) 10... O-O 11. Rad1 b6 {Black is wasting time with this pointless move. Once again, challenging white's cenbter with 11...f6 is correct.} 12. a3 Be7 13. Bb5 Bxf3 14. Bxc6 (14. gxf3 {would be bad.} Nxd4 15. Ba6 (15. Qxd4 Bc5) 15... c6 16. Kh1 Nf5 {Black is slightly better.}) 14... Bxd1 15. Qxd1 (15. Bxa8 {is a misstep.} Qxa8 16. Rxd1 c6 {with an even position.}) 15... Rb8 16. Nxd5 f6 17. Qg4 {White's position has reached the point where he can be considered to be winning.} f5 {Apparently Bigelow hoped the elimination of Rs would ease his defensive burden, but that is not the case.} (17... fxe5 {is technically speaking no better though because of} 18. Qe6+ Kh8 19. Qxe7 Qxe7 20. Nxe7 exd4 {However, practically speaking, this is probably black's best chance.}) 18. Rxf5 Rxf5 19. Qxf5 Bg5 20. c3 a5 21. g3 Kh8 22. h4 Bc1 23. e6 {Decisive.} Qd6 { Medinus now executes a nifty finish.} 24. e7 Qxg3+ (24... Bxb2 {was worth a try.} 25. Kg2 Bxa3 26. e8=Q+ Rxe8 27. Bxe8 Qd8 28. Bb5 Bd6 {White is winning, but he still has some work to do.}) 25. Kf1 Qd6 26. e8=Q+ Rxe8 27. Bxe8 Bxb2 28. Bh5 Bxa3 29. Qc8+ {Black resigned . A fine finale by Medinus.} (29. Qc8+ Qf8+ 30. Qxf8+ Bxf8 31. Nxc7 {is hopeless for black.}) 1-0

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