Gustavus Reichhelm and Hardman Mongomery

Reichelm

    The American Civil War, which took place from April 12, 1861 to April 9, 1865, naturally resulted in a cultural life in both the North and the South that was greatly distinct from life in the antebellum years. 

    Newspapers often featured reports directly from the battlefield and photography, a relatively new development, brought the horrific imagery of the war into people’s homes. 

    One development in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania during that time were “sanitary fairs”. These fairs were patriotic, voluntary affairs and they climaxed with the Great Central Fair of 1864 in Logan Square in the city. It provided a creative and communal way for ordinary citizens to promote the welfare of Union soldiers.

    Sanitary fairs were civilian organized bazaars and expositions dedicated to raising funds and supplies for the United States Sanitary Commission and other charitable relief organizations. 

    The Sanitary Commission was the only civilian run organization recognized by the federal government. It offered assistance to the military. Civilian volunteers advised on the physical and mental health of the military, assisted in organizing military hospitals and camps and aided in the transportation of the wounded. They also distributed medical supplies, food and clothing where needed. 

    Naturally, in 1864 there was not a lot of chess activity, but in January the Philadelphia Chess Club defeated the Paulsen Chess Club in New York in a one game telegraph match. 

    In June 1864, former Union Captain George H. Mackenzie (1837-1891), who was born in Scotland and moved to the US in 1863, became a Captain in the 10th United States Colored Troops Regiment. Then in June of 1864, he was declared a deserter, was arrested and forfeited all pay and allowances. He was released from prison in May, 1865, and moved to New York and started playing chess. By 1867, he was US champion. 

    A prominent Philadelphia player of the era was Gustav Reichelm (1839-1905). Besides being a strong player, he was a journalist and composer who also stood out as an analyst. Chess metrics estimates his highest ever rating to have been 2363 in 1869 and his best ever world rank to have been number 5 (behind Berthold Suhlem Wilhelm Steinitz, Hans von Minckwitz and Philipp Hirschfeld), but needles to say information upon which to estimate ratings was scant in those days. 

    He was a specialist also in Pawn endings and he published a famous study with Emanuel Lasker with whom he was very friendly and with whom he used to play and analyze. He was editor of Brentano Chess Monthly and for the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin. 

    Reichelm was born in Prussia. He and his brother Frederic began their studies at the Gymnasium (a preparatory school) previous to their father' s death in 1816. Gustavus remained at the Gymnasium until he was qualified to pursue his studies at the University of Halle where he studied law. 

    He came to the United States in about 1831 and made the acquaintance of a couple of homeopathic doctors in Allentown. Pennsylvania at what was the first homeopathic college in the country. He studied there and from that time until his death he was an ardent disciple of Homeopathy. 

    He commenced practicing in Hamburg, Pennsylvania, but on the advice of his mentor he moved to Pittsburgh in 1837 where he enjoyed great success. In 1853, much to the regret of his friends in Pittsburgh, he moved to Philadelphia. 

    His opponent in the following amusing game was Hardman Montgomery (1834-1870), the youngest son of John C. Montgomery, formerly Postmaster of Philadelphia. 

Montgomery

    After entering the University of Pennsylvania as a Sophomore in 1851, Montgomery's talent for chess and mathematics was soon spotted by one of his professors. 

    From 1852 onward, Montgomery quickly rose among the ranks of local players and was a member of the successful Philadelphia team beating New York in two correspondence games in 1855-1856. 

    Montgomery was the sole Philadelphia representative in the 1st American Chess Congress held in New York in 1857. It was a knockout tournament and Montgomery defeated his first round opponent, William S Allison, but lost the next round to Louis Paulsen. 

    Because of the popularity of Paul Morphy the Philadelphia Chess Club was founded and Montgomery became its first President. 

    In 1861, after losing a match against New York's Theodore Lichtenhein (+2 -7 =1), Montgomery practically retired from serious chess. However, he did later defeat James A. Leonard (+8 -4 =2) in 1861 and lost a match Reichhelm (+4 -8 =0 in 1864. 

    Montgomery resided in Philadelphia and New York and practiced law for a time in Pennsylvania. Eventually he moved to California. On Christmas day in 1869 he was struck with paralysis and then on January 22, 1870, at the age of 34, he suffered a fatal stroke. He died in Marysville, California. 

    The game given here was not very well played. In fact, Reichhelm was losing, but Montgomery let him get away. 

[Event "Philadelphia"] [Site "Philadelphia"] [Date "1864.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Hardman Montgomery"] [Black "Gustavus Reichhelm"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C44"] [Annotator "Stockfish 16"] [PlyCount "54"] [EventDate "1864.??.??"] {C44: Scotch Gambit} 1. e4 e5 {[%mdl 32]} 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 {This opening was analyzed as far back as 1750 and received the name Scotch Game fromm a correspondence match in 1824 between Edinburgh and London. It remained popular in the 1800s, but by 1900 it was considered to give b;ack easy equality. In modern times Garry Kasparov and Jan Timman used it occasionally as a surprise} exd4 4. Bd3 {Very passive. 4.Nxd4 or 4.Bc4 are usually played.} Bc5 5. c3 { Offering a P after playing the passive 4.Bd3 may not seem logical, but in doing so white frees up his game.} (5. Nbd2 Qe7 6. Nb3 Bb6 7. a3 d6 8. Bd2 Bg4 9. O-O {Black is better. Scherbakova,G-Kozhukina,E Odessa 2008}) 5... dxc3 6. O-O {Equally good was 6.Nxc3, but he offer of another P is also quite playable. } Nge7 (6... cxb2 7. Bxb2 Nf6 8. e5 {allows white plenty of play and black's attacked N has no really good square to retreat to.}) 7. e5 {This is less effective with black's N on e7 because now the Ps advance does not gain a tempo. Better was 7.Nxc3} O-O {Castling at this point is risky because defend ing against the coming attack will require precision.} (7... cxb2 {While this might look risky it would leave black with the advantage.} 8. Bxb2 d5 (8... O-O 9. Bxh7+ Kxh7 {Better is 9...Kh8, but white has a very promising position.} 10. Ng5+ {wins}) 9. exd6 Qxd6 {White does not have quite enough compensation for the two Ps.}) (7... d5 {This is simply a transposition.} 8. exd6 cxb2 9. Bxb2 Qxd6 {with the same position as after 7...cxb2}) 8. Bxh7+ {Of course! Black can survive this, but accurate defense is a must.} Kxh7 {Forced.} (8... Kh8 9. Ng5 g6 (9... Ng8 10. Bxg8 Kxg8 11. Qh5 {wins}) 10. Qf3 Nf5 11. Bxg6 {wins. Just one line...} Kg7 12. Bxf5 Nxe5 13. Qg3 Ng6 14. Bxg6 fxg6 15. Qxc3+ Kg8 16. Qxc5) 9. Ng5+ Kg6 {This is the right square for the K. White has no forced win IF black accurately defends.} (9... Kg8 {would lose.} 10. Qh5 Re8 11. Qh7+ Kf8 12. Qh8+ Ng8 13. Nh7+ Ke7 14. Bg5+ f6 15. exf6+ Ke6 (15... Nxf6 16. Qxg7+ Kd6 17. Nxc3 Nd4 18. Bxf6 Ne6 19. Qg3+ Kc6 20. b4 b6 21. Bxd8 Rxd8 22. bxc5 {wins}) 16. f7 Kxf7 17. Bxd8 $18) 10. Qd3+ Nf5 (10... f5 {was a better defense.} 11. exf6+ Nf5 12. fxg7 Kxg7 13. Qh3 Qe7 14. Nxc3 Kg8 15. Nd5 Qg7 {In Shootouts from this position white scored +1 -0 =4, so black has reasonable drawing chances.}) 11. g4 d6 {The correct move here and the one that results in equality is 11...d5. As will be seen, the reason is that 11...d5 makes e4 inaccessible to white's N.} (11... d5 12. gxf5+ Bxf5 13. Qg3 Kh5 14. Nxc3 f6 15. exf6 gxf6 16. Nh3 Rg8) 12. gxf5+ Bxf5 13. Qg3 {Threatening Ne6+} Kh5 { The safest square for the K, but white is clearly better.} 14. Nxc3 f6 (14... Nxe5 15. Nd5 Nd3 16. Nh3 Nxc1 17. Qxg7 Bg6 18. Nf6+ Kh4 19. Qh6+ Bh5 20. Qxh5#) (14... dxe5 15. Kh1 f6 16. Nge4 Bxe4+ 17. Nxe4 g5 18. Qf3+ Kg6 19. Nxc5 { is decisive.}) 15. Nce4 {[%mdl 8192] Wrong N!! This is a losing blunder.} (15. Nge4 {Had black's P been on d5 (see move 11) this would not have been. possible. White is now winning.} Bxe4 16. Nxe4 Qe7 17. Kh1 Qxe5 18. Qf3+ Kg6 19. Bf4 Qe6 20. Rg1+ Kf7 21. Nxc5) 15... fxg5 16. Bxg5 Qe8 {After this black's advantage is not so great, but the better Q sacrifice would not be so clear over the board!} (16... Nd4 {is another story.} 17. Rfe1 Bxe4 18. Bxd8 Nf3+ 19. Kf1 Bd3+ 20. Re2 Raxd8 21. Rd1 Bxe2+ 22. Kxe2 g5 {Black's advantage should prove decisive.}) 17. Nxc5 {[%mdl 8192] After this white loses quickly.} (17. Rae1 {puts up stouter resistance.} Bd4 18. Bf4 Qg6 {Black is better.}) 17... dxc5 18. Kh1 Qxe5 {Black is clearly winning.} 19. f4 Be4+ 20. Kg1 Qd4+ 21. Rf2 Ne5 {[%mdl 32] The N joins the attack.} 22. Qh3+ Kg6 {The strong threat is ... Nf3_} 23. Qe6+ Rf6 24. Bxf6 Nf3+ 25. Kf1 {White wants to mate with Rg2+.} Qd3+ {Correct!} (25... gxf6 {is a self mate.} 26. Rg2+ Kh5 27. Qh3+ Nh4 28. Qg4+ Kh6 29. Qxh4#) 26. Kg2 Ng5+ 27. Kg1 Nh3+ {White resigned.} (27... Nh3+ 28. Qxh3 Qxh3 {Stockfish informs us that there is a mate in 21 moves!} 29. Bd4 Qg4+ 30. Kf1 cxd4 31. Re1 Bd3+ 32. Ree2 Bxe2+ 33. Rxe2 Qf3+ 34. Ke1 Qxf4 35. Kd1 d3 36. Re1 Qf3+ 37. Kd2 Qf2+ 38. Kc3 Qc2+ 39. Kd4 Rd8+ 40. Ke3 Qc5+ 41. Kf3 Rf8+ 42. Ke4 Re8+ 43. Kxd3 Rd8+ 44. Ke2 Qe5+ 45. Kf1 Rf8+ 46. Kg2 Qxe1 47. h4 Qe2+ 48. Kg3 Rf3+ 49. Kg4 Qg2#) 0-1