It was home to Allen G. Pearsall (October 17, 1880 – January 1, 1948) who, at the time of his death in an automobile accident, was one of the oldest members of the Correspondence Chess League of America and the San Diego Chess Club.
The accident occurred at 9:00pm on New Year's day as he was returning home from an evening at the San Diego Chess Club.
The cheerful and well liked Peasrsall had been the best player in the San Diego area for more than 15 years and he was nationally known as one of the leading correspondence players in the country.
He was known to have played a large number of games at one time; a report in a 1916 issue of the American Chess Bulletin reported that at the time he had, "only the small number of
sixty-five in the various correspondence clubs with which he is connected."
Pearsall started playing chess at the age of ten and first stated correspondence play in 1910 in a tournament in which he finished second. At the time of the ACB article he had finished 175 games and won about 131 of them.
The article noted that he had recently issued a challenge to other players on the Pacific coast to play correspondence games, but nobody would accept the challenge.
His opponent in the following game was Dr. Moses Scholtz (1875-1942) who was born in Russia. He was the 1932 Los Angeles. According to chess historian Graham Clayton, Scholtz graduated from Moscow University in 1900. He was a clinical instructor in dermatology syphilogy at the University of Cincinnati. He then moved to Los Angeles, where he was a member of the Los Angeles Dermatological Society.
The game ends with Schlotz completely out of useful moves.
[Event "Correspondence"]
[Site "USA"]
[Date "1936.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Allen G. Pearsall"]
[Black "Moses Scholtz"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C45"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 16"]
[PlyCount "57"]
[EventDate "1936.??.??"]
[Source "American Chess B"]
{C45: Scotch Game} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 {By 1900 the Scotch had lost its
popularity because it was thought to release the central tension too early and
allow black to equalize without difficulty. In modern times Garry Kasparov and
Jan Timman used it as a surprise weapon. It's a solid and strategic opeing
that might be a good choice for player who prefers slow-paced games.} exd4 {
The books claim this is is the only reasonable move because the passive 3...d6
allows white to establish control of the center and gain a lot of space.} (3...
d6 {Looking at some continuations with Stockfish and Komodo Dragen seem to
indicate that blacks position is solid and white gets only a minimal advantage.
For players below the GM level black's position is probably quite playable.} 4.
d5 (4. Bb5 {is often played, but it does not lead to any advantage.} Bd7 5. Nc3
Nf6 6. O-O Be7 7. Re1 {is the main line, but black has a solid position and
the results have been abour even between wins loses and draws.}) 4... Nce7 5.
c4 g6 6. Nc3 Bg7 {White is slightly better and most players would probably
play something like 7.Bd3, but both Stockfish and Komodo Dragon give white's
best move as} 7. c5 Nf6 (7... dxc5 8. Be3 b6 9. h4 {followed by h5 with a
promising position.}) 8. Bb5+ Nd7 9. cxd6 cxd6 10. Be3 {White is slightly
better.}) 4. Nxd4 {Interesting is 4 Bc4!?, the Scotch Gambit in which white
refrains from recapturing the P and even allows his opponent to protect it, in
the interest of rapid development} Bc5 {The Classical Variation in which black
develops a piece and prepares to castle. White's main choices are 5.Be3 and 5.
Nxc6/} 5. Be3 (5. Nxc6 {is best met by} Qf6 {and white must either block his B
with 6.Qd2 or play 6.Qf3 when black can, if he wishes, exchange Qs, but
usually he doesnot and plays 6...bxc6}) 5... Qf6 6. c3 Nge7 7. Bb5 {This is
unusual. The B usually stops a square sooner and lands on c4.} Nxd4 {Black
usually plays 7...O-O here although 7...Bb6 has often been played first,
Black's move is also quite playable.} 8. cxd4 {This is preferable to playing 8.
Bxd4 and exchanging Bs which only eases black's defense.} Bb6 9. Nc3 c6 10. Ba4
{Apparently the idea of this move is to prevent 10...d5. Also good was 10.Bc4}
d6 {If black plays 10...d5 he ends up a P down with an isolated c-Pawn vs
white's isolated d-Pawn. Theoretically the position would be equal, but
practically it's a situation black wanted to avoid.} 11. Qd2 Bd7 12. O-O-O h6 {
Black's position has no rea; weaknesses, but his somewhat passive play has
resulted in white getting more play.} 13. e5 Qg6 14. g4 (14. exd6 {is quite
strong.} Qxd6 {Somewhat better would bre 14...Nd5} 15. Bf4 Qg6 16. Rhe1 Be6 17.
d5 {with a strong attack.}) 14... O-O-O (14... Bxg4 {Black can play this and
survive, but he must play precisely so his avoidance of it was probably a good
idea.} 15. Rdg1 Qh5 16. exd6 Nf5 17. Bf4 O-O-O {with complications that should
favor black.}) 15. h3 d5 {This looks reasonable, but it allows white too much
play.} (15... dxe5 {This, on the other hand, looks risky, bur white has onlt
one good option!} 16. Bc2 {The only good move.} (16. dxe5 {loses.} Bxg4 17. Qc2
Bxe3+ 18. fxe3 Bxd1 19. Nxd1 Nd5 {Black is winning.}) 16... f5 {with head
whirling complications.}) 16. Bc2 $18 Qe6 17. Na4 f5 (17... c5 {was a stronger
defense.} 18. Nxc5 Bxc5 19. Qc3 Kb8 20. Qxc5 Ka8 {White is better, but black
can hope to defend himself.}) 18. Rhg1 {Here Pearson missed the strongest
continuation.} (18. exf6 Qxf6 19. Nxb6+ axb6 20. Bf4 Ng6 21. Bg3 Rhf8 22. Bxg6
Qxg6 23. Qb4 {Black is in serious trouble.}) 18... g5 19. Qb4 f4 (19... c5 {
is risky, but it was worth a try.} 20. Nxc5 Bxc5 21. Qxc5+ Kb8 {with good
defensive possibilities.}) 20. Bd2 Kc7 {He still should have tried 20...c5,
but in any case his defense is difficult.} 21. Bc3 (21. Qd6+ {When on the
attack one does not usually consider moves that allow the exchange of Qs, but
here black can hardly make the trade} Kc8 (21... Qxd6 22. exd6+ Kxd6 23. Bb4+ {
leaves white with a won game.} Ke6 (23... Kc7 24. Bxe7) 24. Rge1+ Kf6 25. Bxe7+
) 22. Nxb6+ axb6 23. Qa3 Kb8 24. Bb4 {Black has no good continuation.}) 21...
Nc8 {While white has no forced win, it's clear that black is being pushed back
and he will soon run out of decent moves.} 22. Nc5 Qe7 (22... Bxc5 23. dxc5 Ne7
24. Bd4 Kb8 {What else"} 25. Rd3 Be8 26. Rb3 Rd7 27. Bd3 Bg6 28. Ba6 Nc8 29. a4
{Sooner or later black's defense will crack.}) 23. e6 Be8 24. a4 {[%mdl 32]}
Kb8 25. a5 {White is clearly winning.} Bxc5 26. dxc5 Rf8 27. a6 b6 28. Rge1 b5
29. Qa5 {Facing a heavy material loss, black resigned.} (29. Qa5 Ka8 30. Be5
Qxc5 31. Qc7 Qb6 32. Qg7 {wins a piece.} Bg6 33. Bxg6 Rg8 34. Qh7 Qxa6 35. Bf6
{is hopeless for black.}) 1-0
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