Friday, July 5, 2024

Sylvan Beach 1904

    
The chances are that you’ve never heard of Sylvan Beach, New York. It’s a very small village in the central part of the state. In the 2010 census, the population was 897. 
    The village is home to a mile long beach, a bandstand, a wide variety of restaurants and shops, a casino, hotel-style villas for rent, an amusement park, camping facilities and marinas that are all situated on the eastern shore of Oneida Lake. 
    The village attracts many boaters and fishing enthusiasts. The summer is best time for visitors with many different events going on and many places to eat. 
    The village also hosted a chess tournament in 1904 in which the the star participant was Frank Marshall. 
    The other participants are pretty much unknown. Kenneth S. Howard (1882 – 1972, 90 years old) was a chess problem composer who wrote several books about chess composition. 

    Otto Roething (1865 – 1915, 49 years old) was born in Germany and died in New York. He was the 1903 New York State champion and 1909 Manhattan Chess Club champion. And, that’s about all that is known about him. 
    No information seems to be available on the tailender Rudolph J. Guckemus (1874 – 1935, 60 years old) except that he was from Utica, New York. 
    In the late 1800s and early 1900s the New York State Chess Association held two major tournaments, the State Championship and a summer Congress at some resort city. In August of 1904, Sylvan Beach was the site of summer Congress. There were two main events, a general tournament and a major event for the Rice Trophy, sponsored by chess benefactor Professor Isaac L. Rice. 

  A game that I liked (Fritz 17)

[Event "Sylvan Beach, New York"] [Site "Sylvan Beach, NY USA"] [Date "1904.??.??"] [Round "5"] [White "Kenneth S. Howard"] [Black "Frank Marshall"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "A00"] [Annotator "Stockfish 16"] [PlyCount "58"] [EventDate "1904.08.16"] {[%evp 9,58,-100,-98,-92,-92,-95,-91,-114,-98,-140,-136,-200,-197,-198,-194, -194,-195,-293,-296,-276,-288,-291,-291,-297,-291,-321,-323,-322,-317,-395, -400,-394,-384,-441,-422,-467,-398,-413,-414,-512,-507,-833,-794,-813,-827, -29998,-567,-615,-550,-29994,-29995] Uruson Gambit} 1. e4 ({Here is a Marshall miniature to enjoy.} 1. e3 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 c5 4. b3 d4 5. Bb2 Nc6 6. d3 e5 7. Na3 f5 8. Qc2 Nf6 9. Rd1 e4 10. Ng1 a6 11. Ne2 Nb4 12. Qb1 Nxd3+ 13. Rxd3 exd3 14. Qxd3 Ne4 15. exd4 cxd4 {Rudolph J, Guckemus-Frank Marshall Sylvan Beach, NY 1904. White resigned because if...} 16. Qxd4 Bb4+ 17. Kd1 Nxf2+) 1... e5 {The Bishop's Opening is one of the oldest openings to be analyzed. In the 1950s Weaver Adams in his White to Play and Win claimed that it wins. When he couldn’t prove it he abandoned it in favor of the Vienna Game. In recent times Bent Larson was one of the few GMs to play it often, after first using it at the 1964 Interzonal. It’s also been used on occasion by Kasparov and Leko.} 2. Bc4 Nf6 {The Berlin Defense; it is probably black's best reply. This is the Urusov Gambit} 3. d4 {The main lines are either 3.d3 or 3.Nc3. The text transposes into the Urusov Gambit, a great way to get a strongt attacking position and it's easy for black to go wrong. However, it was probably the wrong choice to play against a tactical genius like Marshall.} exd4 4. e5 { Mote the best. 4.Nf3 is the main line.} d5 5. Qxd4 dxc4 6. Qxd8+ {This may have been the reason white chose this line thinking that the exchange of Qs keeps the position simpler. However, black ends up with a significant advantage.} Kxd8 7. exf6 gxf6 {[%mdl 32] Black is a P to the good and white doesn't have anything to show for it except he has weakened black's K-sidem but the weakness is pretty much insignificant.} 8. Nf3 Nc6 9. Be3 {Why not 8. Bf4 which at least keeps an eye on c7?} Bf5 10. c3 Ne5 11. Nxe5 {This straightend out black's Ps, but there really was nothing better. White's position is already very difficult.} (11. Nd4 Be4 12. f3 Nd3+ {with an excellent position.}) 11... fxe5 12. Nd2 Bd3 13. Bg5+ Kd7 14. O-O-O Bd6 15. g3 Rhg8 16. Be3 Rae8 17. f3 f5 {There's a bit of a discrepancy here. Ome dtatbases give black's move as 17...f6, but it does not have any effect on the further course game as the remaining moves are identical. I give this move because it is the engine's top choice.} 18. Rde1 b5 {[%mdl 32]} 19. Nb1 (19. Bxa7 {opens the a-file which black can use ti further his attack.} Ra8 20. Be3 Rxa2 21. Nb1 Ra1 22. Kd2 Rga8) 19... a5 20. Rhg1 {White is completely helpless and can only aimlessly shift pieces.} b4 21. Bd2 Rb8 22. Rg2 c5 23. Rf2 a4 24. Rg2 a3 25. Rf2 (25. bxa3 bxa3 26. Nxa3 {is met by} Ra8 27. Nb1 Rxa2 28. Kd1 Rb8 {and white loses his N.}) 25... axb2+ 26. Kxb2 bxc3+ 27. Kxc3 Bxb1 28. Bc1 Bd3 29. Bb2 Bc7 {White resigned.} (29... Bc7 30. Ba3 Ba5+ 31. Bb4 Rxb4 32. Kd2 Rb1+ 33. Ke3 Rxe1+ 34. Re2 Rxe2#) 0-1

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