Both because of his ability and in order to make the U.S. team truly national, he was chosen by he committee of the Brooklyn Chess
Club to play against Great Britain in 1907 in the annual cable match. Playing on Board 8 (out of 10) he drew his game with Harry Holmes as the U.S. squeaked past Great Britain 5.5-4.5.
Today’s game is taken from his hard earned victory in the 1914 Western Open in Chicago. Wolbrecht demonstrated great staying power in the 19-player round robin in which two games a day were played. He finished in a 4-way tie sor first and in the double round playoff he tied with Brandon Jefferson ahead of Herman Hahlnohm and Edward Schrader.
Wolbrecht was born in St. Louis, Missouri where he attended the public schools and later studied civil engineering at Washington University in St. Louis.
He eventually worked for the Government as an engineer on the
Mississippi River Commission. From time to time he was in charge of Government steamers,
inspecting and repairing the river works between St. Louis and New Orleans.
Wolbrecht learned to play chess in 1897 or 1898 and had comparatively little time or opportunityfor the practicem but after about 5 ears he was good enough to win the St. Louis city championship even though opposed by such well known players as Max Jidd and E. F. Schrader. In 1903, Wolbrecht played a match for a small stake against Jacques Mieses who was visiting the U.S. Wolbrecht wcored +1 -0 =1.
His opponent, Herman Hahlbohm (1886 - 1963, 76 years old). He was one of Chicago's most prominent players in the early 1900s.
[Event "Western Champ (playoff), Memphis"]
[Site ""]
[Date "1914.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Herman Hahlbohm"]
[Black "George Wolbrecht"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D55"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 17.1"]
[PlyCount "48"]
[EventDate "1914.??.??"]
{D61: Queen's Gambit Declined: Classical} 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3
Be7 5. Bg5 O-O 6. e3 c6 7. Bd3 Nbd7 8. Qc2 h6 9. Bh4 Nh5 {This is not a
particularly effective way of meeting the the Q-Gambut. The standard move is 9.
..dxc4} 10. Bxe7 Qxe7 11. g4 (11. O-O dxc4 12. Bxc4 e5 13. Rac1 exd4 14. exd4 {
equals. Sampaio, A-Silva,D (1771) Santos 2008}) (11. Qe2 Nhf6 12. cxd5 exd5 13.
O-O Ne4 14. Nd2 f5 15. f3 Nxd2 16. Qxd2 {equals. Khudoshina,V-Bakuta, N
Alushta 2005}) 11... Nhf6 12. g5 hxg5 13. Nxg5 {Black is in no particular
danger of the Classic Bishop Sacrifice because his N defends h7 and white
cannot get his Q into the attack with Qh5. Also, the semi-open g-file poses no
real danger to black.} e5 {A well played counter in the center.} 14. dxe5 {
A reasonable looking move as it keeps the center open, but it's a mistake
because now black's pieces spring into like.} (14. O-O-O {leaves white safe.}
e4 {This is why white wanted the center open. After this he has no prospects
of attacking h7.} 15. Be2 Nb6 {Now a continued K-side attack by white leads
nowhere.} 16. h4 Bf5 17. Rdg1 dxc4 18. Nh3 Nbd5 {Let's try to continue the
K-side attack.} 19. Nxd5 cxd5 20. Nf4 Rfd8 21. Rg3 Rd6 22. Rhg1 Ne8 23. Rg5 Qd7
24. h5 b5 25. h6 g6 {and black, whose K is now quite safe, stands better.})
14... Nxe5 15. O-O-O g6 (15... dxc4 {only allows a harmless check.} 16. Bh7+
Kh8 17. Rhg1 {is a bit tricky to calculate!} (17. f4 Nd3+ {with an excellent
position.}) 17... g6 18. Bxg6 fxg6 19. f4 Nd3+ {and black is winning.}) 16. f4
Nxd3+ 17. Qxd3 Bf5 {Completing his development, and defending his K-side.
White's position quickly deteriorates.} 18. Qd2 Rad8 (18... dxc4 {Capturing
this unimportant P is a mistake that lets white back into the game.} 19. e4
Rad8 20. Qg2 Bc8 21. f5 {with some decent counterplay.}) 19. cxd5 cxd5 20. h4
Rc8 21. Qd4 Rc4 22. Qe5 Rxc3+ {[%mdl 512] This stockdolager is the coup de
grace.} 23. bxc3 Qa3+ 24. Kd2 Ng4 {White resigned.} (24... Ng4 25. Qd4 Qxa2+
26. Kc1 Qc2#) 0-1
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