A Tragic Murder-Suicide

 

    Back in March of 1992, the Plantation, Florida Police Department reported two deaths. The deaths of an elderly couple from Tamarac, a part of the Miami–Fort Lauderdale–Pompano Beach Metropolitan Area, were classified as a murder-suicide. According to the couple’s daughter the deaths were an act of love. 

    The man had met his future wife Angela in Cleveland, Ohio, her place of birth, where he worked for the Cuyahoga Valley Railway for 32 years. Angela worked as a long-distance telephone operator and later in a Chevrolet automobile plant in Cleveland. They were married 62 years and had moved to Tamarac in 1973. 

    The husband sneaked a handgun into his ailing wife's hospital room and shot her in the temple and then turned the gun on himself. They were found shortly after 4:15 p.m. when a nurse checked the room after hearing noises. The 80-year-old woman was found dead on her bed and her husband, 84, was found on the floor by the bed. He was barely alive and died in the emergency room 15 minutes later. 

    The couple's daughter said her father couldn't bear to be apart from his wife nor could he take the pain of watching her suffer. Her mother had been in the hospital nearly two months suffering from a circulation problem affecting her legs and she was expected to lose one leg and eventually the other. 

    She added that her mother's health had gotten really bad during the past few years. She had lost her left eye in a cataract operation and about three years earlier had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's. Then her left leg started ulcerating and the sores got very big. Through it all her husband was there to care for her. For 52 days he watched her suffer in pain and every day sat with her for 4 or 5 hours holding her hand and trying to feed her and give her her medicine. 

    She was scheduled to be admitted to a nursing home in a couple of days, but didn't want to go and didn't want to lose her legs. All she wanted to do was go home. Her husband couldn't bear to see her suffer and cried for his wife every day. A neighbor told how the old man often spoke of his wife's suffering and had said she didn't want to live, explaining that she was in a lot of pain and wanted to die.

    The old man had founded the local chess club about 10 years earlier and served as its president. During that time he carved his own chess set. He was a member of the National Woodcarvers Association and while reading their magazine he saw an ad for exotic hardwoods from the rain forests, ordered the wood and then shaped the pieces on his lathe. Putting his wife's needs first, he eventually stopped attending club functions because he hated to leave his wife at home alone when she was ill. 

    Soren “Sam” Korsgaard was born in Copenhagen, Denmark and arrived in the United States when he was 14. Korsgaard learned the basics of the game from an elderly lady who lived in his neighborhood in his native Copenhagen, but only began to play seriously after he moved to Ohio and joined the Parma Chess Club. In 1970, Korsgaard won the club's championship. After his death Tamarac club members named a tournament in his honor. 

    The following gem was the only one of Korsgaard’s games that I could find (January 1948 Chess Review). Black had a difficult position, but it was quite defendable until he played his 17th move and then Korsgaard jumped all over him.

 

[Event "Cleveland, Ohio"] [Site "?"] [Date "1947.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Soren Korsgaard"] [Black "William Granger"] [Result "1-0"] [Annotator "James Massie"] [PlyCount "45"] [SourceVersionDate "2026.01.27"] {B50: Sicilian Defense} 1. e4 c5 2. Bc4 {The Bowdler Attack. It seems popular with some amateurs, bit the statistics show that black performs very well against it (61% wins).} Nc6 3. Nf3 d6 4. O-O g6 {The fianchetto does not perform well here. Either 4...Nf6 or 4...e6 are better choices.} 5. c3 Nf6 6. d3 {This slow but solid move is often played. More dynamic is 6.d4} Bg7 7. Re1 O-O 8. a3 {Both sides have been going about their busibess of getting developed. It's possible white played this in order to meet ...Na5 with Ba2.} ( 8. Nbd2 Na5 9. Bb5 a6 10. Ba4 b5 11. Bc2 e5 12. d4 {Black stands well. Velicka, P (2472)-Dragun,K (2424) Krakow POL 2011}) (8. d4 cxd4 9. Nxd4 Bd7 10. b4 Ne8 11. Nxc6 bxc6 12. Be3 {Here, too, black hAas a comfortable position. Erenska,H (2293)-Dragasevic Georgieva,A (2134) Arvier 2006}) (8. Bg5 Na5 9. Nbd2 Bd7 10. Qe2 Nxc4 11. dxc4 {Black is a bit better. Erenska,H (2293)-Dragasevic Georgieva,A (2134) Arvier 2006}) 8... Na5 (8... d5 {looks like a good way to try and take advantage of white's last move, but the position remain equal after} 9. Bb3 dxe4 10. dxe4 Qxd1 11. Bxd1 Rd8) 9. Bb3 {In view of his last move one would have expected white to preserve his B with 9.Ba2} Nxb3 10. Qxb3 Qc7 11. Nbd2 {[%mdl 32] This N is going on a quick trip to f6 where it plays a major part in the win.} Be6 12. Qc2 b5 13. e5 {All of a sudden white gets aggressive!} Nd7 (13... dxe5 14. Nxe5 Rad8 15. Ndf3 {Black has the freer game and so can claim a small advantage.}) 14. exd6 exd6 15. Ne4 Nb6 {Not bad, but avoiding the pin white soom inflicts on him by playing 16...Qc6 would have been prudent.} (15... Qc6 16. Bf4 Ne5 17. Bxe5 dxe5 {equals.}) 16. Bf4 Rad8 17. Bg5 {Because black's N is on b6 the f6 square has become vulnerable.} f6 { A fatal tactical error.} (17... Rde8 {is an adequate defense,} 18. Nf6+ Bxf6 19. Bxf6 Qd7 20. Qd2 Nd5 {The dark squares around black's K are weak, but because black is well developed there is no way white can take advantage of it. }) 18. Nxf6+ {[%mdl 512] Ripping the guts out of black's position.} Bxf6 19. Rxe6 Bxg5 20. Nxg5 Kh8 21. Rae1 {White is clearly winning.} Nd5 22. c4 bxc4 23. dxc4 {Black resigned.} (23. dxc4 Nf6 24. Qc3 Qg7 (24... d5 25. Rxf6 d4 26. Qf3 Qg7 27. Rf7 Rxf7 28. Nxf7+ {wins}) 25. Re7 Qh6 26. Nf7+ {wins}) 1-0