Chess Notes

From John Hilbert (Amherst, NY, USA):

‘My work on a game collection and biography of Major Otho E. Michaelis of the United States Army, Ordnance Corps, has intrigued me for several years now, and not least because Michaelis appears in so many geographically varied chess contexts: in New York City, 1860, winning a rook-odds game against Paul Morphy; in Detroit, 1869, winning the Michigan State Chess Association title; in Philadelphia, in 1882 and 1884, winning the Philadelphia Chess Club’s championship, as well as off-hand games with Steinitz; and at various times in St Paul, Minnesota, in Troy, New York, in Boston and, finally, in Augusta, Maine. His chess followed his military career. From a variety of sources over 130 games and game fragments have been collected for the book. Steinitz acknowledged Michaelis as among the most prominent amateur chessplayers in the country, and regretted his passing. So did many others, both in and out of chess.

Of at least equal interest is Michaelis’ career in the military, which took him as a teenager on the Gettysburg campaign in July 1863; to Nashville for Hood’s disastrous attack on General George H. Thomas’s forces, where he served as Thomas’s chief of ordnance (Michaelis was the first non-West Point graduate to qualify to enter the ordnance corps); to the Little Big Horn to identify bodies two days after Custer’s defeat; to the top of Mount Whitney in California; to the lecture hall of the prestigious Franklin Institute in Philadelphia; and his work in a variety of federal arsenals conducting experiments for the ordnance corps. An expert in chess, whist, ordnance, metallurgy, electricity, meteorology, translation and perhaps other fields too, Michaelis, the 1862 valedictorian of the Free Academy of New York (four years later renamed the City College of New York), was something of a Renaissance man, in the term’s best sense.

Until recently, however, his family has in some ways proved more elusive than his chess or military careers. Having obtained his pension records from the time when his widow applied for an increase in funds, I can now share further information. As is known, Michaelis was born in Germany on 3 August 1843 and died in Augusta, Maine on 1 May 1890. He died of a spinal infection at the relatively young age of 46. His wife, Kate Kercheval Woodbridge Michaelis, was born on 2 February 1846, in Detroit, Michigan.

Otho and Kate Michaelis were married in Detroit on 29 December 1868. They had nine children over a period of 20 years, only six of whom outlived their father. All but two were born at various army arsenals across the country. The following list of their children is taken from Kate Michaelis’s sworn affidavit found among the pension records:

1. Guy Michaelis, born on 14 September 1869, at Detroit Arsenal, Dearbornville, Michigan;

2. Marion Field Michaelis, born on 1 September 1871, at Watertown Arsenal, Boston, Massachusetts;

3. George Veil Shepard Michaelis, born on 21 June 1873, at Watertown Arsenal, Boston, Massachusetts;

4. Francis Woodbridge Michaelis, born on 22 April 1875, at Allegheny Arsenal, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania;

5. Margaret Lawrence Michaelis, born on 27 May 1877, at St Paul, Minnesota;

6. Otho E. Michaelis, Jr., born on 1 March 1879, at St Paul, Minnesota;

7. Kathleen Alfred Michaelis, born on 22 March 1882, at Frankford Arsenal, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania;

8. Sidney Clare Morgan Michaelis, born on 22 October 1885, at Watervliet Arsenal, West Troy, New York;

9. Helen Michaelis, born on 6 October 1889, at Kennebec Arsenal, Augusta, Maine.

The couple’s time at Kennebec Arsenal proved deadly for the family. Guy, their eldest son, died there of consumption, aged 18, on 11 October 1887. Helen, their youngest child, died the day she was born, 6 October 1889. Margaret, aged 12, died less than two months after her youngest sister, on 1 December 1889, when she fell through the ice on the pond behind their home. Michaelis attempted to rescue her, but had to be rescued in turn, unconscious, and he spent over two weeks in hospital. The following year, Michaelis himself died.

Questions regarding the Michaelis family still remain, and I should be grateful to any readers who can provide information or leads on such matters as the following:

1. What was Michaelis’ actual place of birth in Germany and who were his parents?

2. What is the date of death and place of burial of his wife, Kate Kercheval Michaelis? (Pension records indicate that she was still living in the early to mid-1920s, in Brookline, Massachusetts. She apparently never remarried.)

3. A descendant of Otho E. Michaelis may still be alive. Otho E. Michaelis, Jr. died in a car accident in Georgia on 31 March 1919, having turned 40 at the beginning of that month. However, it appears that there was an Otho E. Michaelis III, as well as an Otho E. Michaelis IV. The name is sufficiently rare for it to seem highly unlikely that an Otho E. Michaelis IV was unrelated to the nineteenth-century chessplayer. During the 1990s, and earlier, a Dr Otho E. Michaelis IV, a research biologist with the Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center, Agricultural Research Services, US Department of Agriculture, Beltsville, MD, published numerous scientific articles. He was also an adjunct associate professor, Division of Renal Diseases, Department of Medicine, George Washington University, Washington, DC. Any information provided by readers which leads to contact with him or with any descendant of the chessplaying Otho E. Michaelis will be much appreciated.

4. A photograph or engraving of Michaelis, or of any of his family members, is also highly desired.’

1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nf6 3 Nxe5 d6 4 Nf3 Nxe4 5 c4 d5 6 Nc3 Nxc3 7 dxc3 Be6 8 Qb3 Nc6 (‘After the game was over, Marshall remarked that perhaps 8...dxc4 was stronger at this point than the text move; but he had been willing to give up the pawn for the development of his pieces.’) 9 Qxb7 Na5 10 Qa6 c6 11 cxd5 Qxd5 12 Be3 Be7 13 Be2 O-O 14 Qd3 Rab8 15 b3 Ba3 16 Rd1 Qxd3 17 Bxd3 Bb2 18 c4 Bc3+ 19 Ke2 Rfe8 20 h3 Rbd8 21 g4 c5 22 Kf1 f5 23 Bxc5

23...Nxc4 (‘One of Marshall’s surprises (called by the masters “Marshall’s swindles”). The knight cannot be captured with advantage.’) 24 gxf5 Nb2 25 fxe6 Nxd3 26 e7 Rd7 27 Ba3 a5

28 Ke2 (‘This is the psychological moment for the king to come into the game, and Judge Labatt showed excellent judgment and daring in bringing his majesty unattended into the enemy’s country. However, the maneuver ending with the play of 37 Kf7 wins the game for White.’) 28...Nf4+ 29 Ke3 Nd5+ 30 Ke4 Nf6+ 31 Kf5 Rd5+ 32 Ke6 Rb5 33 Rd8 Bb4 34 Bxb4 Rxb4 35 Rhd1 h6 36 Ne5 Kh7 37 Kf7 Ne4

(‘Marshall now sets a neat little trap for White; if here 38 Rxe8 Ng5+ 39 Kf8 Rf4+ 40 Nf7 Rxf7 mate.’) 38 Kxe8 Rb7 39 Kf8 Ng5 40 e8(Q)

40...Kh8 (Threatening 41...Nh7 mate.) 41 R1d7 Resigns.

Source: American Chess Bulletin, June 1913, pages 138-139, with a correction on page 151 of the July 1913 issue. The notes cited came from the New Orleans Times-Democrat.

The conclusion of this (individual) game was given in C.N. 1291. See pages 14-15 of Chess Explorations.

Lynne Leonhardt (Claremont, WA, Australia) is seeking information about her great-great-great-grandfather, John Worrell, who was a second to Staunton in the 1843 match against Saint-Amant in Paris.

We have noted fewer particulars in the Chess Player’s Chronicle than in Le Palamède. From page 481 of the 15 November 1843 issue of the latter:

The agreement between Staunton and Saint-Amant, signed on 13 November 1843, was given on page 563 of the French magazine, 15 December 1843, and the following was published on page 31 of the 15 January 1844 issue:

‘M. Staunton s’est trouvé placé dans des conditions bien défavorables en venant lutter sur une terre étrangère, et se trouvant ensuite abandonné par ses témoins, MM. Worrell et Wilson, qu’une grave et subite maladie a forcés de retourner en Angleterre. Nous devons dire cependant, qu’ayant été dignement remplacés par MM. Bryan et Dizi, leur absence à peine s’est fait sentir.’

Javier Asturiano Molina (Murcia, Spain) asks whether firm information is available about the death-date of Josef Hašek. Whereas ‘1976’ is given on page 123 of Malá encyklopedie šachu by J. Veselý, J. Kalendovský and Bedrich Formánek (Prague, 1989), our correspondent points out that the listing Almanach českých problémistů by Z. Libiš has ‘1981’. In neither case is a precise date offered.

‘Chess will never become a popular game with Americans ...’

John Blackstone (Las Vegas, NV, USA) sends this cutting from page 2 of the Brooklyn Eagle, 24 May 1858:

We are grateful to Russell Miller (Vancouver, WA, USA) for documentary data regarding Otho E. Michaelis. It has been forwarded to John Hilbert.

From pages 116-117 of CHESS, 30 November 1970:

A quote from page 235 of Chess Review, October 1937:

‘The Berlin tournament of 1920, played during the post-War turmoil and financed very generously by Bernhard Kagan, probably has a higher percentage of good games than any other tournament ever played.’

Game 43 in Alekhine’s first volume of Best Games, against ‘M. Prat’, was described as ‘one of 20 simultaneous games played at Paris, September 1913’. The book was published in 1927; the German and Dutch editions brought out in 1929 identified Black as ‘J. Prat’ and did not stipulate the number of games in the exhibition. On the other hand, Deux cents parties d’échecs (Rouen, 1936) said that it was a 20-board display and that Black was ‘N. Prat’.

La Stratégie (October 1913, page 415) gave only the conclusion of the game and did not offer corroboration of Alekhine’s later statement that after Black’s 21st move he announced mate in ten:

As regards the number of players, 16 was the figure specified on page 360 of the September 1913 issue of the French magazine:

‘Le 10 septembre, également à La Régence, M. Alekhine conduit simultanément seize parties; avec une rapidité surprenante, il obtient le brillant résultat de quinze gagnées et une seule perdue contre M. le Dr de Hayes.’

Concerning Hector Rosenfeld we add the article ‘Sam Loyd As I Knew Him’ from page 151 of the July 1935 issue of Chess Review:

Christian Sánchez (Rosario, Argentina) has answered our request for information about Eguiluz v Vázquez games published in the latter’s books Algunas partidas de ajedrez (Mexico City, 1879 and 1880). Volume one gave all seven games of the first match, 21 of the 43 games from the second match, and 23 of the 35 games in the third match, whereas volume two had three offhand games between the two players (with no occasions specified).

Three of the four games in C.N. 7036 are in volume one. The Muzio Gambit game occurred in the second match (Mexico City, February 1876). Moreover, according to the book (pages 44-45) Vázquez resigned after 20 Re8. There is also a discrepancy regarding the Philidor’s Defence game in C.N. 7036; page 36 of volume one states that Black (Eguiluz) resigned after 23 Nxe5. The Bird’s Opening game in our earlier item is in neither Vázquez volume.

Below are four games from Algunas partidas de ajedrez:

1 e4 d6 2 d4 c6 3 f4 e6 4 Nf3 Be7 5 Bd3 d5 6 e5 Nh6 7 O-O g6 8 c4 f5 9 Nc3 Nf7 10 c5 h6 11 b4 g5 12 a4 Rg8 13 b5 g4 14 Ne1 Qa5 15 Bd2 Qd8 16 a5 Nd7 17 Qa4 Nb8 18 Nc2 a6 19 bxa6 Nxa6 20 Bxa6 Rxa6 21 Nb4 Ra7 22 a6 Qd7

23 axb7 Rxa4 24 b8(Q) Rxa1 25 Rxa1 Qb7 26 Ra8 Qxb8 27 Rxb8 Kd7 28 Na4 Bd8 29 Nb6+ Bxb6 30 cxb6 Nd8 31 Nd3 Nb7 32 Nc5+ Nxc5 33 dxc5 Rd8 34 b7 Resigns.

Source: volume one, page 45.

1 e4 e5 2 Bc4 Nf6 3 d3 Bc5 4 Bg5 h6 5 Bh4 O-O 6 Nf3 d6 7 Nbd2 Be6 8 c3 g5 9 Bg3 Kg7 10 a4 a5 11 O-O Bxc4 12 Nxc4 Nh5 13 d4 Nxg3 14 fxg3 Ba7 15 Kh1 exd4 16 cxd4 f5 17 exf5 Rxf5 18 d5 Qg8 19 Qb3 Qxd5 20 Rad1 Qc6

21 Nfe5 Rxf1+ 22 Rxf1 dxe5 23 Nxe5 Qe8 24 Rf7+ Resigns.

Source: volume one, pages 59-60.

1 e4 e5 2 Bc4 Nf6 3 d3 Bc5 4 Bg5 h6 5 Bh4 Nc6 6 c3 Na5 7 Bxf7+ Kxf7 8 b4 d5 9 bxc5 dxe4 10 Bxf6 Kxf6 11 Qa4 Nc6 12 dxe4 Qe7 13 Qa3 Nd8 14 c4 Rg8 15 Nc3 c6 16 Rd1 Be6 17 Rd6 Nf7

18 Nd5+ cxd5 19 Qf3+ Kg5 20 h4+ Kg6 21 Qf5 mate.

Source: volume one, page 63.

1 e4 e5 2 f4 exf4 3 Nf3 Be7 4 Bc4 Bh4+ 5 g3 fxg3 6 O-O gxh2+ 7 Kh1 d5 8 Bxd5 Nf6 9 Bxf7+ Kxf7 10 Nxh4 Rf8 11 d4 Kg8 12 Nc3 Bh3 13 Ng2 Nc6 14 d5 Ne5 15 Bg5 Neg4 16 Qd4

16...Nh5 17 Bh4 Qxh4 18 Ne2 Qg3 19 Nef4 Qxg2+ 20 Nxg2 Ng3 mate.

Source: volume two, page 24.

Further to the recent celebrations of Victor Korchnoi’s 80th birthday, Gábor Gyuricza (Budapest) asks why so many reference books give the master’s date of birth as 23 July 1931 instead of 23 March 1931.

Our correspondent observes, for example, that the July date is on page 177 of Shakhmaty Entsiklopedichesky Slovar edited by Anatoly Karpov (Moscow, 1990) and in the (impersonal) ‘Career Record 1947-1976’ on page 6 of Korchnoi’s book Chess is my Life (London, 1977). See also the third-person biographical notes in Viktor Korchnoi’s Best Games (London, 1978) and Korchnoi’s 400 Best Games by V. Korchnoi, R.G. Wade and L.S. Blackstock (London and New York, 1978).

We note that the mix-up was discussed in a report by Harry Golombek on the Korchnoi v Petrosian Candidates’ match on page 279 of the May 1980 BCM:

The ‘Russian dictionary’ was Shakhmatny slovar (Moscow, 1964); see page 257.

In 1981 Golombek brought out a paperback edition of his Encyclopedia. The Korchnoi entry duly corrected his date of birth from 23 July 1931 to 23 March 1931.

A particularly dubious suggestion for pronouncing ‘Euwe’ was given on page 274 of the December 1935 Chess Review:

The proposal was repeated on page 262 of the magazine’s November 1937 issue.

On page 232 of the August 1970 BCM Wolfgang Heidenfeld wrote:

‘... a phrase like “Alekhine’s Best Games” is really ambiguous: it may mean two entirely different things, viz. (a) the games Alekhine played best and (b) the objectively best games in which Alekhine was a participant (in which the standard of the game is achieved by both partners) – thus he need not necessarily have won them. This, in fact, is the basis of my anthology Grosse Remispartien.

In fact, it is little short of ludicrous that Alekhine’s Best Games does not contain his draw against Marshall at New York, 1924, where a most original and new strategic conception by Marshall is met by an amazing tactical finesse of Alekhine’s, the whole (drawn) game being one of the greatest ever played. It is similarly ludicrous that Golombek’s anthology of Réti’s Best Games is without his draw against Alekhine at Vienna, 1922 – which has been christened the Immortal Draw and which even Alekhine does not pass over in his own collection. Similarly some game collections of Tal’s are deprived of the fantastic draw against Aronin at the 24th Soviet championship (Moscow, 1957) – a game of which Keres stated in a much-acclaimed article that one could not do justice to Tal’s achievement in that tournament without coming to grips with it.’

In a letter on page 7 of the January 1937 Chess Review Herbert Harvey proposed a rule change whereby a pawn would ‘become by promotion automatically the piece appropriate to the file on which it is promoted’. A choice of pieces would exist only in case of promotion on the king’s file.

On page 29 of the following month’s issue Paul H. Litwinsky (later: Paul H. Little) related an ‘offhand remark’ by Capablanca at Nottingham, 1936, regarding stalemate:

From ‘Chernev’s Chess Corner’ on the inside front cover of the October 1951 Chess Review:

A correspondent (Edward J. Tassinari, Scarsdale, NY, USA) referred to Irving Chernev’s feature in C.N. 966 (see page 152 of Chess Explorations). The sixth edition of Modern Chess Openings was published in 1939; as pointed out on page 144 of Reuben Fine by Aidan Woodger (Jefferson, 2004), Fine correctly named himself as White in his later book Practical Chess Openings (Philadelphia, 1948). See page 189. (Page 147 of Woodger’s book published, with notes by Yudovich, the complete score of Fine v Yudovich, which ended 43 Kg5 Ke5 44 White resigns.)

We add that Fine also gave an accurate attribution of the game in an article ‘My Moscow Impressions’ on pages 102-103 of the May 1937 Chess Review (a translation from 64):

C.N. 847 asked about the exact moves of the famous game Alekhine v Keres, Munich, 1942. After 1 d4 Nf6 2 Nf3 b6 3 c4 Bb7 4 g3 e6 5 Bg2 Be7 6 O-O O-O 7 b3 d5 8 Ne5 c6 9 Bb2 Nbd7 10 Nd2 ...

... the question posed was whether play went 10...c5 11 e3 Rc8 12 Rc1 Rc7 (Gran Ajedrez, 107 Great Chess Battles, Alekhine’s Best Games of Chess 1938-45) or 10...Rc8 11 Rc1 c5 12 e3 Rc7 (books on Alekhine by Kotov and Müller/Pawelczak).

On page 268 of Chess Explorations we remarked that when annotating the game on pages 143-144 of the 1 October 1942 issue of Deutsche Schachblätter Alekhine gave 10...Rc8 11 Rc1 c5, contrary to the move order in his (posthumous) book Gran Ajedrez. Moreover, in the German magazine Alekhine stated that the opening moves were 1 Nf3 Nf6 2 c4 b6 3 d4 Bb7, whereas Gran Ajedrez indicated 1 d4 Nf6 2 Nf3 b6 3 c4 Bb7.

This photograph of Alekhine and Keres was taken a few months earlier, at Salzburg, 1942:

Source: Alt om Skak by B. Nielsen (Odense, 1943), page 273.

‘The following excellent position, we understand, is the first production of Herr N. Falkbeer, of Vienna, a brother of the celebrated chessplayer.’

We are grateful to a number of readers who attempted to identify the figures in the airport photograph. The key is provided by a cutting in our archives from the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf in November 1938 (exact date unavailable):

Russell Miller (Vancouver, WA, USA) reports that he has found the Partos family in the United States Federal Census of 1920 and 1930. In the latter case, the spelling throughout was ‘Bartos’. The family was resident in New York, but Julius’s father, Joseph, was born in Hungary circa 1878.

The censuses indicated Julius’s age as five and 15 respectively. Mr Miller comments that, since 2 April 1930 was the date of the latter census, 26 January 1915 is the most probable birth-date of the three cited in C.N. 7054.

Another game:

1 d4 d5 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 Nf6 4 Bg5 Be7 5 e3 O-O 6 Nf3 Nbd7 7 Rc1 b6 8 cxd5 exd5 9 Qa4 c5 10 Qc6 Rb8 11 Nxd5 Nxd5 12 Qxd5 Bb7 13 Bxe7 Qxe7 14 Qc4 Bxf3 15 gxf3 cxd4 16 Qxd4 Ne5 17 Be2 Rbd8 18 Qa4 Qf6 19 f4 Nd3+ 20 Bxd3 Rxd3 21 Rc2 Qg6 22 Ke2 Rfd8 23 Re1

23...Rxe3+ (‘24 Kxe3 and 24 fxe3 both run into quite unusual epaulette mates.’) 24 Kf1 Rxe1+ 25 Kxe1 Qg1+ 26 Ke2 Qd1+ 27 Ke3 Qd3 mate.

Source: Chess Review, May 1969, pages 148-149.

Information is sought on this game:

The finish was 1 Nf5 Qxh4

2 Qh5 and Black resigned.

Page 125 of The Fireside Book of Chess by I. Chernev and F. Reinfeld (New York, 1949) merely stated that ‘Vuković won this from an amateur, in 1937’. Walter Korn gave the position on page 69 of The Brilliant Touch (London, 1950) with the heading ‘Simultaneous, 1937’.

So far we have not found a reference to the venue, let alone the identity of Black and the full game-score.