Master and Patron: Frank Marshall and Herman Behr By John S. Hilbert Love of chess takes many forms. Some very lucky individuals have the combination of ability, opportunity (some might say necessity) and personality that allows them to become great masters. Others love the goddess Caissa just as deeply, but are unable or unwilling to devote the lifetime of toil required by her for the highest honors. And sometimes lovers of the game are in a position to offer material assistance to those whose devotion has cost them material gain. Such was the case between Frank Marshall, long-time national champion of the United States, and Herman Behr, long-time lover of the game. When Marshall … [Read more...]
Chess and the Start of the American Civil War
Chess, the New York Clipper, and the Start of the American Civil War: April 1861 By John S. Hilbert With its April 13, 1861, issue the New York Clipper, a weekly sporting and theater magazine owned and edited by Frank Queen, announced the close of its eighth year. Begun in 1853 as a four page spread devoted to a variety of entertainment, the Clipper was not modest. Queen's editorial that week prided itself on denouncing the "sport" of dog fighting, for instance, because it had become "but a pretext for the basest swindling, for law breaking; for the grossest demoralization of the man and cruelty to the brute." The Clipper would no longer report the disgraceful doings of men who set … [Read more...]
The Marshall – Jaffe 1909 Series, Part Two
The Marshall - Jaffe 1909 Series: Part Two By John S. Hilbert The fifth game was a fierce struggle with Marshall again sacrificing a piece, this time successfully: "Jaffe had the White pieces in a Queen's Pawn game, but Marshall instituted a violent attack at his earliest opportunity. Rather than retreat, Marshall sacrificed a bishop for two pawns, thereby jeopardizing his game, although he established a strong knight in hostile territory. With this the Brooklynite won the exchange, but was losing his grip somewhat when Jaffe resorted to an unsound counter combination, and was beaten after 55 moves." (BDE, February 8, 1909) As with Game 4, which concluded Part I of this extended … [Read more...]
The Marshall – Jaffe Series, Part One
The Marshall - Jaffe Series, February 1909: Win a Match, Drop a Tournament Part One by John S. Hilbert By January 1909, Frank Marshall, considered by most the rightful though unofficial United States chess champion, had been out of the country for nearly twenty months. He returned to New York on the steamer Batavia, arriving Friday, January 8, 1909, after a voyage of 17 days. Marshall's young son, Frank Rice Marshall, turned three during the voyage, on December 28. Eager to see Marshall perform, members of the Manhattan Chess Club, then housed in in the Carnegie Hall Building, were disappointed when the night after his arrival, Marshall's "indisposition" prevented him from starting a … [Read more...]
That’s Entertainment
Lasker, Simultaneous Exhibitions, and the Languages of Chess Performance by John S. Hilbert Chess has been likened to many things, and perhaps most often to art. The “artist at the chessboard” image has been dragged forth often enough to warrant status as a venerable, if tiresome, cliché. Likening chess to sport has an equally long and listless pedigree. My favorite metaphor for the game is that of language: a language of the mind, requiring all the thought and effort involved in the learning of a foreign language, in order to speak it fluently, eloquently and forcefully across the board. Undoubtedly this metaphor has ancient roots as well. There are more recent examples of it, of … [Read more...]
James Walker Osborne
James Walker Osborne: “Perpetual Beginner,” Siamese Chicken, Brawling Lawyer by John S. Hilbert Not every Manhattan Chess Club member at the end of the nineteenth century was an excellent chess player. While the masters are remembered, as well they should be, for their extraordinary play, clubs didn’t survive on the ingenious cogitations of a few gifted and often honorary members. The driving forces of a chess club, especially a gentleman’s chess club, were the members who served as officers and directors, the men who through their constant attendance, loyal payment of dues, and ever-ready willingness to provide “a little extra” for special occasions, sustained the organizations which … [Read more...]