Monday, May 12, 2014

The Dimock Theme Tournaments and The Brooklyn Daily Eagle


While assembling and analyzing the games from the Alrick H. Man Vienna Gambit Theme Tournament of 1924-1925 for an article on the event (which should go up next week), I decided to do some more searching to see if any additional games from the tournament might be found.  I began by double-checking The Brooklyn Daily Eagle (about which I wrote two years ago in "The Brooklyn Daily Eagle Archive Online") and discovered (thanks to help from researcher David Moody -- a.k.a. Phony Benoni at Chessgames.com) that the entire Eagle archive is now searchable online at the Brooklyn Newsstand (http://newsstand.bklynpubliclibrary.org).  The site is much easier to use than the Fulton History website I discussed in my earlier post.  The Brooklyn Newsstand was produced by Newspapers.com but is free of charge; the larger site, meanwhile, charges about the same as Netflix, though they offer a 7-day free trial.  

I found no additional games from the Alrick H. Man tournament, but I did turn up information about a number of Dimock theme tournament events and located many of the chess columns I had previously examined on microfilm.  The search interface of the Brooklyn Newsstand has definitely encouraged me to return to my long-standing project to research all of the Dimock theme tournaments.  I have been told by other chess researchers, who have looked through the Eagle archives for other information, that there were a large number of Dimock theme tournaments at the Marshall Chess Club, and I therefore suspect I have only scratched the surface in my research thus far.  For instance, I have not yet identified the tournaments of 1928 or any that may have occurred in the 1930s or beyond (Harold Edwin Dimock lived until 1967 after all).  And for some tournaments I only have scant information or a passing reference.

Most of my search for theme tournament news and games has focused on the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, but this time I also searched the New York Evening Post because it once had an excellent chess column as well.  In fact, one of the Post's early columnists was Emanuel Lasker.  I had learned that Horace Ransom Bigelow took over Lasker's column around the time of the Dimock and Alrick H. Man events.  As Bigelow was often himself a participant in Dimock tournaments, it seemed likely he would have published some games.  Unfortunately, I discovered that Bigelow's first column did not appear until November 4, 1925, which was after the early tournaments that interested me most.  However, he did publish at least a couple of articles on the later Dimock events (such as this one from June 2, 1926), so I will have to look at his column some more to see if other Dimock games might be unearthed there. 

For those interested in locating Bigelow's columns in the New York Evening Post through the Fulton site: he was generally published on Wednesdays, typically in the entertainment section (often near the "Daily Cross-Word Puzzle") and under the title "The Chessboard" -- though he also published columns on other days, especially during major chess events.  He also published a chess problem with every column, numbered sequentially beginning with "Problem No. 1" in that first column.  So you can sometimes use "Problem No. X" or "Chess Problem No. X" as a search term to locate a specific column -- though, unfortunately, this does not always work due to the poor quality of some of the reproductions and the inaccurate optical character recognition (OCR) that results.  Lasker's column "Over the Chess Board" also published about the same number of problems, by the way, and will also often appear in results using this method.  Helms's chess column in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle usually appeared on Thursdays in the Sports section (section "A"), which was separately numbered and near the back of the paper, and it also featured a sequentially numbered chess problem that can sometimes help in locating specific dates.  The column was usually published on Wednesday when Thursday was a holiday (especially Thanksgiving), and Helms often ran columns on additional days during major chess events. The nice thing about the Brooklyn Newsstand site is that it only searches the Brooklyn Daily Eagle archive and makes it easy to scroll through the pages (especially with the new viewer); so I often find it easiest to simply locate the Thursday papers by searching by date (e.g.: September 29, 1921) and then scroll to the Sports section to locate Helms's column.  It helps to consult a historical calendar before you start. (I mention all of these things because I wish I had that information myself before I began researching these columns and may thus save others some trouble).

The future for armchair chess historians is looking brighter every day.  Besides the increasing number of options for researching newspaper columns, there is a growing library of free resources online, especially through Google Books.  Already quite a few volumes of the American Chess Bulletin (see ACB 13-15 1916-1918 and ACB 18 1921) and classic old books, such as Marshall's Chess Swindles, are available for free there.  If I were a retired chess player with decent eyesight, a good internet connection, and obsessive compulsive tendencies (which I expect to be in less than 20 years), I think I could keep myself busy with chess history projects for the rest of my days.

To give you some sense of what you can find in these old columns, I append the results of my research so far into the sponsored theme tournaments held at the Marshall Chess Club in the 1920s.  This is an ongoing project so there are still quite a few gaps.  As always, I welcome additions from interested or knowledgeable readers.



Greco Counter Gambit, Dimock Theme Tournament (October 1921)
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 f5 3.Bc4
Frank James Marshall, Bruno Forsberg, A.B. Hodges, and Charles Jaffe played in a double-round quadrangle tournament.  I had intended to feature these games in my Urusov Gambit website, but their theoretical value did not merit close attention.
  • September 15, 1921 (Brooklyn) (Fulton) News and Reshevsky - Duncan
  • September 29, 1921 (Brooklyn) (Fulton)
  • October 6, 1921 (Brooklyn) (Fulton)
  • October 13, 1921 (Brooklyn) (Fulton)
  • October 20, 1921 (Brooklyn) (Fulton)
  • October 27, 1921 (Brooklyn) (Fulton)
American Chess Bulletin 18 (1921): 195.
Danish Gambit, Dimock Theme Tournament (1922)
1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.c3
Frank Marshall (7.5), Marcel Duchamp (4.5), Anthony Santasiere (4.5), Horance Ransom Bigelow (2.5), and M. D. Hago (0).  Hago did not complete his schedule and forfeited some games.  Early entrant H. M. Philips withdrew.  The tournament ran from the middle of October through the middle of November and has been thoroughly documented in Vlastimil Fiala's The Chess Biography of Marcel Duchamp: Volume One (1887-1925): 69-74, which was reviewed by John S. Hilbert. Fiala notes: "no game, however, has so far been found from the tournament" (Fiala 70).   My own explorations have not changed this sad fact, which makes this (in my view) one of the great losses to chess history.  All we have are news accounts, including mentions in the New York Evening Post (October 18, 1922) and The New York Times (October 22, 1922) -- with enough news that standings for each round and the complete crosstable were reconstructed by Fiala.  But no games have ever been found. I personally searched through the microfilm of The Brooklyn Daily Eagle from this period about a decade ago but did not turn up any games either. Here are some of the first links to The Brooklyn Daily Eagle chess columns for anyone who is interested:
  • October 19, 1922 (Brooklyn) (Fulton)
  • October 26, 1922 (Brooklyn) (Fulton)
  • November 2, 1922 (Brooklyn) (Fulton)
Lasker Defense to the Evans Gambit, Dimock Theme Tournament (1923)
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4 Bxb4 5.c3 Ba5 6.O-O d3 7.d4 Bb6
Frank James Marshall, Anthony Santaslere, Rudolf Smirka, Bruno Forsberg, F. E. Parker, and Jacobs.  Early entrants Horace Ransom Bigelow and Erling Tholfsen withdrew. 
  • June 7, 1923 (Brooklyn) (Fulton) Evans Gambit tourney announced
  • October 25, 1923 (Brooklyn) (Fulton)
  • November 8, 1923 (Brooklyn) (Fulton)
  • November 15, 1923 (Brooklyn) (Fulton)
  • November 22, 1923 (Brooklyn) (Fulton)
  • December 27, 1923 (Brooklyn) (Fulton)



Urusov / Ponziani Gambit, Dimock Theme Tournament (1924)
1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.d4
Frank James Marshall, Carlos Torre, Anthony Santasiere, Erling Tholfsen, Rudolf Smirka, Horace Ransom Bigelow, and Bruno Forsberg.  This tournament is fully documented at my Urusov Gambit / Dimock Theme Tournament site (which I assembled from the microfilm).  It was an excellent event with theoretically significant games.  Here are links to the original scores and news available in the online archive:
  • October 2, 1924 (Brooklyn) (Fulton) Urusov first games
  • October 5, 1924 (Brooklyn) (Fulton) First round news
  • October 9, 1924 (Brooklyn) (Fulton) Urusov
  • October 16, 1924 (Brooklyn) (Fulton) Urusov news
  • October 23, 1924 (Brooklyn) (Fulton) - missing from the online record?
  • October 30, 1924 (Brooklyn) (Fulton) Urusov
  • November 6, 1924 (Brooklyn) (Fulton) Urusov
  • November 13, 1924 (Brooklyn) (Fulton) Urusov
  • November 20, 1924 (Brooklyn) (Fulton) Urusov games
  • November 26, 1924 (Brooklyn) (Fulton) Urusov
  • December 4, 1924 (Brooklyn) (Fulton)
  • December 11, 1924 (Brooklyn) (Fulton) Urusov
  • April 9, 1925 (Brooklyn) (Fulton) mention

Vienna Gambit, Alrick H. Man Theme Tournament (1924-1925)
1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.f4
Frank James Marshall, Carlos Torre, Erling Tholfsen, Horace Ransom Bigelow, Rudolf Smirka, C. E. Norwood, and G. Gustafson.  The game Torre - Norwood, which I have already annotated online, only appeared in the American Chess Bulletin. All of the games are now analyzed, offering an introduction to the Vienna Gambit (C29).

  • December 24, 1924  (Brooklyn) (Fulton) Vienna
  • January 15, 1925 (Brooklyn) (Fulton) Vienna
  • February 19, 1925 (Brooklyn) (Fulton) Vienna
  • February 26, 1925 (Brooklyn) (Fulton) Vienna
  • March 26, 1925 (Brooklyn) (Fulton) Vienna results
  • April 2, 1925 (Brooklyn) (Fulton) Vienna
Giuoco Piano, Dimock Theme Tournament (1925)
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c4 Nf6 5.d4 exd4 6.exd4 Bb4+ 7.Nc3
Frank James Marshall, Carlos Torre, Albert S. Pinkus, C. S. Howell, Anthony Santasiere, and Herman Steiner.  This tournament might be my next project.
  • October 8, 1925 (Brooklyn) (Fulton) Dimock Giuoco
  • October 15, 1925 (Brooklyn) (Fulton) Dimock Giuoco
  • October 22, 1925 (Brooklyn) (Fulton) Dimock Giuoco
  • October 29, 1925 (Brooklyn) (Fulton) Dimock Giuoco
  • November 5, 1925 (Brooklyn) (Fulton) Dimock Giuoco - news
  • November 12, 1925 (Brooklyn) (Fulton) Dimock Giuoco
  • November 25, 1925 (Brooklyn) (Fulton) Dimock Giuoco
  • February 4, 1926 (Brooklyn) (Fulton) Dimock Giuoco - late game
Sicilian Wing Gambit, Dimock Theme Tournament (1926) 
1.e4 c5 2.b4
It appears that this tournament was combined with the next, as players of the Black pieces were allowed to choose whether they preferred to play against the Sicilian Wing Gambit with 1...c5 2.b4 or the Evans Gambit following 1...e5 etc.  A similar format, but with White choosing, was tried in 1927.

Evans Gambit, Dimock Theme Tournament (1926)
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4 Bxb4 5.O-O
Cordel Ruy Lopez, Dimock Theme Tournament (1926-1927)
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Bc5
Budapest Defense and Alekhine, Dimock Theme Tournament (1927)
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e5 or 1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5
Anthony Santasiere, Rudolf Smirka, Fred Reinfeld, Milton Hanauer, H. Fajans, and T. M. Croney.  White could choose to play against the Budapest or the Alekhine Defense. 
  • December 8, 1927 (Brooklyn) (Fulton) Santasiere games.
  • December 22, 1927 (Brooklyn) (Fulton) final results
English Opening, Dimock Theme Tournament (1929)
1.c4 e5
Frank James Marshall, Erling Tholfsen, Fred Reinfeld and others.
Unknown, Dimock Theme Tournament (1929)
Erling Tholfsen, Frank James Marshall, Fred Reinfeld, M. Hanauer.  I did not find additional mention of the event in November 7, November 21, or December 5 issues.

8 comments:

Diamondback said...

Awesome ! You are the king of chess bloggers ! Now if you tie the past into the present chess scene worldwide you will be number one !

Michael Goeller said...

Thanks for the endorsement, Diamondback, and for your enthusiasm for chess history. I try my best to focus on history that has some continuing value to chess players today--other than nostalgia. I think my interests are too much confined to the Northeast US, though, to have much of a worldwide impact.

Anonymous said...

John Donaldson offers a useful note on the 1929 tournament:
http://chess.milibrary.org/news.php?n=704

See item #4. He has reconstructed the crosstable.

Michael Goeller said...

And item #3 here gives the score of multiple games:
http://chess.milibrary.org/news.php?n=698

Would love to see other Dimock games from Reinfeld's notebooks.... Is it possible that Dimock himself preserved the games? I would have in his shoes....

Anonymous said...

The links no longer function for the great Dimock material that Eduardo Bauza Mercere put together on the 1929 Dimock Thematic Tournament

Mechanics Institute

1929 Dimock Thematic Tournament

Eduardo Bauzá Mercere
and Andy Ansel have succeeded in bringing this forgotten event back to life. All games were required to start 1.c4 e5, which might partly explain Marshall’s poor score.

Edwin Dimock of New London, Connecticut, sponsored a series of thematic tournament throughout the 1920s at the Marshall Chess Club.

The following crosstable, not previously published, was reconstructed using the following sources: New York Post, 13 NOV 1929, p. 20; Brooklyn Eagle 9 MAY, 12 MAY,23 MAY, 16 JUN, 25 JUL 1929.

1929
New York
Dimock Thematic
MAY-NOV

1 2 3 4
--- --- --- ---
1. Tholfsen, Erling * * 1 = 1 1 1 1 5½
2. Reinfeld, Fred 0 = * * 1 0 1 = 3
3. Marshall, Frank James 0 0 0 1 * * 1 = 2½
4. Hanauer, Milton Loeb 0 0 0 = 0 = * * 1
5. Perkins, Frank Kendall 1 - 0 - = - - -

This was a leisurely-played tournament. It started in May, but then was delayed when Marshall participated at Bradley Beach in June and traveled to Europe to play at Carlsbad. The tournament ended in November. Perkins withdrew, “his business took him to Chicago”.

Anonymous said...

Frank Marshall–Erling Tholfsen
New York 1929

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 d6 3. g3 g6 4. Bg2 Bg7 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. d3 Nge7 7. Bg5 f6 8. Bd2 Be6 9. Qc1 h5 10. h4 Qd7 11. e4 Bg4 12. Be3 O-O 13. Qd2 Kh7 14. Nh2 f5 15. f3 f4 16. gxf4 exf4 17. Bxf4 Be6 18. Be3 Nd4 19. O-O-O c5 20. f4 Rab8 21. Nf3 b5 22. Bxd4 cxd4 23. Nxb5 Rxb5 24. cxb5 Bxa2 25. Qb4 Rc8+ 26. Kd2 Qg4 27. Ng5+ Kg8 28. Bf3 Qxf4+ 29. Ke1 Qe3+ 30. Be2 Be5 31. Ra1 Rc2 0-1

Source: Brooklyn Eagle, May 30, 1929

Fred Reinfeld–Frank Marshall
New York 1929

1.c4 e5 2. e3 Nf6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qb3 Nc6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Nxe5 Bxc3 7. Qxc3 Nxe5 8. Qxe5 Re8 9. Qc3 d5 10. Qc2 Ng4 11. f3 Ne5 12. cxd5 Qxd5 13. Be2 Nc6 14. Qc3 Qd6 15. b3 Bf5 16. Bb2 Qg6 17. g4 Bd7 18. Bd3 Qh6 19. O-O-O Ne5 20. Be4 Bc6 21.g5 Qe6 22. d3 Bxe4 23. dxe4 Qc6 24. Qxc6 bxc6 25. Bxe5 Rxe5 26. h4 a5 27. Rd4 a4 28. Rxa4 Rxa4 29. bxa4 h6 30. gxh6 f5 31. Rg1 fxe4 32. Rxg7+ Kh8 33. f4 Rh5 34. Rxc7 Rxh4 35. a5 Rh1+ 36. Kb2 Rh2+ 37. Kb3 Re2 38. a6 Rxe3+ 39. Kc4 Ra3 40.a7 e3 41. Rc8+ Kh7 42. a8=Q 1-0

Source: Brooklyn Eagle, May 23, 1929

Erling Tholfsen–Frank Marshall
New York 1929

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Bb4 3. g3 h5 4. Nf3 d6 5. Bg2 Bxc3 6. bxc3 e4 7. Nd4 c5 8. Qa4+ Kf8 9. Nb5 Qe7 10. O-O Nd7 11. d3 a6 12. Bf4 Ne5 13. d4 Nxc4 14. dxc5 dxc5 15.Qxc4 axb5 16. Qxb5 Ra6 17. Rfd1 Nf6 18. Qxa6 bxa6 19. Bd6 h4 20. gxh4 Rxh4 21. Rab1 Rh5 22. Rb8 Qxd6 23. Rxd6 Ke7 24. Rxf6 Rd5 25. Rxc8 1-0

Source: Brooklyn Eagle, May 30, 1929

Erling Tholfsen–Fred Reinfeld
New York 1929

1. c4 e5 2. d3 Nf6 3. e3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. Nf3 Bd6 6. Be2 O-O 7. O-O c5 8. Nc3 Nxc3 9. bxc3 Nc6 10. d4 Qc7 11. d5 Ne7 12. e4 f5 13. Nd2 f4 14. c4 Rf6 15. Bg4 Bxg4 16. Qxg4 Raf8 17. a4 Rh6 18. Rb1 Rff6 19. h4 Rfg6 20. Qh3 Nc8 21. Bb2 Rh5 22. a5 Ne7 23. Nf3 Rgh6 24. g3 Rg6 25. Bc3 Qc8 26. Qxc8+ Nxc8 27. Kh2 b6 28. Kh3 fxg3 29. fxg3 1-0

Source: Brooklyn Eagle, July 25, 1929, p. 26

The following four game scores are courtesy of Andy Ansel and taken from Reinfeld’s notebooks.

Milton Hanauer–Fred Reinfeld
New York 1929

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. g3 g6 4. Bg2 Bg7 5. d3 d6 6. Bd2 Be6 7. Nf3 h6 8. O-O Qd7 9. Nd5 Nd8 10. Ba5 Bxd5 11. cxd5 Ne7 12. d4 e4 13. Ne1 f5 14. f3 Nxd5 15. Nc2 exf3 16. Rxf3 Nf6 17. Re3+ Kf7 18. d5 Ng4 19. Re6 Qb5 20. Qd2 Nxe6 21. dxe6+ Ke7 22. Nd4 Bxd4+ 23. Qxd4 Qxa5 24. Qg7+ Kxe6 25. Qxg6+ Nf6 26. e4 Raf8 27. Qg7 Nxe4 0-1

Source: Reinfeld’s notebooks

Fred Reinfeld–Milton Hanauer
New York 1929

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Nf3 g6 4. g3 Bg7 5. Bg2 Nge7 6. O-O O-O 7. d3 d6 8. Bd2 h6 9. Nd5 Nxd5 10. cxd5 Ne7 11. Ne1 c6 12. dxc6 bxc6 13. Qc1 Rb8 14. Rb1 Nf5 15. Nc2 c5 16. e4 Nd4 17. Nxd4 cxd4 18. Bxh6 Ba6 19. Bxg7 Kxg7 20. Qd2 Qd7 21.f4 Qb5 22. Rf3 Qb4 23. Qf2 f5 24. exf5 Bb7 25. fxe5 Bxf3 26. f6+ Kh7 27. Bxf3 dxe5 28. Be4 Rb6 29. g4 Rfxf6 30. Qh4+ Kg8 31. Bd5+ Kf8 32. Qh8+ Ke7 33. Rc1 Qd6 34. Rc8 Qd7 35. Bg2 Rxb2 36. Qg7+ Ke6 37. Bd5+ Qxd5 38. Re8+ Kd6 39. Rd8+ Ke6 40. Qg8+ Rf7 41. Qe8+ Kf6 42. Rxd5 Re2 43. Rd8 Rxa2 44. g5+ 1-0

Source: Reinfeld’s notebooks

Frank Marshall–Fred Reinfeld
New York 1929

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. e3 Nf6 4. d4 d6 5. Nf3 Bg4 6. Be2 Be7 7. h3 Bf5 8. d5 Nb8 9. O-O h6 10. b4 g5 11. Nh2 h5 12. e4 Nxe4 13. Nxe4 Bxe4 14. Bxh5 Qd7 15. Re1 Bf5 16. Nf1 Na6 17. Ng3 Bh7 18. Qf3 Rf8 19. Qa3 O-O-O 20. b5 Nb8 21. Qxa7 f5 22. a4 c6 23. Bd2 f4 24. a5 g4 25. Qa8 b6 26. axb6 1-0

Source: Reinfeld’s notebooks

Fred Reinfeld–Frank Perkins
New York 1929

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Nf3 g6 4. d3 Bg7 5. e3 Nge7 6. a3 O-O 7. Be2 d5 8. cxd5 Nxd5 9. Bd2 Nce7 10. Rc1 c6 11. b4 Nxc3 12. Bxc3 Qd6 13. e4 Bg4 14. h3 Bxf3 15. Bxf3 Rad8 16. Be2 f5 17. O-O h5 18. Qb3+ Kh7 19. Qb2 f4 20. f3 g5 21. Rfd1 Ng6 22. Rd2 Rf7 23. Rcd1 Rfd7 24. Bf1 Qc7 25. Kh1 Qb6 26. a4 a6 27. Kh2 Bf6 28. Kh1 Kg7 29. Rb1 g4 30. b5 cxb5 31. axb5 Qe3 32. Ba5 b6 33. Re2 Qxd3 34. Bxb6 gxf3 35. Ree1 fxg2+ 36. Qxg2 f3 37. Qxg6+ Kxg6 38. Bxd3 Rb8 39. Rg1+ Kh7 40. bxa6 Rxd3 41. a7 Ra8 42. Bf2 Rd7 43. Ra1 Rd2 44. Rgf1 Re2 45. Rab1 0-1

Source: Reinfeld’s notebooks

Michael Goeller said...

Dimock Urusov Gambit games from the American Chess Bulletin are now available online:
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.hxr7d4&view=1up&seq=200&q1=marshall%20c.%20c.%20special%20tournament

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.hxr7d4&view=1up&seq=218&q1=marshall%20c.%20c.%20special%20tournament

Michael Goeller said...

The Dimock Urusov Gambit tournament of 1924 can be found here:
https://web.archive.org/web/20190816063120/http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~goeller/urusov/dimock/index.html

The Greco games from 1921 are here:
https://web.archive.org/web/20190607063338/http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~goeller/urusov/bishops/f5.htm#nf3