Research Mystery

Around 2003, Brazilian chess master Hindemburg Melão, Jr., wrote an article for the online chess site, SuperAjedrez, featuring Joseph Henry Blackburne's famous defeat of the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+).

Today I can only trace the essay as far as an essay which is no longer available, which is unfortunate, as it contained some very interesting analytical and historical information, including [Note: my translation - RK]  

...Some sources indicate year of the game as 1868, others indicate 1888, and others indicate 1880. Some sources affirm that it was played in Manchester, others in London. Normally the name of the adversary is not given, having only "NN" or "Amateur", but in at least one source "Millner" is indicated as the name. Also it is not known if it was an individual game or part of a simultaneous display... [T]he game deserves to be cited as one of most beautiful pearls of blindfold Chess...

Although it is in conflict with the information given in Mr. Blackburne's Games at Chess (1899) – that the game in question was played "around 1880" – my preferred source for information on Amateur - Blackburne, London (see "Flaws" 1 & 2) – the August 15, 1885 issue of the Brooklyn Chess Chronicle, edited by J.B. and E.M. Munoz – gives the year as 1885.

I would love to ask Senhor Melao about his sources, as he clearly has access to materials that I do not. (That would not be at all unexpected: Lt. S.A. Sorensen's seminal work on the Jerome Gambit, in the May 1877 issue of Nordisk Skaktidende, was subsequenly translated and reprinted around the chess world.)

For example, I have never seen the Blackburne game dated as having been played in 1868 – six years before Alonzo Wheeler Jerome published analysis of "his" opening in the Dubuque Chess Journal. Nor have I seen it reported as played in 1888 – the Brooklyn Chess Chronicle reported that it had been played "some months ago in London", highly suggestive of the year 1885.

As for the references to the game being played in Manchester and the naming of the Amateur as "Millner" – both were news to me as well. And: was it a blindfold game?

Is any reader familiar with the SuperAjedrez article?

Does anyone have acces to the Brazilian chess master, to pass on my questions? 

What a mystery!