A Chess Mystery (Part 1)

 

Chessfriend Yury V. Bukayev has again put his detective skills to work, like Professor Voskresenskiy.

First, he informed me

I have my first hypothesis on who has inspired A.W. Jerome to make his invention - the standard system of the Jerome gambit. According to this hypothesis, this person is H.A. Kennedy. 

This was a fun bit of information. I have searched, myself. 

At different times on this blog, I have looked for possible fore-runners to the Jerome Gambit (inspirations to Alonzo Wheeler Jerome), including the Sarratt or Vitzthum Attack. (See "A Bridge To... Somewhere?", "Another Distant Relative?", "The Sarratt Attack", "Another look at the Sarratt Attack" and "Another Example of the Vitzthum Attack"). 

Yury sent me a link to the following game.

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 Nxd4 4.Nxd4 exd4 5.Bc4 Bc5 

 6.c3

The best and winning idea 6.Bxf7+! is easy to find by a human analysis - it's the 1st inspiration.

6...Qe7 7.O-O Qe5 8.f4 dxc3+ 9.Kh1 cxb2 

10.Bxf7+

This sharp move is mistaken, and this fact could be fixed by a human analysis, but Black can make a mistake easily after it - it's the 2nd inspiration.

10...Kd8 11.fxe5 bxa1=Q 12.Bxg8 Be7 13.Qb3 a5 

14.Rf8+ Bxf8 15.Bg5+ Be7 16.Bxe7+ Kxe7 17.Qf7+ Kd8 18.Qf8# 

What can we say about the game?

ChessGames.com identifies it as Napoleon Bonaparte vs Henri Gatien Bertrand, played in St. Helena in 1820.

There was this comment at the site (also sent by Yury).

Texas Time Traveler: According to the book "1923-1932: An Anthology" published by "British Chess Magazine" 1986, one B.J.B. wrote a letter to the editor of the magazine in 1932 saying this game was never played between Napoleon and Bertrand, but rather between H.A. Kennedy and the Rev. John Owen. The letter also says Kennedy admitted to having won the game. [More than likely, the game was played prior to 1862./comment by poster]

Alas, my favorite online resource, Google Books, does not have a viewable copy of  1923-1932: An Anthology. It turns out that the book can be found in the White Collection in the Cleveland Public Library - another reason for a return visit; I have been there a half-dozen times.

In any event, it is possible to supply some information on Henri Gatien Bertrand, Hugh Alexander Kennedy and John Owen.

As for Napoleon and chess, "Napoleon Bonaparte and Chess" by Edward Winter, is a comprehensive essay well worth reading.

[to be continued]