I recently stumbled over a small puzzle on page 44 of the Sunday, October 27, 1929 edition of Cleveland's The Plain Dealer.
The "Chess and Checkers" column by David Robb had a section titled "An Old Time Favorite", including [chess notation changed from descriptive to algebraic - Rick]
The following game is taken from an old chess book of the year 1880.
The opening, a Jerome Gambit, is never played in tournament chess, yet in social chess it is often played, as it generally leads into a bright and lively game, as witness the following
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5
This double sacrifice constitutes the Jerome Gambit. It is unsound, but wants very careful meeting, as white can get up a good attack.
The game as given is the same as the well-known Amateur - Blackburne:
6.Qh5+ g6 7.Qxe5 d6 8.Qxh8 Qh4 9.O-O Nf6 10.c3 Ng4 11.h3 Bxf2+ 12.Kh1 Bf5 13.Qxa8 Qxh3 14.gxh3 Bxe4 checkmate
The problem is the date of the book referred to by Mr. Robb: it is given as 1880.
As I posted here about 7 years ago, in "Jerome Gambit: Dr. Harding Checks In", Amateur- Blackburne was played in 1884. (Tim Harding is the author of many good books, including Joseph Henry Blackburne A Chess Biography).
It is quite possible that Plain Dealer's chess columnist got his dates wrong.
I also have had a hard time finding any chess books from 1880 that reference the Jerome Gambit.
I suppose that I could go out on a limb and point out that in Mr. Blackburne's Games at Chess (1899), by Joseph Henry Blackburne, the game is given as having taken place "around 1880". Perhaps there is where 1880 came from for Mr. Robb.
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