Picking Up & Losing A Historical Thread (Part 2)

Yesterday's post – see "Picking Up & Losing A Historical Thread (Part 1)" – presented some possible further information about one of the players in the almost-70-year-old Jerome Gambit game, Sgt. W.A.  Harris - E. H. Quayle, correspondence 1944.

Not only did the "Bryant College Goes to War" collection have two letters by a Sgt. Winston Arthur Harris, there was a comment that began

Thank you so much for posting these letters! My grandfather, Winston Arthur Harris...

which suggested a family member as a further contact who might have more information for my search.

While trying to figure out Sgt. Harris' connection to a school in Rhode Island, I noted his return address in the May 14, 1944 letter

644 Bomb Squadron
410 Bomb Group

A.P.O. 140, c/o PM, NY, NY

This was taking my search in a completely opposite direction: while I had previously linked Sgt. Harris to the 124th Cavalry Regiment out of Brownsville, Texas (the location given by Herman Steiner in his Los Angeles Times "Chess" column), the 644 Bomb Squadron was deployed to the European Theater of Operations, not China-Burma-India.

Indeed, if the Wikipedia entry for the 644th is correct, the Bomb Squadron was stationed at Will Rogers Field and Muskogee Army Airfield in Oklahoma in 1943; then Laurel Army Airfield in Mississippi in early 1944; and then Lakeland Army Airfield in Florida; before moving overseas to RAF Birch and RAF Gosfield, in England, in April 1944.

Thus, there is no Brownsville, Texas connection for the 644 Bomb Squadron.

It looks like there may have been (at least) two "Sgt. W. A. Harrises"...  

Picking Up & Losing A Historical Thread (Part 1)

Several years ago – see "The Joy of Discovery (Part I)" – I encountered the following Jerome Gambit game

Harris,W.A. Sgt. - Quayle,Ernest H.
Los Angeles, California, USA 1944

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ g6 7.Qxe5 d6 8.Qxh8 Qh4 9.0-0 Nf6 10.Qd8 Bd7 11.Qxc7 Bb6 12.g3 Qh3 13.Qxd6 Bc6 14.g4 Qxg4+ White resigned

It had appeared – see "The Joy of Discovery (Part II)" – in Herman Steiner's "Chess" column in the Los Angeles Times for January 7, 1945, with the note "A short game by Ladderite E. H. Quayle of Westwood, Cal., and Sgt. W. A. Harris of Brownsville, Tx."

Of the latter player, I wrote

1944 was war time, and Fort Brown in Brownsville, Texas was where the 124th Cavalry Regiment was stationed. The 124th remained a mounted unit until its deployment in the China-Burma-India theater of operations.

That was as far as I was able to trace the early Jerome Gambiteer – see "The Joy of Discovery (Part III)".

Recently, however, I discovered (in the "Bryant College Goes to War" collection) a couple of V-mails, one written in 1944 and one written in 1945, by a Sgt. Winston A. Harris.

Could he be the same chess player?

The George J. Dougherty Club

Vera Menchik (1906 - 1944), the world's first women's chess champion, also competed in chess tournaments against men.

In 1929, Albert Becker jokingly suggesting that any player that she defeated in tournament play should be granted membership in "The Vera Menchik Club".

Of course, Becker became the first member of the "club", which came to include such noted players as C.H.O.D. Alexander, Edgar Colle, Max Euwe, Harry Golombek, Mir Sultan Khan, Jacques Mieses, Philip Stuart Milner-Barry, Karel Opočenský, Samuel Reshevsky, Friedrich Sämisch,  Lajos Steiner,  George Thomas, William Winter,  and Frederick Yates.

I mention this bit of chess history because of a current discussion of the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) taking place at Chess.com, where members have weighed in with various levels of skepticism:

There is very little chance of succeding with that gambit

I suggest you find something better

White has nothing

the gambit is completely unsound

not a variation to take anyone's game forward

simply throws away two minor pieces

unless your opponent is a child and you are playing a bullet game on Halloween, it doesn't look like a wise opening choice

an unsound gambit

You may surprise some in bullet, that's all

Those were the polite comments, mind you.

Anyhow, I thought it was time for me to inaugurate "The George J. Dougherty Club".

In the March 1877 American Chess Journal, Alonzo Wheeler Jerome reminisced that he had first played his gambit (successfully, too) against G.J. Dougherty of Mineola, New York, "a strong amateur".

That makes it interesting to recall that while it was in the April 1874 issue of the Dubuque Chess Journal that Jerome's "New Chess Opening" was first announced, the very next month's Journal carried this notice

Chess Challenge

George J. Dougherty, of Mineola, Queen's County, New York, hereby respectfully invites John G. Belden, Esq., of Hartford, Conn., to play him two games of chess by Postal Card, at his convenience, Mr. Belden taking the attack in one game and Mr. Dougherty in the other; the object being to test the soundness of Jerome's Double Opening, published in the April No. (50) of this Chess Journal. 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+

Mr. Dougherty, it seems, was willing to see what he could do to add other players to the growing list of those who had lost to the Jerome Gambit.

It is fitting that we name a "club" after him.

Long Lost Cousins & Perfect Strangers

Sometimes, when I'm in a Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) mood, especially when I'm in the position to give "Jerome Gambit odds," I tend to see many openings – some only distantly related to the Italian Game – as Jerome-izeable.

perrypawnpusher - dabbling
blitz 10 0 FICS, 2009


1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 a6

This move was news to me, but I just checked ChessBase's online games database and it has almost 360 examples, played by people like Bogoljubow, Reshevsky, and Steiner, so maybe it's just out of fashion.
4.0-0 Bb4
Ok, this is a bit odd. It reminds me of Alapin's defense to the Ruy Lopez: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Bb4. If I can kick the Bishop back to the 5th rank, though...

5.c3 Ba5 6.Bxf7+


Now, Perry, you know you had a good game with 6.d4...

But, Doctor, I can't help myself!

6...Kxf7 7.Nxe5+ Nxe5 8.Qh5+ g6

Instead, 8...Kf8 9.Qxe5 Bb6 led to a Black advantage.

9.Qxe5 Bb6 10.Qxh8
White is up the exchange and two pawns, but what is equally important is that Black feels like he's slipped and missed a step somewhere.
10...d6 11.Qxh7+ Kf8 12.d4 Qf6 13.Bh6+ Ke8

Rapidly going from bad to worse...

14.Qxg8+ Kd7 15.e5 dxe5 16.dxe5 Qxe5 17.Rd1+ Kc6

18.Qxg6+ Kb5 19.a4+ Ka5 20.b4 checkmate

History Mystery

From the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, March 1, 1900, page 14:

...Theodore M. Avery of Poly Prep encountered a team of the Manual Training School players in a simultaneous exhitition and won every game but one, which he drew. He defeated Caffall in a Scotch Gambit, Saunders in a Ruy Lopez; Baker and Fuchs, consulting, in a Max Lange; Lehman and Stillman, consulting, in a Two Knights Defense, and Steiner and Dennett, consulting, in a Jerome Gambit.

The Poly Prep Country Day School continues to this day in Brooklyn, New York, and I emailed Mr, Malcolm Farley, Director of Communications, to see if he could direct me to other sources of information about Avery's simultaneous exhibition.

Oh, and although the name "Steiner" leaps out to the eye as one of the players defending against the Jerome Gambit, the game took place several years before either Herman or Lajos Steiner were born...

Mr. Farley's response came quickly:

Dear Mr. Kennedy:

Many thanks for your interest in Poly Prep and its history.

As you know our school—which prepares students from nursery through 12th grade for college and for life—was founded in 1854. So, we have a long and storied past in Brooklyn.

Alas, our archivist has searched Poly’s extant records for 1900 and can find no information about Mr. Avery’s chess activities. Should we come across any such information in the future, we will forward it to you.

Once again, thank you.

Cordially yours,

Malcolm G. Farley

The Joy of Discovery (Part II)

I was excited to discover the Jerome Gambit game Harris - Quayle 1944, and decided to see if I could obtain the Los Angeles Times chess column referred to in the "L A TIMES 1881-1955" database – see "The Joy of Discovery (Part I)."

I contacted the Los Angeles Public Library, and Librarian Teni Bedrosian was quick to send me a PDF file of Herman Steiner's "Chess" column for January 7, 1945.

Under the heading "Correspondence Game" was the introductory note "A short game by Ladderite E. H. Quayle of Westwood, Cal., and Sgt. W. A. Harris of Brownsville, Tx."

Interesting!

Blackstone, in his database, gives Quayle's first name as "Ernest" – an educated guess on his part, or based on research of his own?

The Ernest H. Quayle Papers (1920-1939) includes five (of seven) journals by the naturalist (think: similar to Darwin and the Beagle) which currently reside in the University of Utah Mariott Library Special Collections.

I wrote to Manuscripts Librarian Dr. Stan Larsen for further information about Quayle's chess playing, if any. Unfortunately the diaries do not appear to have any chess content.

Ernest H. Quayle lived in Los Angeles in the early 1930s, but at the end of the decade he was involved Westwood is district in western LA.

As for Sgt. Harris, 1944 was war time, and Fort Brown in Brownsville, Texas was where the 124th Cavalry Regiment was stationed. The 124th remained a mounted unit until its deployment in the China-Burma-India theater of operations.