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"...
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?
If the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) comes as a suprise to a defender, it might be twice as much of a hassle if it is delivered at blitz speed. The following game is over in little more than a few eyeblinks, with a vision of the enemy Queen as the last thing that the Black King saw before checking out.
TrustyPawn - taviman
blitz
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+
, FICS, 2009
4...Kxf7 5.d4 exd4 6.e5 Nge7 7.Ng5+ Kf8 8.Qf3+ Kg8 9.Qf7 checkmate
Bill Wall has sent me a spreadsheet full of articles and books that touch (sometimes heavily) on the Jerome Gambit, and I noticed a few titles that I missed in my last two posts concerning books in the modern era.
Many thanks!
A History of Chess in South Africa (2003), Leonard Reitstein
Why You Lose At Chess (1982, 2001), Tim Harding
The Pan Book of Chess (1965), Gerald Abrahams
The Chess Mind (1951), Gerald Abrahams
Continuing from yesterday's post, a few more books that touch on the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) include
Master Chess Play (1951), Percy Wenman
An Invitation to Chess A Picture Guide to the Royal Game (1945), Irving Chernev and Kevin Harkness
200 Miniature Games of Chess (1942), Julius du Mont
It is fun to present Wenman's take on the classic game Amateur - Blackburne, London, 1885. Why such begrudging praise for Blackburne's checkmating combination? Would it have been appropriate to mention that 10.Qd8 actually would save White?
"Jerome Opening"
Amateur - J.H. Blackburne
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+
One of the most unsound of all openings.
4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ g6
A sporting reply, but 6...Kf8 7.Qxe5 d6 is all that is required to give Black a won game.
7.Qxe5 d6 8.Qxh8 Qh4
Now it is Black who gets all the fun.
9.0-0 Nf6 10.c3
White plays weakly. The only move that was of any use is 10.Qd8.
10...Ng4 11.h3 Bxf2+ 12.Kh1 Bf5
A pretty mating combination which has, of course, in varous ways occurred many times.
13.Qxa8 Qxh3+ 14.gxh3 Bxe4 checkmate
While the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) remains a stranger in the opening repertoires of masters and grandmasters, it occasionally shows up in books that they write, either out of fascination, amusment or a sense of horror.
A look at my notes shows the following books in the last half-century or so have various levels of coverage and/or comment.
The Greatest Ever Chess Tricks and Traps (2008), Gary Lane
Survive and Beat Annoying Chess Openings (2003), Eric Schiller and John Watson
Gambit Chess Openings (2002), Eric Schiller
Unorthodox Chess Openings (1998, 2002), Eric Schiller
The Complete Book of Gambits (1992), Raymond Keene
Chess Openings Traps & Zaps (1989), Bruce Pandolfini
Batsford Chess Openings (1982)Gary Kasparov and Raymond Keene
Counter Gambits (1974, 2001), Tim Harding
Encyclopedia of Chess Openings, C (1974)
The Italian Game (1972), Tim Harding and George Botterill
Chess Catechism (1970), Larry Evans
The Art of the Checkmate (1962), Georges Renaud and Victor Kahn
Gambits Accepted (1954), L. Elliott Fletcher
(I have been posting daily on this blog for almost 4 years. I think that this is post number 1,400. Talk about "much ado about nothing" -- Rick.)
If you are looking for an International Master who writes regularly on unorthodox chess openings, including some rather strange and arguably unsound ones, you could hardly do better than to check out IM Gary Lane's monthly "Opening Lanes" column at ChessCafe.com.
This month, like last month and the month before (and at least a couple of times before that), IM Lane has something to say about the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+), among other openings. He manages to be serious enough to give the opening a fair shake, without dissolving into either giggles or epithets.
Check it out!
