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    • Steinitz in New Orleans

    Local newspapers avidly recorded the travels of Wilhelm Steinitz, and his 1883 trip to New Orleans was no different. There the city newspaper was the Daily Picayune, which followed the tour of Steinitz to New Orleans on the New Year's holiday of 1883. We know that Steinitz gave a simultaneous exhibition on the 2nd of January, from which game 526 in "Collected Works" is the sole example. Now we learn that chess researcher Patsy D'Eramo, whose work appears in Chess Notes and other journals, has recently discovered 5 additional Steinitz games from that event at the Chess, Checkers and Wist Club - all published in the Daily Picayune. We look forward to further finds in the old papers! One of the new games is presented below, a nice win by Steinitz over Otto Tennison.

    Steinitz - Tennison

    [Event "simul"] [Site "New Orleans"] [Date "1883.01.02"] [Round "?"] [White "Steinitz, Wilhelm"] [Black "Tennison, Otto M"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C38"] [PlyCount "59"] [EventCountry "USA"] [Source "Philadelphia Ti"] [SourceDate "1883.10.31"] 1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 g5 4. Bc4 Bg7 5. O-O h6 6. d4 d6 7. g3 g4 8. Ne1 f3 9. c3 Nf6 10. Bd3 Qe7 11. Na3 Bd7 12. Nc4 Nc6 13. b4 {[White has purchased central control for a pawn, and feels justified in expanding Queenside. However, Black is firmly in the game.]} b5 $5 14. Nd2 Nh7 $6 ({The counter} 14... a5 {looks better.}) 15. Nb3 Ng5 16. Nc2 Nh3+ 17. Kh1 a6 18. Ne3 O-O-O $2 ({A poor move, exposing his own King to attack. Instead} 18... h5 {[%cal Yh5h4] should have been tried, and Black stands well.}) 19. a4 $16 Na7 ({White's attack will be very strong in any case. For example} 19... bxa4 20. Bxa6+ Kb8 21. Qd3 Na7 22. Nd5 Qe8 23. Na5 f5 24. b5 Qxe4 25. Qxe4 fxe4 26. Rxa4 $18 {and Black loses.}) 20. axb5 Nxb5 21. Nd5 Qe6 22. Rxa6 {[White is winning.]} c6 23. Bxb5 cxd5 24. Nc5 Qe8 25. Qa4 dxc5 26. Ra8+ Kc7 27. Qa7+ Kd6 28. Qxc5+ Ke6 29. Ra6+ Bc6 30. Bxc6 1-0

    Additionally we have an interesting new game at odds of the Queen's Knight, also found by Patsy D'Eramo, which should be counted with games 525 and 527 in the "Collected Works" main Steinitz database. All three odds games were conducted on this day (the 2nd), or perhaps the 3rd day of January.

    Steinitz - Fass & Wibray

    [Event "odds"] [Site "New Orleans"] [Date "1883.01.02"] [Round "?"] [White "Steinitz, Wilhelm"] [Black "Fass & Wibray"] [Result "1-0"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/R1BQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1"] [PlyCount "81"] [EventCountry "USA"] [Source "Philadelphia Ti"] [SourceDate "1883.10.31"] {[Allies: M. J. Faas & James Wibray]} 1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 f5 3. d3 Nf6 4. Nf3 c6 5. O-O fxe4 6. dxe4 d5 7. exd5 e4 8. Ne5 cxd5 9. Bb5+ Bd7 10. Nxd7 Nbxd7 11. Bg5 Kf7 12. Kh1 Be7 13. f3 Ne5 14. fxe4 dxe4 15. Qh5+ g6 $6 ({Too loosening. Black could have defended with} 15... Kg8 16. Bxf6 gxf6 17. Rae1 ({or} 17. Rf4 Qd4 18. Rd1 Qc5 19. Ba4 Kg7 $19 {and holds.}) 17... Qd5 18. Ba4 Kg7 19. Bb3 Qc6 $19 {with good chances to consolidate.}) 16. Qh4 Qd6 $6 (16... Rc8 $17 {is better.} ) 17. Bxf6 $5 Bxf6 18. Rxf6+ Qxf6 19. Rf1 Qxf1+ $6 ({Black had the excellent escape} 19... Nf3 $1 20. Qxe4 Rhd8 21. Qxb7+ Kg8 22. Bc4+ Kh8 23. b3 Qc3 24. Qxf3 Qxf3 25. Rxf3 Rd1+ 26. Rf1 Rxf1+ 27. Bxf1 Re8 28. Kg1 $13 {with fighting equality.}) 20. Bxf1 $14 {[Now White is comfortable.]} Rae8 21. Qxe4 Re7 22. Qd5+ Kg7 23. Qc5 {[The mobility of White's Queen is decisive.]} Nc6 24. h3 Rc8 25. Qc3+ Kf7 26. b4 Rcc7 27. Qh8 Ke6 28. Bc4+ Kd7 29. Bb3 a6 30. a4 Nd8 31. b5 axb5 32. axb5 Re1+ 33. Kh2 Kc8 34. b6 Rce7 35. Qc3+ Nc6 36. Bd5 Kb8 37. Qh8+ Re8 38. Qxh7 Ne7 39. Bf3 Nc6 40. Qc7+ Ka8 41. Bxc6 1-0

    Files containing all the new Steinitz games are available for download at www.WilhelmSteinitz.com for owners of the "Collected Works". You can also follow the D'Eramo Chess Project here.