May-06-05
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| Benzol: Was there any truth in Capablanca's charges that Jaffe threw his game against Marshall at Havana 1913 so that the American would win the tournament? |
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May-08-05
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| Resignation Trap: Use your own judgement and come to your own conclusions! From round one, here is Marshall vs C Jaffe, 1913 . And from round eight, here is C Jaffe vs Marshall, 1913. Marshall and Capablanca were leading this 8-player double round robin after eight rounds with 6/8 each, and Janowski a close third with 5.5. Capablanca lost to Marshall in round ten Capablanca vs Marshall, 1913 , which left the American champion a full point ahead of the field, a margin he maintained until the start of the 14th and final round. Marshall then blew the endgame and lost to Janowski in the last round Janowski vs Marshall, 1913 . This gave Capablanca the opportunity to tie for first: all he had to do was to defeat Kupchik. But the Cuban was held to a draw by his young opponent Kupchik vs Capablanca, 1913 , and had to be content with second place. He seemed disappointed by not winning first prize in his hometown. The organizers of this tournament were also the ones who organized most of the tournaments in New York during this period. Afterwards, Capablanca used his clout to dissuade furture invitations to Jaffe at events in which the Cuban was invited. |
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May-09-05
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| Benzol: <Resignation Trap> Thanks for that. Very interesting stuff. Anybody can have an off-day but maybe Capablanca did have grounds for complaint. However, he shouldn't have tried to influence who got invitations and who didn't in subsequent events. |
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May-09-05
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| Caissanist: According to Edward Lasker, when he was playing in the New York City championship in 1915, he went into the last round half a point behind Roy Black. Jaffe, who was Black's opponent in the last round, then suggested to Lasker that he offer Jaffe a special prize for defeating Black. Lasker, who thought this was pretty funny, in fact did so after getting the approval of the tournament director. He then became New York City champion when both he and Jaffe won their last round games. I wouldn't be surprised if Jaffe made a similar "suggestion" to Capablanca prior to his second game with Marshall. |
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May-20-05
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| Caissanist: Jaffe seems to have been basically a hustler rather than a "serious" tournament player. Albert Kreymbourg paints a memorable picture of him in his wonderful memoir "Chess Reclaims a Devotee", which was reprinted in The Fireside Book of Chess. |
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May-21-05
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| keypusher: Did anyone ever track down the game against Chajes, in which Kreymbourg claimed to have messed up an 18-move combination? |
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May-21-05
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| Caissanist: Yes, I remember that Andy Soltis published it in Chess Life some years ago. I think it was about 1990, but can't be more specific than that. |
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May-21-05
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| Calli: <Caissanist> Capablanca was angry about something that Jaffe did. I doubt it was just the games with Marshall. He had knowledge of a deal being offered. Whether it was to Capa himself or to another player, we will probably never know. Also, the bio claims 2 wins over Capablanca. I only know of one. |
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Dec-17-05
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| Benzol: <Calli> I believe you're right so I've corrected the bio accordingly. |
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Apr-19-06
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| keypusher: I always thought of Jaffe as a hustler as described in Kreymbourg's article (mentioned by Cassianist above). Does anyone know how he came to participate in the Karlsbad 1911 tournament? |
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Apr-19-06
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| Gypsy: <Does anyone know how he came to participate in the Karlsbad 1911 tournament?> Jaffe was of Polish origin in the era when Pan-Slavism was a popular concept in the land that felt to be under German (Habsburk) opression for close to 300 years. That may have gotten him the nod. Just a guess, but the same pedigree (American master of Polish origin) holds also for Chajes who also trailed together with Jaffe, Alapin, and Fahrni the tournament table at Karlsbad, 1911 . |
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May-18-06
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| Caissanist: Edward Winter on Jaffe: http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/... |
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May-18-06
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| Benzol: I've never seen that picture of the players at Havana 1913 before. Is S Capablanca a relation of J R? |
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May-18-06
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| Calli: A reasonable guess for S. Capablanca would be his brother Salvador (1885-1940). Capablanca was one of eight children. |
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May-20-06
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| Benzol: Thanks <Calli>. |
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Aug-18-07
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| Karpova: <1916: Charles Jaffe v Hartwig Cassel (C.N. 1105) From the BCM, June 1916, page 200:
‘When chessplayers go to law on some matter connected with the game, there is usually a touch of the ridiculous. In the Bronx Municipal Court, on 4 April, a case came up in which Charles Jaffe sued Hartwig Cassel, one of the editors of the American Chess Bulletin, for $700 – over £140 – for work alleged to have been done in analysing the Rice Gambit. Last year Professor Isaac J. [sic – L. would be correct] Rice invited a number of strong American players to Utica to test his gambit once more, and it was agreed that their investigations should be continued. Jaffe, however, broke away from the rest and decided to analyse by himself. The others concluded their joint work, which is to appear in a book entitled Twenty Years of the Rice Gambit, while Mr Julius Finn, who was appointed referee in the matter, declared Jaffe’s work not acceptable. Hence the lawsuit, Mr Cassel being brought in as having acted in an advisory capacity for the late professor in chess matters. The witnesses at the trial included Marshall (who considered Jaffe’s claim not unreasonable), Julius Finn, Albert B. Hodges, and J. Rosenthal. The verdict was in favour of Mr Cassel. The chief amusement seems to have been when Jaffe was in the witness-box on his own behalf, and expressed his opinion of the chess strength of a number of noted players in the court – not unqualified by their attitude towards him in the case.’ A detailed account of the case appeared on pages 124-125 of the May-June 1916 American Chess Bulletin.>
http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/... |
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Nov-06-07
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| Karpova: A three-cornered tournament almost nothing is known about: <Dan Scoones (Coquitlam, BC, Canada) sends the following extract from a report on page 19 of the New York Times, 20 July 1919: ‘By invitation of the I.L. Rice Progressive Chess Club, Metropolitan League champions, Oscar Chajes, Charles Jaffe and Boris Kostić started a short three-cornered tournament at that club yesterday. The pairings brought together Jaffe and Kostić in the first round, Kostić winning the toss for move and selecting the Ruy López. The Serbian brought about an early exchange of queens, Jaffe being left in possession of two bishops. The latter won a pawn at his 24th turn, and playing in excellent style thereafter, brought about Kostić’s resignation after 48 moves had been recorded. Jaffe will play against Chajes in the next round.’> There is another game Jaffe-Kostic, New York 1919 but it doesn't fit the description and it's unclear so I won't submit it until further information appear. But that's the game: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 Na5 6.Bb5+ c6 7.dxc6 bxc6 8.Bd3 Bd6 9.c3 h6 10.Ne4 Nxe4 11.Bxe4 O-O 12.d4 f5 13.dxe5 fxe4 14.Qxd6 Qh4 15.Be3 Ba6 16.Nd2 Rad8 17.Qb4 Rxd2 18.Kxd2 Rxf2+ 19.Kc1 Rxg2 20.Qxa5 Bc8 21.Rd1 Qh3 22.Qd8+ Kh7 23.Qd4 Qf3 24.Re1 c5 25.Qd5 Rxh2 26.Bd2 Bf5 27.e6 e3 28.Qxf3 exd2+ 29.Kd1 Bc2+ 30.Kxc2 dxe1(Q)+ 31.Kb3 Qxe6+ 32.c4 Qb6+ 33.Kc3 Qxb2+ 34.Kd3 Qd4# 0-1 http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/... |
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| Mar-13-08 |
| offramp: Jaffe and Chajes were like ... have you ever read The Castle by Franz Kafka? They were like Arthur and Jeremiah. K said that it was impossible to tell them apart and he could not be bothered to remember which one was which - so he called them both by one name. |
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