Analysis Diagram - Position after 17. Bxf7+

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17...Nxf7 (17...Kd7 18. Qe6#) 18. Qe6+ Qe7 19. Qxe7#

Evidence on the date of this game from

Tim Harding, "Eminent Victorian Chess Players" (McFarland 2011) pp.14-16, 350.

PART ONE

<"The following is generally agreed to be the 'official' debut of the Evans Gambit. It first appeared in William Lewis's 1832 game collection, when the normal practice was not to name the contestants, and it was Walker who later wrote: 'This game occurred upon Captain E's first showing his new Gambit to McDonnell.' <<<*>>> The loser was only in embryo the player who fought ably with de la Bourdonnais in 1834. The deferred offer of the b-pawn here, and in two, probably contemporaneous, games mentioned in the notes, shows that either Evans originally conceived the gambit in this form or was initially unsure whether b2-b4 was better at move four or five."> [Game score with notes and annotations by Tim Harding follows- the score is the same as the one in our cg.com database. Harding's header for the printed game score reads exactly as follows:

<William Davies Evans-Alexander McDonnell
London, ca. 1825. Evans Gambit (C52)]

<*> These are the two primary sources Harding lists for the game score provenance:

WIlliam Lewis, "Fifty Games at Chess which have actually been played" (London 1832), p.61.

PART TWO:

<"There has been considerable debate about when this game was actually played, with Thomas dating it to 1826 or 1827 while the 'Oxford Companion to Chess' plumps for 1826. Even 1830 or as late as 1833 were sometimes assigned to the invention of the gambit but Evans's memory of 'around 1824' is a convincing detail, in view of the change to steam that year, and Walker's statement of the debut game is also usually accepted at face value, since he knew both men quite well.

Above [in the header for the game score] it says 1825 because surely Evans was eager to try out his idea against metropolitan experts, and it is hard to believe that he would have waited more than 12 months to do this- especially as it is now known that he visited London in September 1825! It has also been suggested that the game was played at Lewis's subscription rooms in St. Martin's Lane, which opened in 1825 and closed in 1827 or 1828, but attempting to date Evans's early games through speculations about Lewis is a rather indirect procedure. For a start, McDonnell had joined the London Chess Club in 1824 and Evans could have met him (and Keen) there. <<<29>>> Moreover, Thomas's arguments about Lewis are based on an incorrect date for his bankruptcy. <<<30>>> As for McDonnell's movements, throughout the period 1820-1830 he traveled between London, his home city of Belfast, and Demerara (now in Guyana) where he had 'extensive business interests.' <<<31>>> He certainly spent time in London during 1824 and in all subsequent years until 1835 when he died.

Post office records, showing the dates of Evans's absences from Milford, narrow down the possibilities in a way not considered by previous writers. A memorandum dated 9 September 1825 from Captain C[happell] to the Postmaster General shows that Evans, after being ordered to bring one of the packets to Harwich for a refit, applied for leave: 'Capt. Evans brought the 'Meteor' to the River Thames and wishes to avail himself of the opportunity to transact some business in London. There is not any Commander absent, and perhaps Your Lordship may be pleased to comply with his request.' <<<32>>>

Evans was granted a month off, but on 15 November he was refused reimbursement of his fare from London to Milford because he had not returned immediately after delivering the 'Meteor.' This provides strong evidence that Evans tried out his gambit on McDonnell and others during September 1825. Since at this date he was not yet involved in the ships' lights scheme, chess seems very likely to be his unspecified business.">

PART THREE

NOTES for <Harding's> text- from p.350 of his quoted book.

<29> LMA [London Metropolitan Archives (near Islington] A/LCH/1, "London Chess Club muniments," including an early list of members.

<30> Possibly misled by Murray, Thomas said Lewis is "known to have left" for Waterloo Place in 1827, yet the 'London Gazette' shows that St. Martin's Lane was still Lewis's address when he was bankrupted late in 1828 (not 1827 as previous writers have said). For more details, see Tim Harding, 'Correspondence Chess in Britain and Ireland, 1824-1987' (Jefferson: McFarland 2011) page 390, note 27.

PART FOUR

<32> BPMA [British Postal Museum and Archive (near Islington)] POST 34/13 Packet Minutes for July 1825-March 1826. The minutes also show that the 'Sovereign' had arrived at Milford on 24 August, so Evans probably sailed for the Thames soon afterwards.

NOTES <29-32> are from