Phony Benoni: <RookFile> That is bad enough that I rechecked the original score to make sure we have it right (American Chess Bulletin, November 1921, p. 193). Everything matches.These things happen ,a nd we have to accept them in the absence of a better explanation.
There are a couple of spots where the score might be wrong. For example, moves 25 and 26 could have been reversed. The sequence <25.Nb6 Re8 26.xcb5 axb5> is fine. Also, 26.Nb6 could be a typo for 26.Nb2. Neither of these possibilities seem right to me.
You'll there are no checks in this 49-move game. Perhaps there was an agreement to that effect. After all, this was supposed to be a Family Friendly event, and they may have wanted to cut down on the violence.
Finally remember that the living pieces were being played by high school boys. If teenagers in 1921 were anything like teenagers today, I can imagine the following dialogue taking place:
Barkuloo: "Rook to bishop Eight, giving check!"
Rook: "Oh, do I have to move all the way down there?"
Barkuloo: }"es, you do! You must do everything I say!"
Rook: "I don't have to listen to you! You're not my father!"
Barkuloo: "Don't you see the combination? White must move his King to Bishop Two. then our Knight checks on King 5 forking the King and Rook."
Rook: "So that's your game -- I do all the work, and the Knight gets all the credit! I'm just gonna sit here and wait for them to invent television."
Barkullo: "Oh, all right. Can you at least move to King One instead.?"
Rook: "OK, OK> Just let me finish this level of Norman T. Whitaker's "Grand Theft Auto.".