Harry Pillsbury vs William A Hall (1903)

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Harry Pillsbury vs William A Hall
Pillsbury Blindfold Simul 16b, Hastings (1903) (blindfold), Hastings ENG, Apr-23
Scandinavian Defense: Blackburne Gambit (B01) · 0-1

ANALYSIS [x]

FEN COPIED

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Feb-17-22		jessicafischerqueen: I published this game I found today, but I think there is something wrong with the year/site as listed. I believe we can probably find out the truth of it though. <Vlastimil Fiala> published it in his <Quarterly for Chess History (Winter 8/2002), p. 496.> =============== <Doctor Fiala writes>: "178. UNKNOWN GAME OF H. N. PILLSBURY We are happy to print the following J. Hilbert's letter with new unknown game of Pillsbury. But we are not sure, if Pillsbury was able to visit Hastings in 1905, this game could be played probably sometime early..." ================== <Now an excerpt from J. Hilbert's letter follows>: "Dear Vlastik, ...I don't know if you can use this now, but here is a 'new' Pillsbury game I located. At least, I could not find it in Pope's book on Pillsbury. Please feel free to use it if you need a little something extra to fill out a page. Of course, do not use it if you are aware of it from another source." ================ <Now Doctor Fiala continues>: "One of sixteen games played by H. N. Pillsbury blindfold against picked members of the Hastings, England Chess Club, being one of only two games lost by Pillsbury." =============== <Now Doctor Fiala supplies the pgn for the game>: [Event "Blindfold simul, 16b"] [Site "Hastings, ENG"] [Date "1905.??.??"] [EventDate "?"] [Round "?"] [Result "0-1"] [White "Harry Nelson Pillsbury"] [Black "William A Hall"] [Source "St. John Globe, Nov. 17 1905"] [ECO "B01"] [WhiteElo "?"] [BlackElo "?"] [PlyCount "44"] 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 c6 3. dxc6 Nxc6 4. Nf3 e5 5. Bb5 Bd6 6. Qe2 Nge7 7. Nxe5 Bxe5 8. Qxe5 O-O 9. Qh5 Qa5 10. Be2 Nf5 11. O-O g6 12. Qh3 Nfd4 13. Bg4 Bxg4 14. Qxg4 Nxc2 15. b4 Qe5 16. d4 Qxd4 17. Qxd4 N6xd4 18. Bb2 Ne2+ 19. Kh1 Nxa1 20. Bxa1 Rac8 21. Nc3 Nxc3 22. Bxc3 Rxc3 0-1 Pillsbury vs W A Hall, 1905 ============ <Doctor Fiala continues>: "Mr. William Hall, the winner of the foregoing game, is a former resident of Montreal and was a member of the Montreal Chess Club. Some years ago, in a letter to the editor of this column, Mr. Hall, in referring to Mr. Pillsbury, said 'I am glad to hear that he has now recovered his health, and hope for the future he will let blindfold chess alone. It spoils a man for match play, to say nothing of serious risks to his well being otherwise.'"

Feb-17-22		jessicafischerqueen: I suspect this game may have been played in Canada. The primary source for the game, listed by <John Hilbert> in the pgn he supplied to <Dr. Fiala>, is "St. John Globe." This was a Canadian newspaper from New Brunswick: https://archives.gnb.ca/researchtoo... In addition, William A Hall was the member of the Montreal Chess Club at this time.

Feb-17-22		jnpope: Try Hastings, England, 1903.04.23. :-)

Feb-17-22		jnpope: Pillsbury went +8=6-2

Feb-17-22		jessicafischerqueen: lol looks like I put the bat signal out to the right person...

Feb-17-22		jessicafischerqueen: <jnpope> I fixed the pgn now, using the same information from the other game we already had from the event in question: Pillsbury vs I M Friedberger, 1903

Feb-17-22		jnpope: Yup. I've got two more. ;-)

Feb-17-22		jessicafischerqueen: Fabulous... When will your new book come out?

Feb-17-22		jnpope: Waiting on a source check from Germany for two more weeks, if I don't hear back I'm proceeding in March to speak with my printer. Still to early to give a schedule.

Feb-17-22		Tabanus: William A Hall, two different persons?

Feb-17-22		MissScarlett: <Quarterly for Chess History (Winter 8/2002), p. 496.> When was this actually published? Seems strange that Hilbert wouldn't know - or didn't relate - the correct details of the game if he was buddy-buddy with Pope. <William A Hall, two different persons?> The question is - how did this game turn up in a Canadian paper two years later? It being the same Hall is a strong possibility.

Feb-17-22		jnpope: <Seems strange that Hilbert wouldn't know - or didn't relate - the correct details of the game if he was buddy-buddy with Pope.> In the early 2000s John was actively doing research and submitting interesting finds to various outlets (to Fiala for the <Quarterly for Chess History>, to Long for <Lasker and His Contemporaries>, and even to me when I was publishing articles on the CA website http://www.chessarch.com/archive/00... ). I'm sure John sent me this game after he had found it and asked about it. And I'm certain my response at the time was "new to me", so it's not like I had any information to offer to John at the time and I wasn't trying to place every new discovery being made after the 1996 book came out (I was "done" with Pillsbury, or so I thought).

Feb-17-22		MissScarlett: Still surprising that Hilbert could have your book and apparently think that Pillsbury may have been in Britain in 1905. <<Doctor Fiala continues>: "Mr. William Hall, the winner of the foregoing game, is a former resident of Montreal and was a member of the Montreal Chess Club. Some years ago, in a letter to the editor of this column, Mr. Hall, in referring to Mr. Pillsbury, said 'I am glad to hear that he has now recovered his health, and hope for the future he will let blindfold chess alone. It spoils a man for match play, to say nothing of serious risks to his well being otherwise.'"> I missed this before. This must be Fiala quoting the editor of the St. John Globe column. So there's no doubt at all about Hall's identity.

Feb-17-22		jnpope: <Still surprising that Hilbert could have your book and apparently think that Pillsbury may have been in Britain in 1905.> I don't think John ever claimed it was played in 1905. In looking at my copy of the <QCH> the only thing quoted from John was: "Dear Vlastik, ...I don't know if you can use this now, but here is a 'new' Pillsbury game I located. At least, I could not find it in Pope's book on Pillsbury. Please feel free to use it if you need a little something extra to fill out a page. Of course, do not use it if you are aware of it from another source." I think Fiala was the one to date it to 1905 with the caveat "But we are not sure, if Pillsbury was able to visit Hastings in 1905..." as I'm almost certain the PGN file containing this game actually came from Fiala (I'm sent preview copies of the <QCH> along with a PGN file of all the games contained therein as part of his "advisory board"). I'm fairly certain PGN wasn't even part of John's vocabulary in 2002 as I've had to walk him through how to generate a PGN file a couple of times in the last decade (he tends to send me newer ChessBase files that I cannot use without converting down and the utility I have appears to screw up the fields).

Feb-17-22		MissScarlett: <I don't think John ever claimed it was played in 1905.> Upon review, you're probably correct, so I withdraw the imputation. Still, it's strange to submit a game and not speculate as to its origins or circumstances. Incidentally, when was that issue of the <QCH> issued? Scratching about, I happened upon Pillsbury's blindfold simul in Plymouth on, I think, January 29th 1903 with games vs. <Thomas Taylor>, <Arthur Stoneman> and <W May>. All present and correct?

Feb-17-22		jnpope: Quarterly for Chess History, v2 n8, Winter 2002, p496 Plymouth. I've got six chess and four checker games from that performance, including the three aforementioned games.

Feb-17-22		MissScarlett: <Winter 2002> Yes, but I understood the actual publication dates were years behind schedule. Maybe they caught up later. I think I only have three of the early numbers.

Feb-17-22		jnpope: I have no idea when it actually became available to the public. Fiala is/was notoriously slow at times.

Feb-17-22		Chessist: That <QCH> contains the obituary of Ken Whyld...

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