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Jackson Showalter
Showalter 
Picture courtesy of RookHouse.    

Number of games in database: 558
Years covered: 1887 to 1930
Overall record: +217 -218 =113 (49.9%)*
   * Overall winning percentage = (wins+draws/2) / total games in the database. 10 exhibition games, blitz/rapid, odds games, etc. are excluded from this statistic.

MOST PLAYED OPENINGS
With the White pieces:
 Ruy Lopez (92) 
    C67 C62 C80 C65 C77
 French Defense (26) 
    C13 C10 C11 C14 C01
 Queen's Pawn Game (22) 
    D00 D02 A40 A41
 French (22) 
    C13 C10 C11 C00 C12
 King's Pawn Game (22) 
    C44
 Queen's Gambit Declined (21) 
    D31 D37 D39 D30 D38
With the Black pieces:
 Ruy Lopez (66) 
    C67 C65 C84 C79 C60
 French Defense (30) 
    C14 C12 C11 C01 C00
 Orthodox Defense (30) 
    D60 D63 D50 D67 D68
 Queen's Gambit Declined (25) 
    D37 D31 D30 D35
 Queen's Pawn Game (23) 
    D00 D05 D02
 Giuoco Piano (16) 
    C50 C53 C54
Repertoire Explorer

NOTABLE GAMES: [what is this?]
   Showalter vs Pillsbury, 1897 1-0
   Showalter vs J Logan, 1890 1-0
   A Robbins vs Showalter, 1890 0-1
   Showalter vs Pillsbury, 1904 1-0
   Showalter vs Pillsbury, 1894 1-0
   Showalter vs Chigorin, 1896 1-0
   I Spero vs Showalter, 1922 1/2-1/2
   Showalter vs G Marco, 1904 1/2-1/2
   Showalter vs Lasker, 1892 1-0
   Alapin vs Showalter, 1898 0-1

NOTABLE TOURNAMENTS: [what is this?]
   Showalter - Albin (1894)
   Showalter - Barry US Championship (1896)
   Janowski - Showalter, 3rd Match (1899)
   Showalter - Kemeny US Championship (1896)
   Showalter - Hodges US Championship (1894)
   Showalter - Whitaker (1916)
   Pillsbury - Showalter US Championship (1897)
   New York Sexangular (1900)
   Impromptu International Congress, New York (1893)
   2nd City Chess Club Tournament (1894)
   London (1899)
   12th DSB Congress, Munich (1900)
   Paris (1900)
   6th American Chess Congress, New York (1889)
   Vienna (1898)

GAME COLLECTIONS: [what is this?]
   Showalter - Albin, 1894 by Phony Benoni


Search Sacrifice Explorer for Jackson Showalter
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JACKSON SHOWALTER
(born Feb-05-1859, died Feb-05-1935, 76 years old) United States of America

[what is this?]
Jackson Whipps Showalter held the title Chess Champion of the United States on several occasions from the 1890s to 1909.

He played matches against Max Judd in 1890 (+3 -7) and 1891-2 (+7 -4 =3), Emanuel Lasker in 1892 (+2 -6 =2), Samuel Lipschutz in 1892 (+1 -7 =7), Jacob C Halpern in 1893-4 (+5 -3 =1), two against Albert Hodges (+7 -6 =4) and (-5 +3 =1), and Adolf Albin (+10 -7=8) in 1894. Following Hodges' retirement, he definitely established a claim to the title by defeating Lipschutz in 1895 (+7 -4 =3).

He defended this title by defeating Emil Kemeny (+7 -4 =4) and John Finan Barry (+7 -2 =4) in successive matches (1896), before losing twice to Harry Nelson Pillsbury in both the Pillsbury - Showalter (1897) (+8-10=3) and Pillsbury - Showalter (1898) (+2-7=3) matches.

Following Pillsbury's death in 1906, he was again considered US Champion until being defeated by Frank James Marshall (+2 -7 =3) in 1909.

He was a regular participant in major international events from 1893 to 1904, scoring wins over World Champions Wilhelm Steinitz and Emanuel Lasker among other notables.

Wikipedia article: Jackson Showalter


Try our new games table.

 page 1 of 23; games 1-25 of 558  PGN Download
Game  ResultMoves YearEvent/LocaleOpening
1. Showalter vs F Wendel  1-0271887Corr.C37 King's Gambit Accepted
2. F Wendel vs Showalter 0-1351887Corr.C52 Evans Gambit
3. Showalter vs E Kaltenbach  1-0421887New YorkC62 Ruy Lopez, Old Steinitz Defense
4. S McCalla vs Showalter  1-0181887Casual gameC80 Ruy Lopez, Open
5. Showalter vs Ajeeb 1-0161887Eden Musee ExhibitionB23 Sicilian, Closed
6. Mason vs Showalter 1-03118896th American Chess Congress, New YorkC50 Giuoco Piano
7. Showalter vs C Burille 1-01618896th American Chess Congress, New YorkC52 Evans Gambit
8. M Weiss vs Showalter 1-06818896th American Chess Congress, New YorkC60 Ruy Lopez
9. Showalter vs Gossip 0-12918896th American Chess Congress, New YorkC45 Scotch Game
10. Taubenhaus vs Showalter 0-14318896th American Chess Congress, New YorkC67 Ruy Lopez
11. D Baird vs Showalter 0-13018896th American Chess Congress, New YorkC50 Giuoco Piano
12. Showalter vs Lipschutz ½-½7218896th American Chess Congress, New YorkC62 Ruy Lopez, Old Steinitz Defense
13. Blackburne vs Showalter 1-02118896th American Chess Congress, New YorkD50 Queen's Gambit Declined
14. Showalter vs Gunsberg 0-14318896th American Chess Congress, New YorkC67 Ruy Lopez
15. Chigorin vs Showalter  ½-½4618896th American Chess Congress, New YorkC51 Evans Gambit
16. Showalter vs Bird 1-05118896th American Chess Congress, New YorkC51 Evans Gambit
17. N MacLeod vs Showalter 0-12418896th American Chess Congress, New YorkC44 King's Pawn Game
18. J Baird vs Showalter  0-14518896th American Chess Congress, New YorkC48 Four Knights
19. Showalter vs E Delmar ½-½9518896th American Chess Congress, New YorkB32 Sicilian
20. Burn vs Showalter 1-03818896th American Chess Congress, New YorkC67 Ruy Lopez
21. Showalter vs J Hanham ½-½7018896th American Chess Congress, New YorkC41 Philidor Defense
22. W Pollock vs Showalter ½-½7418896th American Chess Congress, New YorkC55 Two Knights Defense
23. Showalter vs D Martinez ½-½7018896th American Chess Congress, New YorkC50 Giuoco Piano
24. Showalter vs M Judd ½-½4518896th American Chess Congress, New YorkC62 Ruy Lopez, Old Steinitz Defense
25. Showalter vs Mason  0-14818896th American Chess Congress, New YorkC00 French Defense
 page 1 of 23; games 1-25 of 558  PGN Download
  REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2) | Showalter wins | Showalter loses  

Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 4 OF 4 ·  Later Kibitzing>
Jan-10-14  SeanAzarin: The "Kentucky Lion" played a wonderful style of chess. He was completely unafraid of anybody. I love playing over Showalter's games.
Feb-05-14  WhiteRook48: Showalter was quite the impressive player for 1800's standards. (Actually, he's pretty impressive even by today's standards; I just suppose he'd find the competition a little bit stiffer at today's tournaments.)
Jul-04-14  ljfyffe: <GrahamClayton>view the games of Bird for correspondence game between Frederick Intropidi and Edward Harrison of Saint John NB(in the Kibitz).
Jul-04-14  kjr63: Beautiful site rookhouse. Very nice.
Jul-04-14  ljfyffe: <rookhouse> lnteresting:I was unaware Pollock was champion of Maryland. Good stuff. Pollock represented Canada at Hastings 1895.
Jul-28-14  rookhouse: <kjr63> Thanks for the compliment. I hope to start updating it again this fall/winter. Too busy in the summer for my chess related hobbies.
Jul-28-14  rookhouse: <ljfyffe> Here is a link to some good info on Pollock if you are interested: http://www.chess.com/blog/batgirl/p...
Jul-28-14  ljfyffe: <rookhouse>again interesting; Pollock's 20-mille walk reminds me of Prof. Hanburg's 18- mile trek mentioned by me under Pollock's general heading chessgames.com. I too have done some research on Pollock which might or might not appear in the to- be-published book on him since I forwarded some of the research to Hilbert some years ago if my memory serves me correctly. Pollock was a guest of Rev. John DeSoyres when he stopped in Saint John NB on the way to Hastings. <By the way, all chessplayers should have a hobby!>
Jul-28-14  rookhouse: <ljfyffe> This chess player maybe has too many chess hobbies. Showalter biography, Rook House website, and an online chess playing site in the works (Skittles Room). Would be nice if I finished one of them to completion.

I have not corresponded with Mr. Hilbert for nearly a year (or right after his Kemeny book came out), any idea how he is doing?

Jul-28-14  ljfyffe: <rookhouse> To the best of my knowledge, Hilbert is still doing fine though I heard he might retire from writing history books on chess. He's done more than his share already, but then again, he's the best at it.
Oct-22-14  ljfyffe: Showalter played in the 1888 lnternational
Correspondence Match between Canada and the
United States.
Feb-05-16  TheFocus: Happy birthday, Player of the Day and former U.S. Champion Jackson Whipps Showalter!!
Feb-05-16  waustad: This is both his birth day and his death day. Considering when he was born 76 years was quite a long life.
Apr-11-16  paderamo: http://www.newspapers.com/clip/1603...

A correspondence game from 1887.

Apr-11-16  paderamo: http://www.newspapers.com/clip/1603...

Another Showalter game. Assume 1887.

Apr-11-16  paderamo: http://www.newspapers.com/clip/1607...

Another Showalter correspondence game from 1887-1888 time-frame.

Apr-24-17  rea: One of the inventors of the curveball!
Feb-07-18
Premium Chessgames Member
  mifralu: <rookhouse> Nellie Showalter - Emanuel Lasker

<"When I first came to New York I played with Mr. Lasker a match of five games up. He gave the odds of a knight and I beat him five to two.">

Third game of the match:

http://www.chessarch.com/excavation...

Feb-18-19
Premium Chessgames Member
  MissScarlett: Brooklyn Daily Eagle, April 19th 1898, p.4:

<It is not a usual thing and, in fact, a rare occurrence to find a first class chess player who is, perhaps, equally at home with other branches of sport that require brawn and muscle for their thorough enjoyment, as with the profound intricacies of the checkered board. Probably the only notable exception to this rule is ex-United States Champion Jackson W. Showalter, whose magnificent physique is both the admiration and envy of his fellow masters. The Kentuckian was at one time an expert ball player and a pitcher of considerable repute.>

The tournament photo of Nuremberg (1896) illustrates Showalter's sheer bulk: https://www.schachbund.de/files/dsb...

Apr-24-19  TheBish: It would be great if Showalter had lost a game to someone named Jackson. Then it could be a pun for Game of the Day: "Jackson Whips Showalter". I suppose there could be a "Jack's Son Whips Showalter", but that would take some digging to find that, and not quite as good.
Apr-24-19  TheBish: Here's an excellent posting on Showalter (including his ties to baseball and his use of the curveball) by an ancestor: https://allanshowalter.com/2019/02/.... Incidentally, his father's middle name was Benoni!
Jun-20-19  RookFile: He seems like he was an amazing man. I would have liked to have known him.
Feb-05-20  Momentum Man: I wonder if there is a game where someone named Jackson whips Jackson Whipps
Feb-05-20  Momentum Man: Or Jackson Whipps whips Jackson
Feb-05-20  Momentum Man: I thought he looked like a Kentucky boy. Looks like he was indeed
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