chessgames.com
Members · Prefs · Laboratory · Collections · Openings · Endgames · Sacrifices · History · Search Kibitzing · Kibitzer's Café · Chessforums · Tournament Index · Players · Kibitzing

William H Janes

Number of games in database: 22
Years covered: 1942 to 1948
Overall record: +2 -19 =1 (11.4%)*
   * Overall winning percentage = (wins+draws/2) / total games.

Repertoire Explorer
Most played openings
C82 Ruy Lopez, Open (3 games)
B12 Caro-Kann Defense (2 games)
C77 Ruy Lopez (2 games)
C54 Giuoco Piano (2 games)
D18 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav, Dutch (2 games)


Search Sacrifice Explorer for William H Janes
Search Google for William H Janes

WILLIAM H JANES
(born Jul-10-1916, died Jul-23-1999, 83 years old) United States of America

[what is this?]
Last updated: 2017-01-30 22:38:49

Try our new games table.

 page 1 of 1; 22 games  PGN Download 
Game  ResultMoves YearEvent/LocaleOpening
1. H Steiner vs W Janes 1-0411942US OpenD18 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav, Dutch
2. B Rozsa vs W Janes  ½-½491942US OpenC54 Giuoco Piano
3. Yanofsky vs W Janes 1-0151942US OpenC83 Ruy Lopez, Open
4. W Janes vs G Kramer  0-1261948United States ChampionshipD15 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav
5. A Sandrin vs W Janes  1-0451948United States ChampionshipA34 English, Symmetrical
6. W Janes vs J Platz 1-0461948United States ChampionshipC02 French, Advance
7. Shainswit vs W Janes  1-0321948United States ChampionshipD12 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav
8. W Janes vs I Heitner  0-1451948United States ChampionshipB12 Caro-Kann Defense
9. W Shipman vs W Janes 1-0231948United States ChampionshipC77 Ruy Lopez
10. W Janes vs A Suraci  0-1561948United States ChampionshipE15 Queen's Indian
11. H Hesse vs W Janes  1-0521948United States ChampionshipA09 Reti Opening
12. W Janes vs O Ulvestad  0-1331948United States ChampionshipE11 Bogo-Indian Defense
13. L Evans vs W Janes  1-0321948United States ChampionshipC82 Ruy Lopez, Open
14. W Janes vs S Rubinow  0-1221948United States ChampionshipC17 French, Winawer, Advance
15. Kashdan vs W Janes  1-0381948United States ChampionshipC82 Ruy Lopez, Open
16. W Janes vs H Steiner  0-1561948United States ChampionshipC61 Ruy Lopez, Bird's Defense
17. W Janes vs Santasiere 0-1301948United States ChampionshipB12 Caro-Kann Defense
18. S E Almgren vs W Janes  0-1461948United States ChampionshipD18 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav, Dutch
19. W Janes vs F Howard  0-1301948United States ChampionshipC82 Ruy Lopez, Open
20. N Whitaker vs W Janes 1-0241948United States ChampionshipC54 Giuoco Piano
21. W Janes vs W Adams  0-1381948United States ChampionshipD08 Queen's Gambit Declined, Albin Counter Gambit
22. P Poschel vs W Janes  1-0481948United States ChampionshipC77 Ruy Lopez
 page 1 of 1; 22 games  PGN Download 
  REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2) | Janes wins | Janes loses  

Kibitzer's Corner
Jan-29-17  zanzibar: It would be nice to have a little more biographical info on him...

Lots of other DB's (e.g. <MillBase>) conflate his games with another player:

<Janes, Miroslav> who was active in the 1990's.

The other Janes might be from Nova Scotia area (or somewhere in Canada):

http://www.nschess.ca/chessdb/index...

See also:

http://chesstempo.com/gamedb/player...

Jan-29-17  zanzibar: See also: https://www.chess.com/sv/member/MAR...
Jan-29-17  zanzibar: <Phony> has the guy being from TX,

Game Collection: US Open Player List, 1900-1969 (F-K)

(1948, 1951 US Opens)

which might match this guy:

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/da...

except for the middle name.

But it looks like he was a Banker from Leroy, according to 1955 paper:

<Here Kenneth R. Smith of Dallas won the Southwestern Open Chess Tournament in the Roosevelt Hotel Sunday and in third place was a 17-year-old boy, Juris Jurevics of Dallas. Second place winner was Allen II. Baker of San Antonio who was also named secretary ol the Texas Chess Association which sponsors the yearly tournament. Fourth place was won by William H. Janes, Leroy banker who won fourth place last year and fifth place was taken by Blake W. See CHESS, Page 2 >

https://www.newspapers.com/newspage...

OK, that's enough to find him, I think:

<William was born on July 10, 1916 and passed away on Friday, July 23, 1999.

William was a resident of Leroy, Texas.>

http://www.tributes.com/obituary/sh...

(Maybe I should leave this stuff to the pros - but I just happened by...)

Jan-30-17
Premium Chessgames Member
  Phony Benoni: <zanzobar? Here is some information I used.

1942 US Open, Dallas: "Chess Review", October, 1942, p. 181: <Bill Janes, Waco>. (Waco and Leroy are in the same county about 15 miles apart.

1948 US CHampionship: "Cjess Life" September 5, 1948, p. 1 (<William Janes>); "Chess Review", September 1948, p. 5 (<W. H. Janes, Texas>)

1951 US Open, Fort Worth,"Chess Life, : (<Wm. H Janes, Leroy Texas>

USCF rating lists:

Chess Life, November 20, 1950, p. 3: (<W. H. Janes, Leroy Texas>)

Chess Life, October 5, 1951, p. 3: (<W. H. Janes, Leroy, Texas>)

William H. Janes appears to be certain, so if you're certain of that player's dates they can be added.

I'm glad you brought this up. I had misspelled his name int he Fort Worth 1951 crosstable.

Jan-30-17  zanzibar: <zanzo> is a new one, and I thought I'd seen 'em all!

His bank went belly-up in 1987, very soon after Janes sold the private bank to a new owner.

<

Tall, thin, and reserved, Bill Janes assumed control [of the Leroy Bank, from his father] at the age of 37 without a hitch. With degrees from Baylor and Columbia universities, he was better educated and more cosmopolitan than either his father or his grandfather. Janes, like his father, taught Sunday school at the Leroy Church. His lessons were laced with erudition — he would bring a book or a magazine article to elaborate on a biblical theme. He played chess skillfully, wrote poetry, and brought a touch of class to the country bank.

[...]

In an odd way, Janes was a part of Leroy yet apart from it. His professional and personal lives were intertwined with the fortunes of his hometown. But perhaps his education, his financial expertise, and his trips to Europe, helped distance him and his wife, Jessie Lee, from the other Leroy residents. In a town defined by close relationships, few could say they knew Bill Janes well.

In 1974, with Waco encroaching on Leroy, Janes led the town to incorporation and became its first mayor. He had a hand in nearly everything. Under his twelve-year leadership, Leroy got its first street-lights and street signs. Janes also researched the town’s past and published a pamphlet on the history of Leroy.

With such a man in charge, it’s not hard to understand why people of Leroy entrusted their money to the bank he owned, insurance or no insurance.

Tall, thin, and reserved, Bill Janes assumed control at the age of 37 without a hitch. With degrees from Baylor and Columbia universities, he was better educated and more cosmopolitan than either his father or his grandfather. Janes, like his father, taught Sunday school at the Leroy Church. His lessons were laced with erudition — he would bring a book or a magazine article to elaborate on a biblical theme. He played chess skillfully, wrote poetry, and brought a touch of class to the country bank.

[...]

On May 26, 1989, the Texas Attorney General’s Office filed its own civil charges of fraud, negligence, and deceptive trade practices against Bill and Jessie Lee Janes, Bill Tankersley, and Ronald Bailey [Tankersley and Bailey were involved in taking over the bank - it's not clear who actually bought it]. There is a critical difference between the state’s and the depositors’ cases: The state is representing all of the depositors in the bank, not just the 376 plaintiffs in the earlier lawsuit.

There is a great deal of confusion about what went wrong at the bank. Still unknown is how much withdrawals by skittish depositors contributed to its insolvency. Banking officials say that they also don’t know whether Bailey or Tankersley legally owned the bank at the time it closed. And they don’t know precisely how much Bailey and Tankersley contributed to the bank’s downfall or how much may have been beyond their control.

One thing is certain: The bank’s troubles began long before it was sold in the spring of 1987. “That kind of damage doesn’t happen in a couple of months.” Says banking department attorney Carlos J. Contreras III. Commissioner Littlefield says, “I can understand why people thought a lot of Janes, but as a banker, your first responsibility is to protect the interests of the depositors. You’re not loaning your own money. You’re loaning theirs.”

Janes has insisted in depositions that the bank was sound when he sold it. He says he did not seek out a buyer; Bailey and Tankersley approached him out of the blue in the spring of 1987 with an offer.

[...]

>

http://www.texasmonthly.com/article...

You can find a picture of the man, and another version of the same article, here:

https://books.google.com/books?id=S...

This sad story might be the reason I couldn't find a full fledged obituary for the man.

Jan-30-17  zanzibar: A picture of the bank itself can be found here:

https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/6...

Jan-30-17  zanzibar: <August 18, 1988 | JOHN VOLAND, Arts and entertainment reports from The Times, national and international news services and the nation's press Willie Nelson can't even play at a benefit for wiped-out bank investors in Texas without someone stirring up a fuss. Herbert Reynolds, the president of Baylor University in Waco, canceled Nelson's Nov. 14 gig at the school because Reynolds said he was "concerned for the health and well-being of the American people." The concert was to be a benefit for depositors of the failed Leroy Bank in nearby Leroy.>
Jan-30-17  zanzibar: <Willie Nelson helps Texas depositors WACO, Texas Country-western singer Willie Nelson put on a concert to help depositors who were cut off from their money when the Leroy Bank failed last year, and an estimated 3,500 Texans turned out for the show. Nelson pledged his share of the proceeds from Monday night's concert to the bank's depositors in the form of immediate cash. The rest will be used to pay legal costs in a lawsuit some of the depositors filed against the bank's former owners. >

November 16, 1988
The San Bernardino County Sun from San Bernardino, California

https://www.newspapers.com/newspage...

Apr-02-22
Premium Chessgames Member
  perfidious: Sinner or saint in that whole flap?

NOTE: Create an account today to post replies and access other powerful features which are available only to registered users. Becoming a member is free, anonymous, and takes less than 1 minute! If you already have a username, then simply login login under your username now to join the discussion.

Please observe our posting guidelines:

  1. No obscene, racist, sexist, or profane language.
  2. No spamming, advertising, duplicate, or gibberish posts.
  3. No vitriolic or systematic personal attacks against other members.
  4. Nothing in violation of United States law.
  5. No cyberstalking or malicious posting of negative or private information (doxing/doxxing) of members.
  6. No trolling.
  7. The use of "sock puppet" accounts to circumvent disciplinary action taken by moderators, create a false impression of consensus or support, or stage conversations, is prohibited.
  8. Do not degrade Chessgames or any of it's staff/volunteers.

Please try to maintain a semblance of civility at all times.

Blow the Whistle

See something that violates our rules? Blow the whistle and inform a moderator.


NOTE: Please keep all discussion on-topic. This forum is for this specific player only. To discuss chess or this site in general, visit the Kibitzer's Café.

Messages posted by Chessgames members do not necessarily represent the views of Chessgames.com, its employees, or sponsors.
All moderator actions taken are ultimately at the sole discretion of the administration.

Spot an error? Please suggest your correction and help us eliminate database mistakes!
Home | About | Login | Logout | F.A.Q. | Profile | Preferences | Premium Membership | Kibitzer's Café | Biographer's Bistro | New Kibitzing | Chessforums | Tournament Index | Player Directory | Notable Games | World Chess Championships | Opening Explorer | Guess the Move | Game Collections | ChessBookie Game | Chessgames Challenge | Store | Privacy Notice | Contact Us

Copyright 2001-2025, Chessgames Services LLC