Tuesday, October 28, 2008

More on Blackmar

Today is the 120th anniversary of the death of Armand Edward Blackmar (30 May 1826 - 28 Oct 1888). We've previously posted a short Blackmar bio and some of his games here. Blackmar was a contemporary of Paul Morphy's good friend, Charles A. Maurian. In fact, Blackmar and Maurian were founding members, in 1880, of the New Orleans Chess, Checkers, and Whist Club. Its first informal meeting, on July 21st, was called to order by none other than A. E. Blackmar, and the membership proceeded to elect as its first president Charles A. Maurian. When Blackmar's first games with his gambit were published in Brentano's Chess Monthly in July 1882, they were accompanied by the following game: Maurian,Charles A - Daponte,D New Orleans, 1882 Blackmar Gambit [D00] 1.d4 d5 2.e4 dxe4 3.f3 Nf6 4.fxe4 Nxe4 5.Bd3 f5 6.Bxe4 fxe4 7.Qh5+ g6 8.Qe5 Nc6 9.Qxh8 Nxd4 10.Bh6 Nxc2+ 11.Kf2 Qd1 12.Qxf8+ Kd7
13.Nf3 Qxh1 14.Ne5+ Kd6 15.Nc3 Qxa1 16.Qd8+
16...Ke6 [16...Kxe5 17.Qd5+ Kf6 18.Nxe4#] 17.Qd5+ Kf6 18.Nd7+ Bxd7 19.Nxe4# 1-0