English Chess Forum

Looking through an old volume of 'Chess' I found what seems to be a correspondence game by F. St. J. Steadman (see previous post) when he was just one of a thousand playing for England against the U.S.A. The match had to be abandoned with the outbreak of WW2, but deserves to be better known. Has anyone got more information on it?

Steadman's opponent was the wonderfully named Eldorous Lyons Dayton, chess columnist for the New York publications the Mount Vernon Daily Argus and New Rochelle Standard Star. He also wrote poetry and political biographies - his subjects included Harry Truman and Hitler.

[Event "England vs USA 1000 Boards"] [Site "Correspondence"] [Date "1939.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Steadman"] [Black "Dayton, Eldorous, Lyons"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C13"] [Opening "French: Albin-Alekhine-Chatard attack"] [PlyCount "76"] 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e5 Nfd7 6. h4 h6 7. Be3 a6 8. Qg4 Kf8 9. h5 c5 10. Rh3 Kg8 11. Rg3 Qf8 12. f4 Nc6 13. O-O-O cxd4 14. Bxd4 Nxd4 15. Rxd4 Bc5 16. Rxd5 f5 17. Qg6 exd5 18. Nxd5 b5 19. Nc7 Nxe5 20. fxe5 Rb8 21. Nd5 Qf7 22. Qc6 Ba7 23. Nf6+ Kf8 24. Rg6 Qe7 25. Nf3 Bb7 26. Nd7+ Ke8 27. Nxb8+ Bxc6 28. Nxc6 Be3+ 29. Kd1 Qc7 30. a4 bxa4 31. Bxa6 Qb6 32. Bc8 Rf8 33. Rd6 Qc7 34. Ba6 Bc5 35. Rd8+ Qxd8+ 36. Nxd8 Kxd8 37. Bb5 a3 38. bxa3 Bxa3 {'Chess' Vol. 4 No.43 p.263 14th March 1939} 1/2-1/2

Eldorous had an eye for a nice finish...

[Event "Rapid Transit"] [Site "New York"] [Date "1942"] [Round "?"] [White "N.N."] [Black "Dayton, Eldorous Lyons"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C50"] [Opening "Bishop's opening: King's pawn game"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. Re1 d5 6. Bb3 Bc5 7. d4 Nxd4 8. Nxe5 Qf6 9. Bxd5 Qxf2+ 10. Kh1 Qg1+ 11. Kxg1 Ne2+ 12. Kf1 N4g3+ 13. hxg3 Nxg3# {New York Post, Monday 7, 1942} 0-1

Gerard Killoran wrote:Looking through an old volume of 'Chess' I found what seems to be a correspondence game by F. St. J. Steadman (see previous post) when he was just one of a thousand playing for England against the U.S.A. The match had to be abandoned with the outbreak of WW2, but deserves to be better known. Has anyone got more information on it?

I did find out a bit about this match when researching my "Correspondence Chess in Britain and Ireland, 1824-1987." See pages 240-242. There I reprinted the top 19 board pairings, which had appeared in "Chess". The match was planned in 1935, began in January 1936 and abandoned in 1941 or 1942. Thanks for making that game available.