Wetzler v Graham August 25th, 1973
(The romance of chess in a coffee house sure beats sitting in front of a computer screen playing a game against some other entity!)
La Bourdonnais and McDonnell would play countless matches against each other in the early 1800's. In the beginning of the 1970's Dean Graham and Henry Wetzler would be Springfield's own version of this dynamic duo. With the history of City Championship holders only extending back to 1976, Wetzler and Graham could be considered strong candidates for this top honor prior to that date.
The game we'll being reviewing here shows Henry and Dean engaged in a swashbuckling King's Gambit Muzio variation! Professor Wetzler comes out on top in this particular encounter, and looking at the date in which this game was played, my guess is the club was meeting at the YMCA coffee house. During the chess club's first year of existence we were shuttled around to various locations. Each locale had its unique charm. By the looks of it the Y's coffee house must have been "the place" during the 1930's and 40's. Being long abandoned to disuse, we were given this facility as our temporary home and its rustic charm provided the perfect environment for our weekly duals.
Mr. Graham recently paid us the honor of a visit, and having the good fortune to engage him in several games, I was happy to walk away with my pride intact. In drawing each game you could easily say Dean still packs a punch and remains a force to contend with!
1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 g5 4. Bc4 g4 5. 0-0 gxf3 6. Qxf3 Qf6 7. d3 Bh6 8. Nc3 Ne7 9. Bxf4 Qxf4 10. Qxf4 Bxf4 11. Rxf4 d6 12. Bxf7 Kd8 13. Bb3 Nbc6 14. Raf1 Ng6 15. Rf7 Nd4 16. Rg7 Nxb3 17. axb3 Rf8 18. Rxh7 Rxf1 19. Kxf1 Bd7 20. h4 c6 21. Rh6 Be8 22. g4 Ke7 23. Ne2 Bf7 24. h5 Rh8 25. Rxh8 Nxh8 26. Nf4 Kf6 27. Kf2 Kg5 28. Kg3 Bg8 29. Nh3 Kh6 30. Kh4 Nf7 31. g5 Kg7 32. d4 Nd8 33. Nf4 Ne6 34. h6 Kh8 35. Nxe6 Bxe6 36. g6 c5 37. dxc5 dxc5 38. Kg5 c4 39. bxc4 Bxc4 40. Kf6 a5 41. e5 b5 42. c3 Bd5 43. e6 Bc6 44. Kf7 1-0
Chess viewer link Copy and paste game score into viewer to play the game through
The game we'll being reviewing here shows Henry and Dean engaged in a swashbuckling King's Gambit Muzio variation! Professor Wetzler comes out on top in this particular encounter, and looking at the date in which this game was played, my guess is the club was meeting at the YMCA coffee house. During the chess club's first year of existence we were shuttled around to various locations. Each locale had its unique charm. By the looks of it the Y's coffee house must have been "the place" during the 1930's and 40's. Being long abandoned to disuse, we were given this facility as our temporary home and its rustic charm provided the perfect environment for our weekly duals.
Mr. Graham recently paid us the honor of a visit, and having the good fortune to engage him in several games, I was happy to walk away with my pride intact. In drawing each game you could easily say Dean still packs a punch and remains a force to contend with!
1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 g5 4. Bc4 g4 5. 0-0 gxf3 6. Qxf3 Qf6 7. d3 Bh6 8. Nc3 Ne7 9. Bxf4 Qxf4 10. Qxf4 Bxf4 11. Rxf4 d6 12. Bxf7 Kd8 13. Bb3 Nbc6 14. Raf1 Ng6 15. Rf7 Nd4 16. Rg7 Nxb3 17. axb3 Rf8 18. Rxh7 Rxf1 19. Kxf1 Bd7 20. h4 c6 21. Rh6 Be8 22. g4 Ke7 23. Ne2 Bf7 24. h5 Rh8 25. Rxh8 Nxh8 26. Nf4 Kf6 27. Kf2 Kg5 28. Kg3 Bg8 29. Nh3 Kh6 30. Kh4 Nf7 31. g5 Kg7 32. d4 Nd8 33. Nf4 Ne6 34. h6 Kh8 35. Nxe6 Bxe6 36. g6 c5 37. dxc5 dxc5 38. Kg5 c4 39. bxc4 Bxc4 40. Kf6 a5 41. e5 b5 42. c3 Bd5 43. e6 Bc6 44. Kf7 1-0
Chess viewer link Copy and paste game score into viewer to play the game through
Click on the score sheet to enlarge the image to a readable format. Back in the day the Club members would type and analyze the games in the format pictured here.