Progressive Chess Club Quadrangular Masters' Tournament, Round 1: Duras defeats Marshall, Jaffe, Chajes play to draw

A strong double-round quadrangular masters' tournament, sponsored by the Progressive Chess Club, has now begun, the four competitors being Frank J. Marshall, Oldrich Duras, Charles Jaffe, and Oscar Chajes.  The first round took place on the 27th inst. at the Cafe Monopol, 145 Second Avenue, New York, which serves as the Progressive Club's headquarters.  Duras seized the early lead in the event by defeating Marshall, while Jaffe and Chajes played to a draw.  We present these two interesting struggles below.  Owing to the upcoming Labor Day holiday, the second round will not be played until the 4th prox.; succeeding rounds will be played every second day thereafter, with the tourney scheduled to conclude on the 12th of September.

Marshall, playing Black in a Queen's Gambit Declined, appeared rather out form against Duras, committing an oversight at the 11th move that allowed the Czech Master to win a pawn.  The American Champion then chose to yield his Queen for Rook and Bishop in the hope of gaining active play for his pieces, a hope denied by Duras' accurate technique.  Black resigned at the 31st move.

      

Jaffe vs. Chajes, another Queen's Gambit Declined, saw White win a pawn in the opening in a manner analogous to that of the Duras-Marshall encounter - namely, a capture by the Bishop on c7.  The struggle became quite heated soon thereafter when Chajes at the 15th move sacrificed a Knight to draw the White King into the open in the hope of delivering checkmate.  Although the danger for Jaffe seemed great, our intrepid analysts have so far been unable to discover a method by which Chajes might have closed the mating net.  We would nevertheless call to the reader's attention the beautiful drawing possibility 18...Qf4+, with the intention, should Black so choose, of giving perpetual check on f4 and e3 - the Queen is of course immune from capture owing to 19.Kxf4? Nh5 mate.  Jaffe soon returned his extra piece to bring about an exchange of Queens, and the resultant well-fought endgame, not without color in its own right, was at last agreed drawn at the 58th move.