** Ohman - Gilman Match 1921 **
** Nebraska - Iowa Chess - 1921 **
Here are some games played between the best players in Omaha and
Sioux City about 75 years ago. It is interesting to see the openings
used then (French & Benoni [Benoni was considered "very irregular" by
Ohman]). Mr Gilman had won the Iowa State championship in
Spencer Iowa in November of 1921; so this match between the
Nebraska & Iowa state champions should give us a good look at what
chess was like in the 1920s.
In his columns from the fall of 1920 thru 1921, Mr Ohman
gives a lot of commentary on "young" Sam Reshevsky (8yrs old); and
while playing Mr Gilman in Sioux City he gave the following comments
in his January 9, 1921 column:
" Gilman on Reschewski
W.S. Gilman of Sioux City who saw Reschewski in New York city
about two weeks ago, has this to say about the boy:
'He is perfectly normal in every respect so far as I can see.
I noticed no characteristic that was unnatural for a boy of 8.
His head, contrary to the impression that most persons have is
normally shaped, there being nothing that would indicate an
over-developed brain. He seem also normal physically. All the
talk that has been heard about his having curvature of the spine
appears to be without foundation. In a word, little Sam is not a
freak in any respect other than that he happens to possess those
traits that go to make up a good chess player. If he is handled
correctly, Sam should some day be a master without superiors.'"
Sunday World Herald; 1/9/1921; Sports, pg 3
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Note: Sammy Reshevsky came to Omaha in May of 1921, and beat
Mr Ohman the State champ in 15 moves! He also beat 23 other players
with no losses.
[Event "Match Game 1 of 4"]
[Site "Sioux City, IA"]
[Date "1921.01.01"]
[Round "1"]
[Result "0-1"]
[White "Gilman, W.S"]
[Black "Ohman, H.E."]
{ECO: C01 - French Def}
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 exd5 4.Bd3 Bd6 5.Nf3 Nf6 6.Be3 c6 7.Nbd2 O-O
8.c3 Re8 9.O-O Bg4 10.Qc2 Nbd7 11.h3 Bxf3 12.Nxf3 Ne4 13.Bxe4 dxe4
14.Nd2 Qh4 15.Rfe1 Re6 16.Nf1 Rae8 17.Bd2 Rg6 18.Re3 Bf4 19.Rae1 Bxe3
20.Rxe3 Nb6 21.c4 f5 22.Ng3 Rf8 23.Rb3 f4 24.Qxe4 Nxc4 25.Bb4 Qf6
26.Nh5 Qf5 27.Qe7 Nd2 28.Bxd2 Qxh5 29.Bb4 Rb8 30.Qc7 Re8 31.Qxf4 Rf6
32.Qc7 Qd1+ 33.Kh2 Rxf2 34.0-1
{Sunday World Herald, 1/9/1921}
[Event "Match Game 2 of 4"]
[Site "Sioux City, IA"]
[Date "1921.01.01"]
[Round "2"]
[Result "1-0"]
[White "Ohman, H.E."]
[Black "Gilman, W.S"]
{ "Two weeks ago we gave the score of the first game of the recent
match at Soux City between W.S. Gilman and the editor. We shall not
give the score of the second game for the reason that it was won
by the editor on an oversight on the part of Mr Gilman. Below will
be found the score of the third game. While the play could doubtless
have been improved upon at many stages of the game, we consider
it unusually interesting. The position becomes very complicated at
times and gives opportunity for almsot endless analysts."}
{Sunday World Herald, 1/23/1921}
[Event "Match Game 3 of 4"]
[Site "Sioux City, IA"]
[Date "1921.01.01"]
[Round "3"]
[Result "0-1"]
[White "Gilman, W.S"]
[Black "Ohman, H.E."]
{ECO: C14 - French Def}
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Be7 5.e5 Nfd7 6.Bxe7 Qxe7 7.f4 a6
8.Nf3 c5 9.Be2 Nc6 10.dxc5 Qxc5 11.Qd2 b5 12.O-O-O Bb7 13.Nd4 b4
14.Ne4 dxe4 15.Nxe6 Qe7 16.Nc7+ Kd8 17.Nxa8 Bxa8 18.Bxa6 Kc7
19.Qe3 f5 20.Rd6 Bb7 21.Bb5 Ra8 22.Rhd1 Ndb8 23.Qc5 Rxa2
24.Rxc6+ Nxc6 25.Qxe7+ Nxe7 26.Rd7+ Kb6 27.Rxe7 e3 28.Kd1 Bxg2
29.c4 Bf3+ 30.Kc2 Kc5 31.0-1
{Sunday World Herald, 1/23/1921}
[Event "Match Game 4 of 4"]
[Site "Sioux City, IA"]
[Date "1921.01.01"]
[Round "4"]
[Result "0-1"]
[White "Ohman, H.E."]
[Black "Gilman, W.S"]
{ECO: A77 - Benoni; E90 - King's Indian}
1.d4 c5 2.d5 Nf6 3.c4 d6 4.Nc3 g6 5.Nf3 Bg7 6.e4 O-O 7.Bg5 Bg4
8.Be2 Nbd7 9.Nd2 Bxe2 10.Qxe2 h6 11.Be3 Nh7 12.Rc1 f5 13.exf5 Rxf5
14.O-O Rf8 15.f4 Ndf6 16.Rce1 Qd7 17.Nf3 Qg4 18.Bc1 Rae8 19.Nb5 Nh5
20.Nc7 Nxf4 21.Bxf4 Qxf4 22.Nxe8 Rxe8 23.Qe6+ Kh8 24.Qxg6 Rg8
25.Qc2 Bf6 26.Re4 Qf5 27.b3 Ng5 28.Nxg5 Bd4+ 29.Rf2 Qxg5 30.Rxd4 cxd4
31.Qe4 Qe5 32.Re2 Rg5 33.Qf3 Qf5 34.Qxf5 Rxf5 35.Rxe7 Kg8 36.Re4 Re5
37.Rxd4 Re2 38.Rf4 Rxa2 39.Rf6 Rb2 40.Rxd6 Rxb3 41.Rxh6 a5 42.c5 a4
43.Rh4 a3 44.Ra4 Rb1+ 45.Kf2 Rb2+ 46.Kg3 a2 47.c6 bxc6 48.dxc6 Rb3+
49.Kf2 Rb2+ 50.Kf3 Kf7 51.c7 Rb3+ 52.Kg4 Rb4+ 53.Rxb4 a1=Q 54.Rf4+ Ke7
55.c8=Q 1-0
{Sunday World Herald, 1/30/1921}
======================================================================
Some other Ohman Games:
[Event "Omaha City Championship - prelim game"]
[Site "Omaha"]
[Date "1948"]
[Result "1-0"]
[White "Ludwig, A.C."]
[Black "Ohman, H.E."]
{ECO: D35 - Queen's Gambit - Exch Var}
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Nbd7 5.cxd5 exd5 6.e3 c6 7.Bd3 Bd6
8.Qc2 h6 9.Bh4 O-O 10.Nge2 Re8 11.O-O-O b5 12.g4 g5 13.Bg3 Bxg3
14.Nxg3 Nxg4 15.h3 Ngf6 16.Nf5 Nf8 17.Nxh6+ Kg7 18.Nf5+ Bxf5
19.Bxf5 b4 20.Na4 Ne4 21.h4 gxh4 22.Rdg1+ Ng6 23.Qxc6 Kf8
24.Nc5 Nxf2 25.Nd7+ 1-0
{Source: The Nebraska Chess Bulletin, May-June 1948, pg 37}
[Event "2nd Nebraska Open"]
[Site "Omaha YMCA"]
[Date "1949.09.04"]
[Round "4"]
[Result "0-1"]
[White "Ohman, H.E."]
[Black "Ludwig, A.C"]
{ECO: A00 - Polish (Orangutang)}
1.b4 Nf6 2.Bb2 g6 3.e4 Bg7 4.c4 O-O 5.e5 Ne8 6.d4 d6 7.f4 dxe5
8.fxe5 b6 9.Qf3 c6 10.b5 Bb7 11.bxc6 Nxc6 12.Qe4 Na5 13.d5 Nd6
14.Qc2 Nf5 15.Bd3 Rc8 16.Qe2 e6 17.dxe6 fxe6 18.Ba3 Rf7 19.Nf3 Bxf3
20.gxf3 Nxc4 21.Bxc4 Qh4+ 22.Kf1 Rxc4 23.0-1
{Source: The Nebraska Chess Bulletin, Oct-Nov 1949, pg 16}
[Event "2nd Nebraska Open"]
[Site "Omaha YMCA"]
[Date "1949.09.05"]
[Round "6"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[White "Spence, Jack"]
[Black "Ohman, Howard"]
{ECO: A90 - Dutch}
1.d4 f5 2.c4 Nf6 3.g3 e6 4.Bg2 d5 5.Nc3 c6 6.b3 Bb4 7.Bb2 Ne4
8.Bxe4 fxe4 9.e3 O-O 10.a3 Bd6 11.f4 exf3 12.Nxf3 Nd7 13.Qe2 Nf6
14.e4 Bc7 15.Bc1 h6 16.e5 Nh7 17.Be3 Qe7 18.Ra2 Bd7 19.O-O Be8
20.Qg2 Bg6 21.Bc1 dxc4 22.bxc4 Bd3 23.Re1 Bxc4 24.Rf2 Ba5
25.Re3 Rad8 26.Ne4 Bb6 27.Nd6 Bd5 28.Rd3 c5 29.Qh3 Bxf3
30.Rdxf3 Rxf3 31.Rxf3 Rf8 32.Rxf8+ Nxf8 33.Nc8 Qc7 34.Nxb6 Qxb6
35.Qf1 cxd4 36.Qd3 Qc5 37.Bb2 Qxe5 38.Bxd4 Qe1+ 39.Kg2 Qa5
40.Qe3 Qd5+ 41.Kf2 a6 42.Qc3 Qg5 43.Be3 Qh5 44.Kg2 Qe2+ 45.Bf2 b5
46.Qc6 a5 47.Qc3 Qe4+ 48.Kg1 b4 49.axb4 axb4 50.Qb3 Nd7 51.Kf1 Nf6
52.h3 Nd5 53.Kg1 Nc3 54.Bc5 Qe1+ 55.Kg2 Qd2+ 56.Kg1 Nd5 57.Bf2 Qc3
58.Qa4 Kh7 59.Qd7 b3 60.Qxe6 b2 61.Qf5+ Kg8 62.Qxd5+ Kh8
63.Qa8+ Kh7 64.Qe4+ {Draw}
{Source: H.E.Ohman Memorial Chess Club Newsletter, Fall 1971, pg56}
[Event "12th Midwest Open"]
[Site "Lincoln"] [Date "1962.10.21"]
[Round "6"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[White "Ohman, H.E."]
[Black "Sildmets, Anton"]
{ECO: A00 - Polish (Orangutang)}
1.b4 d5 2.Bb2 Nf6 3.e3 Bf5 4.f4 e6 5.a3 Nbd7 6.Nf3 h6 7.Be2 a6
8.O-O c5 9.bxc5 Bxc5 10.Nd4 Bg6 11.d3 Qc7 12.Qc1 Rc8 13.Bd1 Bxd4
14.Bxd4 Bxd3 15.Rf2 Bg6 16.c3 O-O 17.g4 e5 18.fxe5 Nxe5 19.Rg2 Ne4
20.Be2 Nc6 21.Bd3 Nxd4 22.exd4 Nxc3 23.Nxc3 Bxd3 24.Ne2 Qxc1+
25.Rxc1 Rxc1+ 26.Nxc1 Be4 {Draw - Anton won Nebraska title}
{Source: H.E.Ohman Memorial Chess Club Newsletter, Winter-Spring 1977,p35}