This six-player round robin decided the 22nd New York State Chess Association championship played July 26-30, 1909. It had a couple of notable features: the participation of famous masters Frank James Marshall and Charles Jaffe - and the fact that neither of them won it!
Jaffe got off to a rocky start, losing in rounds one and three to Wilbur Moorman and Herbert Rosenfeld. Marshall allowed a draw to Otto Roething in round two, dropping a half-point behind Rosenfeld who began with three straight wins.
Marshall temporarily restored normalcy by beating Rosenfeld in round four and winning the brilliancy prize in the process. However, in an ironic prequel to Havana (1913), Jaffe defeated Marshall in the last round as Rosenfeld claimed the title with a victory over Harlow Daly.
1 2 3 4 5 6 Pts
1 Rosenfeld * 0 1 1 1 1 4.0
2 Marshall 1 * 0 1 1 ½ 3.5
3 Jaffe 0 1 * 0 1 1 3.0
4 Moorman 0 0 1 * ½ 1 2.5
5 Daly 0 0 0 ½ * 1 1.5
6 Roething 0 ½ 0 0 0 * 0.5
So who was Herbert Rosenfeld? He was a strong Manhattan Chess Club player, and won a spot in the 12th Anglo-American Cable Match (1910) on the strength of this victory. Unfortunately, his career was cut short by an untimely death in late 1913.A General Tournament was also held, with these results:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Pts
1 Everett R Perry * 1 = 1 1 1 1 5.5
2 A McMartin 0 * 0 1 1 1 1 4.0
3 Dominic Francis Searle = 1 * 0 = 1 1 4.0
4 F Stevens 0 0 1 * 1 1 1 4.0
5 J Custer 0 0 = 0 * 1 1 2.5
6 H Ring 0 0 0 0 0 * 1 1.0
7 B Williamson 0 0 0 0 0 0 * 0.0
Original collection: Game Collection: Bath Beach 1909, by User: Phony Benoni.
Kibitzing
