Charles Jaffé (Jaffe) (, Dubroŭna,

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

– 12 July 1941,

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, USA) was a

chess master A chess title is a title regulated by a chess governing body and bestowed upon players based on their performance and rank. Such titles are usually granted for life. The international chess governing body FIDE grants several titles, the most pres ...

and chess author born in the

Early life

Jaffé was born in the small town of Dubroŭna (now in Vitebsk Region, Belarus),

. His precise date of birth is disputed.http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/jaffe.html. Different sources list his birthdate as being between 1876 and 1887. Jaffe emigrated to the United States in 1896 and settled in New York City. He worked as a silk mill merchant until he became a professional chess player in 1910.

Chess professional

In 1904, he took 7th place out of 10 players at the

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(7th American Congress) with 5/11, as Frank James Marshall won.chessmetrics.com, the Charles Jaffe results file Jaffe defeated

Jacques Mieses Jacques Mieses (born Jacob Mieses; 27 February 1865 – 23 February 1954) was a German chess player. Mieses, who was Jewish, fled the Nazi regime in 1938 and later became a British citizen. Hooper, David and Kenneth Whyld 1996. ''The Oxford comp ...

, a leading player, by 2–0 in a mini-match at New York 1907. In 1909, Jaffe took 3rd place out of 6 players with 3/5 in a small tournament at

Bath Beach, Brooklyn Bath Beach is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, located at the southwestern edge of the borough on Gravesend Bay. The neighborhood borders Bensonhurst and New Utrecht to the northeast across 86th Street; Dyker Beach P ...

NY (Herbert Rosenfeld won). Also in 1909, Jaffe lost a match to Frank Marshall by a score of 3.5-5.5 (+2 =3 -4). In 1911, he tied for 3rd-4th at New York, with 9/12 (Marshall won). After this career-best result, Charles Jaffe made his international debut at the Carlsbad 1911 chess tournament. There, he tied for 23rd-26th, with 8.5/25, out of 26 players (

Richard Teichmann Richard Teichmann (24 December 1868 – 15 June 1925) was a German chess master and a chess composer. He was known as "Richard the Fifth" because he often finished in fifth place in tournaments. But in 1911 he scored a convincing win in Karl ...

won). In 1913, he took 3rd at New York (National), with 9.5/13, behind

José Raúl Capablanca José Raúl Capablanca y Graupera (19 November 1888 – 8 March 1942) was a Cuban chess player who was the third World Chess Championship, world chess champion from 1921 to 1927. A chess prodigy, he was widely renowned for his exceptional Chess ...

and Marshall. In 1913, he lost a match to Capablanca at New York by 0.5-2.5. In a later New York tournament that same year, Jaffe scored 0.5/6 to finish 4th out of 4 players, as Marshall won. Jaffe was nicknamed "the Crown Prince of East Side Chess" by poet and chess master Alfred Kreymborg. He often played at the Stuyvesant Chess Club, which was a hangout of chess hustlers and other interesting characters. This club had many strong players and was located in the

Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Historically, it w ...

. "Jaffe was famous for his poverty", and "his style was "inimitably coffeehouse".''The World of Chess'', by

Anthony Saidy Anthony Saidy (born May 16, 1937) is an International Master of chess, a retired physician and author. He competed eight times in the U.S. Chess Championship, with his highest placement being 4th. He won the 1960 Canadian Open Chess Championshi ...

and

Norman Lessing Norman Lessing (June 24, 1911 – October 22, 2001) was an American television screenwriter and producer, playwright, chess master, and chess writer. Biography Lessing grew up in New York City, and played a great deal of chess as a youth, reach ...

, 1974, New York, Random House, pp. 190-191. Jaffe made much of his income through challenge games and odds games played there. The colorful atmosphere of the club in that era was outlined in the book ''The Bobby Fischer I Knew And Other Stories''.

Controversies

In 1916, Jaffe became involved in a court case against the co-editor of the ' American Chess Bulletin' Hartwig Cassel involving the exclusion of some of his chess analysis of the

King's Gambit The King's Gambit is a chess opening that begins with the moves: :1. e4 e5 :2. f4 White offers a pawn to divert the black e-pawn. If Black accepts the gambit, White may play d4 and Bxf4, regaining the gambit pawn with domination, or direc ...

and the

Rice Gambit The Rice Gambit is a chess opening that arises from the King's Gambit Accepted. An offshoot of the Kieseritzky Gambit, it is characterized by the moves 1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 g5 4. h4 g4 5. Ne5 Nf6 6. Bc4 d5 7. exd5 Bd6 8. 0-0 (instead of th ...

, but he lost the case despite being supported by witnesses including U.S. champion Frank Marshall. This was apparently the first American court case involving chess.

Later career

In 1916, Jaffe narrowly lost a match (+4 =4 -5) to

David Janowski Dawid Markelowicz Janowski (25 May 1868 – 15 January 1927; often spelled ''David'') was a Polish chess player. Several opening variations are named after Janowski. Biography Born into a Jewish-Polish family in Wołkowysk, Russian Empire ...

. Then in 1917–1918, he played a return match against Janowski, this time losing by a score of (+4 =4 -10). In 1918, Jaffe tied for 3rd-5th at Rye Beach, New York ( Abraham Kupchik won). In 1922, he took 2nd, behind Edward Lasker, in New York (CCI). In 1925, he took 3rd in

Cedar Point Cedar Point is a amusement park located on a Lake Erie peninsula in Sandusky, Ohio, United States, owned and operated by Six Flags. It opened in 1870 and is considered the second-oldest operating amusement park in the US behind Lake Compounc ...

, Ohio (Kupchik won). In 1926, he tied for 4-5th at

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(Marshall won). In 1926, he took 2nd, behind Kupchik, at New York (Quadrangular). In 1927, Jaffe sent a cable from New York to

Alexander Alekhine Alexander Aleksandrovich Alekhine. He disliked when Russians sometimes pronounced the of as , , which he regarded as a Yiddish distortion of his name, and insisted that the correct Russian pronunciation was . (March 24, 1946) was a Russian ...

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, where Alekhine was playing

in the World Championship match. The cable contained Jaffe's analysis of a new variation of the

Queen's Gambit The Queen's Gambit is the chess opening that starts with the moves: :1. d4 d5 :2. c4 It is one of the oldest openings and is still commonly played today. It is traditionally described as a '' gambit'' because White appears to sacrifice the ...

, which Alekhine is thought to have used in the match. The victorious Alekhine, upon returning to New York, played a two-game match against Jaffe at the

Waldorf-Astoria Hotel The Waldorf Astoria New York is a luxury hotel and condominium residence in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, New York. The structure, at 301 Park Avenue between 49th and 50th Streets, is a 47-story, Art Deco landmark des ...

as a favor to Jaffe. He won both games.

Later years, writings

Jaffe then mostly left competitive chess for a decade, except for occasional forays into Metropolitan League play in the mid-1930s, where he defeated a young but already very strong

Reuben Fine Reuben C. Fine (October 11, 1914 – March 26, 1993) was an American chess player, psychologist, university professor, and author of many books on both chess and psychology. He was one of the strongest chess players in the world from the mi ...

in 1934. Jaffe lost a 1930 match at New York to

Isaac Kashdan Isaac Kashdan (November 19, 1905, in New York City – February 20, 1985, in Los Angeles) was an American chess grandmaster and chess writer. He was twice U.S. Open champion (1938, 1947). He played five times for the United States in chess Oly ...

by 0–3; Kashdan was the top player in the United States at this time. Jaffe wrote ''Jaffe's Chess Primer'' in 1937, which was published by Parnassus. His health was in decline at this point. Jaffe also published several works in

Yiddish Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...

. His return to chess in later life was chronicled by the writer and chess master Alfred Kreymborg in the short story ''Chess Reclaims a Devotee''. Jaffe qualified for the finals at the 1938 U.S. Open Chess Championship at

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, where he tied 8-9th with 4/11, as Al Horowitz won. Jaffe's final tournament was the 1939 U.S. Open Chess Championship at New York, where he qualified for the finals, but lost all 11 of his games in that group to place 12th, as

won. Jaffe died of a heart attack on July 12th, 1941.

Notable chess games

Charles Jaffe vs Frank Marshall, New York match 1909, Queen's Pawn Game (D02), 1-0
Although Jaffe lost this match, he fought hard and gave the U.S. Champion a stiff challenge.
Grigory Levenfish vs Charles Jaffe, Carlsbad 1911, Queen's Gambit Declined, Semi-Slav Defence (D45), 0-1
A beautiful tactical victory over the future Soviet champion.
Charles Jaffe vs Rudolf Spielmann, Carlsbad 1911, Queen's Pawn Game (D02), 1-0
Spielmann was known as a formidable tactician, but has to tip his King here.
Jose Raul Capablanca vs Charles Jaffe, New York National 1913, Four Knights' Game (C49), 0-1
At this time, Capablanca was already among the world's top ten players, and would go on to become world champion in 1921.
David Janowski vs Charles Jaffe, New York match 1916, game 2, Queen's Gambit Declined (D52), 0-1
Janowski narrowly prevailed in this match; he had earlier challenged Emanuel Lasker for the world title.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jaffe, Charles 1870s births 1941 deaths People from Dubrowna Jews from the Russian Empire Russian Jews American people of Russian-Jewish descent Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States 20th-century American chess players Jewish chess players American male non-fiction writers Yiddish-language writers American chess writers Writers from New York City 20th-century Russian chess players