John S. Hilbert

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Norman Tweed Whitaker, the “hero” of this biography is a Dickensian figure: he was both, full of genius and a devil at the same time. Coming from an educated upper middle class family – his father was a high school principle in Philadelphia – Whitaker (1890-1975) became a patent attorney that held also a degree in German literature; his great talent as a chess player made him a dangerous opponent for any player and earned him the US Master title and in 1965 the title of an International Master (that was before the "title inflation" when this title meant still a lot).

Among the masters he defeated in serious games were the legendary players Frank Marshall, David Janowski and Samuel Reshevsky, for decades America’s strongest player (all of them were contenders for the World Championship title); in simuls he even won against Emanuel Lasker and the young Capablanca. The book contains more than 500 games played by Whitaker, some of them annotated. Whitaker was a dangerous tactician with a good endgame knowledge, but the patience for positional play was something he obviously lacked - a mirror of his personality maybe.

Also as a chess promoter Whitaker did more than probably anybody else in the United States for decades to make the game popular: he gave countless exhibition and simultaneous games, organized tournaments, raised funds, worked as a trainer and founded chess clubs, traveled a big deal in the U.S. and abroad to promote the game, co-authored a chess endgame book – and quarreled a lot with the U.S. Chess Association and people who prevented him to earn the recognition he thought he deserved. He saw himself frequently as a victim of some conspiracy of vicious people that used the threat to expose very personal information about him in order to discredit him and to sidestep him whenever it was possible for them.

This all may be not particularly interesting outside the very specialized circle of chess players or those interested in chess history. But there is an element in this biography that makes it interesting for a wider audience. Whitaker, the cultivated, well-educated patent attorney from a good family and with the chess interest and talent was also a ruthless con man with a long criminal record.

Whitaker was convicted for crimes such as interstate car theft, insurance fraud, extortion and blackmailing (he claimed to know the whereabouts of the kidnapped and murdered Lindbergh baby and was arrested when he tried to extort money for allegedly returning the baby), selling morphine and other drugs via mail, and finally also child molesting. (This list is not complete.)

Grandmaster Arnold Denker who knew him well said about Whitaker:

"His advanced education, high intelligence, command of foreign languages, expensive wardrobe, plentiful ready cash, skill at chess, and confident personal manner all aided in fooling many unsuspecting victims."

A criminal “career” that spanned over several decades and that earned him various convictions and many years in the jails of Leavenworth and Alcatraz. Therefore it is not surprising that in this well researched and written biography by chess historian John S. Hilbert not only chess masters, but also the Lindbergh family, J. Edgar Hoover and Al Capone (with whom he made friends while serving time in Alcatraz) play a certain role.

What turns a talented, intelligent and rather successful man with a good profession into a criminal? And how did this part of his personality coexist with that of a serious, energetic chess promoter with good contacts in many places? The rather unsettling and surprising answer is: we don’t know. There is no warning sign, no early childhood trauma, no history of being depraved of love and affection by his family that turned Norman T. Whitaker into the ruthless criminal he was. It seems that after the first arrest in 1921 and the following conviction – which was so shocking to his father that he died of a heart attack when he learned about the car theft – Whitaker’s life was like on an inclined plane from which there was no turning back.

An interesting book not only for chess players – thanks to the author’s clever choice of documents and his ability to present us his subject as a person with such contradictory characteristics that they hardly seem to fit into one human being, we get to know a fascinating, weird personality.

„What is it in us that lies, whores, steals, and murders?” (Georg Büchner: Danton's Death) – that enigma remains still unresolved.… (mehr)

From the fecund pen of John S. Hilbert comes Writings in Chess History a new collection of essays and book reviews. Hilbert is the author of numerous books on the history of chess, with Walter Penn Shipley: Philadelphia's Friend of Chess and Shady side: The life and crimes of Norman Tweed Whitaker being two of his best received titles, which is sure to make any new book by Hilbert almost self recommending for those interested in the history of the game.

Writings in Chess History is Hilbert's second collection of essays, his first Essays in American chess history as it title implies was focused on American chess history and while the great majority of essays in this new collection are also on American subjects, this collection has a little wider focus, with essays on Howard Staunton and the English historian Henry Thomas Buckle as a chess player.

The charge of "minor master, minor work" has been leveled at the type of subjects Hilbert has largely chosen to research and write about; that these "minor masters" are not worthy our attention, much less of a book or essay. Hilbert defends his views in a interview conducted by Neil Brennen included in the book, and while I may never had heard of or only had the vaguest idea of who Alexander Sellman or Jacob Elson were, each was to borrow a term from another recent chess book was eminent if not on a national level at least at the local level, and each has his story to tell. While most of us will never play against the likes Kasparov or Botvinnik , we will come across characters like J. Henry Smythe Jr. (a.k.a " The Megaphone Man") or a scoundrel like Norman Tweed Whitaker.

A picture of Alexander Sellman graces the cover of Writings in Chess History so it seems only fitting that we begin our review there; Sellman if he is remembered at all it is for his forth place finish at the fifth American chess congress or for his participation in London chess tournament in1883 where he finished twelfth in a field of fourteen but won one of his two games against Johannes Zukertort the tournament winner.

Sellman who was deaf due to a childhood case of meningitis was a stalwart of the Baltimore chess scene; playing in various local events, giving numerous chess simultaneous exhibitions and as chess editor of the Sunday Herald. Hilbert has unearthed many new details of Sellman's chess career and over 130 games.

J. Henry Smythe Jr. (a.k.a " The Megaphone Man") is the subject of another Hilbert essay; in a brief chess career Smythe was very active in the Philadelphia area at the turn of the last century but his nickname and main claim to fame was in the political arena. Giving up chess after a breakdown after succumbing to what in press was called "excessive chess playing". Smythe became something of a political gadfly, at the 1904 Republican National Convention in Chicago Smythe jumped onstage megaphone in hand starting the cheering for President Teddy Roosevelt. 'Smythe's audacity earned him the... sobriquet of " the Grand Old Party's Megaphone Man"'.

But don't think that all the essays are on "minor masters" there is a wealth of new material and games
on Frank Marshall, William Steinitz, Johannes Zukertort, and Emanuel Lasker.

The notorious Norman Tweed Whitaker makes an appearance with an essay on his connection to the state of Georgia . It is an older but a still feisty Whitaker always seeming to play for the angle in life. All told there are twenty five essays proper on subject as intriguing as correspondence chess in California 1858-59 to Zukertort in Canada, and Lasker at Haverford College

The collection is rounded out by fifteen book reviews. While this collection may not be for everyone, it reward those whose interest in chess history lies outside just biographies of world champions and are willing to explore. A perfect book for the bedside these forty essays and reviews will reward repeated reading. A minor complaint I would have liked to have known where these essays originally appeared, but this may be the fault of the publisher as Hilbert makes the same complaint in his review of Genna Sosonko's Russian Silhouettes.
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