Gerald Abrahams and the blindfold exhibition
"ABRAHAMS, Gerald (b. 15 April 1907)
British amateur who in the 1930s was playing master-chess. At that period he was the most attacking player in England." (from The Encyclopedia of Chess, edited by Harry Golombek, Batsford 1977)
In the summer of 1933 Gerald Abrahams had finished in third place in the British Championship, behind the famous player from the Indian sub-continent Mir Sultan Khan and Tylor, but ahead of Alexander, Sir George Thomas, Golombek and Winter. He then spent the 1933-34 academic year (or certainly part of it) in Belfast as a lecturer in law at Queen's University, Belfast. He does not seem to have engaged in much competition play while in Belfast, his only really serious game being a victory over J. J. O'Hanlon on Board 1 for Belfast in the annual challenge match against Dublin on the 24th February 1934. He did however play in a friendly match on the 21st April 1934 between Queen's University and C.I.Y.M.S, winning his own game against W. Minnis. The same evening he also gave a simultaneous exhibition, taking on 12 of the Queen's University and C.I.Y.M.S. players and beating them all.
A further exhibition was promised, and on the 21st May 1934, Abrahams this time gave an exhibition of blindfold play at the Belgravia Hotel, Ulsterville Avenue, Belfast. He faced four players - P. J. McMahon, W. Minnis, A. L. Davies and S. Coulson. They were certainly a strong quartet. McMahon had finished equal first in the 1926 Irish Championship, before losing out in the play-off and had won the Williamson Shield (and with it the title of Champion of Belfast) for four successive years from 1926-29. In 1935 he won the Ulster Championship. Davies had finished third in the 1933 Ulster Championship, and subsequently was second equal in 1935 and third again in 1936, before finally gaining the title in 1944. Minnis played for Ireland in the 1939 International Team Tournament (Olympiad) in Buenos Aires and was Ulster champion in 1945. Coulson was the weakest of the quartet, but was probably at the time in the top dozen best Belfast players.
W. J. Allen, the 1933 and 1934 Ulster Champion, writing in his Belfast News-Letter chess column for the 24th May 1934, described Abrahams' play in these glowing terms: "As the games progressed the single player's skill in manoeuvring and in building up position seemed almost uncanny. Two of the games were won decisively by him, the other two, against Minnis and McMahon, being drawn by agreement." Here is his fine attacking display against Davies.
G. Abrahams - A. L. Davies
Blindfold simultaneous x 4, Belfast, 21 May 1934
1.b4 e5 2.Bb2 d6 3.e3 Nf6 4.c4 Nbd7 5.Bd3 Be7 6.Ne2 b6 7.Nbc3 Bb7 8.0-0 Nf8 9.f4
Black resigned because after 22.Rf1 he was faced with severe material loss to avoid a variety of checkmates, the most immediate of which is 23.Qe4. Here are two sample lines:
(a) 22...Qc6 23.Nd5 Rg5 (to prevent 24.Qf5#) 24.Qf6+ Kd7 25.Qe7#; and
(b) 22...Rg5 23.Nd5 Qd8 24.Qxf7+ Ke5 25.Qf4+ (25.d4+ also leads to a quick mate: 25...cxd4 26.exd4+ Kxd4 27.Qf4+ Kd3 28.Rd1+ Kc2 29.Qd2#) 25...Ke6 26.Qe4+ Kd7 (26...Re5 27.Qg4+ and mate next move) 27.Rf7+ Kc6 28.b5#