John Finan Barry was a great American chess player from Boston who once challenged Jackson W. Showalter for the U.S. Championship in 1896, losing by a score of -7 +2 =4. Barry was also an excellent chess columnist and a true ambassador for the game. Additionally, he represented the United States in all but one of the famous cable matches against Great Britain from 1896 to 1911, compiling an impressive record of 6 wins, 3 losses, and 3 draws.
The April 1917 edition of the British Chess Magazine featured an article discussing Franklin K. Young’s Major Tactics of Chess. In response, Barry wrote to the magazine to express his differing views on chess fundamentals. His letter was published in September 1917, accompanied by an annotated game played during Wilhelm Steinitz’s last visit to Boston in 1892.
It was a consultation game in which Barry, Harry Nelson Pillsbury, and S. B. Snow (referred to as the “Allies”) faced reigning world champion Steinitz. Barry described the game as one of the finest illustrations of chess fundamentals he had ever seen, emphasizing the contrast between minor piece formation and strategic counterattack. Steinitz played White, while the “Allies” played Black.
GAME & ANNOTATIONS: British Chess Magazine (Sep. 1917) | PHOTO: American Chess Bulletin 1905
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