Jackson Showalter


Jackson Whipps Showalter was a five-time U.S. Chess Champion: 1890, 1892, 1892–1894, 1895–96 and 1906–1909.

Chess career

U.S. Championship matches

Showalter won U.S. Championship matches against Max Judd, Albert Hodges, S. Lipschütz, Emil Kemény, and John Finan Barry. He lost championship matches to Max Judd, S. Lipschütz, Albert Hodges, Harry Nelson Pillsbury and 1898, and Frank Marshall.

Other matches

Other match results: William H.K. Pollock, Emanuel Lasker, Jacob Halpern, Adolf Albin, Dawid Janowski, Borislav Kostic, and Norman T. Whitaker.

Tournament record

  • Cincinnati 1888, +8−0=2, first place;
  • New York 1889, +15−17=8, ninth ;
  • St. Louis 1890, +11−0=1, first;
  • Chicago 1890, +13−1=0, first;
  • Lexington 1891, +5−1=0, first;
  • New York 1893, +7−4=2, third ;
  • New York 1893, +5−3=1, third ;
  • New York 1894, +3−0=1, second ;
  • Buffalo 1894, +3−1=2, first;
  • New York 1894, +5−3=2, third ;
  • New York 1895, +3−0=1 ;
  • Brooklyn CC championship 1895/96, +3−1=0, withdrew after four rounds ;
  • Nuremberg 1896, +3−10=5, sixteenth ;
  • New York 1898, +1−1=1, seventh ;
  • Vienna 1898, +12−16=6, fourteenth ;
  • Cologne 1898, +8−5=2, sixth ;
  • London 1899, +7−10=9, eighth ;
  • Paris 1900, +8−6=5, tenth ;
  • Munich 1900, +7−7=1, seventh ;
  • New York 1900, +6−2=2, second ;
  • Cambridge Springs 1904, +4−2=9, fifth ;
  • Excelsior 1915, +9−1=0, first;
  • Tampa 1916, +3−4=2, second ;
  • Chicago 1916, +14−1=2, second ;
  • Lexington 1917, +4−3=1, second ;
  • Chicago 1918 +4−6=1, ninth ;
  • Cincinnati 1919, +6−3=1, fourth ;
  • Louisville 1922, +7−2=2, fourth ;
  • Chicago 1926, +2−8=2, twelfth.
He also competed in the U.S. versus Great Britain international cable matches from 1896 to 1901, compiling a +4−1=1 record.

Assessment

Showalter was known as "the Kentucky Lion" after his birthplace and his hairstyle, which consisted of a thick mane down the back of his neck, and perhaps also his playing strength. His wife Nellie was one of America's leading female players, who won a match against Emanuel Lasker at knight odds 5–2.
A variation of the Queen's Gambit Accepted is named after him.
The famous "Capablanca Simplifying Manoeuvre" in the Orthodox Variation of the Queen's Gambit Declined had in fact been used by Showalter in the 1890s, many years before José Raúl Capablanca played it.
Showalter was inducted in the World Chess Hall of Fame on August 7, 2010. His great-granddaughter, Amy Showalter, attended the ceremony and accepted the plaque on behalf of the Showalter family.