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

He also competed in the U.S. versus Great Britain international cable matches from 1896–1901, 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. The content of the induction speech was supplied by Kevin Marchese of Columbus, Ohio, who is currently writing a biography on Showalter that was slated to be delivered in late 2016. As of September, 2019, the book hasn't appeared.