Charles Jaffe

Jaffé was born in the small town of Dubroŭna (now in Vitebsk Region, Belarus), Russian Empire.

In 1904, he took 7th place out of 10 players at the St. Louis (7th American Congress) with 5/11, as Frank James Marshall won.

[2] In 1909, Jaffe took 3rd place out of 6 players with 3/5 in a small tournament at Bath Beach, Brooklyn NY (Herbert Rosenfeld won).

[2] After this career-best result, Charles Jaffe made his international debut at the Carlsbad 1911 chess tournament.

The colorful atmosphere of the club in that era was outlined in the book The Bobby Fischer I Knew And Other Stories.

[5] In 1916, Jaffe became involved in a court case against the co-editor of the 'American Chess Bulletin' Hartwig Cassel involving the exclusion of some of his chess analysis of the King's Gambit and the Rice Gambit, but he lost the case despite being supported by witnesses including U.S. champion Frank Marshall.

The cable contained Jaffe's analysis of a new variation of the Queen's Gambit, which Alekhine is thought to have used in the match.

[4] Jaffe then mostly left competitive chess for a decade, except for occasional forays into Metropolitan League play in the mid-1930s, where he defeated a young but already very strong Reuben Fine in 1934.

[10] Jaffe qualified for the finals at the 1938 U.S. Open Chess Championship at Boston, where he tied 8-9th with 4/11, as Al Horowitz won.