Past Pieces

Olimpiu G. Urcan
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A Chess-Loving Jailbird
San Quentin's Peter Claudianos
One of the more curious publications listed in Gino Di Felice's Chess
Periodicals (Jefferson: McFarland, 2010) is Chess Nuts, a magazine published
by inmates of the San Quentin State Prison between 1955 and 1957 (with G.
Koltanowski as honorary editor). Organized chess inside America's largest
maximum security prison, organized to the extent that inmates were able to
publish their own chess journal, is something of a wonder. How did it all
start? Following archival research, in this month's column we suggest it all
started in the 1910s with Peter Claudianos, a young Greek delinquent who in
mid-1908 found himself caught up in the convoluted Abe Ruef trials. The
Ruef trials were famous graft and bribery investigations that rocked San
Francisco and led to the indictment of several leading public officials and
policymakers.
A Greek Oyster Dealer and His Sons
A.C. Claudianos, Peter Claudianos's father, arrived in America in 1884, four
years after he married Ellen in Zanta, Greece, and just before the birth of his
son Peter. By 1900, like most Greek immigrants on the American West Coast,
Claudianos Sr. was a forty-seven-year-old "oyster dealer" in San Francisco on
126 Third Street, and, still married to the thirty-four-year-old Ellen, he had
several children: Mary (sixteen), John (fifteen), Peter (fourteen), Jennie
(eleven), and George (five). Peter Claudianos was born on October 29, 1885
in Greece. He came to the United States in 1894 together with his mother and
brother John and lived in San Francisco with their father. With such a large
family, if Claudianos Sr. looked for help from his two older sons, the scanty
available evidence for these years indicates he must have been satisfied:
according to the 1900 U.S. Census, John was working as a bolt maker while
his younger brother Peter was "at school." Claudianos Sr. certainly believed
one day soon his boys would learn the trade from him and help in running the
small Greek seafood restaurant.
The 1906 great earthquake and the resultant fires affected Claudianos's
business greatly. The need for a minimum profit was more pressing than ever.
Taking to the chaotic streets following the disasters hitting the city, John and
Peter looked for a quick buck in the disreputable parlors of small Nevada
towns, and were possibly initiated in the crime trade by various Greek gangs.
In Nevada, Peter Claudianos worked in various mining camps, in saloons as
bartender, and then joined an uncle in Chico, working in a restaurant. Five
years after their listing in the 1900 census, both Claudianos boys would end
up living a life of crime. Like hundreds of other immigrant young hoodlums
crowding San Francisco's busiest districts, they kept a low profile and chased
small crimes. But in early 1908, to the shock of their parents, both their names
would fill in the headlines of the city's leading newspapers for months. A few
months later they would be put on trial before the eyes of the entire nation.
A Letter on the Sidewalk
Whatever dreams the Claudianos brothers might have had about making it big
as outlaws in the aftermath of the 1906 disaster came down burning in the
first half of 1908. They were doomed as soon as they got involved with Felix
Pauduveris. Pauduveris was a thirty-five-year-old shady Greek working for
Abraham Ruef (1864-1936), a political boss behind the administration of
Mayor Eugene Schmitz (1864-1928). In a sweeping investigation triggered by
several whistle-blowers, beginning in late 1906, Schmitz, Ruef and other
influential politicians or businessmen were tried for charges of bribery,
extortion, graft and other acts of corruption. The twists and turns of the trials
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captured the attention of all San Franciscans as the city boiled with political
turmoil. Among the prosecution's chief witnesses was James L. Gallagher, an
Oakland-based supervisor, who, like a few others, confessed to the bribery
practices of the Schmitz administration. In an effort to intimidate
incriminating witnesses like Gallagher, Ruef tasked Pauduveris, who was still
on the payroll one of his companies, to do something about it. As was often
the case, he turned to the criminal element of his own nationality. In early
1908, Pauduveris paid about $1,500 to the Claudianos brothers to draft a
murderous plot. In April and May 1908, on two different occasions, Peter
(aided by John) dynamited and blew up two houses where Gallagher
occasionally resided. Gallagher and his family escaped unscathed on both
occasions.
It was only in mid-July 1908 that the Claudianos brothers were linked to the
crime and this was mainly due to an accident: an undelivered letter from John
to Peter, who was in Chico, was found on the sidewalk in front of John's
house. John, often drunk and in desperate need for money, threatened to spill
the beans to the San Francisco Bulletin (a major ally for the prosecution's
case) in order for them to get some money and immunity ($1,000 for John and
$5,000 for Peter). A direct reference was made to the Gallagher dynamiting.
The letter that revealed John's role as assistant to the crime was taken to the
District Attorney. He ordered the arrest of John Claudianos on July 10.
Confessing to his crime while still "soaked with liquor," he told the District
Attorney he knew who the other perpetrators were. Faced with many
contradictions present in John's testimony, several men were called to give an
account of John's personality ("vivid exaggerations," "laboring under a great
excitement of mind") and his confession remained to be corroborated. Since
details of his confession and his photograph appeared in the newspapers, the
other culprits, including his brother Peter, were on high alert.

John Claudianos with Felix Pauduveris,
the shady Greek who contracted the
Claudianos brothers, featured in the
San Francisco Chronicle of July 22, 1908.
Special agent William J. Burns, a key player during the graft trials, began the
hunt for Peter Claudianos, who was seen hanging out at the graft trials in San
Francisco and surely by the time his brother's arrest made it in the papers,
a man on the run. Several Reno-based witnesses wrote to Burns indicating
Peter was in Reno and planned to go to one of Nevada's mining towns,
possibly Goldfield, where the coming Joe Gans vs. Battling Nelson fight was
about to take place. An inveterate gambler like Claudianos wouldn't have
missed the fight. According to a report in the Los Angeles Herald , police
caught Claudianos's trail in Goldfield where he opened a pool parlor. Then,
while John's confession continued to be disputed, some reported to have seen
Peter in Reno hiding under the name "Peter Claud." Reno police made an
attempt to cut off every possible means of escape. Possibly warned and
financially assisted by his protectors, Peter went into hiding as soon as his
photograph appeared in the San Francisco Call of July 16.

The first photograph of Peter Claudianos
as a wanted man.
[San Francisco Chronicle, July 16, 1908]
On the next day, newspaper reports linked the Claudianos brothers' criminal
acts with Abe Ruef. Several men who knew them closely spoke of Peter
Claudianos's relationship with a man named "Felix," who was later identified
as Felix Pauduveris.
A "Crafty Brute" on the Run
Simultaneously, while John received a top lawyer who worked for the
Schmitz/Ruef administration and made a 180-degree turn on his earlier
testimony, Peter received help from several women he knew in Reno and
repeatedly evaded his hunters (for identification purposes, the San Francisco
Call of July 20 published photographs of five different women found in
Peter's room in Chico). When the San Francisco investigators interrogated
people in Reno who crossed paths with the fugitive, it unraveled that he
committed other crimes in the city: for instance, blowing up the safe of Troy
Laundry (a cleaning company he worked for briefly) and stealing its contents.
While the investigators convinced the mother of the two brothers to come
down from Chico to San Francisco to persuade John to tell the truth, he
refused. "I know nothing about all of this except what has been told me," she
was quoted as saying. "My sons left me after the fire and I know little or
nothing concerning them. I came down here to see my son and to see if
anything could be done for him. I must go home right away because my
husband is ill and there is no one but myself to take care of my lodging
house."
While Ruef-associated lawyers attempted to provide alibis for John and
nullify the effects of his earlier reckless confession, Burns connected Peter to
Felix Pauduveris, "one of Ruef's political henchmen." Felix was well-known
in the Greek colony of San Francisco and had connections both to the
gambling parlors in the city as well as with Greek consuls and officials. His
brother, John Pauduveris, was married to a sister of the Claudianos brothers.
A photograph of Pauduveris adorned the front page of the San Francisco Call
of July 19. Like Peter Claudianos, Pauduveris was a wanted fugitive. He was
the link between two small-time hoodlums like the Claudianos brothers and
the higher-placed characters paying for the intimidation of witnesses in the
graft trials.
Continuously interrogated in the last week of July 1908, John Claudianos
confessed to the murder plot and to receiving money from Pauduveris for the
job. Despite the attempt of his own lawyers to paint him as a "gold digger"
faker, the connection to Abe Ruef was no secret, but there was still no trace of
Peter Claudianos or Pauduveris. About two weeks later, on August 10, Peter
was finally apprehended in Chicago, more than 2,100 miles to the east. After
being spotted in Reno and Sparks, the detectives lost his trail. Despite the
reward offered, he continued to evade the police. Ironically, he was twice
arrested for vagrancy at Grand River and Laramie (Wyoming) and detained
for a short period but, not being recognized, he was then released and given
an hour to leave town. Burns guessed Peter headed for one of the big cities to
the east; St. Louis, Kansas City or Chicago. When, as a result of, "the most
exciting detective pursuits ever engaged in by the police of the Pacific coast,"
they found him in Chicago, a decoy letter to his name was sent to the post
office and when the unassuming Claudianos picked it up he was wrestled to
the ground and arrested. He denied his identity and called himself "Jack
Lewis," but shortly after admitted his real name, denied his brother's
confession, asked for a lawyer and agreed to be taken back to San Francisco
rather than face extradition.

Photograph of the captor, the fugitive and men who
accompanied the party to this city.
Right to left: George E. Burns, William J. Burns, Peter Claudianos,
Detective John McCarthy of Burns staff and
Detective John Rohan of Chicago.
[San Francisco Call, August 15, 1908]
Initially, to confuse the police, Peter blamed everything on his brother John
denying his involvement. Repeatedly interrogated by his captors, he was no
longer displaying a good appearance. The same newspaper that published the
above photograph wrote:
"Pete Claudianos is no longer the debonair sport who left the city more
than a month ago to flee for his freedom. His long trip to Chicago by
way of the car tops of overland trains scraped from him the thin veneer
of assumed respectability and nearly a week of detectives has made him
a silent, sullen being, little more than a crafty brute."
Confession and Sentence
Peter Claudianos's denial of all charges lasted only a couple of days. On the
night of August 14, he transcribed, signed and sworn a fully-fledged
confession to the district attorney and his leading detective without any
promise of immunity and without his lawyers present. Exact details of his
confession appeared in the San Francisco Call of August 16 and a copy of the
twenty-four-page transcript used at his trial was mailed to us by Linda
Johnston, archivist of the California State Archive. While exculpating his
brother John from the major crimes, Peter Claudianos confessed that it was
Pauduveris who hired him for the Gallagher hit.
The original plan plotted Gallagher's assassination so to stop his testimony in
the graft trial. But they also planned the murders of district attorney Langdon,
special agent Burns, assistant district attorney Francis J. Heney and Rudolph
Spreckles, a financial backer of the graft investigations. They brainstormed in
detail various means of execution (which included slingshots with poisoned
pieces of glass or potassium cyanide in the milk delivered to their victims'
homes) only to settle for dynamiting. While based in Reno, Peter confessed to
returning briefly to San Francisco and Oakland to execute both explosions at
houses where Gallagher resided, receiving in exchange money from
Pauduveris. The latter assured the Claudianos brothers that if ever charged by
the authorities their protectors higher-up would instantly set up monetary
funds for their defense and that, "the agency behind him was powerful enough
to secure their freedom." The document also reveals the character flaws of the
key characters: Pauduveris, a Machiavellian ruthless plotter; John, an
alcoholic who failed to pass as reliable on every possible occasion; and Peter,
an able, if sometimes hesitant, get-the-job-done lad whose earned money were
duly spent on clothes, watches, shoes and who was addicted to gambling and
slimy saloons wherever he went.
Indeed, as soon as he was arrested in Chicago, telegrams were sent to lawyers
connected to offices doing work for Ruef, indicating they were to defend the
Claudianos brothers in court. Fifteen minutes after his detailed confession
ended at 3:00 in the morning, Peter Claudianos was charged with conspiracy
to commit murder and a $10,000 bail was set. Tutored by his lawyers, he
began to regret his confession and declared it null and void as it wasn't done
in the presence of his attorneys. A technical back-and-forth between the
district attorney and the lawyers of the Claudianos brothers followed, but both
brothers were again indicted on August 19 in front of a grand jury in Alameda
county, accused of attempts to assassinate James L. Gallagher. They were
held at the Alameda county jail and a new bail was set at $20,000 cash or
$40,000 in bonds. The trial was delayed several times throughout September
and November 1908 with the defense trying to rule out as evidence Peter's
confession. They failed.

The Claudianos brothers at the time of their trials.
[San Francisco Call, December 17, 1908]
Two days before Christmas of 1908, a twelve-man jury in an Oakland court
found Peter Claudianos guilty after only six minutes of deliberation. An
eyewitness writing for the San Francisco Call of December 24 summarized
the felon's reaction when the verdict and the sentence, life in prison, were
delivered:
"The stamp of harrowing terror was plain upon the boy defendant from
the moment that the jurors entered the courtroom after deliberation. He
bent over the table before him with blanched face, with every muscle of
his body trembling and with tears pouring from eyes that almost
protruded from their sockets. He gripped himself for a moment after the
first shock and turned to J.W. Scott, his attorney, with the request for
immediate judgment to end the agony of suspense. Scott voiced the
request with a motion to proceed to sentence at once, and Claudianos
tottered to the bar, where he stood trembling and shaken, almost, it
seemed, on the point of fainting. He merely nodded his head when
formally asked by Judge Waste if it was his wish that sentence be
pronounced at once.
"The arraignment for sentence followed, and the court asked if the
defendant had anything to say. Claudianos turned an appealing look to
Scott, and the latter made a brief but fervent plea to leniency, basing his
appeal on the youth of his client and the fact that Claudianos had fallen
under the blandishments of men many years his senior and had served
merely as their tools. []
"Judge Waste's answer was brief, and it tore the last hope from the
breast of the human brute trembling before him. He said: 'I can conceive
of no more dastardly crime being done by human agency than the one
which Peter Claudianos executed as one of the conspirators in this case.
The fact that he would voluntarily attempt the life of a man for money
and not alone the life of a single man, but half a dozen men, women and
children removes him absolutely beyond the reach of sympathy.
Furthermore, the state of California cannot be silent when dealing with a
crime like this, for it demands not only punishment, but punishment that
will serve a lesson and a warning to others. The legislature has opened
the way for the imposing of a penalty that will absolutely guarantee the
future safety of the citizens of this state from the acts of such a man, and
I would be doing less than my duty to the state I failed to render that
judgment. The penalty of the law provides for life imprisonment and
verdict warranted by the circumstances of this case. Therefore the
judgment of this court is that the defendant, Peter Claudianos, be
imprisoned at San Quentin for the term of his natural life.'"
Handcuffed by the sheriff, Claudianos was taken back to jail with the order
for an immediate transfer to San Quentin. "No hand was held out in goodbye
as the boy was led away, still weeping," wrote the same witness, "nor did he
turn for a brief farewell to his attorney."
Claudianos's fall seems to have been the hardest. Following a long trial, in
early December 1908, Ruef himself was found guilty and convicted to serve a
sentence of fourteen years in San Quentin. After a year in the county jail
waiting for his appeal and released briefly on a huge bail, in 1910 his sentence
was upheld and he was taken to San Quentin. After serving four and a half
years he was released. Mayor Schmitz, who in 1907 was found guilty of
extortion, and was sentenced to San Quentin for five years, was in a San
Francisco County Jail cell throughout his appeal. In 1912, after the court's
decision was overturned, he was tried for bribery but Ruef, brought from San
Quentin, refused to give incriminating evidence. Gallagher, the man the
Claudianos brothers tried to silence, fled the United States and was no longer
a chief witness for the prosecution. Schmitz was acquitted. We found no
evidence that Felix Pauduveris was ever found and brought to justice
(according to Peter Claudianos many years later, Pauduveris managed to exit
the U.S. and later died in Alexandria, Egypt). John Claudianos's trial was
dismissed due to lack of evidence in 1909 and he walked out a free man. His
earlier confession and his limited role in the murder attempt secured him his
release.

Cutting from the San Francisco Chronicle,
December 24, 1908.
As for Peter Claudianos, the twenty-two-year-old whose poor decisions led
him behind bars for life, in a report published by the San Francisco Call of
December 25, 1908, he spoke the following words with tears rolling down his
pale cheeks:
"I am going to observe every rule in force at San Quentin. I will be the
model prisoner in that place, for I have determined to begin at the very
start to win a pardon by good behavior. I believe that an effort will be
made in my behalf after I have proved I have repented."
According to the San Quentin Prison Inmate Register, on the very first day of
1909, Claudianos was taken to San Quentin and incarcerated as inmate
#23276. He had much to reflect to during his early months of jail. In late June
1909, newspapers printed news of his father being declared insane at Oroville,
interned in a state asylum in Napa. A man with a broken mind, Claudianos Sr.
worried to the extreme for the fate of his son Peter and ended up believing he
had a massive fortune that was being taken away from him by his neighbors.
If the words cited above are to be fully believed, unable to undo the troubles
of his father and unable to wash away the shame his mother had to live in due
to his acts, Peter Claudianos may have very well contemplated a reformation
of his self while behind bars. At San Quentin, besides the work he was
assigned in the kitchen, laundry, general mass, or jute mill, he found an
unexpected tool to pass his time: the game of chess. While learning and
practicing the movement of the chessmen, perhaps for the first time in his life,
he keenly realized how poor decisions have dire consequences or how, in an
analogy with the graft trials, pawns are sacrificed to protect the mightier
characters behind the scenes.

Mugshot of Peter Claudianos,
San Quentin Prison File, State of California Archives.
Knaves and Kings
Convict life at San Quentin included all the daunting ingredients of convict
life in any other maximum-security penitentiary. It also included a wide range
of entertainment events featuring dance, music, theatre, clown and female
impersonators performances, baseball games and other sports. But there was
also chess. By 1915 the number of those interested in chess increased
considerably. It did so to the extent that a chess club was formed among the
inmates. One of the very few American chess columns that consistently
published news about the chess activities at San Quentin was E.H. Bryant's
column in the Oregonian, a newspaper in Portland, Oregon, nearly 630 miles
away from San Quentin. Bryant, who had a checker column in that newspaper
and on December 5, 1915 opened up a chess column as well, was in constant
letter exchanges with several chess-playing convicts, including Peter
Claudianos. In the checker column of the July 25, 1915 Oregonian, the
following note saw print:
"The prisoners of San Quentin, California have organized a chess and
checker club and among them are some of the best players and analysts
in the world. They have plenty of time to study the silent games. Any
communication from outside is joyfully received by them. The expert
chess players of San Francisco, on or about August 1, will visit the
prison and engage the players across the board. Success to the boys in
San Quentin."
While, to the relief of the chess world at large, the newly founded club could
hardly substantiate the claim of hosting "some of the best players and analysts
in the world," Claudianos did organize the San Quentin chess-loving inmates
well. Whereas initially games between themselves were a more common
feature, contact with the outside world gradually increased. Letters written to
chess columnists (often sending them games played inside the prison) and
invitations to games by correspondence with neighboring chess clubs added to
their excitement.

Another mugshot of Peter Claudianos once
incarcerated. [San Quentin Prison File,
State of California Archives.]
While most of the inmates could hardly claim any knowledge of chess
openings, a survey of a few dozen extant games available to us indicate they
were catching up as soon various books made their way into the prison's
library. Claudianos wrote the following letter of appeal to Isaac L. Rice's
widow. It was deemed as so unusual that it appeared on page 388 of the
Twenty Years of Rice Gambit (1916):
"San Quentin, Calif., Jan. 23rd, 1916.
Mrs. Isaac L. Rice, Hotel Ansonia,
New York City, N.Y.
"Dear Madame:
"The writer is a prisoner of this institution and member of a chess club
within its walls. The liberty I am taking in writing to you this letter was
that the question I wish to ask you could be better answered by yourself
than writing and asking others.
"The games that are played by this club are mostly by correspondence
with different players at large, and lately several of the players from the
outside world have sent to us as their opening of their game "The Rice
Gambit." We have some chess books here, and have looked thru them,
but in none of them could we find a single variation of the Rice Gambit.
As I understand chess, there are about one hundred different openings
and ways of declining such openings. The question now is, Where can I
find any of Mr. Rice's Games, or is there any book published with
different variations of the "Rice Gambit"? Our club consists of none but
prisoners and we have a membership of about sixty players. Some of the
players, I am glad to say, are members of the Greater New York Chess
League and we have games going on in different parts of the country.
"Most of us at present are anxious to hear who the lucky ones will be at
the Rice Memorial Masters' Tournament. Some have picked that able
master, Capablanca; others, Janowski, but myself I think the honors lie
between Kosti, Chajes and Kupchik. Kosti is young, but he is forceful,
and that counts a whole lot in his favor.
"Hoping that my slight request will bring an answer that will be
favorable to a few chess players behind prison walls, I beg to remain,
"Cordially yours,
Peter Claudianos
Pres. S.Q. Chess Club
San Quentin, Calif."

Cellblocks at San Quentin at the time of Peter Claudianos's imprisonment
San Francisco Call, April 9, 1911
Claudianos engaged in correspondence play and his very first games were
played against William P. Hickok of Mt. Vernon, the secretary of the
Correspondence League of America. The Oregonian of February 10, 1918
reproduced the scores of both games, most likely played in 1915. It's clear
that Claudianos was a beginner yet one wonders how did Hickok lose the
second game when he blundered his Queen in a move (did he play the game
"blind" just based on reading Claudianos's letters of reply without using an
actual chessboard?).
Peter Claudianos William P. Hickok
Game by correspondence, 1915
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Bc5 4.Bb5 Nd4 5.Nxd4 exd4 6.Ne2 c6 7.Ba4 Nf6 8.
d3 00 9.Bg5 h6 10.Bf4 Qa5+ 11.c3 dxc3 12.Nxc3 Qb6 13.00 d6 14.Qe2
Bg4 15.Qd2 Rae8 16.Rae1 Bd7 17.e5 dxe5 18.Bxe5 Ng4 19.Bg3 Rd8 20.d4
Bxd4 21.Bb3 Bxc3 22.Qxc3 Bf5 23.h3 Nf6 24.Bh4 Rd6

[FEN "5rk1/pp3pp1/1qpr1n1p/5b2/7B/
1BQ4P/PP3PP1/4RRK1 w - - 0 25"]
25.Qc4 Rd4 26.Qc3 Rxh4 27.Re5 Bg6 28.Qe3 Qxe3 29.Rxe3 Ne4 30.Kh2
Nd2 31.Rfe1 Nxb3 32.axb3 Rb4 33.Rc1 f5 34.f3 a5 35.Rc5 f4 36.Rec3 Rf5
37.Rxf5 Bxf5 38.Rc5 Be6 39.Rxa5 Rxb3 40.Re5 Bd5 41.Re2 g5 42.Rf2 h5
43.h4 gxh4 44.Kh3 Kg7 45.Kxh4 Kg6 46.Re2 Re3 47.Rf2 b5 48.Rd2 Re1 0-
1
William P. Hickok Peter Claudianos
Game by correspondence, 1915
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Bb4 6.Nxc6 bxc6 7.Bd3 00
8.Bd2 d5 9.a3 Ba5 10.00 Qd6 11.b4 Bb6

[FEN "r1b2rk1/p1p2ppp/1bpq1n2/3p4/1P2P3/
P1NB4/2PB1PPP/R2Q1RK1 w - - 0 12"]
12.Na4 dxe4 13.Bc4 Bg4 14.Qe1 Qd4 15.Bb3 Qd6 16.Bc3 Rae8 17.Bxf6
Qxf6 18.Qxe4 Rxe4 19.Nxb6 cxb6 20.f3 Qd4+ 21.Kh1 Bxf3 22.gxf3 Re2 23.
Rg1 Qe5 24.Rxg7+ Kxg7 25.Rg1+ Kh6 26.Rg2 Rxg2 27.Kxg2 Rg8+ 0-1
Besides Claudianos, there were other players who absorbed well the ABCs of
the game. One of the earlier games played at San Quentin appeared in the
Oregonian 's column of March 5, 1916. It was played by correspondence
between John Twomey, a member of the San Quentin Chess Club and R.
Dunipall, a member of the Morgan Hill Club, California:
John Twomey R. Dunipall
Game by correspondence, 1916
1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.f4 exf4 4.Nf3 g5 5.Bc4 Bg7 6.d4 h6 7.00 Nge7 8.Nd5
d6 9.c3 Ng6 10.Bb5 00 11.b4 Nce7 12.Nxe7+ Qxe7 13.Bd3 c5 14.bxc5
dxc5 15.e5 Qe6 16.Bxg6 Qxg6 17.Ba3 b6 18.Qe1 Bb7 19.dxc5 bxc5 20.
Bxc5 Rfe8 21.Bd4 Bd5 22.Qf2 Rac8 23.Rae1 Bc4 24.Nd2 Bxf1 25.Qxf1
Rc6 26.Nc4 Qe6 27.Na5 Ra6 28.Qb5 f6 29.Nb7

[FEN "4r1k1/pN4b1/r3qp1p/1Q2P1p1/
3B1p2/2P5/P5PP/4R1K1 b - - 0 29"]
29...Qc6 30.Qxc6 Rxc6 31.Nd6 Re7 32.Nf5 Rb7 33.exf6 Bf8 34.Ne7+ 1-0
The ablest of the San Quentin players also conducted games by
correspondence in consultation. In the same year, they played two
correspondence games against the mighty Mechanics Institute Chess Club of
San Francisco. According to the Los Angeles Times of July 14, 1915 both
games started in early July 1915. Both appeared in the Oregonian of April 3,
1916 with the note that (the), "games are evidence that the San Quentin Chess
Club is not to be trifled with. Both in chess and checkers they have players
that rank high." One can hardly imagine at its full extent the joy of the
inmates when the San Franciscans resigned in the first game given below. In
fact, Claudianos was so proud of these two games that he mailed them again
to Bryant two years later.
San Quentin Chess Club Mechanics Institute Chess Club
Game by correspondence 1915/1916
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nxc6 bxc6 6.Bd3 d5 7.Qe2 Be6
8.00 dxe4 9.Bxe4 Nxe4 10.Qxe4 Qd7 11.Nd2 Be7 12.Re1 00 13.Nf3 c5 14.
Bg5 Bd6 15.Rad1 Qb5 16.b3 c4 17.a4 Qc5 18.bxc4 Bf5 19.Qe2 Bg4 20.Be3
Qa5 21.h3

[FEN "r4rk1/p1p2ppp/3b4/q7/P1P3b1/
4BN1P/2P1QPP1/3RR1K1 b - - 0 21"]
21...f5 22.hxg4 fxg4 23.Rd5 gxf3 24.Rxa5 fxe2 25.Rxe2 Rab8 26.Rb5 a6 27.
Rb3 Rbe8 28.Kf1 Re4 29.c5 Bf4 30.Bxf4 Rfxf4 31.Rb8+ Kf7 32.Rb7 Rxe2
33.Kxe2 Rxa4 34.Rxc7+ Kf6 35.Kd3 Rg4 36.Rd7 1-0
Mechanics Institute Chess Club San Quentin Chess Club
Game by correspondence 1915/1916
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.00 Nxe4 6.d4 b5 7.Bb3 d5 8.dxe5
Ne7 9.a4 b4 10.c4 Be6 11.Qe2 Nc5 12.cxd5 Nxd5 13.Bg5 Be7 14.Bxe7
Qxe7 15.Nbd2 Nxb3 16.Nxb3

[FEN "r3k2r/2p1qppp/p3b3/3nP3/Pp6/
1N3N2/1P2QPPP/R4RK1 b kq - 0 16"]
16...Nf4 17.Qe4 Bd5 18.Qxf4 Bxb3 19.Nd4 Be6 20.Nc6 Qd7 21.Rac1 00
22.Rfd1 Qe8 23.Qxb4 Bd7 24.Ne7+ Kh8 25.Qh4 c6 26.Rc4 f5 27.Qxh7+
Kxh7 28.Rh4+ Qh5 29.Rxh5 mate.
The connection between Oregonian 's chess editor and some of the inmates
became more apparent the next month when the May 14 issue published the
following brief letter from George Lee, a San Quentin convict:
"A friend is sending me copies of the Oregonian , and here in prison the
chess and checker columns are a blessing to the boys. They help to make
many an hour otherwise lonesome and a burden full of pleasure. We
make beautiful hair watchchains and charms. If any of your readers
would buy one it will aid us in purchasing stamps, etc. The Government
only allows one stamp each month at all Federal prisons."
Claudianos's leading role in promoting chess at San Quentin was highlighted
in the American Chess Bulletin of May-June 1916 (vol. 12, no.5) when the
following note was published on page 119:
"Peter Claudianos, president of the Prison Chess Club at San Quentin,
Calif., writes that the club in question numbers nearly sixty players, who
are playing games by correspondence with opponents in various sections
of North America. Some ninety of these games are in progress. A
number of the players are competing in a tournament of the Greater New
York Correspondence League. The club is occasionally visited by some
of the prominent chess experts of San Francisco. The club is playing
against students of Stanford University and, having heard of the
redoubtable team at the University of Cincinnati through the Bulletin, is
prepared to engage in a similar match with that institution."
In a brief report about the activities of the Greater New York Correspondence
League, the July-August 1916 issue of the American Chess Bulletin (pages
169-170) published the following fragment. There should be little doubt that
Claudianos was behind sending the appeals and letters in question:
"Last fall the secretary of the league received a letter from an inmate of
San Quentin (California) prison, asking that the application of himself
and two fellow prisoners (all serving life sentences) be placed before the
board of himself and two fellow prisoners (all serving life sentences) be
placed before the board of officers and, if approved, they be permitted to
play on an otherwise equal footing with the other members. There was
not a dissenting vote to this application, the three men have been
admitted to membership, assigned to play in as many sections, and are
giving a good account of themselves. Mr. Stanley H. Chadwick, in his
'Chess Chat'" column of the 'Cranford Citizen,' under recent date, says: 'I
am playing one of these (San Quentin members) unfortunates, whose
every written word makes me wonder how he could have committed the
act that has placed him where he is. His letters are bright and snappy for
the most part, with the touch of pathos here and there that must enter
into a letter written under such depressing circumstances.' Sixteen
members of the league have signified an unqualified willingness to play
the royal game with these shut-ins, being broad-minded enough to feel
that chess will be a benefit and serve to set their thoughts in channels
other than of hopeless brooding and idle retrospect."
In 1916, Claudianos, who began playing better chess, played at least two
games by correspondence with W.R. Lovegrove, one of the leading players of
the Mechanics Institute Chess Club. Both of them, lost by Claudianos after a
good fight, were printed in the Oregonian of May 16, 1916. Following the
score of the first game, Claudianos asked: "Where did White lose?"
Peter Claudianos W.R. Lovegrove
Game by correspondence, 1916
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bb5 Bb4 5.00 00 6.Nd5 Nxd5 7.exd5 e4 8.
dxc6 dxc6 9.Be2 exf3 10.Bxf3 Be6 11.a3 Bd6 12.d4 Qd7 13.Be3 f5 14.d5
cxd5 15.b4 c6 16.Be2 Qc7 17.f4 Rfe8 18.c3 a5 19.Qd4 axb4 20.axb4 Rxa1
21.Rxa1 Bf7 22.Bf3 g5 23.g3 gxf4 24.Bxf4 Bxf4 25.gxf4 Qe7 26.Kf2 Qh4+
27.Kg2 Bh5 28.Qf2 Qxf2+ 29.Kxf2 Bxf3 30.Kxf3 Kf7 31.Ra7 Re7 32.Ra1
Ke8 33.Ra8+ Kf7 34.Rh8 Ke6 35.Ke3 Kd6+ 36.Kd3 Rf7 37.Kd4 Re7 38.
Kd3 Ke6 39.Rg8 Kf6 40.Rg5 h6

[FEN "8/1p2r3/2p2k1p/3p1pR1/
1P3P2/2PK4/7P/8 w - - 0 41"]
41.Rg3 Re4 42.Rf3 b6 43.Kd2 Rc4 44.Kd3 b5 45.Rf2 Kg6 46.Re2 Re4 47.
Rf2 Kh5 48.h3 Kh4 49.Rf3 h5 50.Kc2 d4 51.cxd4 Rxd4 52.Kb3 Rc4 53.
Ka3 c5 54.bxc5 Rxc5 55.Kb4 Rc1 56.Kxb5 Rh1 57.Kc4 Rxh3 58.Rf1 Kg4
59.Kd4 Rf3 60.Re1 h4 61.Ke5 h3 62.Rg1+ Rg3 0-1
W.R. Lovegrove Peter Claudianos
Game by correspondence, 1916
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.d4 exd4 4.e5 Ne4 5.Qxd4 d5 6.exd6 Nxd6 7.Nc3 Nc6 8.
Qf4 Be7 9.Bd2 Be6 10.Bb5 00 11.Rd1 Nxb5 12.Nxb5 Bd6 13.Nxd6 Qxd6
14.Qxd6 cxd6 15.Bf4 Rfe8 16.00 d5 17.h3 b5 18.Bd6 b4 19.Ne1 a5 20.f4
f5 21.Nf3 h6 22.a3 Red8 23.Bc5 Rdb8 24.axb4 axb4 25.b3 Ra2 26.Rf2 Rc8
27.Ne1 Rc7 28.Nd3 Rb7 29.Bd6 Rb6 30.Nc5

[FEN "6k1/6p1/1rnBb2p/2Np1p2/1p3P2/
1P5P/r1P2RP1/3R2K1 b - - 0 30"]
30...Kf7 31.Bc7 Rb5 32.Nxe6 Kxe6 33.c4 Rba5 34.Bxa5 Rxa5 35.cxd5+
Rxd5 and White won at move fifty-five. [It proved difficult to decipher the
whole game because of typographical errors, but Black is lost in this
position].
The supporting role of various San Francisco-based players for San Quentin's
chess fraternity was evidenced in the Oregonian's chess column of July 16,
1916. Besides underlining Claudianos's leading role, it also offered details of
leading San Francisco players' simultaneous exhibitions inside the prison. The
fact that none of the "masters" scored a hundred percent in their exhibitions
may indicate the San Quentin chess crowd was not much worse than that of
an average American chess club in the West:
"Chess in San Quentin Penitentiary
"'Little Black Pawn' in the Staten Islander, has received a letter from
Ernest J. Clarke, the well-known chess player of San Francisco, giving
an account of his recent visit to the San Quentin Penitentiary. He says
there is a large chess club there under the presidency of a young Greek,
a life-termer, for dynamiting a house during the graft prosecution in San
Francisco several years ago. The prison is the largest in the United
States, having 2800 prisoners and is conducted along humanitarian lines.
They have all kinds of activities, a splendid band of 50 pieces, baseball
team, chess and checker club. Harry Baker is president of the checker
department, but there is one game which is absolutely barred cards.
"Hallwegan, Stamer, Fink and Clarke played simultaneous chess against
four separate groups with the following results: Fink won 11 games, lost
4, drew 2; Stamer won 8, lost 1; Hallwegan won 10, lost 9 and Clarke
won 6 and drew 1. The time consumed was one hour and a half. The
visiting party presented the prisoners with several books on chess and
ten sets of chess men and boards."
Prison Chess Column
In that very summer of 1916, Claudianos and his fellow inmates took on the
ambitious task of publishing a chess department in the prison's bulletin. They
mailed copies of it to various chess columnists around the country. When
Bryant, Oregonian's chess columnist, received an issue he was full of praise
in his August 13, 1916 column:
"We acknowledge receipt of the third issue of the Bulletin in magazine
form, published by the inmates of the California state prison at San
Quentin. It is simply great, and we note one of our steady contributors,
Peter Claudianos, is at the head of the chess department. He stated there
are more than 50 members in the chess club. Correspondence matches
are in progress constantly, over 100 having been played with opponents
in many states. The Greater New York Chess League has recognized the
San Quentin club and tournament games are now being played. Once a
month simultaneous exhibitions are given by visitors. Some of the most
noted players have visited the boys. The Club has a fine library."
In addition to the players mentioned above taking trips to San Quentin to
entertain the convicts, N.H. Greenway of Alameda, California, deserved
special credit. With the permission of the warden he collected a fund of $5 for
chess books, $5 for men and boards and paid a year's subscription to the
American Chess Bulletin for the inmates. He also supplied them with stocks
of diagrams and score sheets as well as with copies of his chess problems.
Claudianos, the president of the club, along with his fellow members,
expressed gratitude. In fact, Claudianos was one of the most active solvers for
that particular rubric of the Oregonian's column. Besides him, other San
Quentin inmates sent in solutions, such as R. Pennington, J. Radamakar, G.R.
Campbell, H. Baker, J. Murray, or C. Williams.
It did not take long for Claudianos to begin composing his own problems.
While obviously he was no threat to even America's average composers, his
rudimentary skill allowed him enough to entertain himself and his fellow
inmates. Several of his simple compositions appeared in the Oregonian's
chess column between 1916 and 1918. He also submitted the following game
to the Oregonian of February 10, 1918, commenting that his opponent was by
then the strongest player in California and president of the Reedley Chess
Club:
Peter Claudianos Updyke
Game by correspondence, 1917/1918
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4 Bxb4 5.c3 Ba5 6.00 Nf6 7.d4 Nxe4 8.
Re1 d5 9.dxe5 Be6 10.Bb3 Nxc3 11.Nxc3 Bxc3 12.Bg5 Qd7 13.Re2 Bxa1
14.Qxa1 00 15.Qb1 h6 16.Bf4 Ne7 17.Qd3 c5 18.Bc2 Bf5 19.Qc3 Bxc2 20.
Qxc2 b6 21.h3 Rad8 22.Qd3 c4 23.Qd4 Nc6 0-1
As for the quality of games played among other inmates, the following two
games may speak for themselves. They were printed in the Oregonian of
February 18, 1917 and were played in a San Quentin tournament without
naming the players:
Players Unknown
San Quentin Prison, 1916/1917
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Bb4 4.00 Nge7 5.c3 Ba5 6.d4 exd4 7.cxd4 d5 8.
Qa4 00 9.exd5 Qxd5 10.Nc3 Qh5 11.Re1 Bxc3 12.bxc3 a6 13.Be2 Bd7

[FEN "r4rk1/1ppbnppp/p1n5/7q/Q2P4/
2P2N2/P3BPPP/R1B1R1K1 w - - 0 14"]
14.Ne5 Nxe5 15.Bxh5 Bxa4 16.Rxe5 Nc6 17.Rd5 Rfe8 18.Bf4 Rac8 19.h3
Re4 20.Be3 Rce8 21.Rd7 R8e7 22.Rd5 h6 23.Re1 Bb5 24.Bf3 R4e6 25.Rh5
Na5 26.a4 Bxa4 27.Rxa5 Bc6 28.Bxc6 bxc6 29.Rxa6 g5 30.g4 f6 31.Kg2
Kf7 32.c4 Kg6 33.c5 f5 34.gxf5+ Kxf5 35.Kg3 h5 36.h4 gxh4+ 37.Kxh4
Rh7 38.d5 Re4+ 39.Kh3 Rh6 40.Rxc6 Rxc6 41.dxc6 Re6 42.Rg1 Rxc6 43.
Rg5+ Kf6 44.Rxh5 Kf7 45.Rh7+ 1-0
Players Unknown
San Quentin Prison, 1916/1917
1.e4 e6 2.Bc4 d5 3.exd5 exd5 4.Bb3 Nf6 5.Nf3 Be7 6.d3 Bg4 7.00 Bxf3 8.
Qxf3 00 9.Be3 Nbd7 10.Qd1 Ne5 11.Bg5 d4 12.Re1 Bd6 13.Bf4 Re8 14.
Bxe5 Bxe5 15.Nd2 Bd6 16.Rxe8+ Qxe8 17.a3 Qd7 18.Ba2 Ng4 19.Nf3 Re8
20.b4 b5 21.g3 c5 22.bxc5 Bxc5 23.Rc1 Bxa3 24.Rb1 Bc5 25.Nd2 Qf5 26.
Ne4

[FEN "4r1k1/p4ppp/8/1pb2q2/3pN1n1/
3P2P1/B1P2P1P/1R1Q2K1 b - - 0 26"]
26...Rxe4 27.dxe4 Qxf2+ 0-1
Through the column in the Oregonian and possibly other newspapers,
Claudianos challenged various clubs to games by correspondence. Here is one
of his correspondence games played in the mid of 1917 as it appeared in the
Oregonian of September 2, 1917. Bryant called him: "one of the most
enthusiastic and hardest workers in the state."
Peter Claudianos E.H. Seward
Game by correspondence, 1917
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4 Bxb4 5.c3 Ba5 6.00 Nf6 7.d4 Nxe4 8.
Re1 Nxc3 9.Nxc3 Bxc3 10.Qb3 Bxa1 11.Bxf7+ Kf8 12.Bg5

[FEN "r1bq1k1r/pppp1Bpp/2n5/4p1B1/
3P4/1Q3N2/P4PPP/b3R1K1 b - - 0 12"]
12...Ne7 13.Rxa1 d6 14.dxe5 d5 15.Bxd5 c6 16.Bf7 Qb6 17.Qc4 Bd7 18.e6
Be8 19.Qf4 Nd5 20.Qd6+ Ne7 21.Qxe7 mate.
Once these battles were concluded, whether played by him or in consultation
with other convicts, Claudianos mailed the scores of the games to newspapers
outside the prison. The following game, played by San Quentin in
consultation against F.G. Pearsal of Chula Vista, appeared in the Oregonian
of December 9, 1917. An eighteen-move win by the San Quentin players
against the same opponent appeared in the same edition of the newspaper yet
the given score was marred by errors and proved irrecoverable.
F.G. Pearsal (Chula Vista) San Quentin Chess Club
Game by correspondence, 1917
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Bc5 5.Be3 Qf6 6.c3 Nge7 7.Be2 d5 8.O-
O O-O 9.Bf3 dxe4 10.Bxe4 Bxd4 11.Bxd4 Nxd4 12.Qxd4 Qxd4 13.cxd4 c6
14.Nc3 f5 15.Bc2 Be6 16.Rfe1 Kf7 17.Re3 Rfe8 18.g4 g6 19.Rae1 Ng8 20.
Re5 Nf6 21.gxf5 gxf5 22.f3 Rad8 23.Rd1 Rg8+ 24.Kf2 Rg5 25.Ke3 Nd5+
26.Nxd5 Rxd5 27.Kf4 Rg2 28.Bb3

[FEN "8/pp3k1p/2p1b3/3rRp2/3P1K2/
1B3P2/PP4rP/3R4 b - - 0 28"]
28...Rd6 29.Rxe6 Rxe6 30.Re1 1-0
Another such game by correspondence with the outside world appeared in the
American Chess Bulletin of April 1918 (vol. 15, no. 3, page 96) and it's given
below. Even the nation's leading chess magazine could not resist to feature
between its covers a win of one of the San Quentin boys:
E.P. Nelson (Stockton, California) J.T. Smith (San Quentin Prison)
Game by correspondence
15th Tournament of the Greater New York Correspondence Chess League
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Bd6 4.c3 Nf6 5.d3 a6 6.Ba4 b5 7.Bb3 Na5 8.00
Nxb3 9.axb3 00 10.Na3 Bb7 11.Nc2 c5 12.Bg5 Bc7 13.Ne3 h6 14.Bh4

[FEN "r2q1rk1/1bbp1pp1/p4n1p/1pp1p3/4P2B/
1PPPNN2/1P3PPP/R2Q1RK1 b - - 0 14"]
14...d5 15.exd5 Bxd5 16.Nxd5 Qxd5 17.Bxf6 gxf6 18.Nh4 Kh7 19.Qh5 Rg8
20.Qf5+ Kg7 21.f4 Qxb3 22.Qd7 Bb8 23.Nf5+ Kh7 24.Qc6 Ra7 25.Qxf6
Rg6 26.Qd8 Qxb2 27.Nh4 Rg8 28.Qd5 Qxc3 29.fxe5 Bxe5 30.Rxf7+ Rxf7
31.Qxf7+ Kh8 32.Rd1 Qd4+ 33.Qf2 Bxh2+ 34.Kf1 Qxf2+ 0-1
Throughout early and mid-1918, Claudianos, who by this time worked as a
weaver in the prison's industry, sent to Bryant classic short brilliances played
by luminaries such as Lasker, Pillsbury, Walbrodt, Burn, and Schlechter,
some of them possibly culled from books such as the Hastings 1895
tournament book. But then, for the rest of 1918, the Oregonian's chess
column printed no more news of Claudianos. Did he find another pastime or
was he finally released from prison?
Parole and Pardon
Claudianos's San Quentin prison file contains further information on him
becoming a free man. On grounds of "excessive sentence," he first applied for
a pardon to the governor of California in October 1914. A certificate of
conduct filled by the warden of the San Quentin Prison indicates, "his conduct
has been good," minus a few violations of prison rules (making poor cloth,
failing to do certain tasks, carrying food out of general mass, taking the wrong
wrap, etc.). His application was denied. In February 1915, Claudianos wrote
personal letters to the judge of Alameda County (where he was sentenced)
asking for supportive evidence in the favor of a pardon. The judge informed
him that he and the District Attorney were not convinced at that time that he
merited a pardon. In December 1915, several letters penned by men
Claudianos corresponded with made personal appeals to Hiram W. Johnson,
then the state governor, for his early pardon. On behalf of the prison warden,
the prison's clerk wrote several letters of inquiry to rediscover the details of
Claudianos case. To no avail however; the results of his application were
postponed no less than six times between June and December 1916.
It may be interesting to note that while corresponding on chess matters with
various opponents, Claudianos impressed some of his pen friends to the extent
that they wrote letters to the state governor in support of his release. Clarence
Burton, a Methodist pastor from Sikeston, Missouri, wrote the following letter
to William D. Stephens, Governor of California on May 31, 1917:
"Dear Sir:
"For some time I have been in correspondence with Peter Claudianos,
No. 23276, serving time at San Quentin. I do not know what his crime
or sentence is, but find him a gentlemanly fellow, and not at all
incapable of finer sentiments.
"I became associated with him through the Greater New York Chess
League, and have exchanged a good number of letters with him. He
expressed to me the very strongest patriotic sentiments, and also the
consuming wish that he was free, so that he might enlist to fight for the
Flag.
"I am writing this letter, Your Honor, with deepest sincerity, to ask if it
is the line of possibilities that the freedom of this man might be taken
under advisement, with the provision of his enlistment in the army upon
being freed.
"I would greatly appreciate, in the midst of your esteemed cares, the
honor of a reply, and any consideration you may give to the case of my
correspondence friend.
"Most sincerely and cordially yours,
Clarence Burton."
An assessment by the prison warden, dated November 9, 1917, was rather
positive. Another letter penned by a chess player arrived in mid-December of
that year. While the handwritten signature makes it rather difficult to decipher
the exact identity of Claudianos's supporter, the support expressed for
Claudianos was unequivocal:
"[] I may say that I have no other interest in the case than that of a
chance acquaintance. Resulting from my visit to San Quentin on
invitation of Warden Johnston, between two and three years ago to
furnish some entertainment in the form of simultaneous chess play, etc.
Since that time I have made frequent visits to the San Quentin Chess
Club and through this association, together with a continuous
correspondence have had ample opportunity to make an intimate study
of the prisoner, and the conclusions arrived at are herewith submitted for
your consideration:
"1. His crime was due rather to bad associations and a certain weakness
of character resulting primarily from the manner of his bringing up, that
from innate criminal instincts.
"2. The breaking up of family ties, including the death (under very
distressing circumstances) of his father, has had a pronounced effect
upon his mind and has brought him to a vivid realization of the enormity
of his offense against society and resulted in a strong determination to
"go straight" (as he expresses it) for the future.
"3. He has striven by reading and study, to improve himself with the
result that he has developed from an illiterate youth, with very distorted
ideas of moral science, to a condition of considerable intellectual
advancement with strong ideals and a very decided discrimination as to
right and wrong.
"4. His continued incarceration cannot serve further the interests of
justice and enforcement of law.
"5. He is unquestionably prepared to undertake a life of usefulness and
therefore, in these strenuous times, would be of infinitely greater service
to the country under parole, than remaining within the confines of prison
walls, with duties of a more or less perfunctory nature. []"
A report of the committee parole board finally came up with a decision on
December 15, 1917: Claudianos would receive a parole once he completed
ten years of his sentence provided he maintained perfect conduct.
A letter from William H. Langdon, the judge who was instrumental in the
1909 case, and one of Claudianos's targets, shows that by mid-July 1918
Langdon had nothing against Claudianos's release as long as he held no
grudges against those who put him behind bars. Our research indicates that in
September 1918 Claudianos offered to serve in World War I, filling out a
registration card. However, by that time the war was coming to an end and
most likely he wasn't asked to serve by the time arrangements for his release
had to be made.
On December 9, 1918, Claudianos was formally released on parole from San
Quentin and began working for one of his uncles in Oroville, California,
where he had to maintain contact with a parole officer, one Raymond A.
Leonard, an attorney-at-law. In mid-June 1921, a letter from Langdon to
prison officials from Oroville indicated his approval of Claudianos's
redemption and that he was supportive of an eventual pardon. On October 21,
1921, Leonard himself wrote to the San Quentin State Board of Prison
Directors to appeal for a pardon for Claudianos. The latter was granted pardon
in 1922.
Chess at San Quentin after Claudianos
Chess at San Quentin continued after Claudianos's exit. The Oregonian of
April 17, 1921 published the following game played with the moves being
called out from their adjacent cells:
Players Unknown
San Quentin Prison, 1921
1.d4 e6 2.c4 d5 3.e3 Nf6 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.Bd2 c5 6.dxc5 Bxc5 7.Nb5 00 8.Nf3
Nc6 9.Bd3 e5 10.Bc3 e4

[FEN "r1bq1rk1/pp3ppp/2n2n2/1Nbp4/2P1p3/
2BBPN2/PP3PPP/R2QK2R w KQ - 0 11"]
11.cxd5 exf3 12.Bxf6 Qxf6 13.dxc6 fxg2 14.Rg1 Qxc6 15.Nd4 Bxd4 16.
exd4 Re8+ 17.Kd2 Qh6+ 18.Kc2 Qc6+ 19.Kd2 Bh3 20.Rc1 Qh6+ 21.Kc2
Rac8+ 22.Kb1 Rxc1+ 23.Qxc1 Qxc1+ 24.Rxc1 Rc8 25.Rg1 Rd8 26.Be4 b6
27.Bxg2 Bxg2 28.Rxg2 Rxd4 29.Kc2 h5 30.f3 Kf8 31.b3 Ke7 32.Kc3 Rd6
33.Rxg7 Kf6 34.Rg2 Kf5 35.Rg7 Rd7 36.Rh7 Kg6 37.Rh8 Re7 38.Kd2 Re5
39.Rg8+ Kf5 40.Rg7 Kf6 41.Rg2 Ra5 42.Kc3 Kf5 43.b4 Ra3+ 44.Kc4 Rxf3
45.Kb5 Rc3 46.Ka6 Rc7 47.a4 Ke6 48.a5 bxa5 49.Kxa5 Rc6 50.Rg5 Rd6
51.Rxh5 Rd5+ 52.Rxd5 Kxd5 53.b5 f5 54.Ka6 f4 55.Kxa7 f3 56.b6 f2 57.
b7 f1Q 58.b8Q Qa1+ 59.Kb7 Qb2+ 60.Kc7 Qe5+ 61.Kb7 Qb2+ 62.Ka8
Qa3+ 63.Qa7 Qxa7+ 64.Kxa7 Ke5 65.Kb6 Kf5 66.Kc5 Kg4 67.Kd4 Kh3
Drawn.
While there was little evidence available to us for the years 1922-1945, one
can imagine chess play at San Quentin continued in those years. Brief notices
in the Californian newspapers for the 1930s often made mention of the high
number of chess games played in tournaments inside this prison. Such a hive
of activity would presumably lead to the post-1945 publishing of the chess
magazine cited by Gino Di Felice. But it was Peter Claudianos's newly
discovered joy for chess playing while at San Quentin that led to the creation
of the San Quentin Chess Club and the publication of its earliest chess column
in the prison's bulletin. As for exactly why he decided to learn to play chess in
prison, one may choose to believe his own words that appeared in one of his
San Quentin Bulletin's columns and were republished in the Oregonian of
December 17, 1916: "If you could keep a man playing chess, it would be easy
to cure him of cigarettes, alcoholic beverages, or even his meals. No shouting,
no brass bands, no speech-making, just play."
Sources and Other Archival Materials
Thanks to chess collector Andy Ansel, several 1950s issues of the Chess Nuts
were featured in Edward Winter's Chess Notes column (see C.N. 4508) along
with some scanned covers featuring famous masters.
The exact spelling of Claudianos's name proved problematic initially. A
variety of primary and secondary sources gave different spellings:
"Claudeanos," "Claudianos," "Claudianes," etc. Chess sources offered little
help: the American Chess Bulletin of May-June 1916 gave
"Clandeanos" (page 119). The same was offered by Twenty Years of Rice
Gambit: In Memoriam Isaac Leopold Rice (New York: American Chess
Bulletin , 1916, page 388). We decided to use "Claudianos" as it appeared to
us as the most convincing spelling throughout a majority of consulted sources.
For the ease of reading using a standardized version, we have used
"Claudianos" throughout this essay, including in historical sources which used
different or erroneous versions. [Note: most of the newspaper articles referred
to below used "Claudianes."]
Several excellent photographs of the San Francisco graft trials may be viewed
online via Online Archive of California, "Photograph Related to the San
Francisco Graft Trial, 1907-1908" Collection.
A wealth of articles on the Claudianos brothers' run-ins with the law appeared
in a host of Californian newspapers. In the present column, we made use of
the following selected articles from the San Francisco Call for summarizing
the case: "Lays Gallagher Crime to Self; Tale is Probed" (July 15, 1908; a
photograph of John Claudianos appeared on page 3); "Declares John
Claudianos is Cheap Faker" (July 16, 1908; according to this newspaper
account, Peter Claudianos' mother showed the police a photograph of Peter
while serving in the US Navy); "Links Abe Ruef with Claudianos" (July 17,
1908); "Seek Peter Claudianos in the City" (July 18, 1908); "Says Ruef
Instigated Explosions" (July 19, 1908); "Langdon's Answer to the
Charge" (July 20, 1908); "Ruef's Hand Shows Back of Assassin" (July 22,
1908); "Peter Claudianos, Alleged Dynamiter, Arrested in Chicago," (August
11, 1908); "Trapped Greek Says He Must Convict John" (August 12, 1908);
"Suspected Dynamiter Returned"(August 15, 1908); "Lays Bare the
Diabolical Plot to Murder All of the Graft Prosecutors: Peter Claudianos
Confesses Awful Scheme of the Higher Ups"(August 16, 1908); "'Uncle' Will
Furnish Bonds for Dynamiter" (August 17, 1908); "Attorneys Clash in
Dynamite Case" (August 18, 1908); "On trial for Trying to Kill J.L.
Gallagher" (December 17, 1908); "Dynamiter in Tears Under Lash of
Law" (December 24, 1908); "P. Claudianos Admits Guilt as
Dynamiter" (December 25, 1908); "Court Asked to Free Claudianos" (June
19, 1909); "John Claudianos Set at Liberty" (June 20, 1909); "Claudianos,
Pere, Declared Insane" (June 26, 1909). All these articles (and others from
various Californian and country-wide newspapers) are available online at
Chronicling America, a resource of the Library of Congress.
The following articles from the Los Angeles Times have been consulted:
"Claudianos Escapes" (July 18, 1908); "New Claudianos Clew" (July 31,
1908); "Bring Him, Dead or Alive" (August 9, 1908); "Clash Over
Claudianos"(August 18, 1908); "Angry Father Runs Amuck" (September 9,
1908); "Claudianos Trial Set"(September 9, 1908); "Claudianos Life
Convict" (December 24, 1908); "Claudianos Insane" (June 26, 1909).
The following articles from the San Francisco Chronicle have been used:
"Police are Seeking Felix Padeauvaris"[sic] (July 12, 1908); "Peter
Claudianos is Located in Reno" (July 16, 1908); "Peter's Absence is Viewed
with Suspicion" (July 20, 1908); "John Claudianos Tells Another Vivid
Tale" (July 22, 1908); "The Arrest of Claudianos" (August 12, 1908); "Peter
Claudianos Arraigned in Court" (August 16, 1908); "Joint Indictment against
Three Dynamiters" (August 21, 1908); "Peter Claudianos is Sentenced for
Life"(December 24, 1908).
Other articles from Oakland, Reno, Chicago and St. Louis have been
consulted on this matter.
Much of the information on Claudianos's time and efforts for parole and
pardon at San Quentin comes from his official prison file (sixty pages of
letters, parole applications, and other documents); we are thankful to Linda
Johnson, archivist of the California State Archives (Sacramento, CA) for
facilitating getting copies of it to us.
Ken Whyld's Chess Columns: A List (2002) makes no mention of
Claudianos's chess column in the San Quentin Bulletin. Our inquiries with
California State Archives, the San Quentin records, conclude that the office in
question held no copies of the San Quentin Bulletin for these years.
An excellent collection of photographs of San Quentin State Prison in the
years of Claudianos's term especially a telling collection regarding the
entertainments provided by inmates may be found in "Views of San Quentin
Prison and Events, ca. 1925-1935," Online Archive of California.
2011 Olimpiu G. Urcan All Rights Reserved.
Olimpiu G. Urcan is the author of Julius Finn: A Chess Master's Life in
America (2010) and other chess history books by McFarland Inc. Publishers.
Interested readers, authors, collectors, researchers, or librarians are
encouraged to contact the author.
A PDF file of this month's Past Pieces column, along with all previous
columns, is available in the ChessCafe.com Archives.
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