Chess Notes

Edward Winter

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6495. Banks on Marshall

Page 7 of Banks’ Blindfold Checker Masterpieces by Newell W. Banks (Philadelphia, 1947) quoted his view of F.J. Marshall:

‘I received more good ideas on opening and mid-game chess play from my old friend Frank Marshall than from all the other chessplayers I have known. If Marshall had had the urge to continue to apply himself to study and analysis he could have been at the top all his life. He was the greatest natural player of them all.’

6496. Quiz question (C.N. 6424)

A last call for proposals concerning the question posed in C.N. 6424: what was the largest number of opponents ever faced by Morphy in a simultaneous exhibition?

6497. Signatures

For readers who enjoy identifying signatures, we give another illustration from our collection (the 1982 Dover edition of Chernev’s book on Capablanca):

6498. G. Levenfish

Javier Asturiano Molina (Murcia, Spain) asks about the correct spelling of Levenfish/Löwenfisch.

Both are commonly seen, with a distinct trend nowadays towards the former in many countries. The German rendition ‘Löwenfisch’ or ‘Loewenfisch’ was particularly common in English-language literature in the first half of the twentieth century, although the BCM sometimes had ‘Lövenfisch’. The 1971 volume Dizionario Enciclopedico degli Scacchi used ‘Levenfisch’. The last two spellings mentioned may be regarded as non-standard.

The above photograph was published in Chess Review, April 1947, page 9.

6499. Claim about Janowsky

From an article ‘Tall Tales of Teetotalers’ by H. Kmoch and F. Reinfeld on pages 136-137 of the May 1952 Chess Review:

‘He considered himself the strongest player of all time ...’

What are the grounds for asserting that such was Janowsky’s belief?

6500. Che Guevara (C.N.s 4803, 4809 & 4934)

David Jarrett (Athens) sends three photographs which he acquired some years ago. Readers’ assistance with identifying other figures (in addition to Gligorić and Smyslov) will be appreciated.

6501. James H. Taft (C.N.s 64 & 5170)

John Blackstone (Las Vegas, NV, USA) draws attention to page 3 of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle of 20 July 1916, which had some information about J.H. Taft, including his birth-date: 3 March 1888.

In the game given, 11 Ng5 was described as ‘an important and promising departure from the books’.

1 d4 d5 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 c5 4 cxd5 exd5 5 Nf3 Nc6 6 g3 Nf6 7 Bg2 Be7 8 O-O Ne4 9 dxc5 Nxc3 10 bxc3 Bxc5

11 Ng5 h6 12 Nxf7 Kxf7 13 Bxd5+ Ke8 14 e4 Qf6 15 Qh5+ g6 16 Bxc6+ bxc6 17 Qxc5 Bh3 18 Rd1

18...Qf3 19 Qxc6+ Kf7 20 Qd5+ Kg7 21 e5 Qxd5 22 Rxd5 Rhd8 23 Rxd8 Rxd8 24 Be3 a6 25 Re1 h5 26 Bd4 Resigns.

The game was played in a short match at the Brooklyn Chess Club (won by Taft +1 –0 =3) which was also mentioned on page 223 of the November 1916 American Chess Bulletin.

Our correspondent provides too a match-game from page 3 of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 27 July 1916:

1 d4 d5 2 c4 c6 3 e3 Nf6 4 Nc3 g6 5 Bd3 Bg7 6 Nf3 Nbd7 7 O-O O-O 8 e4 dxc4 9 Bxc4 Nb6 10 Be2 Be6 11 Ng5 Qd7 12 Be3 Rfd8 13 Nxe6 Qxe6 14 Qc2 Rd7 15 Rad1 Rad8 16 h3 h5 17 e5 Nfd5 18 Ne4 Nxe3 19 fxe3 Bh6 20 Nc5 Bxe3+ 21 Kh1 Qxa2 22 Nxd7 Rxd7

23 d5 Nxd5 24 e6 Rd6 25 exf7+ Kf8 26 Ra1 Nb4 27 Qc3 Bd4 28 Qxb4 Qe6 29 Qxb7 Rd8 30 Rae1 Qd6 31 Bf3 Bb6 32 Qxc6 Qb4 33 Rd1 Rb8 34 Qe8+ Resigns.

6502. ‘The poetry of chess’ (C.N.s 5223, 5290 & 5347)

In the second half of the nineteenth century, problems were sometimes referred to as ‘the poetry of chess’, but who coined the description?

The earliest citation that we can offer is on page 271 of Daniel W. Fiske’s book on New York, 1857:

‘Problem-making has been very properly denominated the poetry of chess. The same depth of imagination, the same fecundity of invention, the same quick perception of the beautiful, which characterize the poet, belong also to the chess strategist.’

6503. Masters’ reports on simultaneous displays (C.N.s 6198 & 6333)

Michael Clapham (Ipswich, England) quotes from a posthumous article ‘Simultaneous Displays from the Inside’ by B.H. Wood on pages 36-37 of the December 1991 CHESS:

‘Curiously, I cannot recall, in the whole of chess literature, any article by the soloist himself in simultaneous displays.’

6504. Soultanbéieff (C.N. 6486)

Stéphane Pilawski (Liège, Belgium) reports that he has a copy of Soultanbéieff’s Guide pratique du Jeu des Combinaisons inscribed to Louis Malpas:

From pages 47-49 of the book we give the score of ‘une partie extraordinairement intéressante et mouvementée’ (Znosko-Borovsky):

1 d4 e6 2 e4 d5 3 Nc3 dxe4 4 Nxe4 Nf6 5 Bg5 Be7 6 Bxf6 gxf6 7 Nf3 Rg8 8 Qd2 Nc6 9 Qh6 Rg6 10 Qxh7 Qd5 11 Qh8+ Kd7 12 Nc5+ Bxc5 13 dxc5 Qe4+ 14 Be2 Ke7

15 O-O-O Qxe2 16 Nd4 Nxd4 17 Rxd4 e5 18 Rd8

18...Qxc2+ 19 Kxc2 Bf5+ 20 Kc1 Rxd8 21 Qh5 Rg5 22 Qf3 Rd3 23 Qxb7 Rg4 24 Qa6 Rgd4

25 g4 Bg6 26 f4 Rxf4 27 Rd1 Rxd1+ 28 Kxd1 Rd4+ 29 Ke2 Rxg4 30 Qxa7 Kd7 31 Qb7 Be4 32 Qb3 Ke7 33 h3 Rg2+ 34 Kf1 f5 35 Qb4 Bc6 36 Qh4+ f6 37 Qh7+ Ke6 38 Qxc7 Bf3 39 Qc8+ Kf7 40 Qxf5 Bc6 41 Qc8 Be4 42 c6 Rxb2 43 Qd7+ Kg6 44 Qg4+ Resigns.

Soultanbéieff also annotated the game on pages 1012-1013 of L’Echiquier, September 1928.