Chess Notes

Edward Winter

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8080. Steiner and Flohr

Bruce Monson (Colorado Springs, CO, USA) wonders what can be established regarding the photograph below, from Herman Steiner’s archives, beyond identification of Steiner on the left of the foursome and Salo Flohr on the right.

8081. Berne, 1932 (C.N. 8065)

Calle Erlandsson (Lund, Sweden) has commented that the typewritten list does not fully correspond to the signatures. Rudy Bloemhard (Apeldoorn, the Netherlands), the owner of the card, has now posted it on his website, with all the signatures identified individually.

8082. St Louis, 1941

From Jacqueline Piatigorsky’s archives John Donaldson (Berkeley, CA, USA) has forwarded this photograph taken at the US Open tournament in St Louis, 1941:

Larger version

Mr Donaldson has identified a number of the figures, and with readers’ assistance we hope to build up a full key.

8083. What should be the result?

8084. Steiner and Flohr (C.N. 8080)

Dan Scoones (Port Coquitlam, BC, Canada), Martin Weissenberg (Savyon, Israel) and Luc Winants (Boirs, Belgium) suggest that the players between Steiner and Flohr are Vasja Pirc and Karl Gilg, and that the photograph was taken during the tournament in Štubňanské Teplice, 1930.

For photographs of Pirc and Gilg, see C.N.s 4052, 4532 and 6131.

8085. Russner v Walcker (C.N.s 7926 & 7930)

Denis Teyssou (Paris) provides an extract from Alekhine’s comments on the 1942 brilliancy between Russner and Walcker:

The source is Alekhine’s notebooks (C.N. 8060).

8086. Hirst v Smith

1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nf6 3 Nc3 Bb4 4 Bc4 O-O 5 d3 c6 6 Nxe5 d5 7 exd5 cxd5 8 Bb3 d4 9 a3 Qe7 10 f4 dxc3 11 axb4

11...Bg4 12 White resigns.

‘Hirst v Smith’ and ‘England, 1943’ is the only information provided regarding this miniature on page 30 of 1000 Best Short Games of Chess (New York, 1955). We note from page 162 of the July 1943 BCM that it was a correspondence game (BCCA being the British Correspondence Chess Association):

8087. Cotlar (C.N.s 3581, 3584, 3613 & 3665 & 6085)

Christian Sánchez (Rosario, Argentina) quotes from the obituary of Ovsey Cotlar on page 235 of the September-October 1952 issue of Caissa (Buenos Aires), which states that he had recently died in that city at the age of 73:

‘Falleció recientemente en esta capital, el maestro ruso Ovsey Cotlar, ampliamente conocido por sus investigaciones sobre la defensa Lasker del gambito de dama y del sistema Rubinstein del Ruy López, trabajo éste que engalanó en su oportunidad las páginas de Caissa. Pese a su avanzada edad de 73 años, era dable esperar aún otros aportes a la teoría, por lo cual es más sensible su deceso.’

8088. Translating Fischer (C.N. 7907)

We have been looking further at the two editions of Parviz M. Abolgassemi’s French translation of My 60 Memorable Games (i.e. with and without the revisions of Chantal Chaudé de Silans).

Although Mr Abolgassemi could translate statements such as ‘White wins a pawn’ without incident, Fischer’s more colourful phrases were beyond him. One example, from game 45 (after 27 Be5):

‘Bisguier slumped and his chest collapsed ...’

‘Besguier se penche tout à coup ...’

The revised edition made more of an effort:

‘Bisguier s’affaissa et courba les épaules ...’

Various names are misspelled in both French editions (e.g. Bryn, Spielman, Kmotch and Anderson), and a proper French translation of Fischer’s book is more than 40 years overdue.

8089. FIDE archives

In a letter dated 9 July 1945 to the Schweizerische Schachzeitung (November 1945 issue, page 169) the FIDE President, Alexander Rueb, reported that a fire had destroyed the Federation’s archives and much else:

‘Nous avons survécu, ma femme, mes trois fils et moi. Mais un désastre, le 3 mars 1945! Chassés de la van Speykstraat, la Fédération néerlandaise et moi avions transporté nos biens ailleurs en janvier 1944, mais 15 mois plus tard le quartier fut la proie des flammes. Tout l’inventaire de la Fédération, sa précieuese bibliothèque, ses collections et ses souvenirs ont péri! En outre, les archives de la FIDE, mon étude d’avocat ... l’oeuvre de ma vie! Heureusement, ma collection privée d’études est sauvée. Je n’ai pas perdu courage et reprendrai l’oeuvre de la FIDE aussi tôt que possible. Mon adresse: 43 Riouwstraat, La Haye.’

8090. Overstepping the time-limit

Timothy J. Bogan (Chicago, IL, USA) asks which leading masters have sustained the fewest losses on time (in tournament and match games). Documentation from readers will be much appreciated.

To start with Capablanca, the paragraph below comes from page 55 of Wonders and Curiosities of Chess by Irving Chernev (New York, 1974):

‘Capablanca, who has been credited with the quickest sight of any master who ever lived (“His speed in play”, says Fine, “was incredible in the early years. What others could not discover in a month’s study he saw at a glance.”), once lost a tournament game on time limit.’

(The Fine quote comes from page 111 of his book The World’s Great Chess Games (New York, 1951); Fine wrote ‘earlier’, not ‘early’.)

Chernev’s paragraph concerned Riumin v Capablanca, Moscow, 1935. A second game which the Cuban lost by exceeding the time-limit was in Arnhem on his 50th birthday, against Alekhine in the AVRO, 1938 tournament.

A passage by Harry Golombek about Botvinnik also comes to mind, from page 143 of the June 1958 BCM. It described the conclusion of game 15 in that year’s Smyslov v Botvinnik world championship match:

‘... absorbed in calculations as to how to obtain the win, he [Botvinnik] quite forgot about his clock and forfeited the game on time, a result that was received in stunned silence by the audience. The saddest part of it all was that even when he exceeded the time-limit he had a won ending, since he possessed two very powerful bishops and could create a remote passed pawn. He told me immediately afterwards that this was the first occasion in his life on which he had lost a game on time.’

For the loser’s own comments, see, for instance, page 244 of Botvinnik-Smyslov Three World Chess Championship Matches: 1954, 1957, 1958 by M. Botvinnik (Alkmaar, 2009):

‘As I sat there, absorbed in these thoughts, great was my astonishment when the chief arbiter Ståhlberg came over to our table and announced that Black had lost on time. Having two-three minutes for a couple of moves, I had simply forgotten all about the clock and had exceeded the time limit ...’

V. Smyslov, M. Botvinnik and G. Ståhlberg (Chess Review, July 1958, page 203)

Regarding Carl Schlechter, see page 241 of Kings, Commoners and Knaves.

8091. Botvinnik and Smyslov

Below is an article by G.H. Diggle from page 69 of Chess Characters (Geneva, 1984). It was originally published in the June 1981 Newsflash.

‘The nine world championship matches (Russians only) which spanned the ’50s and ’60s did not greatly excite the outside world, which accepted Soviet Chess as unapproachable in stature by the rest of mankind, and regarded all Russian grandmasters as “Dinosaurs” with unpronounceable names. Moreover, as international rivalry and politics were “out”, the Press had nothing to report but chess, which was, of course, fatal. Worse still, the combatants were good friends and good sportsmen, and so of “unfortunate incidents” and “embarrassing moments” there was complete dearth in the land. It is true that, for the first time in chess history, the matches were great public spectacles in themselves, staged in magnificent concert halls with the contestants spotlighted on platforms before audiences running into thousands. But some press reports at the time were so “overwhelming” that they ended up as masterpieces of anti-climax – the Badmaster misquotes from his “Munchausen” memory: “Hours before play commenced, the great opera hall was filled with great-grandmasters, grandmasters and international masters; outside in the snow, hundreds of masters and candidate masters, unable to obtain admission, listened to a running commentary broadcast by Grandmaster Ponderovsky. After ten moves a draw was agreed upon. ‘A true grandmaster epic’, as Ponderovsky sardonically remarked.”

But any person so unreasonable as to prefer fact to fantasy should refer to the BCM for 1954, 1957 and 1958, where full accounts of the three great Botvinnik-Smyslov matches are given by “H.G.”, who acted as judge throughout all three. Botvinnik then aged 42 (Smyslov was ten years younger) just retained his title in the first match, a magnificent struggle full of collapses and comebacks ending 12 games all, lost it in the second (9½-12½) and regained it in the third (12½-10½). The fighting quality of both masters can be gauged from the fact that of the whole aggregate of 69 games, only four “grandmaster draws” can be traced, and three of these were at the end of the second match, when Botvinnik clearly had no chance of catching up. The audience (apart from the “grandmaster element”) are described by H.G. as “keener and more knowledgeable than spectators in other countries” and varied from “much beribboned soldiers of high military rank” to the “average artisan”. They were an impartial crowd, though in the 14th game of the third match, when Botvinnik by winning after 68 moves established a 9-5 lead and almost ensured regaining the title, the crowd invaded the playing arena in their delight that “the old man had done it again”. Yet in the very next game Botvinnik, with a winning ending, completely forgot the clock and (for the only time in his whole career) lost on time-limit, thereby (as it turned out) postponing his final victory for another fortnight.

No fewer than 13 of the games lasted exactly 41 moves, owing mainly to resignations without resuming play, after the opening of sealed envelopes the “shrewd contents” of which doubtless resembled those which “stole the colour from Bassanio’s cheek”.’

8092. Fischer inscription

From one of our copies of Izbrannyye partii by V. Smyslov (Moscow, 1952):

8093. The Winchester Whisperer

Michael McDowell (Westcliff-on-sea, England) has forwarded a chess item from The Winchester Whisperer, a clandestine magazine produced by conscientious objectors in Winchester Prison, England during the Great War.

‘There are no clues as to the identity of “Knight Errant”. He rather overestimates the quality of the problem. Some information about the source of the composition is given in the WinChloe database: “Eduard Petsch-Manskopf, Schachprobleme 1915”.’

8094. St Louis, 1941 (C.N. 8082)

John Donaldson (Berkeley, CA, USA) provides a partial key, drawn up with assistance from Walter Shipman and David Cohen:

‘Seated from left to right: N.N., Herman Steiner, Reuben Fine, George Sturgis, L. Walter Stephens, Weaver Adams, Boris Blumin (subject to confirmation) and Hermann Helms.

Standing sixth from the left, Erich Marchand. On the far right, Joseph Rauch and Bruno Schmidt.’

8095. Early magnetic chess sets

A few snippets, in reverse chronological order:

• Chess Pie, 1927, page 40 (Wondersigns Ltd. advertisement):

• American Chess Bulletin, May-June 1926, page 76:

‘An Antwerp inventor is seeking a market for a new magnetic chess board which, he suggests, will be specially useful when traveling. “The chess board, as it now exists”, he says, “is a great disadvantage when by the least knock given to the game table the figures fall or go back, especially in trains or boats, where the natural shocks unceasingly trouble the game, with the greatest inconvenience to the spectators.” He proposes to provide the “figures” (Anglice pieces) with magnetic bases, while his board has a covering of thin steel. The idea looks attractive. – The Australasian.’

• BCM, May 1920, page 134:

‘G.E. Owen wishes to know if anyone can inform him of his father’s invention, a magnetic chess board. He was a dentist, and resided at 24 Compton Terrace, Islington, from 1863 to 1883, and died at 11 Dalmeny Road, Tufnell Park, in 1886.’

On page 170 of the June 1920 issue W.O. Woodfield wrote:

‘The invention referred to is apparently No. 1,992 (1868), the abridged specification of which reads, “To hold the pieces in their places upon the board, each square is fitted with a magnet, and each piece with a disc of sheet iron, or vice versa.” Provisional protection only was granted to this application.’

• The Cincinnati Commercial, 4 March 1882:

‘A Berlin inventor has lately produced an iron chess board and chess men. In the men are concealed small magnets which cause them to adhere to the board to prevent displacement by the jar of railroad or steamboat traveling.’

8096. C.R.M. Talbot

A game played at the St George’s Chess Club and published on page 79 of the Chess Player’s Chronicle, 1850:

Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot – H.G. Cattley
London, 1850
Petroff Defence

1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nf6 3 Nc3 Bc5 4 Bc4 d6 5 d3 h6 6 Be3 Bb6 7 Qd2 Bg4 8 h3 Bxf3 9 gxf3 Nbd7 10 O-O-O a6 11 d4 exd4 12 Bxd4 Bxd4 13 Qxd4 Ne5 14 f4 Nxc4 15 Qxc4 b5 16 Qc6+ Nd7 17 Nd5 O-O 18 Rhg1 Nf6 19 Qc3 Kh7

20 Rxg7+ Kxg7 21 Rg1+ Kh8 22 Nxf6 c5

23 Rg7 Kxg7 and White mates in three moves.

This was one of two wins by Talbot which were given on pages 73-74 of the February 1890 BCM following his death, and a note after 19...Kh7 included the remark ‘The mate now administered is a gem of the first water, and worthy of the greatest players’. The same issue (pages 46-47) reproduced Talbot’s obituary from The Times of 18 January, together with a note on his chess activity by William Wayte. In The Times the following observations had appeared:

‘Mr Talbot has gained the honour of being Father of the House of Commons after an experience which is almost unprecedented, for he has sat for the same constituency for no less than 59 years. His mother, Lady Mary, after his father’s death married Sir Christopher Coles, who was returned in 1820 for the county of Glamorgan. Sir Christopher kept the seat till 1830, when Mr Talbot himself stood as a Liberal, and was returned for the seat which he had ever since held. That Mr Talbot’s voice was never heard in the House of Commons is the more remarkable, because he was in point of fact a clever and ready speaker.’

Page 290 of the August 1882 BCM mentioned regarding Talbot’s political career that he was ‘the only member who dates from the unreformed Parliament’. The game against Cattley was also given on page 281 of the July 1898 BCM (with the artistic enhancement 22...b4).

See too Chess and the House of Commons.

8097. Chess and bridge

From Michael Clapham (Ipswich, England):

‘An addition to your list of authors of works on both chess and bridge is Hugh Baron Bignold (1870-1930), who edited the Australian Chess-Annual (Sydney, 1896) and conducted the chess column in the Sydney Morning Herald from 1895 to 1911. He also wrote Auction Simplified, a 26-page book published in Sydney in 1922.’

8098. The End Game

Has any reader seen the 1950 production (Pulitzer Prize Playhouse) The End Game? The short story by John P. Marquand was published on pages 24-25 and 145-179 of the March 1944 issue of Good Housekeeping, and also appeared in his anthology Thirty Years (Boston, 1954).

An illustrative excerpt from page 155 of Good Housekeeping: