Chess
Notes
Edward
Winter
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6293. Kaspartov (C.N.s 4150, 4154,
4155 & 4225)
Javier Asturiano Molina (Murcia, Spain) reverts to the
128-page book published in 1999 by Ediciones Altosa, Manual
del ajedrecista by ‘Garry Kaspartov’. It is
difficult not to conclude that the volume is ‘a piece of
mercantile trickery by the publisher to exploit the
former world champion’s name’ (C.N. 4154).
The genesis of the Manual del ajedrecista is
still unknown, but our correspondent notes a possible
further clue: for ‘pieces’ the book often uses ‘fichas’
(a common term in some other board games) rather
than the usual chess word ‘piezas’. Mr Asturiano
Molina has, though, found ‘fichas’ in the chess
writings of Manuel Golmayo de la Torriente.
Can any reader take the investigation forward?
Around 1800, before he had even entered his teens,
Edward Smedley wrote this poem:
Source: Poems by the Late Rev. Edward Smedley,
A.M. (London, 1837), pages 107-108.
Marc Hébert (Charny, Canada) raises the subject of
Capablanca’s game against S. Coleman which was given
on pages 83-84 of the April 1911 American Chess
Bulletin:
Sol Coleman – José Raúl Capablanca
Memphis, 12 December 1910
Bishop’s Opening
1 e4 e5 2 Bc4 Nf6 3 d3 Nc6 4 Nc3 Bb4 5 Bd2 Bxc3 6
Bxc3 d5 7 Bb5 dxe4 8 Bxc6+ bxc6 9 Bxe5 Qe7 10 d4 Qb4+
11 c3 Qxb2 12 Qc1 Qxc1+ 13 Rxc1 Nd5 14 Ne2 f5 15 Bf4
Ba6 16 c4 Nb4 17 O-O Nxa2 18 Rc2 Nb4 19 Rc3 Kd7 20 Rd1
g5 21 Bc1
21...Nd3 22 d5 cxd5 23 cxd5 Nxc1 24 Nxc1 Rab8 25 Nb3
Rb5 26 Nc5+ Rxc5 27 Rxc5 Rb8 28 Rdc1 Rb6 29 Rxc7+ Kd6
30 Rxa7 Kxd5 31 Rxh7 Bd3 32 h3 e3 33 Rd7+ Ke4 34 f3+
Kf4 35 Rxd3 g4 36 Kh2 e2 37 g3+ Resigns.
Mr Hébert notes that the game was discussed by
Vlastimil Fiala on pages 72-74 of the Winter 2000
edition of the Quarterly for Chess History,
also on the basis of publication of the score in the Commercial
Appeal of 18 December 1910. A divergence was
noted at move 21, and the rest of the game according
to the Commercial Appeal was:
21...Kd6 22 d5 cxd5 23 cxd5 Na2 24 Rc2 Nxc1 25 Nxc1
Rab8 26 Nb3 Rb5 27 Rc6+ Kd7 28 Nc5+ Rxc5 29 Rxc5 Rb8
30 Rdc1 Rb6 31 Rxc7+ Kd6 32 Rxa7 Kxd5 33 Rxh7 Bd3 34
h3 e3 35 Rd7+ Ke4 36 f3+ Kf4 37 Rxd3 Resigns.
The Quarterly gave ‘O-1’ at the end of both
versions, but the remainder of the item confirms that
Coleman won. The American Chess Bulletin
version was included by Rogelio Caparrós in the 1991
and 1994 editions of The Games of José Raúl
Capablanca. He too put ‘O-1’ and, also for
reasons unknown, gave the venue as New York instead of
Memphis and, in the indexes, had a different date (6
November 1910).
6296. Blindfold phenomena
Jerry Spinrad (Nashville, TN, USA) mentions that a
number of newspapers in November 1858 carried reports,
courtesy of Harper’s Weekly, on two young
players of blindfold chess in Fayette County, KY. For
example, the following appeared on page 2 of the Lancaster
Intelligencer of 16 November 1858:
This and other newspaper reports can be consulted at
the Penn
State Digital Library.
From Alan O’Brien (Mitcham, England):
‘As a general collection of modern high-standard
games with very good annotations I would recommend
the second edition of Instructive Modern
Chess Masterpieces by Igor Stohl (Gambit
Publications Ltd., 2009), a 446-page volume which
costs only £17.99. It puts an avalanche of books
from other publishers at similar prices to shame.’
The book is an enlarged edition of a much-praised
work produced by the same company in 2001.
We note too that Gambit Publications
Ltd. has brought out an expanded edition of John
Nunn’s Chess Puzzle Book, which is also a
candidate for inclusion in the Very Best Chess Books
listing. Readers’ recommendations in any category remain
welcome.
Lawrence Totaro (Las Vegas, NV, USA)
notes that at the website www.footnote.com
mentioned in C.N. 6267 it is also possible to view the
FBI case file on Emanuel Lasker in relation to a visa
application in 1920-21 (case number 40-5546).
From John Donaldson (Berkeley, CA, USA) comes this
photograph:
Robert and Donald Byrne stand together in the centre,
but which other figures can be identified?
6300.
Zukertort game
The game below, lively but by no means error-free, was
played in a 13-board simultaneous display:
Johannes Hermann Zukertort – Samuel Bash
Glasgow, August 1875
King’s Gambit Accepted
1 e4 e5 2 f4 exf4 3 Nf3 g5 4 h4 g4 5 Ne5 Nf6 6 Bc4 d5 7
exd5 Bd6 8 d4 Nh5 9 Nc3 a6 10 O-O Qxh4 11 Qe1 Qxe1 12
Rxe1 O-O 13 Ne2 f3 14 gxf3 gxf3 15 Nxf3 Kh8 16 Ne5 f6 17
Nd3 Bh3 18 Nef4 b5 19 Nxh5 Rg8+ 20 Kf2 bxc4 21 Ndf4 Bxf4
22 Nxf4 Bf5 23 Bd2 Nd7 24 Re7 Rac8 25 Rh1 Rce8 26 d6
cxd6 27 Nd5
27...Be4 28 Rh5 Rg2+ 29 Ke3 Rxe7 30 Nxe7 Bxc2 31 Bc3
Bd1 32 Ra5 Re2+ 33 Kf4 Rxe7 34 Rxa6 d5 35 a4 Re4+ 36 Kg3
h5 37 a5 Rg4+ 38 Kh3 f5 39 Rd6 Nb8 40 Rxd5 f4 41 Rxh5+
Kg8 42 d5 Rg3+ 43 Kh4 Bxh5 44 Kxh5 Rxc3 45 bxc3 f3 46 d6
f2 47 a6 Nxa6 48 d7 f1(Q) 49 d8(Q)+ Qf8 Drawn.
Source: Chess Player’s Chronicle, 15 February
1876, pages 36-37 (with notes by Ranken).
A quote commonly attributed to Anatoly Karpov is
given, to pick a book at random, on page 45 of Kasparov
v Deeper Blue by Daniel King (London, 1997):
‘Karpov, the blue-eyed Russian who once stated that
the two great loves of his life were “chess and
Marxism” ...’
We have seen the original quote ascribed to Der
Spiegel of 3 June 1985 and shall be grateful if
a reader can provide a copy. In the meantime, two
later comments by Karpov come to mind:
‘On dit souvent de lui qu’il a deux passions:
“Les échecs et le marxisme”. “C’est une vision
simpliste”, rétorque-t-il, “j’ai aussi d’autres
intérêts culturels. De plus, je suis président du
Fonds soviétique en faveur de la paix.” Une
fonction à laquelle il tient particulièrement,
ajoute-t-il.’
Source: Le Journal de Genève, 1-2 February
1986, page 25.
‘– You’ve been quoted as saying you have two loves
– chess and Communism.’
‘– I never said this. That was a provocation
invented by the people who prepared the press
information. I have many loves – my wife, my family,
my son. I play tennis, I collect stamps. I like the
theater.’
Source: interview given by Karpov to Anne Underwood,
Newsweek, 3 December 1990, page 58.
The above photograph accompanied an article about
Karpov and his stamp collection on pages 42-50 of Das
Magazin, 8-14 May 1999. It stated that he owned
over a million items.
6302.
Line clearance
Michael McDowell (Westcliff-on-sea, England) writes:
‘On pages 171-172 of Irving Chernev’s The
Chess Companion (above) there is an amusing
three-move problem by “Wolff”. Chernev writes:
“What was Black’s last move? Obviously it could
only have been P-B4. Then 1 PxP e.p. P-K5 2 N-K3 KxP
3 KxQP mate.”
A similar position is on page 65 of A.C. White’s
book Tasks and Echoes (Stroud, 1915):
There is a white pawn on a2 and no white pawn on
e2. The latter is necessary to prevent a cook by 1
e4 c4 2 Qf2 or g1, although as the only function of
the queen is to prevent Black’s last move from being
b6xc5 it could be replaced with a white pawn. A.C.
White presented the problem as a normal “Mate in
three”.’
We add that the following composition was published on
page 159 of Deutsches Wochenschach, 23 April
1911:
It was page 208 of the 28 May 1911 issue which had the
problem given in the above-mentioned book by A.C. White:
The solution appeared on page 254 of the 9 July 1911 Deutsches
Wochenschach:
Mr McDowell comments:
‘Chernev’s setting makes sense only as a
conditional problem, because otherwise 1 Ra1 mates
next move, but the pawn on e2 is superfluous. Wolf’s
setting 10082v, with the rook free to move, strikes
me as more subtle.’
6303. Missing game and Alekhine aloft
The New York Times of 17 August 1932 (sports
section, page 20) reported that the first-round
encounter between Fine and Reshevsky at Pasadena, 1932
‘attracted much attention’, but the game-score has yet
to be found. See, for instance, pages 26-27 of Reuben
Fine by Aidan Woodger (Jefferson, 2004).
The New York Times article added:
‘Before the tournament got under way several of the
competitors were taken aloft in the dirigible
Volunteer. Kashdan and Dake contested an informal
game, with Dr Alekhine acting as referee. The result,
which was a draw by repetition of moves, was broadcast
from the airship by Dr Alekhine, who expressed the
hope that chess might be studied in the schools. He
said:
“In several countries, Mexico in particular, and in
the United States, at Milwaukee, they already are
doing so. It is an intellectual pursuit which
affords pleasure and at the same time trains
faculties for intelligent activities in everyday
life.”’
See also page 429 of the Skinner/Verhoeven book on
Alekhine.
The concluding lines of a Letter to the Editor from
‘Judex’ on pages 386-389 of the Chess Player’s
Chronicle, 1845 (volume five):
‘I honestly believe, and with this I conclude, that
if a paper were drawn up, binding its underwriters
never to begin a game again for the remainder of
their natural lives, but with King’s Pawn two,
whether first or second players, such deed, if sent
round to the Chess Societies of all Europe, would be
signed by an immense majority of the chief players.’
Jan Kalendovský (Brno, Czech Republic) submits a
photograph of Bogoljubow from page 12 of Wiener
Bilder, 2 September 1928:
A picture from our collection:
The photograph is proving a difficult identification
task, but Leonard Barden (London) and Guy Brunet
(Montreal, Canada) suggest that the player on the
extreme right is Wolfgang Uhlmann.
6307. British Chess Bulletin
(C.N. 3634)
C.N. 3634 asked for information about the British
Chess Bulletin, a scarce monthly
publication edited by H.T. Dickinson from October 1910
to January 1911 whose final issue had a short story
entitled ‘The Mystery of the Missing Pawn: An Adventure
of Herlock Shomes’.
Michael Clapham (Ipswich, England) writes:
‘The full run of the British Chess Bulletin
contained 38 pages, and each issue is bound in green
covers featuring mainly advertisements. The size is
approximately 11 x 8 inches.
The content is the usual mixture of editorial
notes and news, games (22 in the four issues),
problems (24), answers to correspondents (with such
familiar names of the period as T.R. Dawson and C.S.
Kipping), advertisements, etc.
There are also various articles of interest. Issue
two has a feature by F.R. Gittins on
Blackburne’s jubilee, while issues two and three
have articles on Notable British Composers, also by
Gittins, concerning Mrs W.J. Baird and Carslake
Winter-Wood.
Issue four includes the Herlock Shomes story by
H.T. Dickinson to which you referred in C.N. 3634:
The periodical competed with its contemporaries on
cost (“priced at 2d instead of 6d or more”), and the
editorial in issue three mentions a large
circulation increasing every day, with many
subscribers abroad. However, publication ceased with
issue four, although there is no reference in that
issue to the impending termination.
P.H. Williams mentioned the Bulletin
on page 249 of the May 1911 Chess Amateur:
“British Chess Bulletin
Whether or not any more numbers appear, I wish to
publicly state that I have severed my connection with
this journal. I never had anything to do with the
management of its affairs, and merely agreed to judge
the problem tourney. Circumstances have come to my
knowledge which lead me to make this announcement.”’
6308. Draughts and chess
Arie van der Stoep (Hooge Zwaluwe, the Netherlands) is
the author of two books in English which may be of
particular interest to students of the early history, or
pre-history, of both chess and draughts. A History
of Draughts (Rockanje, 1984) has the explanatory
subtitle ‘with a diachronic study of words for draughts,
chess, backgammon and morris’. A summary of Draughts
in Relation to Chess and Alquerque (Hooge Zwaluwe,
2007) is provided on the book’s back cover:
Mr van der Stoep’s research is both historical and
etymological, and he concludes that until circa 1800
draughts, not chess, was the major board game.
Over de herkomst van het woord damspel
(Rockanje, 1997) is a further work by him (in Dutch,
with English and French summaries) which argues, on the
basic of linguistic evidence, that draughts (the jeu
de dames) is not necessarily a ‘daughter’ of
chess.
All three volumes can be ordered from Mr van der
Stoep’s website A
history of checkers/draughts.
This inscription appears in our bound volume of the Revista
Română de Şah, 1937. The signer will be named
shortly.
The topic of the youngest chess authors was discussed
in C.N.s 287, 543 and 662 (see page 108 of Chess
Explorations), with further references to Arturo
Pomar in C.N.s 3988 and 4086. In C.N. 662 a
correspondent, Bob Meadley, drew attention to a
privately-printed book by Murray Chandler (born on 4
April 1960): A White Pawn in Europe
(Wainuiomata, 1975).
Now, John Donaldson (Berkeley, CA, USA) points out
that a volume by Daniel Naroditsky is due to be
published by New in Chess in 2010. Its title is Mastering
Positional Chess: Practical Lessons of a Junior
World Champion.
We are also grateful to Mr Donaldson for obtaining
from Vladimir Naroditsky his son’s birth-date: 9
November 1995.
6311.
R.F.
Foster
Oliver Beck (Seattle, WA, USA) mentions the following
passage in Foster’s Complete Hoyle, which was
originally published in 1897:
‘The amount of study and practice required to make a
person proficient in chess brings a serious drain upon
the time, and the fascinations of the game are such
that once a person has become thoroughly interested in
it, everything else is laid aside, and it is notorious
that no man distinguished as a chessplayer has ever
been good for anything else.’
The page number for these observations (the second
paragraph of the section headed ‘Table Games’) varies
from one edition to another.
After noting that the above text is followed by an
extensive quote from the Blackburne interview given in
C.N. 5940, Mr Beck asks whether R.F. Foster’s monograph,
Chess A Manual for Beginners, also published in
1897, contains similar sentiments about chessplayers.
It does not, but we should be interested to know
whether Foster reiterated his standpoint elsewhere.
C.N. 5667 gave the above pair of photographs of
Alekhine in play against Bogoljubow. We add now the
following from page 24 of Famous Chess Players
by Peter Morris Lerner (Minneapolis, 1973):
Alekhine’s first volume of Best Games has
appeared in various languages, but does a complete
Spanish translation exist?
We have the very rare edition Mis mejores
partidas de ajedrez 1908-1923 (Montevideo,
1929), translated from the English by ‘Passer By’, but
it is only 100 pages long and stops after Game 50
(Alekhine v Rabinovich, Moscow, 1918). The front cover
states ‘primera
serie’ and ‘50 partidas’, and it seems
that no volume with the remaining 50 games was
published.
6314. Missing game (C.N. 6303)
Regarding Fine v Reshevsky, Pasadena, 1932, C.N. 2429
(see page 170 of A Chess Omnibus) referred to a
footnote on page 30 of Fine’s book Bobby Fischer’s Conquest
of the World’s Chess Championship (New York,
1973):
Ed Tassinari (Scarsdale, NY, USA) adds:
‘Page 4 of the August 1949 issue of California
Chess News contains a brief comment from Harry
Borochow, a competitor at Pasadena, 1932, stating
that Fine had been playing bridge with Alekhine and
others until three o’clock in the morning after
adjourning his game with Reshevsky. When it was time
to resume the game no-one woke up Fine, who did not
appear for the resumption and accordingly lost the
game which, Borochow contends, was “easily won”.’
‘In the 11th game of their match in 1927 for the
world’s championship, Capablanca took two hours on
one move, and Alekhine took an hour and
three-quarters for his reply.’
C.N. 2344 (see page 345 of A Chess Omnibus)
noted that the above claim appeared, in more or less
identical wording, on page 39 of Irving Chernev’s Curious
Chess Facts (New York, 1937), page 101 of the
same author’s Wonders and Curiosities of Chess (New
York, 1974) and page 100 of Chess by
Kenneth M. Grover and Thomas Wiswell (London, 1952).
Now, Alan O’Brien (Mitcham, England) notes that in
another match-game, the 28th, this position arose:
Alekhine played 41 Nef4 and wrote:
‘The text move was sealed and it took me an hour
and 50 minutes to consider it, the record length of
time for this match.’
The above is the English translation on page 199 of On
the Road to the World Championship 1923-1927
(Oxford, 1984). See too pages 205 and 469 respectively
of the original German and French editions of
Alekhine’s book (Auf dem Wege zur Weltmeisterschaft
and volume two of Deux cents parties d’échecs).
After 41...Rb3 42 Ra7 Kd8 43 g3 Alekhine reported
that Capablanca thought for 40 minutes before offering
a draw, which was accepted.
According to page 2 of Crítica,
30 November 1927 Alekhine took four hours and two
minutes for the entire game, Capablanca’s total being
two hours 30 minutes. The London Rules, under which
the match was played, specified that on each play-day
the session would last five hours and that the
time-limit was 40 moves per two and a half hours.
Making all these ‘facts’ compatible with each other is
far from easy.
6316. Euwe line in the Winawer
Variation (C.N.s 5607 & 5613)
From Thomas Niessen (Aachen, Germany):
‘I asked in C.N. 5607 why the line 1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5
3 Nc3 Bb4 4 e5 c5 5 a3 Bxc3+ 6 bxc3 Ne7 7 Qg4 cxd4 8
Qxg7 Rg8 9 Qxh7 Qc7 10 Kd1 is often attributed to
Euwe (and Gligorić). C.N. 5613 contained some
further information, from you and your readers, and
the conclusion seems to be that the theoreticians
confused two variations.
I have now found two remarks by Enrico Paoli, one
dating from 1953 and the other from 1981, which
point in another direction.
On pages 29-30 of his book on Venice, 1953 Paoli
annotated his game against Lothar Schmid. No comment
was appended to 10 Kd1, but Schmid’s reply 10...Nd7
received an exclamation mark and was described as an
excellent novelty. Previously, Paoli added,
10...Nbc6 11 f4 Bd7 12 Nf3 had been played.
In fact, only two earlier games with 10 Kd1 seem
to be known (Willborg v Nyman, Stockholm, 1952 and
Karaklajić v Cala, Bled, 4 June 1953), and neither
featured the line 10...Nbc6 11 f4 Bd7 12 Nf3.
In the tournament book Paoli also mentioned that
Euwe had analysed the 8 Qxg7 line.
On pages 84-85 of the March 1981 Deutsche
Schachzeitung Paoli annotated Taruffi v Renman,
Reggio Emilia 1980-81, commenting after 10 Kd1 dxc3
(in my translation):
“I remember my game with Lothar Schmid at Venice,
1953 (won by Canal), where he continued 10...Nd7.
This produced a new problem (I knew only Euwe’s
10...Nbc6, which he had analysed in Schach-Archiv)
...”
There is thus now another suggestion (in addition
to the one in C.N. 5613) that Euwe published
analysis of the line in or before 1953. Can it be
traced?’
Russell Miller (Camas, WA, USA) has sent us a copy of
the second and final issue (April 1941) of Chess
Charts, produced by Olaf I. Ulvestad and Kenneth
Harkness.
Information about Chess Charts is to be found
on pages 10-12 of Olaf Ulvestad: An American
Original by John Donaldson (Davenport, 2002).
Page 11 has a nomination for ‘the rarest book ever
published’: Neo Chess, co-authored by Ulvestad
with R.P. Allen in 1947. Donaldson states that the
only copy of which he is aware is in the Seattle
Public Library.
Knud Lysdal (Grindsted, Denmark) asks whether further
details are available about an episode reported by
James E. Gates in his obituary of Norman T. Whitaker
on page 521 of the August 1975 Chess Life &
Review:
‘One of the stories about him concerned a US
correspondence championship before World War II. A
friend of his, who was competing in the tournament,
suddenly died. His widow needed money, and this gave
Norman the idea of finishing his friend’s games
without letting anyone know. Whitaker wound up
winning the tournament – the first, as far as I
know, won by a dead man.’
Gates’ story was quoted on page 145 of Shady
Side: The Life and Crimes of Norman Tweed Whitaker,
Chessmaster by John S. Hilbert (Yorklyn, 2000).
We mentioned Dr Hilbert’s deeply-researched book in
C.N. 2443, describing it as ‘an enthralling romp
through tournament halls, court rooms and prison
cells’.
6319.
Quiz question
The front cover of the 11/1935 issue of Moravský
ilustrovaný zpravodaj has been submitted by Jan
Kalendovský (Brno, Czech Republic) and prompts us to set
a little quiz question: which game is featured on the
demonstration board?
Jeremy Silman (Los Angeles, CA, USA) informs us that
he has been studying the games of Gioacchino Greco
(1600-circa 1634) with increasing admiration:
‘There are many games which show Greco toying
with his hopelessly over-matched opponents, and
one gains the impression that he was a master of
tactics and of open games, and that he was so far
beyond other players of his time that it was, in
effect, a case of a grandmaster versus players
rated between 1000 and 1800. Once in a while,
Greco would face someone who could fight back,
which allows us to see Greco’s
positional skills. It is possible that some, or
even all, of the games were fabricated, but even
if they were inventions they still show a chess
understanding centuries ahead of his time.
Here are two great examples (both of which will
be used in my forthcoming new edition of How
to Reassess Your Chess):
N.N. – Gioacchino Greco
1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 e5 c5 4 c3 Nc6 5 Nf3 Bd7 6
Be3 c4 7 b3 b5 8 a4 a6 9 axb5 axb5 10 Rxa8 Qxa8
11 bxc4
(Black has to recapture the pawn on c4. Either
choice is playable, but one stands out above the
other.) 11…dxc4 (Breaking the old “always
capture towards the center” rule. This gives Black
far more to work with than the pedestrian
11...bxc4. With 11...dxc4, Black creates a home on
d5 for a knight, opens up the a8-h1 diagonal for
his queen (and potentially for his light-squared
bishop too) and, most importantly, creates a
queen’s-side majority of pawns. This means that
Black, whenever he chooses to do so, can make a
passed pawn by ...b4.) 12 Be2 (12 d5 exd5
13 Qxd5 Qb8 is also fine for Black.) 12…Nge7
13 O-O Nd5
(Black, with his knight on d5 and his pawn
majority ready to make a passed pawn (by ...b4)
any time he wants, has an excellent position.)
Source: The Games of Greco by Professor
Hoffmann (London, 1900), pages 79-81.
N.N. – Gioacchino Greco
1 e4 c5 2 f4 Nc6 3 Nf3 d6 4 Bc4 Nh6 5 O-O Bg4
6 c3 e6 7 h3 Bxf3 8 Qxf3 Qd7 9 d3 O-O-O 10 f5
Ne5 11 Qe2 Nxc4 12 Bxh6 Na5 13 b4 Nc6 14 Bd2
exf5 15 exf5 f6 16 b5 Ne7 17 Qe6
(The queen has just leapt to e6, where it flexes
its muscles and also dares Black to capture and
give White a passed pawn on e6. But Greco sees
beyond the hype and realizes that it is actually a
severe weakness.) 17…Qxe6 18 fxe6 (The
pawn is imposing here, but it turns out to be
extremely vulnerable.) 18…Ng6 (Another way
is 18...Re8 19 a4 Nd5 20 c4 Nc7.) 19 d4 d5 20
Be3 c4 21 Bc1 Re8 22 Re1 Bd6 23 a4 Nf8
(The pawn falls, leaving Black with an extra
pawn and a winning position.)
Source: The Games of Greco by Professor
Hoffmann (London, 1900), pages 92-93.
My impression is that Greco was further ahead of
his contemporaries than any player who came after
him. He was clearly of grandmaster strength at
tactics, his openings were (for his time)
cutting-edge, and his play in open positions was
world-class. Yes, he took liberties which would
not stand up against stronger opponents, but I
think that he was well aware of his opponents’
failings and thus had little or nothing to worry
about – he swung the bat freely in an effort to
create classic mates and attacks that no doubt
amused him.
He had solid positional skills too. In the first
game above, his capture away from the center
(11...dxc4) was very astute, and in the second
game he was more than happy to play for the win of
a pawn (although, even then, he ended up with a
strong king’s-side attack).
Moving forward, I feel that Philidor may have
been the best of his time, but other players were
close (and Greco would have slaughtered everyone
of Philidor’s day, including Philidor).
Labourdonnais was extremely strong, but that was
200 years after Greco’s reign. Even so, in my
opinion Greco would have given both Labourdonnais
and Morphy a stern challenge. In the modern age
(starting with Steinitz), Greco would have needed
to pick up many new tricks to compete, but I think
that talent like his would have blossomed in any
period.
Greco was a man in an age of chess children.
There never was, and never will be again, a player
so far ahead of his time.’
6321. Alekhine in Latvia (C.N.s 2793
& 3450)
A claim that Alekhine scored only 17 wins out of 50
games in a 1930s simultaneous exhibition in Riga was
discussed in C.N.s 2793 and 3450 (see page 257 of Chess
Facts and Fables).
At the webpage of the National
Digital
Library of Latvia Dominique Thimognier (Fondettes,
France) has found a number of reports for the period
11-18 September 1935 in the Latvian publication Rīts.
An example, from page 5 of the 13 September 1935 issue,
is reproduced below.
We shall be grateful if a reader with knowledge of
Latvian can check whether any of the reports refer to a
particularly low score by Alekhine in one of his
displays.
A number of C.N. items have discussed the so-called
Paris Opening (1 Nh3); see pages 88-89 and 102 of Chess
Explorations. A further game is added here:
J. Kornreich – Edgard Colle
Belgian Championship, Antwerp, December 1929
Paris Opening
1 Nh3 e5 2 g3 d5 3 d4 exd4 4 Qxd4 Nc6 5 Qd1 Nf6 6 Bg2
Bb4+ 7 c3 Bxh3 8 Bxh3 Bc5 9 O-O h6 10 b3 O-O 11 Bb2
Ne4 12 Nd2 Qe7 13 Bg2 Rad8 14 Qc2 f5 15 e3 Ne5 16 Rad1
Ng4 17 Nxe4 fxe4 18 Qe2 Ne5 19 c4 Nf3+ 20 Bxf3 exf3 21
Qd3
21...Qe6 22 Rfe1 Bb4 23 cxd5 Qh3 24 Qf1 Qd7 25 e4
Bxe1 26 Qxe1 Qh3 27 Qf1 Qxf1+ 28 Kxf1 Rfe8 29 e5 Rd7
30 Rd3 Red8 31 Rxf3 Rxd5 32 e6 Rf8 33 e7 Re8 34 Re3
Rd7 35 Ba3 b6 36 Rf3 c5 37 Rf8+ Rxf8 38 exf8(Q)+ Kxf8
39 Ke2 Kf7 40 f4 h5 41 h3 Ke6 42 g4 g6 43 Bb2 hxg4 44
hxg4 Rh7 45 White resigns.
Source: Gedenkboek-Colle/Mémorial Colle by M.
Euwe (Liège, 1935), pages 115-117. Only the first 28
moves were given on page 585 of L’Echiquier,
16 January 1930.
Which was the first chess book specifically written
for children?
6324. Chess and Marxism/Communism
(C.N. 6301)
Andreas Saremba (Brieselang, Germany) reports that the
article containing the alleged Karpov remark can be read
online (Der
Spiegel, 3 June 1985). The passage in
question:
‘Karpow hingegen ist Russe. Er ist ZK-Mitglied des
Komsomol, Präsident des sowjetischen Friedensfonds
und Träger des Leninordens. Seit seine Ehe
geschieden wurde, bewohnt er eine Villa 40 Kilometer
vor Moskau allein, meist umgeben von Freunden. Er
fährt einen Mercedes mit Autotelephon. “Ich habe nur
zwei Lieben, Schach und Marxismus”, ist ein für ihn
typischer Satz.’
C.N. 4462 asked about J.C.H. Macbeth, who co-authored
with Frank J. Marshall Chess Step by Step (New
York, 1924) and also wrote on bridge.
Alan McGowan (Waterloo, Ontario, Canada) notes
isolated references to Macbeth in the BCM in
the early twentieth century. For example, he lost on
board five for Aberdeen against Dundee on 22 March
1902 (BCM, April 1902, pages 183-184). Our
correspondent has also found Macbeth’s obituary in The
Scotsman, 4 April 1935, page 11:
We see that his obituary on page 15 of the books and
arts section of the New York Times, 23 March
1935 stated that he died on 21 March at the Hospital
for Joint Diseases in New York, aged about 58. ‘He was
an old friend of the Marchese Guglielmo Marconi,
inventor of wireless telegraphy.’
Information is still being sought on
the chess activities of Birdie Reeve, but we can
at last present a high-quality photograph of her,
recently acquired:
To gauge by the number of correct replies received,
the little quiz question was, as anticipated, fairly
easy. Given that Flohr is pictured in play against
Ragozin (Moscow, 1935), it can be established from the
tournament book (page 173) or a database that the
demonstration-board position which arose in the same
round (the third) showed Pirc v Lilienthal.
Some readers commented on the apparent absence of a
white knight on b1, but on the basis of a darkened
detail of the picture we tentatively suggest that the
piece is there:
6328. Alekhine’s Best Games
(C.N. 6313)
Regarding C.N. 6313, information has been received from
Josep Alió (Tarragona, Spain) and Javier Asturiano
Molina (Murcia, Spain). The latter points out the
strange existence of websites claiming that a Spanish
translation of the first volume of Alekhine’s Best
Games was published by Afrodisio Aguado, Madrid in
1924; such an early date might have been expected to
arouse suspicion. Two editions from that publisher have
been found; they date from the 1940s, but only one has
an exact year of publication (1947). In common with the
1929 Uruguayan volume discussed in C.N. 6313, only the
first 50 games were given. No translator’s name
appeared. The Spanish text was the same as in the 1929
book, but there were differences in lay-out.
The dust-jacket of one of the editions had a curious
description of the work as posthumous.
A photograph was included of Alekhine signing his
contract for the book:
Our correspondents note furthermore that a full version
of Alekhine’s book (100 games) was published by Ricardo
Aguilera, Madrid in 1974 and 1986. In 2001, La Casa del
Ajedrez (Madrid) also brought out an edition.
The 1974 edition from
Ricardo Aguilera
Mr Alió, who has provided the illustrations for the
present item, comments:
‘The imprint page of the Ricardo Aguilera edition
says:
‘Versión de la edición realizada por Editorial
Afrodisio Aguado, S.A., Madrid, en 1944, según la
traducción del original de M. Golmayo.’
It is interesting to note that Golmayo was the
translator of the 1940s edition, but there is no
explanation of the difference in the number of
games. Even though there are 100, not 50,
games, it is stated that the edition is a
“version” of the 1940s one.’
6329. Chess for younger readers (C.N.
6323)
As regards the first chess book specifically written
for children, Michael Clapham (Ipswich, England)
suggests The Royal Game. Chess for Young People
by Edith Lucie Weart (New York, 1948):
We add that Edith Lucie Weart (1897-1977) appeared on
the front cover of Chess Life, July 1967:
References to earlier children’s books will be welcome.
For example, in Spanish there was Pequeño
ajedrez. Ajedrez para niños y
principiantes by Ricardo Aguilera (Madrid, 1947),
and below from our collection is the front cover of an
anonymous book published in Barcelona the same year, ¿Juguemos
al ajedrez?:
Chess
Notes Archives
Copyright: Edward Winter. All
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