11927.
Further Fischer material
John Donaldson (Berkeley, CA, USA) draws attention to
a website
which offers a large number of Fischer-related
newspaper articles.
He also writes:
‘I recently listened to a 2022 podcast series on
the Worldwide Church of God, where one episode is
on Bobby Fischer. One of the people they talk
with, a person who interviewed Fischer in late
1976/77, when he was disenchanted with the WWCOG,
still has the tape recordings of the interview.
Although they play only segments of the five
hours, some parts are interesting. Unless anyone
in the former Yugoslavia still has the press
interviews in which Fischer discussed a possible
1978 match with Gligorić, it is likely to be the
last pre-1992 interview that Fischer gave. It is Episode 1.7: ‘Finding
Bobby Fischer: The Lost Tapes’.
Incidentally, late last year I had a discussion
with Eugenio Torre in St Louis. He was reticent to
speak about Fischer but did confirm that he played
only one training game with him (a long draw in a
2 c3 Sicilian which is known).’
The Torre v Fischer game was given in C.N. 8638.
11928.
Capablanca on Ståhlberg
Peter Holmgren (Stockholm) is seeking substantiation
of a claim, readily found on the Internet without any
source, that Capablanca described Ståhlberg as ‘el
león sueco’ (‘the Swedish lion’).
11929.
Castling
‘Castling is the first step towards a well-ordered
life’ is a familiar remark by Tartakower,
cited, for instance, in Wolfgang Heidenfeld’s entry on
(sourceless) chess aphorisms on page 16 of The
Encyclopedia of Chess by Harry Golombek (London,
1977).
The castling observation is one of dozens given by
Tartakower on pages 551-553 of the Teplitz-Schönau,
1922 tournament book (shown below courtesy of the
Cleveland Public Library):
Thus page 553 has:
‘Rochade ist der erste Schritt zum geordneten
Leben.’
A number of other observations above will be
familiar. Concerning ‘Die Fehler sind dazu da, um
gemacht zu werden’ (customarily translated as
‘The mistakes are all there, waiting to be made’), we
have now slightly amended the Tartakower entry in The
Most Famous Chess Quotations, given that the
Teplitz-Schönau, 1922 tournament book predated our
source (Die Hypermoderne Schachpartie).
See too our feature article Castling
in Chess.
11930.
Lady Edith Margaret Thomas (C.N.s 5690, 9848 &
10680)
C.N. 5690 referred to a record of Sir George Thomas’s
chessplaying mother, Lady Edith Margaret Thomas (née
Foster), having been born circa 1853 at The
Bogue, St Elizabeth, Jamaica.
Jon D’Souza-Eva (Oxford, England) reports that now
the FamilySearch
webpage states ‘Birth about 1846, Hanover,
German Empire’ and adds that she was christened in
Hanover on 25 January 1846.
Concerning Lady Thomas, see too the photograph in Chess and
Women (C.N. 3281).
11931.
N.T. Whitaker
Further to our recent feature
article on Norman Tweed Whitaker, John Hilbert
(Amherst, NY, USA) has sent us a database of over 40
games which he has traced since the publication in
2000 of his book Shady Side: The Life and Crimes
of Norman Tweed Whitaker, Chessmaster.
Two specimens:
Morton Eschner – Norman Tweed Whitaker
First match-game, Philadelphia, 1910
Ruy López
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 O-O Be7 6 c3
Nxe4 7 Re1 Nc5 8 Bxc6 dxc6 9 Nxe5 O-O 10 d4 Ne6 11 Nd2
c5 12 Ndf3 cxd4 13 Nxd4 Nxd4 14 cxd4 Be6 15 f4 Qd5 16
Be3 Rad8 17 Rc1 c6 18 a3 Bd6 19 Qc2 f6 20 Nf3 Rfe8 21
Qf2 Bb8 22 Rc5 Qd7 23 Rh5 Ba7 24 Qh4 g6 25 Rh6 Bd5
26 f5 Bxf3 27 fxg6 Bxd4 28 Rxh7 Bxe3+ 29 Rxe3 Qd1+ 30
Kf2 Rd2+ 31 Kg3 Rxg2+ 32 Kf4 Rg4+ 33 Qxg4 Qd4+ 34
White resigns.
Source: Philadelphia Item, 22 May 1910.
P. Driver – Norman Tweed Whitaker
Mercantile Library Chess Association Championship,
Philadelphia, 1911
Queen’s Pawn Opening
1 d4 d5 2 Nf3 c5 3 e3 e6 4 c4 Nc6 5 Nc3 Nf6 6 Bd2
dxc4 7 Bxc4 a6 8 O-O b5 9 Bb3 c4 10 Bc2 Bb7 11 e4 Be7
12 Bg5 O-O 13 e5 Nd5 14 Bxe7 Qxe7 15 Ne4 Ncb4 16 Nd6
Nxc2 17 Qxc2 Bc6 18 a3 f6 19 Rfe1 fxe5 20 dxe5 Nf4 21
Ne4 Qf7 22 Re3 Qg6 23 Ne1
23...Bxe4 24 White resigns.
Sources: Philadelphia Public Ledger, 23 April
1911 (courtesy of Neil Brennen) and the Staten
Islander, 17 May 1911.
11932.
Vladimir Nabokov
Brian Matthews (New York, NY, USA) brings to our
attention a webpage on Vladimir
Nabokov and chess.
11933.
Petra Leeuwerik and Victor Korchnoi
Olimpiu G. Urcan (Singapore) authorizes us to show
this photograph that he has acquired:
11934.
The Staunton chessmen
From John Townsend (Wokingham, England):
‘Although the pattern of Staunton chessmen was
registered officially in the name of Nathaniel
Cooke in 1849, it has been questioned whether he
was also the designer. He is not otherwise
associated with either chess or artistic design,
save to say that his daughter, Harriet Ingram
Cooke, seems to have been the author of The
ABC of Chess, By a Lady, first published by John
Jaques in 1860.
A short article in The Spectator, 17
November 1849, page 1087, entitled “The ‘Staunton’
Chess-men”, took the unusual step of naming the
designer. These were the concluding words:
“The carton-pierre chest, in which the men are
deposited, and which is decorated with mediaeval
arches and turrets, embossed with the insignia of
the game, does just credit to Mr L.S. Williams,
the artist; who has also, we believe, designed the
very solid and elegant pieces.”
In fact, “Mr L.S. Williams” was incorrect, and
it is clear from a reply to a correspondent,
“Florence”, in the Illustrated London News
of the same date (page 11) that the artist being
referred to was “Mr Joseph L. Williams”:
“The very beautiful and appropriate box
of Carton Pierre, in which the new Chess-men are
inclosed, is by Mr Joseph L. Williams, the
well-known decorative artist.”
Joseph Lionel Williams (1815-77), born in
Colchester, Essex, was a wood engraver,
draughtsman and watercolourist. He did much
illustrative work for the Illustrated London
News, as did his brother, Alfred Williams.
Great caution is required before crediting
Joseph Lionel Williams with the design of the
Staunton chessmen, although, in view of the
article in The Spectator, it seems at least
possible that he designed the men as well as the
box.’
11935.
Disarray at the 1939 FIDE General Assembly (C.N.s
11915, 11918 & 11925)
Our earlier items have referred to a current
discussion within FIDE concerning Alexander Rueb’s
tenure of the presidency, with links to FIDE
Chess Congress 1939: An Investigation by Richard
Forster and to his briefer account, entitled Coup or
Call of Duty? Commotion at the 1939 FIDE Chess
Congress.
Pages 40-42 of the February 2023 CHESS
feature a further article by Dr Forster, ‘Buenos Aires
1939: The putsch that did not happen’. The three-page article
is shown here with the permission of CHESS.
11936. Luc
Winants
The death has just been announced of Luc Winants,
aged 60.
A grandmaster with a deep knowledge of chess history,
he made many contributions to C.N., with unfailing
precision and good humour.
Below we reproduce two photographs (SWIFT tournament,
1986), courtesy of Yasser Seirawan (Hilversum, the
Netherlands).
11937. Alekhine
Bernd Schneider (Solingen, Germany) recently
auctioned a book which had, as its frontispiece, a
photograph of Alekhine that seemed new to us. Is any
information available about the picture (absent from
our copy of the Dutch edition)?
11938.
A complex study (C.N. 1831)
John Roycroft (London) wrote as follows in C.N. 1831
(about a position which he gave in the GBR Code):
‘No. 156 in Tattersall’s A Thousand
Endgames (volume one) is attributed without date
or source to Troitzky. The position: a1a3 0005.11
a6f6d3.b3c3 4/3=. The solution: 1 Nb4 Nxb4 2 Ne4
c2 3 Nc3 Nd5 (3...c1(Q)+ 4 Nb1+) 4 Ne2 Kxb3 5
Nd4+. The Russians Evgeny Umnov and Nikolai Kralin
wish to trace the original source (assuming that
Troitzky was the genuine composer) prior to
publishing “the complete Troitzky”. We may note
that No. 670 in Tattersall is also given as by
Troitzky, but it is in fact by F. Lazard if we are
to believe No. 979 in Sutherland and Lommer’s 1234
Modern End-Game Studies.’
White to move and draw
(?)
Now, we add that the van der Heijden database shows
that the study was by Carl Behting, published in 1903
in Shakhmatnoe Obozrenie and the Deutsche
Schachzeitung, and that it is cooked by
3...Kxb3.
Courtesy of Sergey Voronkov and Vladislav Novikov
(Moscow), below is the relevant part of page 130 of
the Russian magazine (April 1903 issue):
The diagram on the left is the oldest composition by
Ossip Bernstein in the van der Heijden database.
11939.
Simultaneous exhibitions by Staunton and Morphy
What was the largest number of games that either
Staunton or Morphy ever played simultaneously
(excluding the latter’s blindfold displays)?
This surprisingly difficult question has been
mentioned in, for instance, C.N.s 4492 and 11874 (see
Howard
Staunton) and C.N. 10423 (see Paul
Morphy). Citations for numbers as low as three
or four will be welcomed, to start the ball rolling.
11940.
Spanish website
Luis Méndez (Gijón, Spain) draws attention to his
website ‘Comentarios
de Ajedrez’.
Our correspondent is the co-author of a book
mentioned in C.N. 11383, The
Gijón
International Chess Tournaments, 1944–1965
(Jefferson, 2019).
11941.
Questions about Fischer’s My 60 Memorable Games
Christopher Holmes (Saint-Maur-des-Fossés, France)
raises a number of points regarding Fischer’s My
60
Memorable Games, originally published in
1969 by Simon & Schuster in the United States and
by Faber and Faber in the United Kingdom, followed by
two Batsford editions (1995 and 2008). Quite apart
from the unclear copyright position concerning those
English-language editions, our correspondent wonders
how a potential translator or publisher of the book in
another language could set about clearing the rights,
through Fischer’s estate. Is the identity of the
appropriate contact person known?

Our above-mentioned feature article described the
1972 French edition by Parviz M. Abolgassemi as
‘flavourless and inaccurate’, but it is hard to
imagine how a perfect new edition of Fischer’s book
could be produced in any language. Which
English-language version should be the basis for any
translation? How, if at all, should errata be
incorporated? Has anybody ever produced an exhaustive
list of corrections (on the basis of what was
published in 1969)? What attention, if any, should be
given to the multitude of alleged analytical
improvements in My
61
Memorable Games?
11942.
Mikhail Tal
Olimpiu G. Urcan (Singapore) provides this portrait
of Mikhail Tal, courtesy of the Daily Telegraph
archive:
11943.
Elaine Saunders
Mr Urcan also offers this addition, from the Keystone
archive, to our feature article The
Chess
Prodigy Elaine Saunders:
11944.
Blanco and Lasker
C.N.s 3471 and 3475 (see Chess
Cartoons
and Caricatures) have shown a caricature of
Emanuel Lasker by Rafael Blanco. Now, Yandy Rojas
Barrios (Cárdenas, Cuba) supplies a better-quality
version, from page 125 of El Fígaro, 4 March
1906:
11945.
Charles Thomas Stanley
From John Townsend (Wokingham, England):
‘In the 1840s, Charles Stanley, of the Brighton
Chess Club, had problems published in the Illustrated
London News, and problems and a game in the Chess
Player’s Chronicle. (Details can be found in my
book, Historical notes on some chess players,
pages 93-94). Some writers have equated him with
Charles Henry Stanley, but that is clearly wrong,
since references which associate the problemist
Charles Stanley with the Brighton Chess Club are
after Charles Henry Stanley had emigrated to the
United States in 1845.
Who, then, was the problemist? There is strong
evidence that he was a close friend of Hugh
Alexander Kennedy, a leading light at the Brighton
Chess Club. When Kennedy was married on 14
November 1849 to Mary Georgiana Ward, at St.
John’s, Hampstead, one of the two witnesses who
signed the marriage register was “C.T. Stanley”. I
have found only one “C.T. Stanley” who this could
reasonably be and that is “C.T. Stanley, Esq.,
Lindfield” who for a number of years appeared in
the list of members printed in Sussex
Archaeological Collections, for example, Sussex
Archaeological Collections, Vol. II, 1849, page
xvi, where, incidentally, “Captain Hugh Kennedy,
Brighton” appears on the same page.
Lindfield is a Sussex village which lies about
15 miles to the north of Brighton, so it would
have given Stanley reasonable access to the chess
club. Peter Edmund Stanley, on page 374 of his
book The House of Stanley (1998), notes,
as part of his chapter on “The Stanleys of
Preston”, that Charles Thomas Stanley (1806-83)
lived “for a number of years” at Lindfield, and
that is undoubtedly who “C.T. Stanley” was.
Charles Thomas Stanley was the youngest son of
James Stanley, the vicar of Ormskirk, Lancashire,
and his baptism is recorded in the Ormskirk
register on 18 September 1812, noting his date of
birth, six years earlier, as 28 September 1806.
He was a cousin of the Earl of Derby and used
the same arms, crest and motto. His first wife was
Elizabeth Rosamond, the eldest daughter of James
Ward, of Surrey.
By 1881 he had moved to Charlton, near Dover,
Kent, where he is to be found on the census
(National Archives, RG11 1000/117). This shows
that he was then receiving income from railway
debentures and interest on mortgages; he was with
his second wife, Catherine S. Stanley, who had
been born at Steyning, Sussex, and three children,
Edmund (18), Ernest (13) and Rosa (16), all born
at Brompton, Middlesex. This indicates that he had
lived at Brompton after Lindfield and before
Dover. He had no children by his first wife.
He died at 7 Beaumont Terrace, Dover, on 23
September 1883. A death notice in the Evening
Mail of 1 October 1883 (page 8) stated that he
was a brother of the late Admiral Edward Stanley.
The National Probate Calendar records that probate
was granted to his relict, Catherine Stepney
Stanley, on 30 October 1883, his personal estate
amounting to £2,658 12s. 11d.’
11946. The
first Spanish chess champion
Luis Méndez Castedo and Pedro Méndez Castedo (Gijón,
Spain) draw our attention to a biography of Manuel
Golmayo de la Torriente which they have just
published. Sample pages are shown here with the
co-authors’ permission:
11947.
Lasker and Capablanca in their final years
Johannes Wiegand (Washington DC, USA) asks about
possible contact between Lasker and Capablanca in the
late 1930s and early 1940s, and the nature of their
relationship towards the end of their lives, when both
were living in New York.
Currently, we can quote only one account of their
having met. On page 120 of the third volume (Berlin,
2022) of the Lasker
trilogy Richard Forster wrote:
‘Back in bustling New York, the Laskers had an
unusual guest in late summer [1940]: Capablanca
turned up. He was, Martha noted, so much more
likable than earlier, he was entertaining, and all
former jealousy and arrogance had gone. At long last
the two old champions were reconciled.’
The source of this information is a Lasker diary (see
pages 114-115 of the book, which Richard Forster
co-edited with Michael Negele and Raj Tischbierek).
Richard Forster has shown us the full entry by Martha
Lasker concerning her husband’s meeting with
Capablanca in 1940. About 260 words long, it includes
this remark about the Cuban:
‘Früher als er in Havana Em die Weltmeisterwürde
im Schach abgenommen hatte (unter Einwirkung der
Tropenhitze auf Em) war er mir unausstehlich.’
11948.
Early 1920s photograph
This picture was given by us in a Chess
Mysteries
article at ChessBase.com on 20 November 2007
with this brief information:
The photograph above shows Alekhine at the board
with Rubinstein (watched by Tartakower, Bogoljubow
and Maróczy). It is taken from Tartakower’s book Die
Hypermoderne Schachpartie, published in the
mid-1920s, and the credit reads ‘Friedmann, Wien’.
Can a better copy of the picture be found?
Now, Philip Jurgens (Ottawa, Canada) asks whether
anything further has come to light. Unfortunately not,
to our knowledge.
11949.
An Alekhine page
Florin Dănănău (Bucharest) supplies the following,
page 4 of Ilustrațiunea Română, January 1936:
11950.
Tony Miles
Courtesy of the Daily Telegraph archive,
Olimpiu G. Urcan (Singapore) provides this shot of Tony Miles:
A stamp on the reverse gives the date 26 February
1976, and it is stated that the picture was taken at
Heathrow Airport, as Miles arrived from Dubna.
11951. The
Manhattan Chess Club
David Lyalin (Dunwoody, GA, USA) is writing a novel,
in Russian, which includes a scene at the Manhattan
Chess Club. He asks whether photographs and
descriptions of the interior of the Club are
available, his particular interest being in the period
1941-56, when the Club was located at 100 Central Park
South. He enquires about such matters as how many
rooms the Club occupied, their size, and whether chess
and card games were played in different rooms.
We take the opportunity to invite similar information
about the Club throughout its existence.
11952.
Players named Smyslov
This topic (concerning the father of Vassily
Smyslov and another player, from Kiev, also
named Smyslov) has been discussed in C.N.s 5606 and
10098. Now, further information has been received from
Dmitriy Komendenko (St Petersburg, Russia):
‘Looking at the rusbase
website I have found that a player named
Smyslov played in the championship of Kiev at
least three times: 1929,
1930
and 1936.
Only his surname is given, with no forename or
patronymic, but I did find a reference to a Victor
Victorovich Smyslov on a Russian website. Before
it went offline I took this screen-shot:
The text states that he was born in 1909 and
worked at the КИСИ (Киевский
инженерно-строительный институт), and his
interest in chess is mentioned.
In 1936 the Ukrainian chess newspaper Шахіст
had further information about the little-known
Smyslov from Kiev, including a photograph and the
fact that he was a second-category player:
Шахіст issue 3,
25 October 1936, page 1
Шахіст issue 6,
25 November 1936, page 2
The website
of the Kyiv National University of Construction
and Architecture has another photograph of
Smyslov, clearly the same person as shown in Шахiст.
It is also noted that he studied in Kiev from 1927
to 1931, moved to Moscow and returned to Kiev in
1936.’
11953.
Maurice Benyovszky
Dmitriy Komendenko also notes that the Russian
Wikipedia
page for Maurice Benyovszky (1746-86) refers to
his interest in chess and connection with Benjamin
Franklin:
‘Во время пребывания в Париже Бенёвский увлёкся
шахматами и на этой почве сблизился с американским
посланником Бенджамином Франклином, который
впоследствии принимал деятельное участие в
воспитании его детей.’
Is further chess information available?
11954.
Horatio Bolton
Mate in seven
Concerning this problem by Horatio
Bolton, given in C.N. 134, Guy Meissonnier
(Maisons-Alfort, France) draws attention to the
article ‘Un célèbre problème d’Horatio Bolton’
by François Fargette on page 2238 of Thèmes-64
issue
113 (January-March 1984).
11955.
Folke Rogard and Fedor Bohatirchuk
From Henrik Malm Lindberg (Uppsala, Sweden):
‘I am writing a book on the second FIDE
President, Folke
Rogard, in his capacity as organizer of
modern chess during the Cold War period. His
presidency ran from 1949 to 1970 and was replete
with events which can and should be seen in the
light of the battle between East and West.
A particular question concerns the
Ukrainian/Soviet master, Fedor Bohatirchuk, who
was later a Canadian champion. He settled in
Canada in 1949 and then fought to receive a GM, or
at least an IM, title from FIDE for his
accomplishments during, in particular, the 1930s.
The matter was settled at the 1954 FIDE Congress,
when he received the IM title. Twice it had been
discussed by the FIDE Qualifications Commission,
but the Soviets (Ragozin) had objected. Prior to
1954, Rogard was criticized by Canadians
(especially Bernard Freedman), and it appears that
agreement was reached in 1954 after a Soviet visit
(Kotov and Bondarevsky) to Canada.
From the FIDE archives in Leeuwarden I have a
letter dated 6 August 1954 from Freedman to Rogard
which reported on an agreement for Bohatirchuk to
be an IM “by Right and by Strength”. Are any other
sources known which either confirm or contradict
this account?’

11956.
Projected Botvinnik book
In C.N. 979 we wrote:
The September 1977 Chess Life & Review
(pages 491-492) has an article by Frank Brady on the
Capablanca-Botvinnik simul game of 1925 (‘an extract
from Frank Brady’s Soviet Master, a
biography of Dr Mikhail Botvinnik, to be published
in 1978’ – what has happened?).
Frank Brady (New York, NY, USA) informs us:
‘I had been in correspondence with Yakov Estrin
in the early 1970s about penning a biography of
Botvinnik and had received a positive response of
interest. While in Iceland during the 1972 match I
wrote to Botvinnik requesting a meeting in
Macedonia during the Olympiad. He granted the
request, and we met with Albéric O’Kelly de Galway
as an interpreter. It was a fascinating meeting,
but we could not come to terms about my becoming
Botvinnik’s biographer.
Several years later, Burt Hochberg, who was the
chess consultant for David McKay Co., asked if I
would be interested in writing about Botvinnik,
and although it looked like it would happen I
never received a contract, for reasons unknown. I
assume that is the book “Soviet Master” referred
to.’
11957.
Simultaneous displays by Emanuel Lasker
Olimpiu G. Urcan points out two
photographs
of Emanuel Lasker giving a simultaneous display.
For a list of Lasker’s exhibitions, see the Emanuel
Lasker Online website.
11958.
Rafael Blanco (C.N.s 11812 & 11944)
Yandy Rojas Barrios (Cárdenas, Cuba) provides a much
better copy of the two-page article about Blanco (C.N.
11812), pointing out that the exact date of
publication in El Fígaro was 23 July 1911:
Larger
version
Larger
version
11959.
Abrahams v Thynne
White to move
The Abrahams v Thynne brilliancy was discussed in
C.N.s 3158 and 3167 (see pages 278-279 of Chess
Facts and Fables), but we have not yet quoted
C.J.S. Purdy on the game. He annotated it on pages
315-316 of the Australasian Chess Review, 12
November 1936 with this introduction:
‘We all enjoy bombshell moves. The 20th move in
this game makes a loud enough explosion for anybody.
Abrahams specializes in bombing.’
Purdy gave 20 Qg8+ three exclamation marks.
11960.
Fedor Bohatirchuk (C.N. 11955)
From Stephen Wright (Vancouver, Canada):
‘Below are a few sources on Bernard Freedman and
the IM title for Bohatirchuk. It should be noted
that Freedman organized (at short notice) the tour
for the visiting Bondarevsky and Kotov in
June/July 1954; he was also the Secretary of the
Canadian Correspondence Chess Association and he
used its Bulletin as a vehicle to
disseminate news, including FIDE-related subjects.
Business pressures meant that he could not attend
the 1954 FIDE meetings in Amsterdam.
From a report on the Bondarevsky and Kotov tour:
“It had been planned they play two match-games
with two new Canadians now in our capital city: Dr
F. Bohatirchuk, who fled his Russian homeland in
1943, and Yugoslav-born George Berner, who came to
this country two-and-a-half years ago. Bohatirchuk
can boast a plus score against the world champion,
while Berner’s credentials indicate a mastership
in his own land. In a last-minute back-track,
however, the touring Russians side-stepped these
face-to-face matches. Instead, they elected
simultaneous exhibitions against all-comers.” (Source:
Daniel MacAdam (?), Canadian Chess Chat,
June-July 1954, page 14.)
Freedman’s comments on the same incident:
“Kotov did not want to play G. Berner an
individual match, stating that being an
International Grand Master he had come to Canada
desirous of meeting Canadian Champions or Chess
Masters and that there would be no merit in
playing a non-Canadian with no International
Master Title. He was, however, prepared to play
him in a match with clocks simultaneously with
other Ottawa top-ranking players. As to Dr
Bohatirchuk, whom they acknowledged was of
International Master calibre, he was not asked to
play and had himself no desire whatsoever of
playing.” (Source: Bernard Freedman, Canadian
Correspondence Chess Association Bulletin #215,
July 1954, page 2.)
Concerning Dr F. Bohatirchuk and the title of
International Master:
“Correspondence was exchanged with the President
of the FIDE concerning the refusal to our request
last year. I was pretty harsh, and violently
protested on behalf of Canada. The request has
once more been made and as a result of letters,
also talks with the Russian Delegates and others
we trust that we may have our request granted ‘by
right’ at the next General Meeting of FIDE being
held in Amsterdam, August 1954.” (Source:
Bernard Freedman, Canadian Correspondence
Chess Association Bulletin #216, August 1954,
page 3.)
Despite these positive views, the request was
initially declined again. From Divinsky’s report
on the FIDE meetings:
“I am extremely happy to be able to report that
Dr F. Bohatirchuk is now an International Master.
The Qualification Committee had met on Sunday
morning, 29 August, and I arrived in the afternoon
to discover that Dr Bohatirchuk had been turned
down because his strength was considered
insufficient. There was no disagreement over his
right to be considered on his past record. I
re-opened his case under the heading ‘New
Business’ and claimed that his record was better
than that of either Goglidze or Verlinsky. Flohr
denied this. Najdorf, who had previously spoken
against Dr Bohatirchuk, admitted than he knew
nothing about Moscow, 1925, or about Dr
Bohatirchuk’s record prior to 1949. I proposed
that Dr Bohatirchuk be admitted now on condition
that his record proves to be stronger than that of
either Goglidze or Verlinsky. A special meeting of
the Qualification Committee was called, in which
Dr Bohatirchuk was admitted, unanimously, with
Russia abstaining from voting.” (Source:
Nathan Divinsky, Canadian Chess Chat,
August-September 1954, page 22.)
The subsequent press release:
“TORONTO (CP) – Canada’s three-year fight to have
Dr Fedor Bohatirchuk named its third international
chess master has ended successfully. Russia
withdrew its opposition to recognition of the
X-ray research expert who fled from Russia to
Canada by way of Germany. Bernard Freedman,
President of the Chess Federation of Canada, said
today that he had received word from Fédération
Internationale des Echecs, the world chess body to
which he is the Canadian representative, that the
University of Ottawa anatomy professor’s claim had
been recognized ‘on merit’.” (Source: Times-Colonist,
9 September 1954, page 21.)
There was an exchange in Canadian Chess
Chat which provides background on, and
illustrates, some of the feelings at the time.
Wade wrote a long report on the 1952 FIDE Congress
which was serialized in the October, November and
December 1952 issues of the magazine; Ferguson’s
remarks were explicitly stated to be his personal
opinion “and have no connection with any office I
may hold in organized chess”. He was elected
President of the CFC in 1953 but did not serve out
his term, being replaced by Nathan Divinsky. Wade
was also a target because he proposed that Canada
lose its zonal status.
“There were distinct hints of trouble over
Canada’s nomination of Bohatirchuk for the title
of international master. There is no issue on the
question of his strength, but his actual
international results are not impressive due to
his not being a prize-winner in events that were
colossally strong like Moscow, 1925, when the top
players were Bogoljubow, Lasker and Capablanca.
However, there is an underlying political issue as
the USSR regard Bohatirchuk as a renegade. It must
be realized that a vote on the issue as to whether
Bohatirchuk is to be granted the title will
resolve itself as follows: – against – all the
Stalinist Communist countries plus those of the
countries who are (a) unwilling to offend personal
friends who are delegates from the above Communist
countries, and (b) genuinely uncertain about the
merits of the case, either politically or on
strength as a chessplayer. It is quite impossible
to have an objective discussion on this question.
Your Federation must decide whether to split the
FIDE, without probable gain of principle. I
personally judge him worthy of the title on the
grounds of strength and do not wish to consider
any political question. I would be in a minority.
Is it worth fighting? There was no decision this
year.” (Source: Robert G. Wade, Canadian
Chess Chat, October 1952, page 22.)
“The so-called ‘report’ of the meandering Mr
Wade, which appeared in the October issue of Chess
Chat, afforded this reader once again a
renewed amusement at the continued antics of this
chess mountebank, and at the self-assumed
importance of his activities and opinions, his
condescending and gratuitous lectures to the Chess
Federation of Canada, and thereby to Canadian
chessplayers in general, on matters which are
important to our continued support of FIDE and our
interest in international chess.
The latest instance of this, his chiding of the
CFC for nominating Doctor Bohatirchuk for the
title of International Master, is another example
of that supercilious impertinence he consistently
displays toward the CFC – and also of the never
failing sycophancy of his attitude par con-contra
[sic] towards his friends, those
‘delegates’ who represent the Communist countries
– (the words are his own) whom he ‘does not wish
to offend’. In the manner of the dear old lady who
reproaches the small boy who spoke out of turn, he
tells us that ‘there were distinct hints of
trouble’ at the FIDE meeting as a result of our
temerity in making this nomination, he also tells
us that the evasion of a decision this year on
this matter by the FIDE, was due apparently to a
fear of ‘splitting’ the FIDE by displeasing the
gas-house gang boys, the USSR delegates and their
more or less amiable stooges. He tells us that to
vote for the nomination would have left him in a
‘minority’ – as though there were never any
virtues in minorities. Of course it is obvious
that there would never be any danger of Wade being
in a non-Communist minority in any case,
especially in such an instance as this, where the
Big Boys decided to make a propaganda issue ‘à la
Russe’ out of a simple matter.
Wade somewhat clumsily admits that it would be
impossible to get ‘an objective discussion’ on the
Bohatirchuk matter, because although there is ‘no
issue on the question of his strength’, there IS
an underlying political issue, viz., that the
Russians regard Bohatirchuk as a ‘renegade’. Well,
it may have been underlying, but Wade very
maladroitly brought the dirty mess to the surface
in as unconscious a manner as a circus buffoon.
Wade’s remark that Bohatirchuk’s ‘actual
international results are not impressive due to
his not-being a prize-winner in events that were
colossally strong, like Moscow, 1925’ is as
piffling and fatuous a statement as even he could
make. Was this the criterion applied to those who
were granted the title sought for Bohatirchuk? We
know better. Mr Wade turns to us and asks us, ‘Is
it worth fighting?’ He talks of OUR ‘having to
decide whether to split the FIDE without probable
gain of principle’. Well, back in the days when I
was the age of Wade, we were taught that
principles were above expediency, and especially
so in the case of a ruthless and vindictive bully.
It is to be noted that nowhere does the ineffable
Wade tell his ‘friends’ from Moscow et al,
that their actions are in danger of ‘splitting the
FIDE’. It is the old story of every international
congress in which the Russians have taken part in
the past 20 years at least, in any field of
international operations whatever, there must be
two sets of ethics, two sets of rules, and one
almighty veto either in fact or in effect.” (Source:
Graham G. Ferguson, Canadian Chess Chat,
December 1952, page 11.)’
11961.
US chess clubs
Information is still being sought about the
infrastructure and amenities of the Manhattan Chess
Club (C.N. 11951). In the meantime, Stephen Davies
(Carlton North, Australia) has provided an article
entitled ‘The Homes of Chess’ in the New York Sun,
8 November 1891, page
22:
Larger
version
11962.
Marshall’s golden move
As shown in Marshall’s
‘Gold
Coins’ Game against Levitzky (or Levitsky) at
Breslau, 1912, 23...Qg3 was played:
Now, Michael McDowell (Westcliff-on-Sea, England)
points out that Marshall used a similar theme in a
problem which was listed as a non-prizewinner on an
unnumbered page of volume one, issue seven of The
Good Companion Chess Problem Club (March 1914
tourney):
Mate in two
11963.
US chess clubs (C.N.s 11951 & 11961)
The Cleveland Public Library has provided us with the
images shown below. Some individuals are easily
recognizable, but we invite readers to help identify
any who are relatively obscure:
ONE:
Larger
version
TWO:
Larger
version
THREE:
Larger
version
FOUR:
Larger
version
FIVE:
Larger
version
11964.
Grabill v Mugridge
Noting the discrepancies in Confusion
over the occasion of the well-known Grabill v Mugridge
brilliancy (1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bc4 Nf6 4 d3 Bc5 5 O-O
d6 6 Bg5 h6 7 Bh4 g5 8 Bg3 h5 9 Nxg5 h4 10 Nxf7 hxg3
11 Nxd8 Bg4 12 Qe1 Nd4 13 Nc3 Nf3+ 14 gxf3 Bxf3 15
White resigns), Eduardo Bauzá Mercére (New York, NY,
USA) has sent us the game’s appearance, with brief
notes by the winner, on page 19 of the Los Angeles
Evening Express, 27 April 1922, in the chess
column of Clif Sherwood:
11965.
Capablanca chess
With regard to C.N. 5622 in the section on
‘Capablanca chess’ in Chess
Variants and Rule Changes, Yasser Seirawan (St
Louis, MO, USA) writes:
‘Both Bruce Harper and I take pride in
“adapting” Capablanca’s pieces to the 8 x 8 board
with the creation of “S-Chess”, as opposed to
Capa’s suggestion for a 10 x 10 board. Is it
possible that others before us also tried to
“improve” on Capa’s variant? Did any of the
proposals try to make Capa’s new pieces “fit” on
an 8 x 8 board?’
Our feature article Yasser
Seirawan points out a webpage with
further details of his variant, and we gave this
photograph:
11966. Herman
Melville
Paul Kollar (Oxford, CT, USA) has recently been
re-reading Herman Melville’s posthumous work Billy
Budd, Sailor, and has come across the following
passage (page numbers vary according to the edition):
‘The sailor is frankness, the landsman is finesse.
Life is not a game with the sailor, demanding the
long head; no intricate game of chess where few
moves are made in straightforwardness, and ends are
attained by indirection; an oblique, tedious, barren
game hardly worth that poor candle burnt out in
playing it.’
11967.
‘Grandmaster’
On the subject of early usage of the term ‘grandmaster’,
or equivalents in other languages, Nick Pope (Ann
Arbor, MI, USA) sends the following in relation to
Philidor from page 63 of volume three of Lesefrüchte,
belehrenden und unterhaltenden Inhalts (Munich,
1828):
11968.
Good-quality pictures sought
Photographs
of
Capablanca shows many interesting pictures from
Soviet publications for which no good copy has yet
been traced. The same frustration arises in numerous
other cases, such as the shot below which Olimpiu G.
Urcan (Singapore) found on page 3 of the Liverpool
Evening Express, 21 August 1922, i.e. shortly
after the conclusion of the London
Congress:
11969.
Hoffer v N.N.
C.N. 290 reproduced the following game from the
‘Brilliancies’ chapter on page 288 of the Year-Book
of Chess 1914 edited by M.W. Stevens (London,
1915), where ‘Hoffer is White’ was the only
information given:
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bc4 Nf6 4 Ng5 d5 5 exd5 Na5 6
Bb5+ c6 7 dxc6 bxc6 8 Qf3 Qb6 9 Nc3 Be7 10 d3 h6 11
Be3 Qc7

12 Nd5 Nxd5 13 Qxf7+ Kd8 14 Qxd5+ cxd5 15 Nf7 mate.
The Golden
Treasury
of Chess (various editions) gave the game
as ‘played about 1880’, but details are still lacking.
11970.
Olson v Altmann
A second game shown in C.N. 290, also courtesy of
page 288 of the Year-Book of Chess 1914, was
headed ‘Olson v Altmann, Altmünchen C.C., 1913’:
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 O-O Nxe4 6 d4
b5 7 Bb3 d5 8 dxe5 Be6 9 c3 Be7 10 Re1 Na5 11 Bc2 O-O
12 Nbd2 Nxd2 13 Bxd2 c5
14 Bh6 gxh6 15 Qd3 f5 16 exf6 Rxf6 17 Qxh7+ Kf8 18
Rxe6 Rxe6 19 Ne5 Rxe5 20 Bg6 and mates next move.
Richard Forster (Winterthur, Switzerland) has found
that the game was published on page
11 of the Münchener Neueste Nachrichten,
4 January 1914.
11971.
‘Chess is not for the faint-hearted’
A remark often found attributed, sourcelessly, to
Steinitz is:
‘Chess is not for the faint-hearted; it absorbs a
person entirely. To get to the bottom of this game,
he has to give himself up into slavery. Chess is
difficult, it demands work, serious reflection and
zealous research.’
Richard Forster points out the following text on page
iv of Ludwig Bachmann’s final volume on Steinitz:
‘Zum Schlusse führe ich noch aus dem
interessanten Gedankenaustausch, den der Verfasser
1896 mit Steinitz hatte, einige bemerkenswerte
Ausführungen zu seiner Charakteristik an: “Das
Schach ist nichts für kleine Geister, es
beansprucht einen vollen Mann, der sich nicht
sklavisch an das Überlieferte hält, sondern
selbständig die Tiefen des Spiels zu ergründen
sucht. Es ist wahr, ich bin ein schwieriger,
kritischer Kopf; aber sollte man da nicht kritisch
werden, wenn man so oft oberflächliche Urteile
über Stellungen anhören muss, deren wahrer Wert
erst durch tiefgründige Forschung klargestellt
werden kann. Soll man sich nicht ärgern, wenn man
sieht, wie unselbständig an veralteten Methoden
festgehalten wird, bloß damit man nicht in seiner
Bequemlichkeit gestört wird. Ja das Schach ist
schwer, es erfordert Arbeit, ernstes Nachdenken,
nur eifrige Forschung kann befriedigen. Nur
rückhaltlose Kritik kann zum Ziele führen. Aber
der Kritiker gilt leider vielen als Feind statt
als Führer zur Wahrheit. Mich aber wird Niemand
vom Wege zur Wahrheit abbringen.”’
Our correspondent also draws attention to page 39 of
Reuben Fine’s The Psychology of the Chess Player
(New York, 1967), where this translation of Steinitz’s
1896 letter to Bachmann is given:
‘Chess is not for timid souls. It demands a whole
man, who does not stick slavishly to what has been
handed down, but attempts independently to probe the
depths of the game. It is true that I am not easily
pleased and critical, but shouldn’t one become
critical if one so often has to hear superficial
opinions about positions which can only be clarified
by a thorough investigation. Shouldn’t one worry if
one sees how antiquated methods are clung to in a
dependent way merely to avoid having one’s comfort
disturbed. Yes, chess is difficult, it demands work,
serious reflection, only diligent investigation can
satisfy. Only ruthless criticism can lead to the
goal. But for many unfortunately the critic is seen
as an enemy rather than as a guide to the truth. But
no-one will ever draw me away from the road to the
truth.’
11972.
Morphy’s puzzling words
C.N.s 2026 and 2030 (see page 321 of Kings,
Commoners and Knaves and Paul
Morphy) reported the statement by his niece that
Morphy would walk up and down his verandah muttering,
‘Il plantera la bannière de Castille sur les murs de
Madrid au cri de Ville gagnée, et le petit Roi s’en
ira tout penaud.’
John Townsend (Wokingham, England) writes:
‘Has anyone tried to relate these words to
events in Spanish history? Presumably, there are
only a limited number of occasions when Madrid
could be referred to as ville gagnée,
captured by Castilians. One instance is its
conquest by Alfonso VI of León and Castile in
1085. The Moorish king at that time, Boabdil, was
nicknamed el rey chico, which calls to
mind the words attributed to Morphy (“le petit
roi”). If Morphy was alluding to this event, then
why? He had Castilian ancestry on his father’s
side.’
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